THE CAMELLIA TAVERN

CHAPTER 30: A GOOD IMPRESSION

Friday, July 10

    I pull up behind Monarch Bookstore and park in the spot beside Warrick's car.  I'm feeling anxious.  I'm about to meet his sister and I'm really quite nervous about it.  She arrived last night and they went to dinner together.  I wanted to wait to meet her so they had some time together alone.  And tonight, he's insisted on all three of us having dinner at his place.  I took the night off which I was reluctant to do because, well, money, but I feel like meeting his sister is super important.

    I knock on the door, but I can hear music playing from inside already and a woman's voice laughing.  She is the one who opens the door and she is every bit as pretty as she was in the pictures I saw of her.  She's tall. Her hair is reddish brown unlike Warrick's dark hair, but she has those same remarkable blue eyes. 

    "You must be Milly," she says with a gorgeous smile that radiates sincerity.  It puts me at ease in an instant.

    "I am.  It's so nice to meet you."

    She surprises me by pulling me in for a hug as if we've known each other for years.  I already think she's awesome.

    "Please, come on in!"  she says, stepping aside to make way for me.

    I turn back around and offer her the bottle of wine I brought for dinner.

    "Oh," she says, taking it from me, "That's so sweet of you!"

    I was also a bit paranoid about the wine.  I spent almost thirty dollars on it which, to me, is a lot of money, but I'm sure they've had much better, given their upbringing.

    "Warrick's jumped in the shower," she tells me before I have a chance to ask.

    It's only then that I notice the aroma of something delicious.

    "What is that smell?" I ask. 

I'd assumed we'd be ordering food from one of the local restaurants.

    "Oh, that's dinner.  Warrick made it.  It won't be ready for another hour, though."

    Warrick?  Cooked dinner?

    "Really?"

    "Yeah.  Family recipe, actually.  My grandmother's on our mother's side.  It's one of my favorites, so he usually makes it for me when I'm in town. Of course, his kitchen in Birmingham is a bit more equipped than this one," she laughs.

    He makes his sister one of her favorite foods when she comes to stay with him?  That's ridiculously sweet and makes me fall for him even harder.

    "What are you two in here goin' on about?" Warrick says as he finishes buttoning his shirt.  His hair is still damp, which I love for some unknown reason. 

    "Oh, me and Milly were just talking about how awful you are," Rowan says and raises her eyebrows at me.  She's so animated and ever so likeable.  I almost feel silly for being so nervous to meet her.

    "I just discovered that you can cook," I say from the kitchen.

    "Never said I couldn't," he shoots back as if his fridge isn't perpetually empty except for beer and a few things here and there.

    He comes up behind me and wraps his hands around my waist and buries his face in my hair.  I love it when he does that.

    "So I see you've met my girl," he says to Rowan and I also love the sound of him calling me his "girl".

    "I have, and I told her all of the embarrassing stories about you growing up," she teases.

    "You haven't had nearly enough time for that," he says.