Ow!” Weighed down by two huge duffel bags and dragging a giant suitcase behind her, Maddy stumbled as she stubbed her toe on the edge of the door frame. She managed to squeeze the bags through the door and wrangle them down the steps.
The morning was fresh and dewy, with puffy white clouds skating overhead in the deep azure sky, but it might as well have been sleeting as Maddy crammed her stuff into the trunk of the Lexus RX hybrid. Good-bye beach, bye shopping, bye sleeping until noon, bye hanging out with Morgan and Kirsten. And mostly, bye Brian. She had texted him that she was being kidnapped. Rescue me! she had typed, without much hope.
“Maddy! Did you remember your hiking boots?” her mother’s voice called from the house. The woman had no right to be this perky at seven a.m. “The terrain is pretty rocky up there!” Her mom sounded like she was relishing the thought.
“I did, Mom!” Maddy sang out through gritted teeth.
“Well, we’re leaving in just a minute. Dad’s just checking the air-conditioning one more time.”
Suddenly, Maddy heard a car engine behind her. She whirled around to see Brian stepping down from his yellow Nissan XTerra.
“Hey, babe,” Brian cooed. He was still wearing his clothes from the party, and his hair was all matted on one side, sticking up on the other. She could see sleep sand in the corner of one eye as he bent to kiss her forehead.
“You look awful,” she noted. “Have you been home yet?”
He scrubbed at the side of his face with his hand. “No, I crashed on Chad’s couch. I can’t believe I’m awake this early. But I couldn’t let you leave without saying good-bye.” He leaned down to kiss her just as the front door slammed. Maddy clutched at Brian.
“Don’t let them take me!” she whispered. “I am going to absolutely die up there.”
He kissed her forehead again. “I’ll call you every night.” The garage door opened and Brian looked up. “I’d better go.”
Maddy watched forlornly as he backed down the driveway and floored the accelerator. As he sped away, an arm appeared out of the driver’s window and flapped a few times. She lifted her own hand in response and kept it up until the car had disappeared around the corner.
“Okay!” Mom came out of the house. She seemed to have recovered her good humor now that they were almost on their way back to Napa. “Got all your stuff in the car?” she asked Maddy.
“Yep.”
Dad bustled up and slapped his hands together. “Everyone go to the bathroom?”
Oh. My. God. Was the entire summer going to be like this? She looked up at the sky, hoping to fight the overwhelming feeling that her world was shrinking beyond recognition. She climbed into the backseat and buckled her seat belt, planting her sneakered feet firmly on a box of dishes. “Let’s just go already, okay?”
Her parents exchanged a classic our-teenage-daughter-is-such-a-pain-in-the-you-know-what glance. Good, Maddy thought. We’re all on the same page. I think you guys are a pain in the ass too. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the leather seat back. She could hear a double bam-bam as her parents got in and shut their doors. Maybe she could just sleep the whole way.
Peaceful silence filled the car as her dad wound through the streets full of Spanish-style and Victorian mansions and then bumped over the railroad tracks. He drove through a Hispanic neighborhood, where the bodegas and shops selling quinceañera dresses were crowded together with skinny brownstones. The brownstones gradually gave way to warehouses and car dealerships. They turned onto the highway. The soft hum of the engine and the comforting voices of NPR hosts filtered into the backseat. Maddy drifted away, her head lolling on her shoulder.
“Madeline.” Her father’s voice jerked her awake.
“Huh?” A trickle of drool had reached her chin. She wiped at it furiously.
Her mom twisted around to face the backseat. “Daddy and I want to talk to you about this summer.”
Maddy groaned.
Her dad went on. “We’re going to need you to pitch in and do some work on the vineyard grounds. You’re starting at zero on the responsibility scale. This vineyard is very important to your mother and me, so we expect you to take this seriously.”
“Umm?” Maddy tuned them out when her purse started buzzing. She slid her BlackBerry Curve out of her Kooba bag. CHAT REQUEST FROM MORGAN. She held it down by her side and pressed START CONVERSATION.
HOW R U?
AWFUL, OF COURSE—WHAT DO U EXPECT? Maddy typed without looking at the keys.
K AND I MISS U ALREADY! AT ORCHIDS 4 BRUNCH.
Maddy’s stomach rumbled at the thought. Orchids had absolutely the best strawberry waffles in the city. THANKS FOR THAT. I’M PROBABLY HEADING OFF TO EAT GRUEL ALL SUMMER.
GOING TO THE BEACH LATER—IT’LL BE SO WEIRD WITHOUT U.
I KNOW. ALL I WANT IS TO HANG OUT WITH YOU GUYS, SLEEP IN, AND SEE BRIAN. BUT I’M GOING TO BE SLAVE LABOR FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS.
POOR GIRL! MAYBE K & I CAN COME RESCUE YOU!
THAT WOULD BE SO GREAT. I DON’T THINK U COULD GET PAST THE PRISON GUARDS THO.
K & I WILL BE THINKING OF YOU. XOXO!!
Maddy pressed END CONVERSATION, heaved a gusty sigh, and stared out the window at miles and miles of pine trees; rocky, sandy soil; and distant, bluish hills. They passed a vegetable stand with a sign in the front that read TOMATOES $1/LB.
Of course, Maddy had seen pictures of Napa and its acres of twisty grapevines wrapping around the hills and spreading across the valley floor. But even though the vineyards were less than two hours from the city, Maddy had never actually seen one before. She leaned a little closer to the window. The land was completely covered in vines, stretching as far as she could see. Low stone walls lined the two-lane road. Hand-lettered signs reading WINE TASTING TODAY and NORTH RIDGE WINERY flashed by. Occasionally, they passed a palatial gate with the name of the vineyard spelled out in iron letters at the top. Past these gates were long, groomed gravel driveways lined with towering trees.
Maddy settled back into her seat, comfortably wiggling her shoulders into the cushy leather as she pictured a massive stone villa, surrounded by acres of manicured lawn. She’d be clad in a clingy black dress, pouring wine for a clutch of sophisticated vineyard visitors. “This is our newest blend, a merlot-burgundy,” she imagined herself explaining. “It has very strong legs.” Everyone nodded, impressed with her knowledge, and sipped delicately from their long-stemmed glasses. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all, she thought as she dozed off.