Chapter 27 More Controlled
MORE CONTROLLED
“Why am I not surprised you’re here?” Anya said the next morning, twenty minutes before the tour was going to start.
Ben was by his side and looking between the two of them. “What’s going on?” Ben asked.
“I wanted to tell you I wore Anya down,” Matt said, giving one of those cocky smirks that she found adorable as an adult and not as annoying as a teen.
Ben laughed. “In a good or bad way? I mean, she’s not shooting you with daggers, but it’s damn close right now.”
Matt whipped his head around to look at her squinting at him. “Shit,” he said. The grin was gone and concern covered his expression. “I thought it’d be good to do it together. Ben would not believe me. Are you pissed?”
She rolled her eyes. “No. I made the comment about you being here because it was so fast after you found out last night I was working.”
“Why wait?” he asked, leaning over the bar for her to kiss him.
Talk about putting it out there.
But she did as he was silently asking because he was just too damn irresistible with his lips puckered while he waited. The last thing she wanted was for him to think he’d made a mistake.
“Oh shit,” Ben said. “Are you two pranking me on this?”
“Nope,” he said, his chest puffing slightly as if he’d won. “I did it on my own.”
“By doing a lot of groveling?” Ben asked.
Anya nodded her head rapidly when Matt wasn’t looking. “How did you guess?” she asked.
“We know Matt was a dick to you back then. I’m stunned. I really am. Happy if you two are.”
“Don’t make her doubt herself,” Matt said, throwing his hands up.
“I’m happy,” she rushed out. “I think your brother is. He tells me enough. Mighty Matt to the rescue.”
“Oh, my God,” Ben said, his eyes wide, his laugh loud. “She knows about that?”
Matt’s face flushed and she burst into a fit of giggles. “Did you tell her?” he asked his brother, shooting rays out of his eyes as if Superman was going to burn the evil opponent to the ground.
“No.” Ben shook his head, but his smile remained. “I’d never do that. I should have just to embarrass your ass but didn’t.”
He turned to her. “Did Phoebe tell you that?”
“Nope,” she said. “Why are you embarrassed?”
“Because Matt gave himself that nickname when he was younger and asked us all to call him that.”
“Ass,” he said, shoving his brother. Ben didn’t budge. He was much more solid in muscle mass than her boyfriend was.
She liked Matt just the way he was. On the trim side with muscles.
Made him fill a suit out much better.
“I overheard you talking to yourself one night when I was sleeping over.”
“Dude,” Ben said. “You still call yourself that when you think no one is around?”
“No,” he said. But the flush on his face said he was lying to them both.
She’d let him go. “I meant when I was younger and staying with Phoebe. I got up one night to use the bathroom and I heard you talking in your room. The door was ajar, and I might have listened.”
“You were stalking me?” he asked. “Ewww.”
“Oh stop,” she said, giving his elbow a flick with her finger and thumb over the bar. “Now you’re being a jerk again.”
“Some things will never change,” Ben said.
Matt put his hand to his chest. “I’m offended you called me a jerk. I’ve broken those habits. I was just joking with you. We agreed that was acceptable. You know, to not be boring.”
“You’re right,” she said. Though she knew he was picking on her pretending to be hurt. “I’m sorry.” She leaned over the bar this time for him to come to her for a kiss.
“Okay,” Ben said. “This is crazy. I’m happy for you and all, but it’s too lovey dovey for me.”
She wouldn’t say that, but maybe Matt was putting on more of a show than she would have.
It wasn’t that awful though.
Not over the top like he used to do.
More controlled... and cute.
“What’s going on here?”
They all turned their heads to see Jolene Fierce walking in holding a toddler’s hand. Talk about always being in the right place at the right time.
“Ben,” the little girl yelled and ran toward Matt’s brother.
“Hey, Fiona. Are you with Grandma today?”
“The two of us are spending the day together, but Fiona said that she wanted to see Mommy and Daddy working together,” Jolene said. “She has a thing for the goggles on everyone’s face.”
“You must be Mason and Jessica’s daughter,” Anya said. She hadn’t met their kids but knew Mason had twin boys and a daughter. Fiona was three and seemed to have her grandmother wrapped around her finger.
“Yes,” Fiona said. “I’m going to make beer too.”
She laughed. “Wow. You’re starting young.”
Jolene picked Fiona up. “Keeping it all in the family. Let me go run this one to her parents and I’ll be back. You know I’ve got to find out what this is all about.”
Jolene’s hand was waving back and forth between her and Matt.
“Better hurry, Jolene,” Ben said. “Tours are starting in ten minutes and the tasting room will be open.”
Jolene hesitated as if she was trying to decide if she could make it upstairs and back before then.
“You take her, Ben,” Jolene said, shoving the little girl over.
Ben reached for Fiona. “I figured you say that. Don’t come looking for me after either. You’ll get your answers now.”
“We’ll see about that,” Jolene said. She turned her attention to Matt and Anya. “Fill me in. What’s going on?”
