Rainy Day Friends Read online

  How was it noon already? But if she’d learned one thing at Capriotti Winery, it was that everyone, from the winemaker down to the last ranch hand in the fields, took lunch incredibly seriously. “I’ve got a lot I’m working on—”

  “I know. I also know by how you’re holding yourself that your neck and shoulders are sore, and I’d bet you my very last cork that you haven’t budged since you first sat down at your desk this morning.”

  Lanie sighed. “No, but—”

  “Come on. I’m not going to have you die of starvation on my watch. Besides, today’s Anna’s birthday and there will be extra family members to introduce you to.”

  Lanie had no idea who Anna was. For all she knew, Anna was the housekeeper. It didn’t matter. To Cora, everyone was family, and that word held a whole different definition here than it ever had to Lanie. She thought about resistance but knew it was futile. Cora, she’d learned, was soft and sweet on the outside, but tough as nails on the inside. She was a mom, a grandma, and a CEO of a multimillion-dollar corporation, and she had the spine and spark to prove it.

  Lanie stood up from her desk and stretched her aching bones. Cora was right—she’d been hyper-focused and hadn’t budged.

  Cora’s cell phone buzzed on her hip. She took the call and Lanie watched the good mood vanish from her face. “No can do,” she said. “But we can offer something else in Marcus’s place—” She listened politely, her eyes ice. “No, I realize that he’s quite the prize, believe me. I made him. He’s the king of all prizes and I’ll not see him auctioned off like a prime piece of USDA Choice. I will come up with something else and you won’t be disappointed.” She disconnected.

  “Problem?” Lanie asked.

  “That was the Wildstone Summer Festival chairwoman. It’s an annual event that raises money for the local women’s shelter, and we hold it out here on our property, donating the space, the wine, and the serving staff.”

  “That’s generous.”

  Cora shrugged. “It’s a good cause and it’s good publicity. It’s also on your list of things to do. We need logos for that as well. The problem is the auction. It raises a lot of money every year and I usually donate a few prizes. Last year I auctioned off a weekend working here at the winery.” She smiled. “Made a mint and got some extra labor for the weekend.”

  “Nice. And not seeing the problem,” Lanie said.

  “This year they want me to put Marcus up on the auction block, said he’d make another mint.”

  Lanie had a flash of Mark towering over her, his mouth at her ear whispering all the wickedly naughty things he planned to do to her. He’d kept his word too. Hell yeah, he’d bring in a mint.

  “You don’t agree?” asked a deep, unbearably familiar voice.

  She turned and yep, Mark stood in the doorway, propping up the jamb with a broad shoulder. He was smiling and her gaze went straight to his mouth, remembering exactly what it could do, and she felt heat rush to her face.

  And her good parts.

  His smile said he knew what she was thinking about, which didn’t help.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Cora said. “Because you’re not doing it. I won’t have it. We don’t abuse our own here.”

  “And yet you have your grandnieces working in the barn with their hands tied together.”

  Cora didn’t smile. “That’s different. You . . .”

  “What?” he asked.

  Lanie tried to slip out of the room, but Mark didn’t budge from the doorway.

  “You’re still adjusting to civilian life,” Cora said, softer now. “When you didn’t even want to be here.”

  Mark let out a breath. “Mom, you’ve got to stop saying that. If the girls hear you and—”

  “They’re playing outside.”

  Lanie tried to become invisible, but her superpowers failed her. She moved to the far side of her L-shaped desk and looked around for something to do with herself.

  “I think you’re holding back,” Cora told Mark. “Another reason I wasn’t about to let you be a part of this auction. That’s not how I want to push you back to the land of the living, though I do want you to be free to date.”

  “Not happening,” Mark said firmly.

  Lanie tried really hard not to let that bother her. She didn’t want to date either, so she had no idea what was wrong with her.

  “You can’t just shut off that part of your life,” Cora said. “You need companionship. Eventually you’re going to want to be in a relationship—”

  Lanie couldn’t quite catch Mark’s response to that, but whatever he muttered had Cora’s temper igniting.

  “I know you’re not about to tell me that you have no intention of falling in love again, because I raised you to be more sensible than that,” she said.

  He didn’t sigh, but he looked like he wanted to. “I’m going to do this on my own time, Mom. And not even you can rush me.”

  “But you are going to eventually do it?”

  His gaze flicked to Lanie. “We’re done with this conversation.”

  Cora threw up her hands. “Fine. Go. They need help setting the lunch tables. I’ll be right there.”

  Given the fact that she’d just ordered around the biggest alpha male Lanie had ever met, she was thinking it was pretty optimistic of Cora to expect Mark to actually go. Which was why she was surprised at the indulgent crinkle at the corners of his eyes and found herself actually floored when he turned and did as he was told.

  Cora was amused when Lanie just gaped at her. “How did you do that?” she asked. “That was like magic!”

  “No, honey, not magic. A man’ll do almost anything for a woman he loves, but it’s not the big gestures that mean the most. It’s the small ones, if you see what I’m saying.”

  “Like setting the table.”

  She smiled bright as the sun. “Yes, like the setting the table.” She took Lanie’s hand and squeezed it. “Don’t give up on him just yet.”

  “Oh. Um, I think you’re mistaken because Mark and I aren’t—”

  “You sure about that?”

  Lanie grimaced and zipped her mouth.

  Cora smiled and patted her on the arm. “You don’t owe me any explanations, honey. You’re both grown-ups.”

  “Then what was that about wanting him to feel free to date . . . ?”

  A smug light came into Cora’s gaze.

  “Oh,” Lanie breathed. “You just wanted confirmation that he and I . . .”

  Cora smiled.

  “You’re brilliant,” Lanie marveled. “And a little scary.”

  “I know,” Cora said.

  Lanie moved to the door and then stopped and turned back. “But really, there isn’t anything going on between us, at least nothing permanent.”

  “I understand. And it’s none of my business.”

  No, but Lanie wanted to make sure there was no mistake. “Neither of us are in a place for it. I’m only telling you this because I don’t want to get your hopes up. In my experience, hope is the first step toward disappointment.”

  “I understand,” Cora repeated gently, but she wasn’t looking discouraged in the slightest.

  Lanie left, hoping that Cora was human and not some sort of a secret guardian angel who granted wishes that were made in the deep dark of the night.

  Chapter 13

  When someone says “Don’t be anxious” and I’m miraculously cured. Not.

  Halfway through the next work week, Mark was in the middle of acting as a referee at a domestic disturbance call when he felt his personal cell phone vibrate in his pocket. Since his family knew to contact him during business hours only with an emergency, he itched to reach for it, but had to ignore it because of the trouble brewing in front of him.

  The wife had made the call on her husband, saying that she’d married an abusive asshole and needed help extracting him from her house. The husband had called immediately after, claiming that his soon-to-be ex-wife was threatening his manhood and life.

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