All the while aware that he was out on her porch, with her dog and a picnic.
This could technically be classified as a date.
She sat heavily on the bed. No, it was a working lunch, that was all. A break from the craziness that had become The Cascade and testing out guest services. They could eat and still classify it as work. They could forge a truce of sorts. That was what Luca had said, right? That he wanted to be friends. She was torn. She wanted friends, she did. And yet the idea of getting close to people frightened her. She wished she were different. That she could leave the past where it belonged, behind her. That she could shed all the hurt and fear and live a normal life. Instead she tied herself into knots over the mere thought of being alone with her boss for a simple lunch.
Mari wasn’t prepared for the tumbling feeling in her belly when he came into a room. She’d spent so long on her own, focused on getting her life together that it was a new and unsettling experience. Bringing him here today wasn’t an accident. Knowing Tommy was with them—between them—would help. He was her reinforcement. Charlie would be waiting here, with the car. She would not be alone. And perhaps with this one lunch Mari and Luca could finally set a consistent tone. Perhaps they could come to some agreement on how to deal with each other during the coming weeks. He was right about that. They had to find a way to work together.
“Mari? Are you all right?”
She startled at the sound of his voice. She’d been woolgathering for several minutes, leaving him to his own devices on her verandah.
“Coming,” she called out, standing and smoothing her clothing. He hadn’t made this into anything other than lunch. It was Mari who was off balance. She either sniped at him or stared at him stupidly. It was her imagination running wild because he caused her temperature to rise a little bit each time he was around.
And because her temperature hadn’t risen in such a long time the novelty was jarring.
She met them back on the porch. “Let’s go. Tommy, come.”
The dog fell in step at her heels, while Luca carried the basket, and the black Cadillac rested down the hill from them.
She led him across the lane and up a small, single track path. Little traffic ventured along here, but she could always see her little cottage just below. The grass was drying, golden in the noontime light. When she reached the crest of the hill, she stopped, picked up a stick, and threw it a short distance for Tommy, who bounded off and then brought it back, tail wagging.
From the crest of the hill they could see down the valley. Her cottage and their car lay below them; the hollow was cradled by spruces and pines and the ever-present poplars and birches that were rapidly losing their plumage. The round leaves scattered everywhere, forming a golden carpet, while the air held the sharp tang of evergreen. “Is this okay?”
Luca put down the basket and reached inside for a blanket. “It’s perfect.”
She sat down on the blanket, throwing the stick for the dog again. “We won’t have many more days like this,” she murmured, feeling the sun warm her face. “I’m surprised it’s held on this long.”
“Then we must make the most of it.” He began unpacking the basket. “Tomato, bocconcini, and peppers, marinated lamb and minted potato salad, and I’m not telling you what’s for dessert because good girls eat their vegetables first.” He laid out real china and silverware along with their parcels and said, “If you’ll serve, Mari, I’ll pour the wine.”
For a few minutes they busied themselves with laying out the picnic. Mari sat with her legs crossed, arranging the meal on the plates. Already she could feel the stress of work ebbing away and filled with a newer, sweeter problem—the fact that she was, indeed, enjoying his company. She tilted her chin up to the sun, letting its warmth absorb into her sweater. She was glad to be here with him, sharing something as simple as a picnic on a fall day. But that was as far as it could go. She had to remember why she had come. To establish some sort of truce. Some sort of equilibrium between them. She wasn’t capable of anything more.
“Fresh air and good food does wonders for stress.” Luca’s voice came from beside her and she turned to look at him, squinting against the sun.
“This is one of those times I’m going to have to admit you’re right again.” She handed him his plate, smiling. “I didn’t realize how tense I was. I’ve been so focused on trying to get everything accomplished with the same number of hours in the day.”
Tommy had played himself out bounding through the grass and collapsed in a contented heap a few feet away. “I haven’t been doing this with him enough lately. I need to or he’s going to get fat and lazy.”
“Everyone needs down time like this. Outside, peace and quiet, something simple and restorative. It’s what I hope people find at The Cascade. A break from the…what’s the term…the rat race. Time to smell the roses. For some, this is a way of life.”
“For someone like you, you mean?”
He smiled and took a bite of bocconcini. “Someone like me?”
She gave him a significant look and he grinned. “Oh, you mean the idle rich.”
She took a drink of the mellow chardonnay, enjoying the light teasing between them. “I will concede that you are definitely not idle. You’ve proved that this last week.”
“You thought I was?”
She looked down over the valley. “Oh come on, the golden son of Fiori Resorts? I’ve read the magazines, you know. Life handed to you on a silver platter? Fancy cars and fast women…or is that fast cars and fancy women?” She couldn’t stop the teasing quiver of her mouth.
“Either way,” he admitted dryly.
“You’re incorrigible,” she giggled, leaning a little sideways and jostling his shoulder.
And sighed into her wine.
“Have I been pushing too hard, then?”