Her cheeks pinken even more deeply this time. “Oh. Thank you.”
Once she’s out of earshot, Gretchen leans in toward Charlie. “ ‘Your hair looks really nice’?”
“She seemed disappointed. I figured a compliment might help.”
“You’ve never once complimentedme.” Gretchen feels like a bit of a petulant child as soon as she says it.
“That isn’t true.”
She shrugs. The fact is she has remembered every single nice (or even almost-nice) thing Charlie Waybill has said to her since she arrived at Gilded Creek. Some of them have been compliments. Some of them, last night, were sexy as hell. But not one of them has ever been said in that charming, almost boyishly awestruck tone he used on Hannah just now.
“Fine,” he says. “Your hair looks nice today too.”
He tugs on her ponytail and, even though he isn’t rough, a tingling sensation travels from her scalp down, down, down. She lets out a small whimper, and Charlie freezes.
“Don’tdo that,” he warns, his voice quiet. “Or I’m going to have to bend you over this table and take you right here.”
“Well, then don’t dothat,” she counters, “or I’m going to have to let you.”
Gretchen is gratified to see the bulge growing in his jeans. He clears his throat and shifts in his seat. “Speaking of Deborah,” he says, apparently reaching for the first guaranteed boner-killer topic he can think of, “she called this morning to let me knowshe’s staying in Provence a few weeks longer, so she won’t be playing in next month’s bridge tournament. Apparently, she’s met someone. A vineyard owner named Michel.”
A genuine smile stretches across Gretchen’s face. “That’s great. I love that for her.”
“She asked about you. About the exorcism.”
“And?” Gretchen’s heart flings up toward her throat as she waits for his answer.
“I told her I was very...” Charlie gives her a sideways look. “Satisfied with you.”
She bites her lip, fighting back laughter as heat sweeps over her neck and face. Leave it to Charlie to figure out how to lie to Deborah without actually lying.
Clearly pleased with her reaction, he leans back and says, “So are you going to fill me in on whatever business dealings we apparently now have with Hannah?”
“She’s going to sell some of your products at other farmers markets around the region and help with wholesale, in exchange for a portion of the profits. And maybe a small flat fee to cover the cost of using their booth. That would probably be fair.”
“Oh. That’s actually... that’s not a bad idea. And she agreed?”
“She did. Especially when I told her how highly you think of her sales technique.”
“I do think highly of her sales technique.” He watches the beautiful blonde talking to a customer. “She’s got nothing on you, of course.” Charlie nudges Gretchen’s arm. “See? Compliment.”
She rolls her eyes, but his praise nestles between her ribs, a bird settling into the nest it’s meticulously built twig by twig.
31
They manage to make it to dinnertime without acknowledging the elephant—or rather, the specter—in the room. With a spoonful of chicken noodle soup raised to his mouth, Charlie asks, “So, what’s he like, then?”
“Who?”
“Everett,” he says around his food.
“Oh.” This isn’t what Gretchen expected would top Charlie’s likely very long list of questions about this whole situation. But despite his casualness, she suspects this is a deliberate choice, the least overwhelming part of an extremely overwhelming development in his life.Imagine the ghost haunting your property being theeasiestthing to comprehend.“Well, to be honest, I’ve grown to really love him, but he still kind of suuu—rprises me with how cool he is,” she manages to change course just in time for Everett’s appearance in the kitchen. “And he is now in the kitchen with us.”
“Wait, are you talking aboutme?” Everett asks. He strides overto the table and perches atop it, the bread they bought at the farmers market half inside his butt.
“Yeah. Charlie was asking about you. What you’re like,” Gretchen says.
“Oh! Have you told him yet that I’m very handsome?”
