Page 16 of All Mine

“The business pretty much takes up all of my time. But, you know how it is.”

“How long have you been in business?”

“Four years.”

“That’s great. Most restaurants fail in one year. So that’s quite an accomplishment.”

“Thanks,” she said, pink blossoming across her cheeks. “What about you? How long have you been selling real estate?”

“Seven years.”

“Why real estate?”

“Why cupcakes?” I asked, grinning like an idiot.

Lauren laughed. “Because I love baking. The act of creating something new from bits and pieces is amazing.”

“Same with me. I mix up some ingredients, and poof out comes a building. Hell of a big mixing bowl.”

“I never thought of it that way.” Lauren smiled. She was warming to me. I’d win her over yet.

She leaned over and dug into the backpack, withdrawing a bag of grapes.

“Ah, I see you brought the ingredients for wine,” I said.

She looked at the bag and laughed, shaking her head.

“Hear me out. All we have to do is squeeze them into the jar and wait on fermentation. Or did you bring a bottle in that bag?”

“We’d be better off just eating them now.” She laughed and threw a grape at me. I tried to catch it in my mouth and failed. Lauren tossed a few more in my direction, but I couldn’t get any of them.

“Try again,” I said.

“No, I’m not wasting any more of my grapes on you.” Lauren grinned.

Lucky me. Seizing the opportunity to move closer to her on the blanket. “Fine, be that way.” I teased, scooting toward her, and reached into the bag. But she looked away. An interesting reaction. Did I intimidate her?

So I sat back and chewed on a couple of grapes and regrouped. The last thing I wanted to do was come on too strong and make Lauren uncomfortable.

“You’ve lived here your whole life?” I asked, switching gears to small-talk.

She sighed. “Yeah. It’s my hometown, and I love it.”

“You ever leave here?”

“Yeah, of course, for college.”

“Where’d you go?”

“Western Kentucky,” Lauren said, popping a grape in her mouth.

“Isn’t their mascot a red blob?”

“That’s Big Red, and he’s an amazing mascot… I won’t have you bad-mouthing him.” She smiled.

“I’m guessing most would be afraid to run into that in a dark alley.”

“Exactly. Strike fear into the heart of your opponent.”

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