Chapter 18
SEBASTIAN
I doubt Isabella thought I’d seriously consider opening up a second location just to be close to her, but I’d fired off a text to a commercial realtor within a few minutes after our conversation.
Seeing her more often? Yes. Eating her out at lunch?
Fuck yes. Keeping an eye on her now that I know her main employee is a couple cards shy of a whole deck? Absolutely.
Shit. I really need to tell her I own the bakery.
Isabella also mentioned Arianna has started visiting her more often at work, which makes me realize I definitely need to be closer.
Arianna is wonderful, and she makes Stone happier than he ever thought possible.
But if anyone could convince Isabella to set fire to the town square, my money is on Arianna.
Then again, the whole lot of the women in that circle are two degrees away from a felony. Alex’s woman is an elementary school teacher, and she’s the scariest of them all.
So when Isabella casually mentioned she’d be having her book club in the basement of the bakery, I sighed.
My mom and grandmother are invited this month, and I’ve heard rumblings of previous events being a little bonkers.
How chaotic can a bunch of women be when they’re sitting around discussing books?
My mind goes to classics from Shakespeare or Jane Austen, or maybe a book of poems. When I asked Isabella, she nonchalantly said, “I doubt you’ll know the book. ”
Needless to say, my interest is peaked, and I plan on staking out the bakery in case I’m needed.
I don’t have to eavesdrop, because I know Abuela will give me a play-by-play.
But it’s probably good to stay in the area.
My dad is taking Camila out to eat and then to a playground, so I know she’s taken care of.
Doing a little recon of my own, I peruse the distillery a few doors down.
The bones of the space are good, with rustic wood beams crossing the high ceiling, and dark paint on the walls.
Picture frames highlight Eternity Springs events, as well as the famous people who are from here.
Closing my eyes, I can visualize a mahogany bar, warm and cozy booths along the back wall, and tables along a wall of windows.
What is now being used for storage of extra bar stools would be the perfect location for a dart board.
I’m getting more excited the longer I sit here.
“I bet you’re just here because of that damn book club,” Alex says as he pulls up a stool next to me. A baby strapped to his chest, he smiles widely at me, and I notice how the pain that was always evident in his eyes has disappeared.
“That’s one of the reasons, yeah. Plus my mom and grandmother are attending for the first time,” I tell him.
His eyes widen comically. “You’re letting your Abuela go to that shitshow? Damn, Seb. I thought the only senior citizen crazy enough to go was my Nonna .”
I frown. “A shitshow? It’s just a book club. How wild can they get?”
“You’d be surprised. Five or six months ago they had the cops called on them.”
“No fucking way.”
He nods. “Yup. Wives of a couple of guys I work with attend, and they managed to sweet-talk their way out of tickets and fines. Excessive noise and disorderly conduct.”
“What the hell do they do there?” I ask incredulously.
My Isabella, leading a book club so out of control the police have to intervene?
The beautiful soul who only recently began to smile directly at me?
“Is this really a different group, and they call it a book club to cover up something else entirely?”
“No, there’s a book. Not sure if they read anything other than the sex scenes though,” Alex says as I take a sip of my rum and Coke, and I immediately inhale, choke, gag, then cough up everything in my lungs.
“What the fuck?”
“It’s romance books, Seb. And they usually have lots of wine and make some sort of phallic-shaped treat.
Explaining the box of cock cookies to my kids was interesting, but now Nat knows to bring the treats directly to our bedroom when she gets home.
” He pauses. “Kinda weird eating food shaped like a dick though.”
“Are we talking about the same book club? At the bakery? Isabella’s bakery. My Isabella?”
He rolls his eyes. “Yes, your Isabella. She’s not as tender and quiet as you think once she’s comfortable around you. Stubborn as a mule with a petty and vindictive side that is quite long. Clearly you know that, considering what she did to her ex-boyfriend’s apartment.”
I chuckle. “That was pretty creative. I’ll give her that.”
“I try to stay close because usually at least a couple of the ladies require a ride home. The local rideshare drivers have caught on to their shenanigans, and they camp out all night as well. With around fifteen women each month, and the amount of alcohol they imbibe, it’s good to have safe options.
Usually I wait until the book club has been going for an hour or two, but this little dude,” Alex says, smiling peacefully down at his son, “was getting restless. Car rides always seem to calm him down.”
