by Reina Torres
Mira let herself relax, enjoying the sensation of his soft feathered head nuzzling against her jaw. "I think the feeling is mutual."
The duck gave a little involuntary shiver as Mira smoothed her fingers down his neck, and Shay gave her a curious look. "You need a pet."
Chapter Eight
Harvest preparations were in full swing when Frankie set the truck in park a stone's throw from the Santini house. She was the first one to slide out and took a big breath of air. It was a moment later that Lucinda and Chichi stepped out of the cab.
“No need to bail out, dear,” Lucinda chuckled at her niece, “we weren’t flying over Normandy.”
Shaking her head and taking another few steps away from the two, Frankie waved them off. “I don’t know which one of you bathed in garlic, but never again if you want me to drive you somewhere.”
“Hush, dear,” Chichi winked, “we were just trying out a new recipe.”
Frankie's normally angular form was in the full bloom of her pregnancy, not that anyone who knew her would dare to say anything of the kind to her face. Her sense of smell had apparently changed as well, making her extremely sensitive to certain scents. “Vampires in Europe are beginning to feel the effects!”
Before her aunt could tender her own comments, they were interrupted by the arrival of a flatbed from Tanner Construction rumbling up beside them. Jack and Teodoro hopped down from the cab a moment later. “Hello, ladies!”
Chichi grabbed Lucinda’s arm and grinned. “The entertainment is here.”
Teo paused with one glove on, the other dangling from his fingertips. “I’m sorry, what?”
Lucinda nodded and waved at him. “Continue on, we’ll just watch from here.”
Jack circled around to stand next to Teo, avoiding the expectant looks from the ladies. “You’ve been away.”
Tugging on his second glove, Teo leaned closer. “I take it that’s a good thing?”
“Men, especially single men, are the closest thing to live entertainment in St. Helena.” Loosening up the straps on the flatbed, Jack tossed them over to the other side of the truck. “So, just to be safe, keep your backside out of arm’s reach at all times.”
They each pulled a couple of sawhorses from the back of the truck and walked them over to the open field. As they passed the women, Teo switched over to the far side of Jack and he heard a few muttered comments as they walked by.
“Spoilsport.”
Setting down the first load, the two headed back to the truck, relieved to see the ladies heading for the house, herded along by Frankie Boudouin, or rather, Frankie DeLuca. “I feel like I’ve missed out on so much.”
Jack stopped at the side of the truck. “What do you mean?”
“Frankie and Nate?” Teo pulled two sawhorses onto his forearm. “I’m sure Nonna said something, but I must have just-”
“Let it go in one ear and out the other?” Jack loaded up his arms. “Trust me, sometimes it’s better that way.”
The two continued unloading. “I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that things changed while I was away,” he shrugged and felt the heavy weight of the wood on his arms, “It's not like things were going to freeze in time.”
That got a little laugh from Jack. “Something almost did.” He laughed off Teo's obvious confusion. “For a long time it looked like Abby and I were never going to get things right, but somehow she decided to give me a chance.”
The sawhorses tumbled onto the grass a few feet away from the other pile. ”Last I remember you took someone else to prom," Teo toed one of the sawhorses to keep it from slipping off the pile, "No, wait. It was homecoming and ... it was Kendra Abrahams." He saw the green cast of color that settled over Jack's face. "It's all coming back."
"Those are the things I'd wish everyone would forget. Abby breaks that one out every time I start to do something stupid."
Teo smiled. "But it works."
The satisfied smile on Jack's face told Teo he was right. "Hey, I heard about your microbrewery."
"Sunset Brew. We're doing well."
Tanner grinned at him as he wiped his forearm over his face. “You guys have certainly put in a lot of work, and done really well. You made a bunch of the ‘Best of’ lists in the Angeles Times. I should ask you what the chances are of opening something here.”
“It’s an idea,” Teo agreed, “at least we can look into a distribution deal with some of the places in town.”
