Prosecco and Peonies

by SJ McCoy

  Molly shrugged. “I don’t know what’s going to happen between us.”

  Laura nodded. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to be nosey.”

  “No, I’m not shutting you down. I’m being honest. I don’t know where we go from here—if anywhere. We talked this afternoon, we cleared some things up, but there’s still more we need to talk about. And even then, talking things through doesn’t just pave a new path to forever, does it?”

  “It could do if you want it to.”

  “Maybe. But there’s a lot to figure out first. We’re not the same people we were back then. Who knows if we’d even work together now.”

  Laura smiled. “There’s only one way to find out.”

  “I guess there is.”

  “Are you two coming?” Smoke came to join them and gave Laura a puzzled look.

  She reached up and planted a kiss on his lips. “We are. We were just getting to know each other better.”

  Smoke smiled at Molly. “Yeah, you probably should, if you’re going to be family.”

  Molly shuddered. “Whoa. Slow down there. First, we need to figure out if we can even be friends again.”

  Smoke smiled through pursed lips. “Antonio said the two of you looked pretty friendly when he came out to the cabin to find you.”

  Molly rolled her eyes. “Typical Antonio. He never could keep his mouth shut.”

  At that moment, Antonio appeared at her side. “Did I hear my name?”

  Molly gave him a dark look. “Yes, and I wasn’t saying anything good.”

  He gave her an apologetic look. “I don’t know what I did this time, but I assure you, it was only because I care. Now, are you guys coming outside, or are we having a separate party in here?”

  “We’re coming out,” said Laura. “Why don’t you boys go on ahead.”

  She and Molly watched as they made their way back out to the deck of the restaurant where the others were sitting with a group of friends who lived here.

  “If I were you, I would have gone back to the house with Marcos when he went to get changed—and I would have stayed there.”

  Molly laughed. “I thought about it, believe me. But this weekend is supposed to be about Cam and Piper and the wedding. It’s not supposed to be about me and Marcos. I don’t want to go off with him and not be here with everyone.”

  “I think everyone would understand if you did.”

  Molly shrugged. “I know they would. If I’m honest, I’m just making excuses about why I’m not jumping in with both feet and going off with him to find out where it leads.”

  “Why aren’t you?”

  “I’m scared. Part of me still doesn’t want to forgive him completely, even though I’m not sure there’s anything that needs to be forgiven. Part of me wants to forget the past and everything that happened and focus on today—and tomorrow. I’m all over the place. Antonio was right. I was all over Marcos this afternoon, and if Antonio hadn’t shown up, we probably would have ended up in bed.”

  “Is there any reason you shouldn’t?”

  Molly shrugged. “I can’t think of one. I want to. But then when we were together before I couldn’t think of a single reason why we couldn’t spend the rest of our lives together—not until it hit me like a ton of bricks.”

  They both looked up as Ben approached them. It made Molly conscious that they’d been standing inside here talking for quite a while now, ever since Laura had caught her on her way back from the ladies’ room. The others were all sitting outside, and they should probably go and join them.

  “Hi, ladies.”

  “Hey, Ben. Have you met Molly?”

  He nodded and smiled at her. “We met a few weeks ago when everyone came up to check out the venue.”

  “Of course, sorry.”

  Molly smiled at him. “I want to thank you. You didn’t need to put me in that cabin—and you certainly didn’t need to give it to me for free.”

  Ben shrugged. “I felt bad that you were separated from the wedding party, and the cabin wasn’t booked.”

  Laura chuckled. “You and your cabins.”

  Ben gave her an innocent smile and shrugged. “I’ll come out to join you all later, and Charlie will be here, too.”

  “Okay. We’ll see you out there,” said Laura.

  Molly followed her back outside to join the others. When she saw the crowd that was gathered together, she wished she had gone with Marcos to his house. That was an awful lot of people.

  Chelsea waved at her. “What took you so long? I ordered you a cosmo.”

  “It’s my fault,” said Laura. “I kept her talking.”

  Molly went and sat down on the end of the bench next to Chelsea. “Did you order food yet?”

  “No. We were waiting for Marcos—and you. I was starting to think he’d maybe come back and the two of you had eloped.”

  Molly scowled at Chelsea. “There won’t be any eloping.”

  Chelsea shrugged. “You know what I mean.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Marcos had to drive around the square twice before he found a spot to park—and it was only Thursday evening. He’d have to leave the car at the house over the weekend. He’d hesitated over bringing it tonight. He liked the idea of having a glass of wine, but the possibility that Molly might want to leave with him had made him choose to bring the car.

  As he walked across the square to the Boathouse restaurant, he checked out the deck. They were all there already. It was strange to see his two worlds combined; Jack and Pete and Nate and their wives and all their friends here, who’d become his friends over the last few weeks, were sitting with Antonio and Cameron and Chelsea and their partners. His heart raced when he spotted Molly sitting next to Chelsea. There were some beautiful women in that group, but none of them could hold a candle to his Molly. He sucked in a deep breath. His Molly? She’d been his, and he’d thrown it all away. If he was lucky, this was his second chance—and he didn’t intend to blow it.