“What do you think is going on?” Matt asked.
“Are you two dating?” Jolene asked.
“We are,” Anya said. No reason to push this off. She was on the clock and the sooner it was out in the open, the faster Jolene would stop coming to her to talk about her personal life.
It was drawing too many eyes around her. Something she could do without in her life.
Jolene’s hands went to her hips. “For how long has this been going on?”
“Over a month,” Matt said. “My mother hasn’t filled you in?”
Jolene’s jaw dropped. Guess that answered that question for Matt.
“Your mother knows?” Jolene asked.
“You’ll have to take it up with her,” he said. “I need to get to court, but I wanted to stop in and see my girlfriend so she could wish me luck.”
She hadn’t known he had court today or what it was even about.
They never talked about his job and she wondered if she should ask more.
Did he want her to know?
He made a comment last night about celebrating his wins too.
One more thing to add to the list of items to learn about adult Matt.
“Good luck,” she said.
“No kiss for it?”
“Wow,” she said. “You’re needy this morning. Here is number three.”
He flushed again when she said that. She’d been kidding, but she wondered if he took that to heart.
She’d send him a text to suss it out and apologize if she had to.
Matt got his last kiss and left. Jolene stayed, but the doors were going to open in five minutes.
“You two look so cute together,” Jolene said. “Things are going well?”
“They are,” she said.
“I bet your parents are thrilled,” Jolene said.
“My mother is happy. My father seems it, but he could have been confused too,” she said.
She hadn’t wanted to tell her father, but her mother had. She’d forgotten to mention that her mother wanted Matt to come over for dinner this weekend.
She’d bring it up later to him.
“I’m sorry about that,” Jolene said.
It was getting tiring all the apologies she got from people.
They had nothing to feel sorry about. Neither did she.
Matt was right—she was fortunate to have the flexibility to help her mother out and be there for her.
Those were the things she had to focus on.
“Don’t be,” she said, smiling. “Life happens and we are making the best of it.”
“That’s the spirit,” Jolene said.
Justin came in before the doors opened and got behind the bar. “Sorry I’m late. There was an accident on my way in and I got stuck behind the traffic.”
“I’m all set up for us,” she said.
“I never worry when Anya is working,” Justin said to Jolene. “She’s got everything under control.”
Jolene sent her a bright smile. “It looks as if she does.”
Jolene took off out of the tasting room and went in search of Ben.
She found him on the floor and didn’t care she wasn’t wearing her neon vest and goggles.
“I don’t have any information for you,” Ben said. “I just found out a few minutes before you showed up.”
That stunk.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yep. You’ll have to get what you want from my mother since we know you two talk.”
There was no reason to dispute what everyone knew.
“I’ll go find out now,” she said with her chin up, marching off the floor and back to the offices to find a quiet place to talk.
She called Grace, expecting it to go to voicemail, but Grace answered.
“You’re fast,” Grace said. “Matt just texted me to give me a heads up I was caught. I put two and two together.”
“Your boys think they are so funny,” she said.
“Try living with them,” Grace said.
“I had Cade. He tortured his other four siblings. One was enough,” she said. “Fill me in if you’ve got time. Anya and Matt worked things out?”
“It seems it,” Grace said. “I don’t have all the details, but I’m sure my son had to work hard to get Anya to even listen to him.”
“He seems like a smooth talker,” she said. Just like Cade. Must come with being a prankster.
“He is. He says he has it under control. The fact he went there today makes me wonder though. I assumed he was going to call or text Ben, but Anya must be working and he shouldn’t be bugging her.”
“He’s smitten,” Jolene said. “I could see it in his eyes when he was looking at her. Don’t worry, she put him in his place.”
Grace laughed. “Good. He doesn’t need to be bothering her.”
“I got the impression that he wanted to make sure Ben didn’t think he was pulling a prank. They look very cute together.”
“I’ll have to get on my son’s case to bring her to dinner so I can see for myself.”
“This is only the beginning,” she said. “You know as well as I do, they will have difficulties.”
“With the way my son opens his mouth, I expect it,” Grace said. “How they get through that will determine their future.”
“You know where I am if you need my help.” Not that she did much here other than ask a lot of questions. She needed to find one where she could get more involved rather than put her stamp of approval on it.
“Thanks, Jolene,” Grace said. “I’ve got to run.”
She hung up and turned to leave. “Jolene. Are you lost?”
“Baker,” Jolene said. He oversaw the distilling at Fierce. Mason’s newest division that was taking off. “How have you been?”
Baker’s eyes got wide. “Good,” he said cautiously. “Everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” she said. “I had to make a call. How about you? We never have time to chat.”
Baker’s head swiveled around some. The two of them were in a hallway that led to the doors to the distillery in the back.
“I’m good. Got to get back to work.”
She scrunched up her face. Damn it, someone must have been in his ear that she’d been asking around about him.
She’d get him another time. For now, she’d put half a check next to a box in her book on Anya and Matt.