Chapter Thirty-Six
Josh
Josh parked alongside the road and got out of his car. The address Mia had programmed in his phone had landed him in front of a large, well-kept farmhouse with a dirt driveway that had to be at least a football field in length. He surveyed his surroundings and saw a mailbox with the name McGinnis printed in black letters on its side. He started the trek down the driveway. He was two-thirds in when he saw a woman walking through what appeared to be a flourishing garden. At quick glance, he noticed that it overflowed with tomatoes, peppers, herbs and eggplant.
He didn’t want to be rude and walk by so he steered right and approached the woman. “Excuse me, ma’am?”
The woman turned and faced him. Even under her broad-rimmed sun hat, Josh knew that he had just met Carina’s mother. They had the same mesmerizing green eyes and olive skin. “Can I help you?” she asked. Her Italian accent was soothing.
“I was hoping to speak with Carina,” he said.
“Ah. You must be Josh,” she said, smiling. She bent over and retrieved one of the two baskets at her feet. It was full of plum tomatoes and red and green peppers. The other was stacked with an array of herbs.
The fact that she knew his name both excited and scared him. He was thrilled that Carina thought enough of him to discuss him with her mother. But he was also fearful that she had told Lucrezia McGinnis that he had hurt her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Does she know you’re coming?” she asked. “Better yet, did you know you were coming here today?”
Josh shook his head. “I apologize for just dropping by.”
A mischievous smile tugged at her lips. She handed him the basket of veggies and then retrieved the one with the herbs. “You wish to see my daughter, Carina?”
“Yes.”
“Then you will,” she said, brushing past him. He followed after her. A plum tomato escaped and he quickly bent down and placed it back in the basket before she noticed. “But first you help me in the kitchen, yes?”
Josh thought back to what Mia had said to him last night. Carina’s family meant everything to her. The only way she was going to trust him was if he gained the trust of those she loved. The other bit of advice Mia had given him was that if Carina was to believe that he loved her, words wouldn’t be enough. He would need to prove how he felt through his actions.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Lucrezia led him through the front door and into the kitchen. He wasn’t prepared for what he encountered once inside. Though the outside of the home was well-maintained, it was simple and modest. The home’s interior, however, had obviously been upgraded recently. The grand kitchen contained granite countertops, two double ovens and two refrigerators. There was a sink embedded within the expansive center island and another under a bay window overlooking the back of the property. Due to the open floor plan, one could see the entire living room from the kitchen. A wood-burning fireplace encompassed most of the far wall. Above it hung a flat screen television.
“It’s not for watching the soaps. I had Luke hang it there so I can watch my boy play football on Sundays as I cook,” she said, catching him scoping out the place.
“You have a beautiful home, Mrs. McGinnis,” he said sheepishly.
Lucrezia placed the basket of herbs on the island. She was rattling around in one of the cabinets when she said, “Josh, could you wash off the tomatoes?” She suddenly emerged and handed him a colander.
“Of course.” He walked over to the sink that overlooked the backyard and started rinsing a plum tomato. But his attention was quickly drawn away from the task at hand and onto the beautiful woman on the patio. In jean shorts, sneakers and a faded t-shirt, Carina was on her tippy toes and attempting to weave a string of lights through the branches of an enormous potted plant.
He had been in such a trance that he didn’t hear Lucrezia approach from behind. “Let’s get these rolled up,” she said, unbuttoning his sleeves before he had a chance to respond. She rolled up one sleeve and then the other. Lucrezia glanced out the window and walked back to her basket of herbs with a smile on her face.
Feeling like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, Josh fought the urge not to stare at his girl and focused his attention on washing the tomatoes. Once he was satisfied that all the dirt and grit was gone, he gave the colander of tomatoes one last shake and brought them over to Lucrezia, who was in the process of chopping onions and miraculously not shedding a single tear in the process.
She laid her knife on the counter. “Perfect. Now, they’re ready to be peeled and seeded.” She took the colander from his hands. A second cutting board had been placed next to hers, along with a knife that he didn’t doubt had the capability of taking off his finger if he wasn’t careful. “Could you mince the garlic and chop the herbs for the gravy?” she asked. Lucrezia stood next to him and resumed chopping onions.
“Sure.” He took the knife and crushed a clove of garlic with the flat side of the blade, enabling the white peels to easily fall away.
“Did your mama teach you that trick?” Lucrezia asked, pointing to the small pile of minced garlic on his cutting board with her knife.
Josh wanted to laugh, but he knew that it would be incredibly rude. Ava Graham wouldn’t know the first thing about cooking. As far back as he could remember, his mother had never stepped foot near an oven. His housekeeper, Regina, had made their meals, packed their lunches, and prepared after school snacks while he and Julia did their homework. But his mother never had any difficulty accepting accolades and praise for the dinner parties she had thrown for her rich, snobby friends.
“No. My mother didn’t enjoy cooking, neither did my father. But during the summers, when my sister and I went to stay with my grandmother in Avalon, she would teach us a few things.” He reached for another clove and repeated the process.
“So what is your sister’s name?” she asked.
It was at that point he would normally activate shutdown mode. But right now, in this kitchen with a woman who had no agenda, just kindness and warmth in her heart, he didn’t hold back and answered her question. “Her name was Julia.” He minced another clove, finding the process to be therapeutic. “She was the most talented pianist I had ever seen.”
He heard the clang of a knife being dropped beside him. He didn’t intend to invoke a reaction, but he felt a hand on his bare arm. “You were close to her?” Lucrezia asked, her eyes brimming with tears.
Josh looked away from her and scraped the fresh garlic into the mounting pile. “She was funny, pretty, full of sass…and my twin.”
“Mama, I can’t find the other box of lights. Are they in the basement?” Carina asked as she entered the kitchen through some entrance he hadn’t known existed.
Lucrezia gave his arm a pat before pulling her hand away and continued chopping her onions. “These onions are particularly potent, don’t you think so, Josh?” Lucrezia asked. The onions had nothing to do with her sudden show of emotion and he wondered if Carina would buy her excuse.
Carina stopped dead and said, “Josh, what…what are you doing…in my mother’s kitchen?” She glanced from him to her mother. Lucrezia kept her head down and continued dicing. “And…and…are you cooking?” With her eyes wide and darting back and forth, it was clear she was trying to make sense of the scene in front of her.
“Carina, it appears we will be having another guest this evening. Isn’t that wonderful!” she said, finally looking up to meet her daughter’s shocked expression.
“Mama…I don’t think that…that he…”
“The garage,” Lucrezia said, waving her knife over her shoulder.
Josh watched Carina’s eyes narrow. “What? Garage?” she asked.
“You will find all the lights you need in a green plastic tub on the right side of the garage. Better get to it. Jake and Luke will be arriving with the second tent and the rest of the tables and chairs any minute and Brennan and Gabe will be pulling up with the trays of food. They’ll need your help when they get here.”
“Yes, Mama,” she said. Carina looked at Josh with worry and utter confusion in her eyes. He smiled at his perplexed girl, making her blush before she turned and left in search of little white lights.