“Young people?” I asked. “How old do you think I am?”
“Old enough to refer to the college kids as young people,” he said.
“I know. Still, I don’t like it. I’m not even forty yet.”
“Might as well be a thousand,” Duncan said. “The good news is that means we can actually have a conversation with people who aren’t literal children.”
“Fair point. Maybe,” I said. “I don’t know.”
“Alright, well, if you want to join me, I’ll be down at Chandler’s until nine or so,” Duncan said. “My brother’s in town too, so he will be up there with me. It’ll be a fun time.”
“Alright, Duncan,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder. “I’ll give you a text if I’m going to make it.”
He waved as he walked away, and I headed toward the kitchen.
It was the first time I had even been near there in two weeks. It was too much to be around Ally when she brought my defenses down so easily. Considering that I felt like I had zero control of my urges when I was around her, I thought it was better to just avoid the whole thing completely, including the geography. When Derek had asked to speak to me a few days prior, I made him come to me in the tasting room.
But here I was, walking into the kitchen for the first time in two weeks. I sent him a text when I didn’t see him, and he shot me one back telling me he was busy right that moment but to wait for him. Sighing, I sat down on a stool near the cutting boards.
Derek was fussy when he got busy, and it wasn’t food-related. He probably was fussy when it was food-related too, I just hadn’t seen him in that element to know for sure. But I knew that when he got busy with something he didn’t want to be doing, he could be a bear to deal with. He expected the world to wait for him to be done, which was the case multiple times when we needed to go somewhere as kids and Derek wasn’t ready for one reason or another.
Sitting on the stool, I couldn’t help but occasionally glance at the stove. The last time I had seen it, Ally was bent over it, her sweet, supple ass in the air, her legs spread and her pants down at her knees. Just the thought of that moment made me uncomfortable in my seat, and I had to shift and hope that my hardening cock would calm down long enough for me to get through the conversation with my brother.
Finally, Derek came in, a cast iron pan in his hand, and he went right to the stove and turned it on. Before he even said anything to me, he poured some olive oil inside the pan and crossed the room to the onion rack, grabbing two and coming toward me at the cutting boards. He reached into his bag and took out a knife and finally seemed to recognize that I was in the room.
“Hey, Noah,” he said, as if I hadn’t just been waiting here the entire time.
“Hey, Derek,” I said. “You said you wanted to talk before I headed out.”
“Are you leaving already?” he asked, then pulled out his phone to look at the time. “Shit, it’s already five. Did you finish the tasting room?”
“I did,” I said, bristling a little. I didn’t like it when Derek acted like he was in charge of the entirety of the operation.
“Oh, good. So, you’re heading out early today. Cool,” he said.
“Is that a problem?” I asked, sensing it was. He shrugged.
“No, I suppose not,” he said. “You have your work to do, and I have mine. Your work is finished for the day, so why not head out?”
I nodded. Sometimes when Derek was being whiny, it was the only response that didn’t elicit arguments.
“Well, is there something you needed?” I asked.
“There are tons of things I need,” he said. “I need new shelves for one. There are simply not enough in here for me to have everything I am going to need.”
“That won’t be a problem. Duncan can figure out where to put some and get them up in a day. Two tops.”
“Well, what about the pizza oven?” he asked.
I blinked a few times.
“Pizza oven?” I asked.
“Yes, the pizza oven. The whole reason we have the giant empty spot over there next to the venting. We were going to replace the old conveyer oven they had with a pizza oven or build a brick oven. Remember?”
I shook my head. “Honestly, no. I don’t remember any of that.”
Derek sighed. “Of course.”
“Did you talk about that to Cameron?” I asked. “It seems like that would have been a big-ticket item. If he didn’t clear it, that’s why I wouldn’t know about it.”