Page 73 of Singled Out
“Ha. I suggested some possibilities. Businessy ones, like find a manager for the studio. Turn the farmhouse into a bed-and-breakfast. He actually seemed to listen.”
“Interesting,” I said slowly, eyeing my future roommate. “It’d make an awesome B and B.” Ian just didn’t seem like the type to run one. But really, I didn’t know him at all. “You should come over before I move out and work on him some more. It sounds like you have influence.”
Dakota laughed. “I don’t know about influence, but I can bother him some more.”
“Sounds like you better bring those feminine wiles,” Cambria said as she finished tying one more ribbon. “You guys are the best. It would’ve taken me till midnight by myself. Now all I have to do is box them up and put the mailing label on.”
“We make a good team,” Dakota said. “And speaking of, we should probably talk about this business thing.”
Cambria eyed the ceiling before leaving her work on the table for a few hours. “Why don’t we sit on the porch. I’ve got snacks we can munch on while we talk. And more wine if we need it.”
“More wine is always a good option,” I said. That bubbling feeling was back in my gut, the mix of excitement and nerves.
“Come on, Jethro,” she said to the snoozing dog.
The three of us walked to the house. Cambria insisted we sit at the high-top table and let her bring the food out, so Dakota and I did exactly that with both dogs settling nearby.
“How was the picnic last night?” Dakota asked me once we were alone.
I’d forgotten I even mentioned I was going since it’d been last-minute.
“Typical teacher get-together,” I said nonchalantly. “Food from Henry’s, BYOB, a cutthroat volleyball game. No one got stupid drunk. No one did anything scandalous. It was over by eight.”
“Did you see Max?”
“Yep.” I took a drink of wine. I hated keeping a secret from her, but Max was her brother. She might’ve been the one who dared me to bid on him, but I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about us sleeping together—more than once. I wasn’t going to find out either, because Max and I agreed to tell no one.
Which was killing me more than a little.
“That’s all?” she asked. “Just yep?”
“Yep,” I repeated. “He was there with Danny. He hung out with the math teachers.”
“What about you?”
“I sat with Dorie Ludwig and her mom.”
The door opened, and Cambria carried a tray out with a cheese ball and crackers, summer sausage, and chocolate-covered nuts. Plus a bottle of chardonnay.
“You’re my kind of human,” I said as she slid the tray to the center of the table.
Not only did she have excellent taste in snacks, but she’d saved me from more questions about Max.
We emptied the moscato into our glasses as we filled our plates with food.
“So,” Cambria said as she slid onto her chair. “My mind has been going nonstop since Sunday. I feel like it wasn’t a coincidence that you two came along when I was mulling over how to pivot.”
“Maybe it was fate.” Dakota popped a chocolate almond in her mouth.
“I almost didn’t even look at the shop when I saw the square footage,” Cambria continued, “but being on the square…”
“You can’t beat that location,” I said.
“Exactly. So my mind was spinning the minute I saw it, coming up with possibilities. Then you two mentioned your jewelry and your ceramics.”
“We’d just been talking about how some of us regulars at the studio have quite a stash of our work because we don’t have a good way to sell it,” Dakota said.
“Let me tell you some of my ideas and see what you think.” Cambria had opened the chardonnay inside and poured some in our now-empty glasses. “Sorry for not washing those out first. Party foul.”