“Dude, I asked her about the book club, and she blew it off like it was nothing. Told me I wouldn’t know who the author is. ”
“In her defense, she’s right. Natalie showed me the book, and it’s some romance author I’d never heard of.”
I raise one eyebrow at Alex. “And you’ve heard of a lot of romance authors?”
“Some. Natalie talks about them. Plus there are two that live in Mountain Springs, where my cousin lives, and they’ve both come up here to be special guests at the book club.
” Alex peers down at his son, who gives me a gummy grin.
“Best part is when Natalie comes home, she almost always wants to reenact at least one of the spicy scenes. So I’m all for this off-the-rails book club. ”
Alex’s phone chimes with a text, and his face falls. “Shit. We gotta go. Nat just texted me the code word.”
“Code word?” I ask, draining the last sliver of whiskey before throwing a twenty on the bar for a tip.
“If she texts me ‘sausage,’ it means it’s gotten too out of control, and we need to step in before the cops get called again. The new lieutenant isn’t a fan of my family, and he’s looking to set an example.”
“Why your family?”
“Evidently his dad had a thing for my mom, but my dad stole her away from him. Then my damn Nonna got involved and said some less than stellar things about the lieutenant’s family. It was a whole big thing, and now he makes my work day hell, but it is what it is.”
“That’s fucked up,” I comment as I follow him out of the bar.
“It is. But I know it’s temporary. He’ll either be fired, or I’ll quit. I’ve been talking to Leo about possibly starting a business together. But he’s been pretty quiet about things since his injury, so I’m just playing it day by day.”
The code word suddenly sinks in. “Sausage? Really?”
Alex grins. “My wife loves a double entendre.”
I count the number of steps it takes me to get from the door of the bar to Isabella’s door, and I’m pleased to find it’s twenty-two steps.
Should she ever need me, I could be here in less than a minute.
Alex bypasses the front door, heading to a side door I’ve never even noticed. “This is the way to the basement.”
Fucking hell. I’ve been trying to keep her safe and I never noticed a goddamned door here. Trace has told me about the door, but I rarely walk past the tight alleyway between buildings, and hadn’t noticed the dilapidated entrance.
I hear the noise even with the door closed, then laugh when Alex yanks his bag from around his shoulders, opens it up, and pulls out a set of noise-canceling headphones. Placing them on his son’s head, he then opens the door. Smart.
Heading down the rickety old stairs into a dingy basement, I’m surprised to find around twenty women in varying stages of undress.
My grandmother is standing on a stool, swinging what appears to be a piece of black licorice above her head.
My mother sits with Isabella’s mom, and they’re both crying.
Guarantee they’re planning our wedding, which makes me smile.
Isabella’s two sisters have their arms around one another as they belt out an off-key rendition of a Taylor Swift song, and her three sisters-in-law are throwing marshmallows at each other, attempting to catch them in their mouths.
A woman I don’t recognize has removed her shirt, and another seems to be missing pants.
That’s when I notice my grandmother is wearing two different shoes.
“My baby!” I hear shouted, and Natalie wobbles over to snatch her son out of Alex’s arms. She leans toward both of us.
“I figured you were close by. I’m sorry.
Someone pulled out a bottle of Hooch and it went downhill fast.” She hiccups, then giggles as she buries her head in Alex’s chest. He smiles down at her, and I can see how utterly besotted he is with his wife .
“Sebastian? What are you doing here?” Isabella asks, coming out from underneath the stairs. Her hair is in disarray, and the near constant dusting of flour is evident on her cheek. I step around the other women quickly, needing to be next to my woman.
I want to kiss her. I feel like I have to kiss her.
Fuck it.
Sliding a hand into her hair and one around her waist, I tip her slightly as I capture her lips with my own.
I love how she sighs into my mouth every time, like she’s remembering once again how spectacular our kisses are and she’s so thrilled to re-live them.
The sugared vanilla scent is more potent tonight, mixed with a subtle hint of cherry.
Forcing her lips apart with my tongue, the tanginess of cherry bursts onto my tastebuds, and I break the kiss to ask her what it is.
“Cherry for the candy we made,” she whispers breathlessly, and I finally detect her hands wrapped around my neck, her fingers playing with my hair. Staring into her eyes, I feel like I’m finally experiencing the real Isabella.