Year of Living Blonde (Sweet Life in Seattle, Book 1) (35 page)

She sees his handsome face. And then her eyes widen—standing right next to him is a little girl with long, dark, curly hair and the same set of perfect features as Anthony.

“Sorry we’re late,” Anthony says. He can see Natalie is in a state when she opens the door, but also that she recovers quickly. “This is my daughter, Serena.” He introduces the two of them.

“Hi, Serena, it’s nice to meet you.” Natalie invites them both inside.

Serena is carrying the dish of vermicelli they picked up at Whole Foods, while he’s carrying a bottle of wine. Natalie leads them both into the dining room where coats are taken and more introductions are made. Anthony says a quick hello to everyone.

“The other girls are all playing board games in the family room,” Natalie tells Serena. “Do you want to make a plate of food and then you can join them?”

“My dad said the food is all vegetarian?”

“That’s right. My daughter, Chloe, is a vegetarian.”

“Okay, that’s cool.”

Anthony gets a plate for Serena. He can tell he’s still getting the cold shoulder from Natalie and some groveling will be required. After helping Serena get food, they both follow Natalie into the other room, where the girls are sitting on the floor gathered around a large square coffee table. They look up when the three of them enter the room.

“Chloe, this is Serena,” Natalie says to a blonde girl. “Can you guys make room for her? I’m guessing she might like to join your game.”

Chloe scoots over. “She can sit next to me.”

He sees Chloe look back over at him. “Are you my mom’s friend that pulled out Excalibur?”

“Yes, I am.”

The girls all turn to stare at him and he smiles politely.

Serena takes her plate over and sits beside Chloe. Immediately, Serena asks her about being a vegetarian and the two are off on a discussion. Anthony also notices with relief that the girls are playing Settlers of Catan—one of Serena’s favorite games.

“I’ll just be in the other room,” he tells her.

Serena turns to him and nods, but he can see that she’s already preoccupied.

“That was easy,” Anthony says to Natalie once they leave the room. “I wasn’t sure what to expect.”

Natalie doesn’t respond

“Look, I’m sorry we’re late, but as you can see, I had extenuating circumstances and I almost didn’t come at all.”

“I’m glad you brought your daughter and I’m glad you came, but why didn’t you let me know you were going to be so late?”

Anthony stops walking and grabs her hand. They’re alone in the hallway. “Is there somewhere we can go talk?”

Natalie hesitates, but then leads him toward another door and they go into a room with a large desk and big leather chair. The walls are bare with discolored patches where pictures once hung.

“My ex-husband’s study. I haven’t had time to get rid of the desk and chair yet.”

“Maybe we could talk in your bedroom?”

Natalie snorts.

“How will I be able to climb through your window at night if I don’t know which one it is?”

There’s a smile playing on the corners of her mouth, but then she turns her head away.

Instead of explaining anything, Anthony decides to wait her out. It’s not like he had much control over the situation here. Nicole called him at the last minute telling him to pick up Serena.

“This probably isn’t going to work between us,” Natalie finally says.

Now it’s Anthony’s turn to snort. “You’re kidding, right?”

Natalie tosses her head. “No, I’m not. This is just some casual thing anyway, so what do you care?”

“I care.” Anthony’s jaw tightens.

He watches as Natalie’s fingers trace over the smooth stone on the necklace she’s wearing. She studies it. “Tell me what we’re doing here. I don’t think I’m clear on it anymore.”

Anthony takes time with his response and in the end decides to keep it simple. “I like you. And I know you just got out of a marriage and I’m probably an idiot for wanting to get involved with you, but I still do.”

She looks up. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Is this still casual then?”

“Natalie, I think we left casual behind on that Ferris wheel, don’t you?”

She bites her lip as she considers his words. Finally, she nods. “It feels different to me, too. That’s why I was upset when you were so late.”

“Look, I would have let you know, but I didn’t have my phone. I left it on my desk at work.” Anthony rolls his eyes. “It’s been a comedy of errors all afternoon, plus I’ve been ambushed every single day this week.”

“Ambushed? By who?”

“Never mind. It’s a long story.” He reaches out for her hand again. “And very boring.”

“I want to hear all your stories, even the boring ones. I feel as if I hardly know anything about you.”

“Come here,” Anthony says, pulling her toward him. She rests her head against his chest. Anthony sticks his face in her hair. She smells good. Like vanilla, but also some kind of coconut shampoo.

“I’m on to you,” she says into his chest. “All your clever deflections. They don’t fool me.”

He grins to himself. It figures nothing would get past Natalie.

Her body feels soft pressed into his and if circumstances were different and they weren’t in a house full of people, he’d find that bedroom of hers and make damn good use of it.

When they head back out to join the others, Anthony immediately goes over to talk to Graham. They stand off to the side of the kitchen.

“Before you say anything, I was up in Bellingham on business all week and had to get a new phone,” Graham tells him.

“You haven’t mentioned anything to Blair about how I’m leasing that space, have you?”

“No, I got your messages before I saw her. You realize she and Natalie are going to figure it out, though.”

“Look, I’ve been thinking. Can I cancel the lease with the new tenants?”

Graham balks. “What? No, you can’t. It would take months and cost you a fortune. Plus, you’d need a reason and you don’t have one. That’s a terrible idea.”

Shit.

“All that money has already been deposited in your account,” Graham continues. “You signed a year’s lease with them.”

