Chapter 1
“Hello…both of you,” Natalie said as she compelled her feet to move toward the open front door of her house.
The same open front door that framed both her ex-fiancé and the man she had only recently found the courage to flirt with. The nervous twinge in her stomach was unsettling, reminding her how uncomfortable she was.
“Hey,” Jordan said, smiling warmly at her.
“Hi,” Neil countered, a little louder than necessary. “I just wanted to drop by and say hi to my favorite girl.”
Despite the almost violent twist in her stomach at the potential tension something like that could create, her heart also soared in pure joy. How long had she secretly wished for Neil to say that to her?
Years—longer than she had been with Jordan—but she’d buried those thoughts deep beneath her logical arguments that she and Neil had only ever been friends and colleagues.
All at once, Natalie realized that she was blushing, and she raised her hand to rest on her cheek, where her fingertips brushed against her flushed skin.
“Oh, well…hi,” she stammered.
Neil’s smile widened as he leaned in to kiss her on the cheek. The bouquet of colorful blooms between them was slightly squashed, and Natalie pulled back to keep them from being crushed further. The pair laughed, and Neil held them out to her.
“Whoops, let me just take these. They’re beautiful…”
As she reached for the flowers, Jordan’s offering caught her eye—yellow and white daisies arranged in an almost perfect sphere—and she remembered that it wasn’t only her and Neil in the hallway. Jordan gave a small wave, moving awkwardly as if he didn’t want to get closer to the pair.
“So are these,” she said, trying to sound natural and not let his flirtatious words scramble her brain.
“Well, that’s why I chose them,” Jordan said. “I thought you might appreciate something to brighten your day—I didn’t realize you’d have a visitor.”
“Yes, well, she has one, right?” Neil interjected.
Oh…is that a little bit of a challenge in his voice?
She would be lying if she claimed the idea didn’t thrill her a little bit, but she had no intention of encouraging any kind of hostility. Honestly, she wasn’t sure she could handle that added stress right now.
“Well, thank you both. Aren’t I extremely lucky to get two friendly faces in one day,” she said, desperate to lighten the mood. “Do either of you want a coffee?”
The pair glanced at each other briefly before both answering at the same time as if trying to beat the other to the punch. “Yes.”
Yay. She’d hoped Jordan might take the opportunity to remove himself from the awkward situation, but it seemed he wouldn’t.
Stepping back, she invited them in and gestured down the hall to the kitchen. “The kitchen is…” she started to say, but Jordan was already striding down the hallway toward the doorway, “…this way.”
Her heart skipped as Neil caught her eye, smiling. “Thanks, coffee sounds perfect.”
Jordan paused by a painting her mother had finished over two years before. “Oh, you finally got this hung.”
“Uh, yeah,” she said, wanting to simultaneously follow him down the hall and linger in the doorway with Neil as he smiled so charmingly. “Finally…”
As if sensing her discomfort, Neil winked. “Let’s go then.”
“Joan is a very talented painter,” Jordan said to Neil as they approached. “She really should take it up again, don’t you think?”
Natalie mused that watching the two handsome, well-dressed men size each other up in her hallway shouldn’t have been so amusing. Still, as annoyed as she was with Jordan for whatever this was, she was just as intrigued by Neil’s reaction to being poked.
“I haven’t met Natalie’s mother yet, and this is the first painting I’ve seen,” he said calmly. “But if this reflects her skill level, then yes, I believe she has a talent worth nurturing.”
The split second of triumph on Jordan’s face gave way to irritation as Neil answered him. Internally, Natalie groaned—the last thing she needed was for Jordan to be jealous. She should put a stop to this.
“Right, although I doubt the two of you gossiping about it in a hallway will inspire her to return to the easel,” Natalie said. “I need a coffee.”
“Oh?” Neil replied softly as if only she were meant to hear. “Long day already?”
With a sigh, she briefly thought about listing a few things that had happened but immediately reconsidered. She attempted to wipe away her bad mood with a smile, though it felt somewhat forced. “Yeah, I guess you can say that.”
Her mind drifted to the little guest house Ian would occupy for the foreseeable future, and she suppressed an annoyed groan.
The stone cottage was a significant part of her favorite view on the estate—it was why she began and ended all her runs by heading up and over the small hill.
Now, though, she’d be reminded that she was sharing her morning with Mr. You-Can’t-Compete-With-His-Experience Ian.
How could his staying in the guest house, with meals provided, be anything other than him moving in?
Gran must think I’m stupid to try that approach.
“Uh…?”
As Natalie’s attention returned to the disaster in front of her, she realized that Jordan and Neil were waiting for her in the kitchen while she stood in the hallway, lost in thought.
“Sorry,” she said reflexively, crossing the hall to join them. “It’s been a long and kind of weird day.”
“Anything I can help with?” Jordan asked, looking concerned as he arranged the bouquet he’d brought for her into a vase on the counter.
“No,” she said, reaching to take the task from him. “It’s just vineyard stuff; Gran has hired a consultant I don’t particularly like. I’m worried about the…uh, progress of Section Nine.”
Why was she hesitant to tell them about the blight?
It was Jordan—of all people, he’d understand—and Neil would only want to help. Still, something in her stomach made her reluctant to admit that it even existed, much less that it was so bad.
“Oh, right. I see.” Jordan smiled. “Clashing with someone your grandmother likes is very on brand.”
“What is that supposed to mean?” she countered with a warning glare.
“Come on, you’re so protective of Sarah. Anyone who’s in her good graces without going through you first is public enemy number one.”
He wasn’t wrong, but he didn’t need to be so rude about it.
She turned her back on the pair as she fetched the coffee and filter press.
“Oh, can we have the Colombian?” Jordan asked.
The casual tone and other familiar things he had said in the last ten minutes made her realize he was trying to provoke Neil. Even though she knew exactly where the Colombian beans were in the cupboard, she chose the Kenyan blend instead.
“The Colombian? Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten any of that in for…maybe six months?” She let the bag of coffee beans hit the counter with a thwack, hoping Jordan would get the message and Neil would understand that he had not been in her life for a long time.
“Right, sure,” he said, clearly taken aback. “Whatever, it doesn’t matter—your coffee is always good. Anyway, what else has been going on?”
What hasn’t been going on? That’s the real question.
The situation with Ian and the mysterious blight that threatened Section Nine, her grandmother’s advice to accept Ian’s help—or risk jeopardizing her chances of inheriting the estate—and how her grandmother seemed quite frail while planning her succession…
However, now wasn’t the time to get into all that.
She filled the coffee grinder with the right amount of beans and turned the handle on the wooden box. “Other than the usual? Well, let’s see…we’ve had two kitchenhands quit, so I’m interviewing, but the pool of applicants is limited.”
“Oh, no,” Jordan replied. “That sucks.”
“Yeah,” Neil added. “Why don’t you let someone help you with the interviews?”
“We don’t exactly have an HR department,” Natalie quipped. “Besides, it really should be one of us handling it. We need dependable people right now. June, July, and August will be busy—we’re already booked out half the time.”
The aroma of freshly ground coffee beans enveloped her senses as she inhaled deeply, savoring it for a moment.
This was a particularly strong Kenyan blend—her favorite—and the notes of berries called to her.
Raspberry fold-over… Yes, that was exactly what she wanted.
While the men talked among themselves, Natalie searched the kitchen for the tart pastry Manny had given her the day before.
Regardless of how her day had gone so far, her coffee-and-cake moment would be perfect.