“Zoe.” Her voice was exasperated.
I laughed. “Just try. I think you’ll find Margo and Simon might just want to come out. At least if my conversation with Ian is anything to go by. And Aunt Laverne misses the girls.”
“No promises.”
I knew it was as good as done. Grandbabies always trumped personal strife. “I love you, LeeLee.” We were a loving family, but we didn’t really fling around the L-word. It was more of a gesture thing.
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye as I ended the call. I turned to find Ian giving me a bright smile. He’d probably listened to the whole thing.
“How long were you there, Mr. Eavesdropper?”
“Long enough.” He came in the room and sat on the ottoman in front of me. “Still hates me, huh?”
I leaned forward and tugged him down for a kiss. “Only thing that matters is I don’t.”
“That’s very true.” He grinned against my mouth. “I don’t want to cause strife between your family, Magic.”
“Well, we can’t control that. All we can do is move forward.”
“And we will. Right after we go see your gallery owner.”
I dropped my head against his chest. “Do we have to?”
“Yes. Everyone needs to see your amazing paintings. As beautiful as they are in the barn, they should be shared.”
I blew out a breath. “You’re right.”
“I am?” He cupped the back of my neck. “I mean, of course I am.”
I kissed him one last time. “All right. Let’s go do this.”
“Do we have to pack up your paintings or something?”
“I have one in the back of Beckett’s truck and the rest in a digital portfolio.”
“You’re going to change, right?”
I glanced down at my shorts and top. “Good point.”
He slid his arm around my shoulders and drew me out of the chair. “Let’s get you all artsied up, love.”
I was afraid what that meant, but I’d hitched my wagon to his crazy. I had to trust him. “Lead the way.”
Twenty-Seven
The next few weeks were a whirlwind of work. Harvest was always a busy time in the orchard. We had a lot of seasonal help that came in just to help with the orchard itself. Hayes had been brewing his moonshine every spare moment to see if he could drum up some interest with the influx of people coming for the small festival.
Well, not so small.
Ian had been working incessantly to help build the small stage outside the distillery. Which meant people were forever coming and going from the barn. Everyone wanted to stop by and chat, so of course I got almost no work done until the wee hours of the morning and then the hammering started at five in the damn morning because that was when the sun freaking came up.
Needless to say, I was a little grouchy.
Ian?
Nope. He was the eternal spinning top of happiness because he was in the thick of it all.
I was also grouchy because I couldn’t get a moment alone with him. We were finally back together and he was forever being pulled away.