Jack gave his friend a nod of approval. "Start with Sal down at The Spigot. I actually get invited there with Abby's brothers. It might help to keep them off of my back if I brought something interesting to the table."
Teo laughed at his old friend. "Sure, I'll get right on that as soon as-"
The side door of the house swung open, bouncing lightly off of the railing, turning both of their heads. Mira waved at them from the deck. “Need some help?”
Jack chuckled to himself as he watched his friend lose his train of thought. “I’ll understand if something distracts you.” He headed back to the truck and left Teo behind.
Mira stepped off of the deck and jogged over to Teo and the pile of sawhorses. “Hey.”
His hands itched to touch her hair, sweep it back over her shoulder and brush against the graceful line of her neck. Swallowing, he fought down the urge as best he could with more than half a dozen people standing around, and in true St. Helena tradition, watching them with great interest. “Hey.”
“When I showed up you were already out with Jack,” he hoped that was disappointment in her voice, “so now that you’re back, I just wanted to come out and say,” she offered him a little lopsided grin, “hey.”
Things hadn’t gone his way since she’d left him standing alone in the garden. He’d tried to get a few minutes with her, but it seemed like the whole world was conspiring against him. They’d spent time together, but always in a roomful of people. Velia and her friends, or Mira’s girlfriends appeared like magic any time he managed to stop by. Even now, they were toe to toe with each other and she was close enough to touch, but they had an audience and he had work to do. All he wanted was to get her alone somewhere he could lock the door and keep everyone away. “I’m really glad you’re here,” he tried to ignore the need that tightened his throat when he spoke to her. Wanting Mira was something that he couldn’t seem to control, it was instinctive, as easy as breathing.
Oh my god.
Mira let out a long breath and she struggled to come up with coherent answers to their little innocuous conversation. She was pretty sure her comments made sense, but she was finding it near impossible to concentrate standing in front of a man so good looking that he sent blood rushing to all the best and mostly inappropriate places in her body. His lips parted slightly in a smile, and he rubbed the pad of his thumb over his bottom lip in an unconscious gesture that made the cool fall air rush over her skin like the hot breath of summer.
When it became impossible to stand there and not touch him, she tried to find a way to leave without making a complete idiot of herself. “Okay, well, I'm going to go back inside and help... with the food.”
As she started to turn, his hand closed on her arm. “Mira?”
Her body was going to melt against his heat. “Yeah?”
“I know you feel it too,” and he was right, her skin fairly vibrated from his touch. If she didn’t move away from him sometime soon, that vibration was going to migrate a little further south and really muck up her plans.
If anyone had asked her before that day, if it was possible to be ecstatic and completely freaked out at the same time, she would have laughed in their faces, but standing there with Teodoro Santini turning her into a puddle of goo with six words she knew it was the truth. “I shouldn’t-”
“Don't,” he brushed his thumb gently against her skin and she lost the ability to move anywhere else but closer to him, “please don't argue with me, Mira. Whatever reasons you have that we shouldn't, I have just as many reasons why we should.”
> Her lips betrayed her by smiling.
He continued on, which was fine because she couldn't say anything. “When the prep work is done, I'm taking you somewhere quiet and you can argue with me all you want then.” She nodded, finding it so very easy to dig herself in deeper when he was looking at her with those amazing eyes. “But I warn you, I argue dirty, but you might get in a few words between kisses.”
Jack mumbled an apology as he walked by with another armload of sawhorses and Mira started in response.
Teo let out a sigh at Jack’s interruption. “I should get back to work before he shows me up like he did back in high school football.”
“Okay,” she looked down as he took his hand away from her arm, silently wishing for its return, “I'll see you later.” By the time she reached the door, all the ladies were standing just inside, ready to pounce on her with a ton of excited questions.
Teo spared a glance over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of Mira’s denim clad backside as she stepped onto the deck and took an elbow in the side from Jack for his trouble. “Hey.”
