Are you sure this is a good idea?” August tugged on Leila’s arm outside of the winery’s office, but then quickly let go of her. He had no business touching her. He had no business feeling a distinct and long-abandoned stirring, a warmth kindling where a cold hollowness had been when he looked at her.
“I’m not thrilled about this arrangement either,” she said, cocking her head to glare up at him. “But acting like we’re a couple shouldn’t be a problem, since our past is ancient history. We need to think of this like a business arrangement.”
Right. It shouldn’t be a problem to pretend—August pretended all the time—except seeing Leila again had already messed with him. She’d changed in the years since he’d stood with her at his father’s funeral. The beauty of her silky olive skin, sleek dark hair, simmering brown eyes, and full soft lips had only grown more nuanced over the years, a lot like a fine wine. She also had a sharper edge these days…a different flavor about her. He’d seen a stiffness in her movements. He’d heard a rigidity in the same voice that had once been soft and velvety whenever she’d spoken to him.
There went that stirring again. The emotion must have come from the guilt he’d managed to bury beneath the passing years. He should’ve come back to talk to her in person long before now. If he’d been a stronger man back then, he would have. Not that she wanted to hear any apologies from him. Leila made it clear he wasn’t allowed to cross any personal boundaries, not even to express sympathy for her grandmother’s illness. She’d shut down every attempt he’d made so far to connect with her, which would make their supposed engagement quite the challenge.
“So, here’s the plan,” Leila whispered. “We go in there and tell my grandmother that we reconnected a while ago and are planning to get married, so you’re going to be around and part of the family business.”
He nodded even though he wasn’t at all prepared to walk into that room and pretend to be in love with Lei. He’d never had to pretend with her. “If that’s what you want—”
The woman didn’t give him a chance to finish before she opened the door and breezed into the office. “Nonna, I have a surprise!”
He trudged in behind her and took a hard punch to the gut when Leila’s grandmother rose from her chair. She looked so much smaller than she used to, and her movements seemed guarded.
“August Harding! What on earth are you doing here?” Nonna lumbered around her desk to greet him.
“Hi, Mrs. Valentino.” He hugged her gently, all too aware of her frail frame.
“He came to see me.” August couldn’t claim to know Leila anymore, but even he could detect the phony happiness ringing through her tone.
“What?” Nonna braced her palm against the desk when she pulled out of his hug.
Leila moved closer but stopped short of actually touching him. “We’re back together.” Only a slight waver came through. “In fact, we’re planning to get married eventually.”
All August could do was nod along while he wrestled out a smile. He got that Lei wanted to protect her grandparents, but they had a lot of work to do to make this facade convincing.
“That’s why he’s here,” Leila rushed on before he could speak up and ruin everything. “As part of the family, he’s going to be helping us out at the winery.”
“I knew it!” Nonna hugged him again. “I always knew you two would find your way back to each other. I used to tell Leila that all the time. Oh, such happy news!”
“We have a whole lot to catch up on. I want to hear everything.” Leila’s grandmother prodded August and Leila to the small couch near the window, where she sat between them. “When did you two reconnect? How?”
“Earlier this summer,” August said at the same time Leila said, “Last winter.” He shot Lei a glance. See? They really should’ve gone over details before she rushed him over here to tell her grandparents.
“We’ve been talking since last winter,” his pretend fiancée quickly corrected. “But we kind of made things official earlier this summer.”
“Right. Kind of,” August echoed.
Her grandmother sighed dreamily. “A modern-day love story.”
Nonna had always been a hopeless romantic. Back when he and Lei were dating, her grandmother would always give him ideas about dates he could take her on and ways to surprise her.
“Anyway,” Leila went on. “We started chatting and—”
“You finally both realized that you were meant for each other.” Her grandmother squeezed their hands. “I always knew it, of course. Everyone did. Even at sixteen, you two were absolutely perfect for each other.”
“I don’t know about perfect,” Leila muttered.
“I definitely wasn’t perfect,” August found himself saying before he could stop it. But Lei had been pretty damn close. And then he’d gone and left her.
“You don’t have to be perfect to love someone.” Her grandmother brought her hand to August’s cheek, giving it a gentle pat. “Not when your souls were designed to be together. You can run all you want, but eventually, that love will win over time and distance. And it has. Love has brought you back together. Oh!” She struggled to stand, so August helped her to her feet. “I have to run and tell Poppa the news! And Samuel too! Your brother is going to be shocked!”
Leila’s brother, Sam, would be shocked, all right. And not in a good way. The man had never liked him—not even when August been had in the rest of the family’s good graces.
Leila stood too. “Can you let me tell Sam? Please, Nonna? I don’t want him to be upset that I left him out.”
