A wide grin spread across Natasha’s face. “He could have called. Obviously, that’s not the only thing he stopped by to do by the look of your lips.”

Serenity’s hand involuntarily went to her mouth, and she snatched it back down. Natasha chuckled. “He also wanted to know if I’d be available to go to Napa this weekend as part of a bet I won.” She didn’t say what the bet was because she’d promised not to divulge his secret about the yams.

“Mm-hmm. With a man like him, it’s going to be harder than you think to let him go when he leaves. And, as I said, long distance is still an option.”

“If he’d come along before Lloyd, I might’ve thought about it, but I’ve finally found my peace, and I’m not too inclined to jeopardize it.”

“Who said he’d jeopardize it?”

Serenity shrugged. Her friend had a point. “He only has another month or so left, and I think I’m just going to leave things as they are.” So far he hadn’t done anything to upset her balanced life, but she was a realist. She didn’t see it lasting past the allotted time and didn’t plan to get her hopes up.

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Gabriel got up early Saturday morning and drove over to Nana’s to cut her grass. It had been over two weeks since he’d last done it, and when he’d called to let her know he was back, she had asked if he had time to stop by on the weekend to handle the chore. Halfway through, he noticed Nana standing on the porch waving at him and cut the power on the mower. “You need something, Nana?” he asked, moving in her direction.

“No, baby. I was just coming to tell you I can cook you some breakfast after you’re done. If I had known you were coming this early, I would’ve had it ready when you got here.”

“You don’t have to do that. I ate before I came. And Serenity and I are doing the Napa wine train tour today, so I can’t stay.” He’d be picking her up at nine forty-five so they’d be on time for the ten thirty check-in. The train left an hour later, and the experience would last three hours.

“Oh, you’re going to have such a good time. I can’t wait to go back.” She shooed him. “Well, hurry up and finish, so you’re not late.”

Chuckling, he walked back over, stuck in his earbuds, and cranked up the power. As soon as he was done, he swept up, said his goodbyes, and drove home to shower and change.