“Keep your head in the game, Santini.”
The gruff retort brought them both back to their days on the football team. “I know what I’m doing, don’t worry about me.”
Jack nodded and reached for a plank. “Sure. I seem to remember you under a pile or two in the old days.” They lowered the plank between them and started walking. “I don’t see any scars on you. So I guess you did okay.”
“Well, my ego took a beating or two.” Teo swung to the right so that they could lower the plank onto two sawhorses that Jack set up in the yard. “You were the star. Even back then, everyone on the team knew you were going pro. We just wanted to get you there.”
Jack looked away and smiled. "I’m right where I want to be, married and working for myself. It gives me time to help out old friends.”
They stopped beside the truck, and a loud rumble of sound drew their attention to the road where a building cloud of dust rose up above the olive trees.
A flatbed truck rolled by first with a large red and orange sign affixed to its grill and a bright yellow ‘WIDE LOAD’ sign beneath it. One after another went by, four harvesting machines in total. Jack watched the chaotic procession. “What’s all that?”
Teo lifted the hem of his pullover and wiped the sweat from his face. “Probably MacPherson’s up the road. Last I heard, he grows about eight times what we do. He’s got the cash to rent the big machines.” The final vehicle brought up the rear, another flatbed with hazard lights flashing out a dull tattoo through the dust.
“If you could,” Jack turned toward him, “would you use them?”
Shaking his head, Teo turned back to the truck and reached up for the plank. “Nonna worries about the trees and I can’t say I blame her, those machines shake pretty hard, but I think she enjoys our hand-picked tradition. Now that we're having people over to help, she’s really enjoying it. I don’t think I’d ever change it to machines unless we really had no other way. My grandparents lived for this kind of thing,” he looked back at the house and they could see the ladies in the kitchen laughing as they bustled around. “Honestly, so do I.”
The next morning started bright and early, with parents and carpools dropping off what seemed to be a legion of high school students. Thanks to Velia and her friends, the teens were quickly divided up into groups for the harvest. Abby and Mira were busy handing out rakes and drop cloths as the groups filed by. Even Frankie joined in the fun, directing the troops to their designated zones with a map marked off with color areas coordinated with the ribbons marking the rows. Nate hovered nearby, and tried not to get in the way.
It could have been a horribly monotonous activity, except for the inherent teenage drama that was unfolding in front of them. Two of the boys made a show of flexing their muscles as they scooped up armfuls of the heavy drop cloths, turning one way and then the other to give the girls the best angle. They dropped them beside Mira with enough force to send up small puffs of dust. Abby knelt down and barely held in her laughter as she picked one from the pile and gave it to the next boy in line.
Mira covered her mouth with her hand as her shoulders shook with laughter. “Are they even trying to be subtle?”
“I don’t know,” Abby handed another cloth to one of the younger boys and he turned to look at Mira as he moved away. “But you’re developing quite the fan club.
“Very funny, Abby."
Mira picked up a couple of rakes and handed them to the young men that were next in line. They were twins by the look of it, young and gangly, and they had energy that rolled off of them in waves. “There you go, guys.”
“Thanks, Miss C,” they replied in unison before one elbowed the other and dodged an answering shove from his brother.
“Hey!”
As they dashed off, Abby gave Mira a knowing look. “See?”
Shaking her head, Mira pointed after the young men who nearly knocked each other to the ground when they caught sight of Abby’s husband, Jack “Hard Hammer” Tanner talking with Teo by the head of a row. “Now that," she laughed, "is hero worship!”
Abby shrugged. “I think you have a hero of your own who might want to do a little bit of worshipping, if only you'd let him.” Mira's blush did little to stop Abby. “Word around St. Helena spreads quickly, and I hear Teodoro snuck away with you after set up was finished yesterday.”