“Sure, sure. Yes, that would be best.” Her grandmother shuffled to the door. “But I will go find Poppa right now. I’m sure he’s out fussing over the chardonnays.” She paused with another excited gasp. “We must have a dinner tonight! With August as the guest of honor.”
“No, not tonight,” Leila blurted before August could accept. “We don’t have to do that. He just got into town. He’s tired and—”
“All the more reason to celebrate!” Her grandmother was practically singing now. “Six o’clock in the restaurant.” She smiled warmly at August. “Invite your family too, if you’d like. Call the restaurant and tell them how many to expect.” She turned and left the office. “Goodness! An engagement! A wedding! This is so exciting.” Her voice faded until only an awkward silence lingered between them.
He let himself study Lei for a few seconds, but she avoided looking at him and sat behind her desk. “That went well.”
Had it gone well? “I’m not sure we were very convincing.” He sat in the chair across from her.
“It was fine.” Lei dismissed his concern with a wave of her hand. “Now, as far as the winery goes, it’s important you know what you’re walking into.” She slid a large stack of binders across the desk. “Here are the financial records.”
August looked at the stack, his eyes wide. There had to be thousands of printed pages in those things.
“You should read everything.” A smugness snuck into her smile. “It’ll take you a while. You’ll notice things aren’t looking very promising, but I have some ideas for how I can bring this place back. We’ll have an official meeting on details tomorrow.” She pushed out of her chair. “Right now, I have to go talk to Sam before Nonna finds him.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” He suspected Leila’s brother wouldn’t take the news as well as Nonna had. August stood too, collecting the binders. “Do I need to worry about him?”
Lei shrugged. “I’ll take care of him. It’s not like he’s going to beat you up or anything.”
They stepped outside.
“That’s good to know.” But he was more concerned about Sam making his job harder. As the head winemaker, Sam would need to be on the same page with Kingston. But August would worry about that later. Right now, he had some “light” reading to do.
He headed for his truck, but then paused to watch Leila march herself down the cobblestone walkway toward the large, weathered barn where they housed their wine-making operation. She carried herself with an unmistakable confidence, her shoulders proud and straight, her hell-bent gaze focused directly in front of her.
His eyes followed her the whole way.
When she was out of sight, August opened the door to his truck and tossed the binders she’d given him onto the passenger’s seat. Climbing into the truck, he tried to shrug off the reactions, the feelings, the whatever-the-hell all this was. He was here to do a job, bottom line. And yes, Forrest had told Leila she had three months to fix the mess at Valentino Bellas. But given the details Forrest had e-mailed him about winery’s current financial state, she wouldn’t be able to turn things around enough to convince his boss she should stay. He didn’t have to read the binders to know this place was in trouble. Forrest would do what he could to get his way and completely take over Valentino Bellas. That August didn’t doubt.
Taking it slow, he followed the curve of the road down the mountainside, switchbacking through the vineyards—their leaves lush and green, the nearly ripe varieties of grapes hanging heavy on the vines. Seeing the place where he’d spent so much time with Leila didn’t help him outrun the memories.
This was a bad idea, them pretending. As if things weren’t tangled enough. What was he supposed to tell his family when he got back to the ranch? As little as possible. That was the mantra he’d held on to for the last decade of his life. No connections, no feelings. Forrest was right—his lack of emotion was what made him good at his job.
The road gradually flattened, entering the valley floor. Here, the pine trees grew thicker, illuminated by swatches of light cast by the late afternoon sun.
Even years later, August could drive this route between the winery and the ranch with his eyes closed if he wanted. He knew every bend in the road, every bump. He must’ve driven it a thousand times in the years he’d dated Leila, but now, turning onto the ranch’s winding driveway didn’t feel like coming home.
His father had been his home; that had been the problem. That was why he’d gotten so lost after his death. Yes, he loved his mother and his sister, Jane…and his brother, Wes, most of the time. But his dad had been his hero, his anchor; without Charlie Harding here, the ranch had become an empty, sad place.
The parking lot sure as heck didn’t look empty, though. August pulled into a parking spot outside the main lodge, squeezing between Wes’s family SUV and Jane and her husband Toby’s truck.
Before walking into the lodge, he heard the commotion of family fun happening all way down on the lake’s beach, so he walked around the building and took in the sight from the lawn.
Wes and his stepson, Ryan, were out in a canoe fishing, while his wife, Thea, and stepdaughter, Olivia, watched from lounge chairs. Jane and Toby were splashing in the shallow water with their daughter, Charlee. God, was it possible his new niece had just turned one? The baby was toddling around while she squealed and giggled.
