Prank Date [✔]

Part 21

I took my keys from the hall table and headed toward the door with Lego at my heels. "No, Lego. You stay." At the last second, I remembered Jennie's instruction to take good care of myself and snatched a jacket from the hook next to the door. I slipped outside.

I climbed down the stairs to the barrel cellar beneath the fermentation barn. Even through my stuffed-up nose, I could detect the heady fragrance of wine and oak. I walked between the rows of French oak barrels. From time to time, I put my ear to one of the sixty-gallon barrels. The crackle and pop of the fermenting wine reminded me of the popcorn Jennie and I had eaten last night.

Everything reminds you of Jennie lately. Pathetic. A crush on a straight woman. Haven't you read the handbook? No straight women.

The heavy doors opened and closed behind me, and Martin walked over. "Morning, boss. I thought you were still out sick."

"I'm doing better, but I'll go back inside in a minute and do paperwork for the rest of the day."

"It seems your girlfriend took good care of you," Martin said.

I turned and glanced at him over the top of a barrel. "Girlfriend?"

"Rico and I saw her when she was walking with Lego."

Great. My friends think there's something between us, Martin thinks she's my girlfriend, and my goddamn hormones dance a rumba every time she's near. Only Jin stubbornly refuses to believe it.

"What makes you think she's my girlfriend?" Had Jennie told him that to practice convincing people that they were a couple?

Martin shrugged. "Not hard to figure out. I've known you for all your life, but you rarely, if ever, have a woman stay overnight, not even now that your parents are ..." He cleared his throat. "Guess she must be special."

"She is, but she's just a friend." I turned away with a sigh and continued down the row of barrels.

"That's how all good relationships start," Martin said as he followed me through the barrel cellar. "Your parents knew each other for two years before they started dating."

"Martin." I gave my voice a warning note. After working for our family for over thirty years, Martin was much more than an employee. As far as I was concerned, he had earned the right to ask personal questions, but I didn't need him to give me crazy ideas. Jennie was straight, so I couldn't afford to let myself hope for more than friendship.

He took off his baseball cap and ran his fingers through his graying hair. "All right. I'll shut up. Do you want us to test the acid levels of the reds today?"

I calculated quickly. "No, let's wait until tomorrow. I'll come over and help." After I said good-bye to Martin, I crossed the yard and returned to the house.