Mira's cheeks flooded with color. When Teodoro had walked her home the evening before, dusk was quickly turning into night, and by the time he’d left for home, her lips were swollen with his kisses and her heart had been pushed to its limits. She couldn’t remember how many times she’d tried to explain her hesitation and her past, but instead of letting her stumble through an explanation, he’d smoothed over her hesitations with gentle hands and extremely persuasive lips. Abby gave her a nudge with her elbow to bring Mira back to the present and give out the last few rakes in the pile.
Once the equipment was handed out and the workers divided down the rows of the grove, it was a simple matter of controlled chaos. Led by Teo, while his Nonna watched with unabashed pride, the teams of eager teens went to work.
Drop cloths fanned out under the trees, gaps closed around the trunks, and edges overlapped. The taller volunteers stepped in with their rakes, combing the thick tines through the branches. They separated the olives from the stems, raining them down onto the cloths.
Things moved quickly, each group eager to finish their rows. The younger boys and some of the girls worked on the lower branches until each tree had been cleaned of ripe olives. Then, it was all hands on deck. The cloths were picked up at their edges and whole groups of teens laughed and bumped into each other as they carried the heavy loads to long tables where the adults waited to sort.
Mira sat between Velia and Abby, her sides hurting from laughter as they quickly picked through the olives. Grapes and olives were similar in shape, but that was about all they had in common when it came to harvest, but whether they were vineyard born or not, it was the sense of community that brought them together. Across the table, Francesca DeLuca had finally taken a chair, nearly against her will. Mira found herself drawn to the woman whose sharp wit and pointed comments kept everyone on their toes, especially her husband, Nate, who finally had a chance to relax. Frankie may have griped about the change in her duties, but she was having her own brand of fun, making the women around her laugh with abandon and her husband beam with pride.
When the last drop cloth was emptied into the bins, the teens gathered around the coolers and downed a crazy amount of lemonade, iced tea, and cold water as they readied themselves for the last two parts of the day, the touch football game and lunch.
“Miss C,” Hank Blevins walked up to the table, smoothing his palms on the bottom of his t-shirt, “the guys were wondering if you’d like to come and play.” The young man’s face colored with embarrassment as his friends jostled him with playful shoves. “You know, in the foot
ball game?”
Mira’s first instinct was to beg off. She knew they would be hungry after horsing around and the harvest. “I need to help the others bring out the lunch. You boys go on and play.”
That got another round of smothered laughter from the group. “We’re not boys.” This time it was Alex Prather, another high school player. “Besides, we'll make sure that you have some fun.”
She waffled at the thought. She’d never been much for sports, but she’d heard so many stories about the old games she really wanted to join in. “I really shouldn’t, there’s so much to do.” A gentle hand touched her elbow and she turned.
Velia gave her a wink. “Go, play. I have more than enough help.” Priscilla Moreau and Chichi DeLuca set down some covered platters and nodded their encouragement as Lucinda arrived with another in hand.
Priscilla batted at a curious hand that tried to lift one of the covers. “Just get these boys away from the food, before I have to get out my spoon.”
A few of boys stepped back on instinct, but Hank and Alex waited expectantly for Mira’s answer.
Velia added in another push of her own. “If you don’t, I’ll have to join in and show these boys a thing or two, and you know what Doctor Drew said about my hip.”
“Okay, fine!” She gave in with a laugh, turning to the boys. “You’ll have to explain the rules to me. I know the bare basics, but that’s about it.”
Teo was busy organizing his team and trying to remember which Carter twin was Max and which one was Mark. “They have size on us,” Teo explained, “but I know you’re fast, Mark.”
“I’m Max,” the boy’s long blond bangs fell haphazardly into his eyes.
“Max, sure,” Teo winced at his mistake, “sorry.”
“S'okay,” the boy sighed, “it always happens.”
His brother nodded and added in his own comments. “Anyway, the trick is keeping away from them so they don’t tackle us.”
A few of the other boys groaned at the thought. Most of them were sophomores with a few juniors sprinkled in by chance. The other team was loaded with seniors who had a lot of experience.