August started down the hill but then hesitated. He didn’t exactly fit here. With them. When he’d arrived earlier that morning, Wes had been the only one around. As usual, their quick horseback ride had turned into a competition. It was one thing to hang out with his brother, but being with everyone else only reminded him he no longer had a place at their family’s ranch. It was his fault; he knew that. While he had gone and isolated himself, the rest of his family had stuck it out, building these close connections with one another. They probably got together this way at least once a month, even with Wes and Thea and their kids living in Texas.
“Uncle Auggie!” Ryan waved at him from the canoe.
Too late to make a quiet escape now. August waved back and joined everyone else on the beach, smiling like he would at a new wine release party and greeting Thea and Olivia before his sister beelined toward him.
“You’re here!” Jane swooped her adorable daughter into her arms and then ambushed him with a hug, splashing him with the cold lake water.
He hugged her back as though it were the most natural thing in the world. But he didn’t hug anyone except for when he came home, and they all tried to pretend he was one of them.
“Mom said she didn’t know why you were coming home.” His sister stepped back, peering up at him hopefully. “But she said you’ll be here a while this time?”
“Yeah. A few months, more than likely.” Unless things at Valentino Bellas completely imploded before that. He shook Toby’s hand—thankfully, his brother-in-law didn’t go in for an awkward hug—and then stole his sopping wet cherub of a niece out of his sister’s arms.
He’d never been much of a baby person, but this little one had made quite the scary entrance into the world last summer—putting his sister in the hospital and arriving two months before she was due. Charlee was a little miracle baby. Quite the cutie too, with blond curls that stuck up all over her head.
“Aye ya bebop?” his niece asked, her jewel-like blue eyes wide.
“Yep.” He had no idea what she’d just asked him in her baby language, but he’d pretty much give her anything or do whatever she wanted.
“This is going to be great!” Jane almost seemed as exuberant as her daughter. “We’ve hardly spent any time with you in years. Even for Wes’s wedding, you were only here two days.”
She likely hadn’t meant the comment as a jab, but it still stung. “I came to the wedding to be the best man, didn’t I?” He simply hadn’t wanted to hang around. Every time he stepped foot on the ranch, grief haunted him, only reminding him of how he’d fallen apart, how he’d failed his mom and his siblings…
“The prodigal son returns,” Wes teased from the canoe. He and Ryan paddled to the shore, and then August’s young nephew hopped out and pulled the boat up onto the sand. “Look at me, Uncle Auggie! I can put the canoe away all by myself!”
He still wasn’t used to anyone calling him uncle, but he had to admit the title had a nice ring to it. “Wow, I think you’ve grown a foot taller than you were when I saw you at the wedding.” It was wild how much the kid had changed in only six months. He didn’t know Ryan and Olivia well, but they’d always impressed him. They were good kids—thoughtful and respectful, even after losing their father when he’d been killed while serving in the military overseas.
“So, what did you and Leila have to talk about earlier?” Wes stepped out of the boat and looked him over.
All eyes focused on him as everyone waited for an answer. No surprise there. Wes had likely wasted no time telling them all that August’s ex-girlfriend had shown up at the ranch. Before he’d arrived, August had been intentionally vague about his purpose for coming back to Silverado Lake. He hadn’t wanted his family to know why he was there before Leila knew. “Well…” This was where he had to be careful and keep any information he offered as high level as he could. “Valentino Bellas is now a partner of Kingston.”
“Seriously?” Wes frowned. “Yikes. That doesn’t seem like a great fit. How does Leila feel about it?”
His brother had always been the master of twenty questions. “She’s not thrilled.” That was putting Leila’s feelings mildly.
“So, you’re like her boss now?” Jane’s grimace made it clear what she thought about that arrangement.
“Kind of.” Aye, aye, aye. He wasn’t going to be able to keep their fake engagement a secret. If Nonna had her way, word would reach the town café by noon, and the owner was Jane’s best friend. His family had best hear the details from him. “My assignment at the winery has turned out to be a little more complicated than being her boss, though.”
“I would imagine so, seeing as how you and Leila never really had much closure,” his sister said with a snicker.
“Who’s Leila?” Ryan was looking back and forth between the adults as though trying his best to follow the conversation.
“She was the love of August’s life once,” Wes informed the boy with a smirk.
“Gross. Never mind.” Ryan scampered off and snatched a shovel off the lounge chair before digging in the sand.
The kid had the right idea. Avoid and distract.
“So, you’ve talked to Leila, then?” Jane inched closer, her eyebrows raised with a blatant hopefulness. “Was she happy to see you?”
“Not exactly.” He wasn’t sure why he was bothering to beat around the bush. There was no way to hide their arrangement, especially because his family couldn’t accidentally reveal anything about the partnership to Nonna and Poppa.
Charlee reached up to pat his cheek, babbling again, but her cuteness didn’t distract Jane.
