Page 46 of Holiday Cheese and Capers
“That still didn’t give you the right to do this!” Bayard growled. His hands shook as he gripped his cane and stood back up. “Poorly done, you two!”
He turned and stormed away, his cane thwacking sharply against the stone floor.
“Bayard, please! Wait—” Minerva started to follow.
“Oh, no, you don’t! You leave him alone,” Exandra snapped, glowering at Minerva as she blocked her path. “You’re going to leave us both alone. You’ve done enough for one day.”
With this, she stomped off in the opposite direction, her footsteps echoing through the courtyard.
Minerva and Zephyr stood alone in the candlelit chamber, surrounded by their carefully planned romantic setup.
“Well,” Zephyr said after a long moment. “That did not go quite like we hoped it would, did it?”
“No,” Minerva agreed softly. “No, it didn’t.” She hated to admit it, but maybe they shouldn’t have meddled. “Maybe we shouldn’t have…” she said sadly.
They looked at each other, then at the beautiful dinner they’d arranged. The tapas smelled delicious.
“Think we should go after them?” Zephyr asked.
“I don’t think they’d welcome that right now.” Minerva sighed. “I think in our desire for our friends to be as happy as we are, we pushed too hard, too fast, Zippy.”
“Maybe we should have waited until after they ate the Queso Luna cheese.” Zephyr heaved a sigh. “So what should we do now?”
Minerva looked at the table, at the wine and cheese and candles. It would be a shame to let it all go to waste.
“I think we need to let them be and we have some dinner,” she said. “We give them space. And tomorrow, we’ll have to apologize.”
They sat down at the table meant for two other people, and Zephyr poured the wine.
Minerva bit into her slice of Queso Luna, enjoying how it was both sharp and creamy at once and how it made her tongue tingle.
“Do you think they’ll forgive us eventually?” he asked.
“I hope so,” she said. “And I hope they find a way to get over themselves, too. Because they really need each other. Even ifthey don’t know it yet. Just like we needed each other. And Zippy?”
Zephyr bit into his slice of cheese and made a “mmmmm?” sound.
For a moment, the two of them just stared into each other’s eyes.
“I know, Minnie. I love you, too. Always have, always will. “
COME TO CHEESES
Bayard hadn’t slept a wink.
He’d tried. He’d lain in his comfortable bed at El Refugio de Cabra. The pillows were fluffy down, and the duvet a silky cotton. And yet he could not quiet his mind. He’d listened to the night sounds of the mountains. The wind whistled through pine trees and he could hear the distant bells of goats. The ever-present whisper of the hot springs hissed and bubbled beneath all those other sounds. Fred had curled up beside him, occasionally quacking softly in his sleep and flapping his feet as if to paddle, but Bayard had just stared at the ceiling, replaying the entire evening over and over.
The escape room. The worry for their new friends and all the cheesemakers. As far-fetched as it now seemed, playing it back in his mind, they’d both been convinced the threat from the Culture Vulture was real. Perhaps that was because they’d wanted to believe it. To have something to fight for, together. He replayed the moment the light turned green over and over in his head. He had a hard time savoring their relief when they finally solved the puzzles.
Because then there was that moment immediately after, when they realized they’d walked into a set-up.
The ridiculously romantic dinner. The candles. Minerva and Zephyr’s smug faces.
Well—perhaps they weren’t smug so much aspleased. Pleased with themselves? Or pleased for him and Exandra? He wasn’t sure what the difference was, but he supposed it was also the difference between betrayal and misguided meddling.
Regardless, he’d felt so manipulated. So foolish. Like a puppet whose strings had been yanked. They had overstepped.
But, if he was being honest with himself, underneath the anger and embarrassment was something else. Something he couldn’t quite name.
