All's Fair in Love and Wine by Michele Dunaway

Author:Michele Dunaway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-01-04T18:37:15+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Jack had eaten at some of the finest establishments in the world. His work owning hotels, restaurants, wineries and so forth required it. For grins, he was halfway through visiting the top Michelin star restaurants in the United States. He’d seen food plated so beautifully and cooked so expertly his mouth watered before he’d even lifted a fork.

All those meals paled compared with the simple, flavorful, home-cooked meal Sierra’s mom placed in front of him. On a dining room table set with mismatched colors of Fiesta dinner plates, he served himself multiple slices of succulent meat loaf, a heap of mashed potatoes that were so light and fluffy they melted in his mouth and a juicy cob of late summer corn. Mrs. James added hot brown gravy, fresh-baked bread with butter and homemade applesauce. By the end of the meal, he could do with unfastening the top button of his pants, he’d eaten so well. And how could he resist cobbler topped with homemade vanilla bean ice cream?

“Thank you again,” he said, his empty plate a badge of honor. “This has been exceptional. You could expand your cookie business and open a restaurant, this meal was so good.”

“I’d blush but I’m too old. But I’ll take the flattery.” Sierra’s mom laughed and waved off Jack’s offer to help clear the table of dishes. “I’ve got this.” She gave Sierra a pointed look. “Sierra, you should show him the fairy garden.”

Jack’s brow wrinkled. “Fairy garden?”

Sierra stood, neither unhappy nor happy. She gestured. “This way.”

Jack followed her from the table. Whatever this garden was, it would give him a chance to speak with her before he left. Sierra removed a sweater from a hook by the screen door before leading him outside. The night was cool and crisp. “Where we’re going isn’t really a fairy garden, but a part of the flower garden that gets illuminated. It’s easier to see than explain. Not sure why she wants me to show you this, but I’m not answering to her if I don’t.”

She led him down a stone path and toward a thick line of arborvitae. They went through a small gap between two of the trees, and once through, entered a small clearing.

“This is my mom’s folly.” Sierra went to a metal pole about waist high. At the top was a standard outdoor electrical box. She opened the cover plate, pressed a button and immediately hundreds of tiny white Christmas-style lights lit the space.

The fairy lights revealed four curved concrete benches. They surrounded a ten-foot-diameter pond edged with natural stones. Orange koi fish swam in the darker water. Behind one of the benches, set off a way, was a wooden swing. “What a great space,” Jack complimented.

“Thanks. Dad has his garage, the boys had the pond, and my mom claimed this. She comes out here to think and get away from everything, and I’ve started doing the same since I got back. It’s peaceful.”

“It’s beautiful.” Deep forest air filled his lungs as he broached the subject of her dad.

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