  Instead of making his way out onto the deck to join them, he went in through the bar. It would give him a minute to gather his thoughts. He didn’t know how to handle tonight. He wanted to be with Molly. He wished he could take her and go, that the two of them could go have dinner someplace else—alone. But that wasn’t the point of this weekend. The only reason Molly was here was Cam and Piper’s wedding, and he was supposed to be joining in with all the wedding party arrangements, too.

  “Marcos.”

  He looked around, wondering who’d called him.

  “Behind the bar!”

  He smiled as that gave him the clue to recognize Kenzie’s voice.

  She was waving at him, beckoning him over and he went.

  “What the fuck are you doing turning up late?” she asked indignantly. “She’s already out there. And Laura pulled her aside to talk to her.”

  Marcos frowned. “To talk to her about what?”

  “I don’t know, I don’t lip read. But usually when two women go off to a quiet corner for a chat, one of them’s got something on their mind—and I know there’s nothing going on with Laura. You haven’t screwed it all up already, have you? I was getting worried when you didn’t come in with the rest of them.”

  Marcos smiled. Kenzie was brash, to say the least, but he liked having her in his corner. “No. I haven’t. We spent the afternoon together, and we had a good time.”

  Kenzie waggled her eyebrows. “Did you take my advice then? Give her the best sex she’s ever had?”

  He chuckled. “Not that part of your advice, no. It’s a little soon for that, but we did focus on having fun in the now instead of rehashing the past—mostly.”

  Kenzie rolled her eyes.

  “It’s okay. We talked about it and decided it’s better to just enjoy each other’s company for who we are now first—but she had some questions, and I wasn’t going to avoid them.”

  “Oh, okay. Sounds like you’re doing good. You’d bette
r get out there.”

  He laughed. “I was on my way, till you called me over.”

  “Yeah, sorry. Do you want a drink?”

  “I’ll take an orange juice.”

  “Still no wine?”

  “No. I’m driving.”

  Kenzie smiled. “Good man. You’ve got your chariot to whisk her away if the chance arises.”

  He nodded. “Something like that.”

  “There you are,” called Antonio as he approached the table. “I was starting to wonder what happened to you.”

  Marcos smiled. “I had trouble finding a place to park.”

  “You were lucky to find anything,” said Jack. “It’s crazy out there.”

  “It is, even more than usual for a Thursday.”

  “I thought it’d be quieter over here,” said Cameron. “There’s the wedding party and another big group over at the new lodge, but if anything, it’s busier here.”

  Marcos smiled. “That’s because the wedding party is all here.”

  “Not quite all,” said Chelsea. “Mom and Dad aren’t coming till morning and when do your folks get in?”

  “They’re coming with your mom and dad,” said Antonio. “I spoke to them a little while ago, and they decided to drive out to Napa and fly up with them rather than drive all the way out here.”

  Marcos nodded. He was looking forward to seeing his parents. He’d only been home for a couple of weekends in the last six months. Prior to that, he’d seem them almost daily.

  “Are you going to sit down?” asked Chelsea.

  Trust her to be the one to bring up the fact that he was still standing there, trying to figure out how he could get a seat close to Molly.

  Laura smiled up at him. “Take my place. I need to go inside and have a word with Kenzie.”

  “Thanks. I’ll move when you get back.” She got up, leaving the space next to Molly empty and he sat down beside her. He wasn’t sure how she was feeling about everything. Antonio showing up the way he had this afternoon had changed the course of their evening, he was sure. Up to that point, he would have guessed that they’d probably spend the night together. Antonio and his announcement that everyone was coming over here for dinner had changed that. Molly had seemed eager to join them, and he’d had to go back to the house to change. Now here they were, surrounded by more than a dozen people when all he wanted was to be alone with her again.

  She smiled at him. “Glad you could make it.”

  “I wouldn’t miss it.”

  Chelsea leaned across Molly and looked him in the eye. “Would the pair of you quit lying? Why don’t you be honest and get out of here?”

  To Marcos’ dismay, she spoke loudly while the rest of the conversations around them lulled. Everyone turned and looked at him and Molly.

  “What?” he asked of no one in particular.

  Cameron smiled at him. “For once, I agree with my little sister. Why don’t you? I didn’t expect everyone to get together tonight. I thought we’d all be doing our own thing.” He smiled at Piper. “We aren’t staying out late.”

  Marcos’ heart was pounding in his chest. Hadn’t he just been wishing that he and Molly could spend the evening alone together? He hadn’t expected it to be brought up so publicly, but still. He turned to look at her. Would she want to? Or would she be too embarrassed now?

  She shrugged and smiled at him. “Shall we?”

  He hoped that meant she wanted to. He nodded and got to his feet, offering her his hand.

  “I guess we’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

  Everyone nodded and smiled. Antonio held his gaze for a moment. His little brother had always been in his corner.

  He was grateful there were no jokes or comments as they walked away. Once they were out in the square, he finally dared to look at Molly. “Are you okay with this?”

  “I am. It was what I wanted, but …” She shrugged.

  “But what?”

  “I didn’t want to say so, and I didn’t want to not be there for Cam and Piper.”

