Juliette followed her hostess down the hall and into a large open kitchen. Light gray cabinets occupied one of the walls while two large sliding glass doors led out to a massive deck. Several barstools were positioned near a portion of the counter. A table set for five was near the glass doors, allowing diners to eat while enjoying the view of the lake. Other than some small potted plants on the windowsill over the sink, there were no personal touches or pictures in the room.
“Can I get you a drink? I was going to open some wine, but if you’d rather have something else, I made some iced tea earlier. I can also make you a cup of coffee.”
Unsure of what to do with herself, Juliette pulled out a barstool and sat. “Whatever you’re having is fine.”
Candace removed a box of wine from the small built-in wine fridge, a feature Juliette didn’t think was original to the house. After pouring two glasses, she handed Juliette one before taking a sip of hers. “I expect my mom and Tiegan any second. After school today, Tiegan went over there to work on a school project. Mom’s the arts and crafts guru of the family.”
Well, that explained the absence of two people but unfortunately not the one she was most interested in seeing tonight.
“I used to hate school projects.” She’d always preferred exams and quizzes to projects that required hours upon hours of work.
“Me too. Tiegan’s teacher loves them. She seems to have one every other week. Personally, I think she gives so many because they’re easy to grade.”
Juliette had never thought about it, but Candace made a good point. A visual project that the teacher could look over and compare to a rubric might be quicker to grade than a stack of tests.
“Are you enjoying your stay?”
She eyed the wine in her glass. Wine didn’t belong in a box or can. It belonged in a bottle. Now that she had some, though, she had no other choice but to drink it. “It’s been very relaxing.” She sipped her drink, expecting it to be the worst thing she’d ever tasted. “Mmm, that’s good.” The words left her lips before she could stop them.
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Candace nodded as she moved toward the oven. “When a friend of mine told me she loved this brand, I was skeptical because wine in a box didn’t seem right. But now it’s one of my favorites.”
From down the hall, she heard a door open and then close. Soon after, Tiegan and Mrs. Wright entered the room. Neither wore any shoes, and water dripped down their faces.
Should she have taken her shoes off when she came in? She never removed them at home, and it honestly hadn’t occurred to her to do so now. She glanced over at Candace’s feet. Unlike her daughter, the woman had on sneakers. Maybe the recent arrivals had removed theirs because, much like their hair, they’d gotten wet on the walk over.
“Nana and I finished my project. The paint just needs to dry.” Tiegan headed straight for the refrigerator and pulled out a gallon of milk.
Candace cleared her throat and looked in her daughter’s direction. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”
The young girl paused with one hand on a glass in the cabinet and smiled in Juliette’s direction. “Hi.” She then removed the glass and filled it with milk. “I’m hungry. Is supper almost done?”
“As soon as your uncle gets here, we can eat.”
Tiegan didn’t need to hear anything else. “I’ll go tell him it’s time to eat.”
“I’m glad you’re joining us tonight,” Mrs. Wright said as she poured half a glass of wine. “Are you having any issues down at the cottage?”
The heating system could be more efficient, but that didn’t qualify as an issue. “No, everything’s been great, Mrs. Wright.”
The older woman patted Juliette’s arm. “We’re all adults. Please call me Maggie.” She accepted the bowl of roasted potatoes her daughter held out. After setting them on the table, she removed a large garden salad from the refrigerator. “Do you need anything? I’m heading to the grocery store tomorrow anyway.”
Tiegan’s voice traveled into the room, announcing her arrival. Juliette resisted the urge to turn around. Perhaps over the past twenty-four hours, her mind had embellished her memory of him. Maybe she’d turn around and find he was about as good looking as Mr. Yates, her chemistry teacher junior year. While the man knew the subject well, he hadn’t been blessed in the looks department. In fact, he’d always reminded her of a troll from some fairy tale.
Rather than turn and stare—she despised when people did that to her—she reached for her wineglass. “Nope. Mrs. Lambert made sure I had enough to supply a small army.”
Unlike his niece, who’d entered the room without even a glance in her direction earlier, Aaron stopped next to the counter. “It’s nice to see you again.”
She wouldn’t call his tone friendly, but rather polite. The type you might use when you’re seventeen and your parents are introducing you to one of their business acquaintances, but all you want to do is escape out the door so that you can spend time with friends. And she would know. She’d used the same tone more times than she remembered.
“Hi, Mom.” He gave Maggie a quick hug before pouring himself a glass of wine. “Can I do anything, Candace?” Turning, Aaron leaned against the counter.
Nope, her mind had not done any embellishing. As Holly had said during their conversation, the man was panty-melting hot. And his voice melted any other piece of clothing a woman might be wearing. Later tonight, when the man in question wasn’t standing in front of her, she’d reassess her earlier opinion that getting involved with someone up here was a bad idea. Because at the moment, getting better acquainted with the man across from her in a variety of ways seemed like a phenomenal idea.
Aaron’s sister collected her wineglass and the platter of meat she’d carved. “Nope. Everything is ready.”
They’d never formally developed a seating plan, but over the last seven months, they’d all adopted an assigned spot at the table. Tonight wasn’t any different, which meant his niece sat on one side of him, his mom sat on the other, and Juliette, their guest of honor, sat across from him. Much of the day, Aaron had expected to hear she’d decided to bail on dinner tonight. Rather than cancel, she’d showed up right on time. And he knew she’d arrived on time because he’d seen her car approaching the house from his office window.