Anthony thinks it over. “What if I just gave them their money back?”

“Then they’d sue you for breach of contract and they’d win. You don’t want to go there, trust me.”

Anthony’s gaze travels the room and touches on Natalie. She’s joking with her sister and Blair about something.
I am so screwed.

Graham shrugs. “Just tell Natalie the truth. She’ll no doubt be pissed, but it’s not like you didn’t give them a chance.”

Anthony knows this is true. It’s been months and from all the numbers he’s seen, the bakery can’t afford to take over that second space. At this point, it would be a huge mistake for them. On the other hand, he doesn’t want to ruin things with Natalie.

“All right, I need to explain it to her myself though.”

Graham shrugs. “Whatever. I’m your lawyer, so I won’t say anything.”

“Okay, thanks. Did the new tenants say when they plan to start setting up shop?”

“No, it sounds like they’re waiting for some private financing to go through.”

“So not right away?”

“I can’t say for sure, but it doesn’t sound immediate.”

Anthony nods.
So I have a little time to get this straightened out with Natalie.

They sit on the loveseat together with Anthony’s arm draped behind her and it feels like a statement that they’re a couple. Natalie is surprised at how okay she is with it. She’s never been the most trusting person, but she can feel her guard slipping with Anthony.

Looking around the room, it strikes her how much her life has changed since Peter left.
Suddenly, I’m hanging with the cool kids.
Lindsay always hung with the cool crowd—and still does—but even in high school, Natalie always felt more like everybody’s mother. Peter’s friends were mostly other dentists and their wives. She tried to fit in with them, but always felt out of place there, too. Most of the wives didn’t work and her being a baker was only tolerated.

Now there’s a photographer, a lawyer, and an astronomer at my house for dinner.

My life has become interesting.

Everyone is done eating and they’re all relaxing together in the living room. Lindsay and Oliver are piled together on the recliner, while Blair and Graham seem comfortable on the couch, despite her friend zone comment.

Anthony’s drinking some of the wine he brought—Italian, naturally—and Natalie doesn’t bother pouring her own glass, but just takes sips from his. He seems happy to share.

Earlier, she noticed Anthony having an intense conversation with Graham in the kitchen and she can’t help but speculate what they were talking about. They both glanced over at her and Blair a few times. He hasn’t mentioned anything and she doesn’t want to get too excited, but keeps wondering if maybe he’s finally going to lease them that space.

First thing is to knock out that back wall and expand the kitchen.
She already has her eye on a new Doyon jet oven.
No more baking at home every morning!

Natalie takes another sip from Anthony’s glass and smiles to herself. “I think this wine is going to my head,” she tells him.

He leans close so only she can hear. “I think you’re going to my head, Miss Natalie.”

They gaze at each other and she still can’t believe this beautiful man is here with her. It’s like being in the throes of her first crush, except unlike high school, where the guys she crushed on didn’t know she was alive, this guy actually wants her.

“So, Anthony,” Oliver says. “I understand you’re an astronomer. What’s your main area of study?”

Anthony turns toward Oliver. “My primary research centers on long gamma-ray bursts.”

“I’ve heard of those. They come from black holes, right?”

Anthony nods. “In a manner of speaking. We think they can also come from high mass stars collapsing into neutron and quark stars.” He continues to describe them in more detail and Natalie tries to follow what he’s saying, but it’s way over her head.

Graham asks a question about supermassive black holes and Natalie is surprised the men seem to know so much about astronomy. Is this some kind of ‘cool’ guy thing? She’s pretty sure Peter didn’t know a single thing about astronomy.

“Have you ever had time with the Hubble?” Oliver asks.

Anthony plays absentmindedly with Natalie’s hair. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have a couple of observing runs with the Hubble.”

“You guys are asking all the wrong questions,” Lindsay says as she stretches her long legs out over Oliver’s lap. “What I want to know is, have you ever seen a UFO? That would be fascinating.”

Anthony chuckles. “No UFOs—sorry.” He’s still playing with her hair, and Natalie wants to curl up against him and purr. “At least none that were of alien origin.”

“Do you think aliens exist?” Blair asks. “What about crop circles? Is any of that stuff real?”

Lindsay and Blair pepper him with questions, each one more absurd than the last, while Anthony patiently answers them all.

“You two sound like a couple of conspiracy nuts,” Natalie finally says, feeling slightly embarrassed. She turns to Anthony. “Is it always like this?”

He shrugs. “I get asked about UFOs and aliens fairly often. You’d be surprised how many people believe in those things.”

“See,” Lindsay says. “It’s not just us.”

Blair takes a bite from her tiramisu. “And how often do we have an expert here to set things straight? Though I have to say, I think you’re holding out on us, Anthony.”

“He’s probably sworn to secrecy,” Lindsay tells her. “Not allowed to divulge any of the real juicy stuff.”

“It’s a government plot,” Blair agrees.

Natalie laughs and rolls her eyes. She takes Anthony’s wine glass and sips from it. “What about X-wing starfighters? Surely you’ve seen a few of those around.”

His eyes twinkle. “Now that you mention it, I have seen a few. And I’m getting a little concerned with the number of battle cruisers I’ve noticed lately.”

“We’ll have to get that information to the new rebel base.”

Anthony leans over and whispers in her ear. “Better stop, Miss Natalie, or I might have to kiss you senseless in front of all these people.”