“Well? How’d the reunion go?” His sister nudged his shoulder. “Come on. You’re holding out on us. I can tell.”
Right. He’d forgotten his sister’s uncanny intuition. “It was…unexpected.” Jane posted her hands on her hips, silently demanding more of an explanation.
August sighed. Why was this so difficult to say? “She wanted to tell her grandparents we’re engaged.”
He paused for the impending reaction and was not disappointed.
Jane slapped a hand over her mouth.
Toby laughed.
And Wes—good old Wes—let out a few expletives before remembering his kids were right there.
“That’s two quarters in the jar,” Ryan informed him from the hole he was still working on a few feet away.
Thea laughed from her front-row seat in the lounge chair. “He’s a stickler for language.”
“Tell me about it.” Wes winked at his wife. “I’m gonna go broke.” His brother turned his grin back on August. “So how did you two lovebirds get engaged, anyway? Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled for you, but this seems a little fast. I’ve heard of a shotgun wedding, but not a shotgun engagement.” Cue the sarcasm in his brother’s voice.
August shook his head, replaying the afternoon’s events in his mind. He still wasn’t sure what the hell had happened. “My boss assigned me to come out here to help manage the business, but Leila doesn’t want her grandparents to know things have been going downhill, so that was the best story we could come up with for why I’d be around all the time.”
“Whoa.” Wes sat on the edge of Thea’s chair, peering up at him. “So now you two have to pretend to be in love the whole time you’re here? That won’t backfire or anything.”
August ignored the ribbing tone. “It can’t backfire. I have a job to do.” And he had to do his job well if he wanted to hold Forrest to his offer. Usually when he entered a new business venture, he took control. Something told him that wouldn’t be happening this time. But maybe this would be like all the parties he attended back in Napa. He’d simply play a role and still be able to maintain a safe distance. “All I know is she asked me to keep the partnership quiet—”
“Look at all of my favorite people in one place,” his mom sang behind him.
Snapping his mouth shut, August handed Charlee to her mom before turning to give his mother an obligatory hug. In some ways, Mara looked younger than she had in the years following his father’s death. Back then, she’d taken on all the stress associated with trying to provide for the family. To make ends meet, she’d turned their dude ranch into a wedding venue so she could make enough to keep the place afloat. Now that Jane and Toby had taken over the family business, though, his mother seemed to glow. She traveled and met with friends and seemed to revel in her role as a new grandmother to Olivia, Ryan, and Charlee.
“What did I miss?” She parked herself on the edge of Olivia’s lounge chair and added one more pair of eyes on him.
“Auggie and Leila are engaged,” Jane announced, looking quite amused by the whole mess.
“We’re not engaged,” he corrected. “We’re pretending to be engaged. There’s a big difference.” Mainly the involvement of real feelings. He couldn’t get the cold look in Leila’s eyes out of his head.
“Pretending?” Mara rose slowly from the seat she’d just taken. “Why? Why would you do that?”
He’d seen that same grim expression on his mother’s face many times back in high school, and it still turned his gut to lead. “Because she asked me to.” Sometimes, the truth was simpler than coming up with an excuse. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but Leila didn’t want her grandparents to stress over how bad things are up there, that they needed Kingston to bail them out. So this is how she wanted to handle me working at the winery. I’m only trying to do what she wants.” He already felt bad enough about being the one who would help Forrest take controlling ownership over the winery. He knew his boss. The man wouldn’t let Valentino Bellas remain a mom-and-pop shop. August only hoped he could help Lei keep a job there at the end of the fall.
The explanation didn’t seem to appease his mother. Her scowl deepened. “And just what am I supposed to tell my friends when they ask about you two? Everyone will know. Everyone will think you’re getting married.”
He shrugged, much like he had when he hadn’t had an answer for her at eighteen years old. “Say you haven’t heard much. Plans are still up in the air.”
Mara shook her head, her lips pursed into a thin, rigid line. “I can’t believe this. You know how I feel about lying.”
“You’re busted,” Ryan informed him, trading out his shovel for a dump truck. “I bet you’ll get grounded. That’s what happens to me when I tell a lie.”
“I wouldn’t mind getting grounded right about now.” Or being sent back to his home in California and away from all these complications. “I hate lying too.” He rested his hands on his mother’s shoulders and smiled at her so she would remember he was the good person she’d raised him to be. “But this is what Leila thinks is best for now. I’m not asking you to lie. Tell people you don’t know what’s going on and leave it at that.” He dropped his arms to his sides and looked at both of his siblings. “The same goes for you two. Anyone asks you questions, blow the whole thing off.” Given his past mistakes, people probably wouldn’t believe he planned on sticking around anyway.