“If you break one, I’ll make you a new one.” I walk to her and brush a tear off her cheek. “Ah, darling, what’s this about?”
“I feel awful. I was just yelling at you, and then you turn around and give me the most beautiful gift. I’ve longed for a piece of your glass, and you gave it to me. For my kitchen.”
“Maybe I should have made you something more personal.”
“This is as personal as it gets for me.” She sighs and reaches out to pet the other bowl. “And the colors are just lovely.”
“Are you going to put it down so I can hug you now?”
“Not yet. You made this.”
I grin, completely taken with her, and brush another tear away. “I can’t hug you properly with the glass between us, Anastasia.”
“I’m sorry I was mad at you,” she says as she carefully sets the bowl on the table and turns to me.
“No, you’ve a right to be, even if I was quiet because I was making something for you.” I tug her into my arms and kiss the top of her head. “I lose time when I’m in the barn, Anastasia.”
“I know. I do the same in my kitchen. But it has been a few days without a word, and at the risk of sounding desperate, I wanted to talk to you about this thing today with my family.”
“I’m sorry. Honestly, I am, and I will do better with the phone. It doesn’t help that we have an hour between our homes, so it’s not as if you can just casually stop by.”
“Exactly. And you wouldn’t have wanted me to because I was fantasizing about punching you in the nose.”
“You’re quite violent, darling.” I kiss her forehead again, and this time, she doesn’t push me away. “Tell me about your family thing today.”
“It’s just a barbeque, but most of the family will be there, and I was going to invite you.”
“Am I still invited, then?”
She smiles. “You’re always invited.”
“Then I’d enjoy it very much.”
“Maybe. You haven’t met all my cousins yet.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior.”
She smiles, and just like that, everything is set to rights again.
“Now that we’ve had our first fight, shouldn’t we have the make-up sex that goes along with it?”
Anastasia laughs and passes me the cake she had in her arms earlier. “Not right now. We’re late.”
“Raincheck then.”Chapter Nine~Anastasia~“You know Mark,” I say, gesturing to Mark Williams, the contractor that worked on my building and Kane’s house.
“Of course,” Kane says, shaking Mark’s hand. “How’s it going, mate?”
“Business is good,” Mark says with a smile and then smoothly picks up the child that attached himself to Mark’s leg. “This is Hudson. He’s two, so he’s basically a monster.”
“Rawr,” Hudson says, making us laugh.
Steven and Gail’s back yard is bursting at the seams with people. I remember back when we were kids, this yard seemed huge to me. It is a good-sized space, but with this many people in it, it feels much smaller than it is.
Steven loves to garden. Rose bushes and fruit trees are his favorites, and he has paths that twist through the foliage with benches here and there to sit and enjoy the fruits of his labor.
About six men, including my brother and his bestie, our cousin Will, are huddled around the barbeque, handling it like they were born to cook meat on an open fire.
“He’s hot.” I turn to see Brynna standing next to me with a glass of something pink held out for me. “Margarita?”
“Yum.” I take a sip and follow her gaze to Kane, who’s currently chatting it up with Mark and his brother, Luke. Yes, Luke Williams, the Hollywood producer. “Thanks.”
“So, spill it. How did you meet Kane O’Callaghan, the elusive, super-famous glassblower?”
“You know him, then?” I grin as I take a sip of my drink, still watching the men. I mean, it’s hard to not watch them. They’re prime specimens of the species.
The hot factor at this party is ridiculous.
“Come on, Stasia. Everyone in the modern world has seen his pieces. So, spill it, right now.”
“You’re bossy, Bryn.” I laugh and then shrug a shoulder. “I was sitting in his museum one day, just looking for inspiration. And he found me there. Started talking to me.”
“Was it love at first sight?” Nic asks, joining us. I blink rapidly. I haven’t admitted to myself that I love him yet. Surely, I don’t look in love.
“No, he was a jerk, actually.”
“Thank you, darling.”
I whirl at his voice and then laugh before rising up on my toes to kiss his smooth cheek. Damn, he smells good. I don’t know what the cologne is that he wears, but it does things to me. And the fact that it doesn’t set off my asthma is a huge bonus.
“Well, you were,” I say and pass him my drink to share. “But he made up for it.”