  He smiled. “We’re still more alike in some ways than we want to admit. They were my reasons for being there, too.”

  He reached for her hand and raised an eyebrow.

  She took hold of his with a smile. “My only concern now is whether there’s anywhere else we can get something to eat. I’m hungry, and one of my reasons for wanting to come to the resort is that I love the food here.”

  He stopped walking. “Do you want to stay?”

  “No! I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “Okay. Good. Can I bring you here for breakfast tomorrow to make up for it?”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  “Lunch. I meant, lunch.”

  She chuckled. “That’s a definite yes, to lunch—and a maybe to breakfast.”

  He smiled and led her to his car. That was good—better than he’d hoped.

  ~ ~ ~

  Molly looked around. This place was much quieter than the Boathouse. She hoped that didn’t say anything about the quality of the food. She loved the décor. The place was called Giuseppe’s, and the outside courtyard was done up with trellises and ceramic urns to make it feel like Italy.

  “Have you been here before?” she asked.

  “Has this Sicilian checked out the Sicilian restaurant in the small town where he’s staying?” Marcos smiled. “It was the first place I came to eat. The food is amazing.”

  “Oh, of course. I didn’t think. So, what do you recommend?”

  “Everything on the menu is wonderful.” He stopped. “But if your tastes haven’t changed, you’ll love the Pasta alla Norma.”

  She smiled. “My taste hasn’t changed. I’ll have it. Though to this day, I’ve still never tasted as good as your mom’s.”

  Marcos closed his eyes for a moment as memories flooded his mind. He could see Molly sitting out on the terrace behind the big house at the winery in Napa. She used to come over to eat with them most weekends, and his mom always tried to feed her up … they’d been happy times.

  He was relieved when the server came out with their drinks. He’d ordered a bottle of prosecco because he knew she wouldn’t have it if she knew he was drinking orange juice. He’d have one glass with her and then switch. She used to love the stuff, and this afternoon it was evident she still did.

  Molly raised her glass to him. “I don’t know what I should say, what we should be drinking to, but I feel like I don’t want this moment to pass without a toast.”

  Marcos lifted his glass. “How about to new beginnings?”

  To his relief, she smiled. “That’s what I wanted to say, but I didn’t know if I should.”

  He tapped his glass against hers. “I understand that you have doubts, but I’m telling you here and now and forever. I’m yours if you want me.”

  She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly before chinking her glass against his. “Like you said, this is a new beginning. Nobody gets a guarantee from the beginning. Let’s give it a whirl, see where it takes us.”

  “I can’t ask for more than that. It’s more than I deserve.”

  She shook her head. “I still have questions about what happened, but I’m starting to feel like we were two different people then. We can learn from their mistakes, take the good they had going for them, and leave the rest behind.”

  Marcos raised his glass again. “I can happily drink to that.”

  The evening flew by. They talked and laughed. She still had the same sense of humor and the same quick wit. From what she said, it sounded like she’d made the restaurant into a big success. He’d been there a couple of times over the years when he’d been back to the States. It was true to its name—it was Molly’s. It had her stamp all over it. From the décor to the atmosphere. It was fun, a little quirky, always friendly and welcoming—and it ran like clockwork.

  She looked up as the server came with their check. “I was starting to think they’d for
gotten us.”

  Marcos took the check with a frown. “And I thought we were having a good time. Are you waiting to leave?”

  She laughed. “Relax, would you? I do this for a living, remember? So far, the food and the service here have been excellent. The last check on my list was whether they’d bring the bill out in a timely manner.”

  He gave her a sheepish grin. “Sorry. I should have known.”

  “You shouldn’t. Why would you remember? It’s been a long time.”

  He reached across the table and took hold of her hand. “It’s been way too long. But it wasn’t that I forgot, more that I’m nervous. I was worried that you don’t want to be here when I do. I’ve loved every moment of this evening. I haven’t forgotten a single thing about you, Molly. Everything you do, from the way you twirl your fork when you’re talking, to the way you bite your lip when you’re not sure what to say, it’s all imprinted on my heart. I’ve never forgotten. I never will. I love you.”

  She squeezed his hand and tears welled up in her eyes. “I haven’t forgotten you, either, Marcos. I couldn’t—no matter how hard I tried.”

  He nodded sadly. “I’m sorry, Molly.”

  She shook her head and squeezed his hand again. This time with a smile. “I know you are. I am too, but that’s the past, it’s behind us. I’m more interested in what the future might hold.”

  “You are?”

  She nodded. “I am. I’m scared, and I might take one step forward and two steps back, but yes.”

  “I’ll be beside you, every step of the way.”

  She laughed. “It might be quite a dance.”

  “I always loved dancing with you.”

  Chapter Six

  As they were walking back to the car, Molly stumbled. Marcos caught her arm and stopped her from falling.

  “Are you okay?”

  She chuckled. “I am, thanks to you.”

  “I told you I’d be beside you every step of the way.”

  She smiled. “Thanks.”

  When they reached the car, he unlocked it and held the door open for her. “Where to?”

  She looked up into his eyes, not knowing what she wanted. “What are my options?” she asked, deciding it was easier to put the pressure back on him.