Page 21 of Always Yours

While the tension has faded I can’t help but wonder if Will’s a little jealous.

8

Will

I wander off with Lauren to watch her rotate the wine barrels. I’m not really paying attention though, instead half listening to Ellen and Tommy as they catch up, their laughter echoing all the way to the back of the shed.

I’m not usually a jealous guy but there’s something about this Tommy guy that’s got me worked up for some reason.

The way his eyes lit up when he saw Ellen, the way he hugged her, his arms lingering a bit too long for my liking.

“Will?”

Lauren’s voice cuts through my obsessive thoughts. “Yeah, what?”

She smiles at me as she indicates the rows of wine barrels that must be stacked about ten high on some sort of wooden rack. “Did you wanna learn?”

I shrug as I walk over to her.

“You okay?”

I let out a long exhale, not sure why I’m about to ask this question, but apparently unable to stop myself. “What’s the deal with Tommy?”

Now it’s Lauren who’s shrugging. “Nothing,” she says. “We’ve known him forever.”

“So, Ellen and him,” I start, forcing myself to try and act casual as though I’m only asking to make conversation, not because I’m jealous. “Did they ever…you know, date?”

Lauren laughs, shaking her head as she grabs some sort of remote control panel and starts punching the buttons. The low hum of an engine starts up and I look up, watch as the mechanism that’s linked to the rack starts slowly rotating the wine barrels one by one.

“Wow,” I murmur, my nerdy engineer side impressed at how the whole thing works.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Lauren says just as the sound of laughter rings out.

I turn and even though it’s dark in the back of the shed, the light streaming through the open door shows Tommy and Ellen in silhouette. I watch as they both laugh at something, Tommy extending his arm as his hand falls on Ellen’s shoulder.

She doesn’t move, instead, her own hand reaches out and lands on Tommy’s chest as they both continue to laugh at whatever it is that both of them finds funny.

I feel my chest tighten as I watch them, a weird surge of possessive jealousy coursing through me. It’s not that I don’t trust Ellen, I do. I guess I’ve just never had to see her with another guy. Especially not one she’s so…so familiar with.

“He’s just a friend,” Lauren says and when I turn, I see her standing beside me, watching her sister and Tommy.

“Uh huh,” I reply, as I walk back toward the front of the shed.

Neither of them notices my approach and it’s not until I slide my arm around Ellen’s shoulders that she even realizes I’m there.

“Hey,” I say, pressing a kiss to her temple. “We were gonna go into Napa and grab some lunch,” I remind her. “We should get going?”

Ellen turns and smiles at me. “Yes,” she replies, before turning back to Tommy. “Do you want to come?”

Tommy immediately answers, “Yes,” with Lauren chiming in that she wants to come and before I know it, my day spent hanging out with my girlfriend has quickly turned into something else.

Tommy drives us into Napa, and we spend an hour or so wandering around, checking out the shops before grabbing some lunch. Despite my earlier reservations, we have a good day and as much as I wish I was spending it alone with Ellen, it’s actually kinda fun having both Tommy and Lauren around.

I learn that Tommy didn’t exactly flunk out of school, but is currently taking an extended leave of absence courtesy of the weed-induced high failure rate of some of his classes.

“Truth be told, I’m not even sure I want to go back,” he admits as the waiter drops off the three huge pizzas we’ve all decided to share.

“You don’t like it?” I ask, confused because I’d always known what I wanted to do, ever since I was a kid and my dad took me to the robotics lab he worked at. It might sound totally nerdy, but to me it was cool as fuck.

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