Page 16 of Tinsel & Tools
Heading down to the basement, I found the chairs and then carried two up. My cousin Pete watched me as he leaned in the doorframe of the dining room with an olive between his fingers.
“Those are garnish,” Lauren warned as she walked by.
“Not anymore.” He popped it into his mouth and smirked.
The front door opened, and Aunt Nancy swept in. “Traffic through Concord was a nightmare. Half the state picked today to be on the road.”
Her husband Ray followed with two bottles of wine in his hands. “And every one of them tried to cut us off. Never again. Next year we’re leaving at six.”
Aunt Nancy and Uncle Ray moved to a condo in Concord last spring when Aunt Nancy retired from Cedar Falls High School.
Pete stepped out from the dining room, popping another olive into his mouth. “Took you long enough. The kids were starting to think you ditched us.”
Aunt Nancy kissed her son’s cheek on her way to the kitchen and we followed. “If I had to sit in that mess much longer, I might have.” She pulled a bottle free from Uncle Ray’s grasp and set it down. “I brought salvation. We’re opening this before dinner, because if I don’t get a glass in the next five minutes, someone’s getting strangled.”
Lauren blew a piece of hair out of her eyes. “It’s not even noon.”
Aunt Nancy shrugged. “Exactly my point.”
Uncle Ray went to the living room to join my dad and Mark.
Mom slid a pan into the oven, wiped her hands on a towel, and didn’t miss a beat. “Pour me one too.”
Pete turned to me again. “I heard you took Mrs. Perkins’s granddaughter to coffee?”
My sister spun from the counter, the knife she’d used for slicing potatoes still in her hand. “Wait. You didn’t tell me you went on a date.”
“It wasn’t a date,” I argued.
“Coffee with Paige sounds like a date.” She planted her free hand on her hip. “Don’t even try to wiggle out of this.”
Aunt Nancy perked up, clearly delighted. “I’m listening.”
I blew out a breath. “I picked up Paige from the bus station and took her for coffee because Mrs. Perkins asked me to. Then I drove her to her grandmother’s house. That’s it.”
Pete grinned. “Sounds like a date to me.”
Lauren groaned. “You’re impossible. You could at least give me details before the entire town beats you to it.”
“First of all, Pete isn’t the whole town. Second, there aren’t any details to give,” I said flatly.
Aunt Nancy popped the cork on the wine. “Details or not, you two make a very handsome pair. I remember her from when I taught.”
Lauren shook her knife at me. “You’re not getting out of this, Cole. You went on a date.”
“Come on, man,” Pete pressed. “Paige Perkins? Half the guys in high school used to trip over themselves for her.”
“Good for them.” I grabbed a stack of napkins off the counter and lined them up—anything to keep my hands busy.
“So why not you?” Aunt Nancy poured wine into glasses. “She’s pretty, sweet, and from a good family. You could do worse.”
“I wasn’t aware this had turned into a matchmaking convention.”
“No one’s matchmaking.” Mom opened the oven to check on the turkey. “We just want to see you happy again.”
“I am happy.” The words came out sharper than I intended. It had been almost a year and a half since I’d been with anyone, and Paige wasn’t who I pictured changing that with. She lived in Boston, and I had no plans of ever going back.
Lauren’s brow furrowed. “You don’t have to marry the next girl you have coffee with. But you’ve been alone a long time.”
