Christmastime Cowboy. Maisey Yates

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СКАЧАТЬ handed them their order with a slightly glum expression on her face. Sabrina snatched her coffee out of his hand and headed over to the cream and sugar station.

      “I hope you’re happy,” she commented, pouring a little bit of cream and a packet of sugar into her cup and stirring. “You’ve broken that little girl’s heart.”

      “That little girl?” he asked, gesturing back toward the counter.

      “Yes.”

      “First of all, she’s like five years younger than you. Second of all, why? Because she thinks I’m with you?”

      “You bought my coffee.”

      “Well. I was unaware that was small-town symbolism for a marriage proposal. I thought that you still had to give a couple of oxen to get a woman. I didn’t know you could get her with one cup of coffee.”

      She laughed reluctantly, and the two of them walked out of The Grind and onto the rain-soaked sidewalk.

      Sabrina looked both ways, and didn’t bother to go to the crosswalk. She just did half a jog across the street, conveniently forgetting the lecture she’d recently given him on the dangers of walking with hot beverages, and he followed.

      They walked past his sister-in-law Lane’s Mercantile, full of specialty foods, and then past Pie in the Sky, his sister-in-law Alison’s bakery, which was now across the street from them.

      “Main Street is becoming quite the Donnelly affair,” he commented.

      “The tasting room is not primarily Donnelly,” she said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it being part Donnelly, I suppose.”

      “Sure, sure.” He smiled at her, and she looked away from him.

      He shook his head.

      They rounded the corner to the front of their new store and Sabrina produced the keys. “Officially ours,” she said, jingling them before jamming the key into the lock. “After you.”

      She held the door for him and he went in ahead of her.

      She pulled a pad of paper out of her purse and paced around the room studying their surroundings. “So, we’ve already figured a few things out. But, we need to figure out how much seating we can put in here versus floor space, and of course there needs to be a bit of space for preparation. And for merchandise.”

      “Great. I’ll do some measurements and we can do a little Googling to figure out how big some refrigerated display cases are and standard table sizes.”

      “Thank God for smartphones,” Sabrina commented.

      He chuckled, setting his toolbox down and taking out his tape measure. “I hear that. We didn’t really have those last time you and I hung out.”

      She snorted. “I guess not.”

      “It’s funny,” he said. “All the things that have changed. That credit union for example. The building was not like that when I lived here.”

      “They built a new one about six years ago,” she said.

      “And another example. Your brother has been married and divorced,” he said.

      “Yes. Dramatically. And of course, the ownership of the winery has changed.”

      “True. And if it hadn’t, you wouldn’t have to work with me. Because there’s no way in hell your father would have let me in on a venture involving his precious winery.”

      It was her turn to laugh, an icy sound. “Well, if the ownership of the winery hadn’t changed you wouldn’t be working with me anyway. I mean, I wouldn’t be here. It would be a moot point.”

      He frowned. “What?”

      “I’ve only been back at the winery for two years.”

      “Really?”

      “Yes. I’ve been doing other things. Worked in banking for a while. I managed a bed-and-breakfast in Gold Valley and then I managed the hospitality portion of a dude ranch there called Get Out of Dodge. That’s where I met Olivia Logan. I’m not sure if you’ve met her yet. She works at Grassroots. She used to work at the same ranch that I did, but they scaled back when the owner had a heart attack. Quit taking as many guests and running as many touristy things.”

      “You did all that just for...for fun?”

      Her shoulders twitched, and her face went tight. “What do we have so far?”

      “For what?” he asked, frowning.

      “For the dining area. How many tables and chairs?”

      He gestured toward the picture windows. “Two with two chairs here. And maybe we can do one with four chairs here. Probably five or six additional tables here in the center of the room. But we need to keep enough space available for the wine.”

      “Right. Right. I’m thinking of talking to somebody around town who might have an idea of where we can get shelving made. Something that’s a little artisanal...”

      “You can talk to Lane. But don’t think I didn’t notice that you derailed the conversation. Why haven’t you been working at the winery?” he asked.

      “It’s been thirteen years since you were back in town, Liam. Did you really think I was only going to have one job for my entire life?”

      “Hell no. Not for one second. But I also figured that you would go to some big East Coast school. And I certainly didn’t think you would have come back to the winery after it had passed out of your parents’ control. What does your dad think of that?”

      “He thinks poorly of it,” she said stiffly. “But that’s fine. He thinks poorly of me.”

      Liam huffed out a laugh. “Now that isn’t true. Your dad thinks you’re everything. Believe me.”

      “Right. Is that some coded reference to the fact that he paid you to leave?”

      Liam felt as though he had been punched in the stomach. “You...”

      “I know. I know why you left. I know that my father offered you money to leave. You didn’t just run away because my naked breasts offended you. In hindsight, I was never sure if it was better or worse that you had an incentive.” She swallowed hard. “I have to say, it’s actually good to know that you did something with that.”

      “That I did something with what your father gave to me?”

      “Yes. Because whatever we were about... Our friendship, whatever you want to call it... If you were going to sell it, Liam, I’m glad that you got something out of it. I’m glad you went to school. Not because I’m happy for you, but because at least I know I got traded for something bigger than a really fast car that you were just going to crash in the end, or something.”

      “I already told you that what I did was a kindness to you. You were seventeen years old, Sabrina.” He crossed his arms and watched her. She was agitated, her shoulders twitching, СКАЧАТЬ