Mouth agape, Maddy stared up at the Robertsons’ concrete and glass house in front of her. “What is this place? A huge sculpture?” she whispered to her mother, who was examining the twenty-foot steel-beamed ceiling.
“A lot of the vineyards up here are doing an ultramodern thing,” her mother whispered back. “I feel like I’m inside a Picasso.” They wandered up the remainder of the stone path to the house, with Dad following behind. All around them, little knots of well-dressed wine lovers stood chatting, long-stemmed glasses in hand, or strolled through the fields, inspecting the fruit and vine leaves. A buzz of conversation rose above the murmur of the evening wind in the treetops and mixed with the heavy scent of grapes that hung in the air.
For a nice change, Maddy was feeling annoyed with Brian. He hadn’t called since their spat on the phone, and Maddy was determined not to be the first to call. She hadn’t done anything wrong! She jumped out of the way as she walked practically on top of a girl examining some flowers at the side of the path. The girl straightened up and turned toward Maddy and her parents, the automatic smile fading from her face.
Maddy narrowed her eyes. “Hi, Rain,” she said deliberately. She was pleased to see the girl blush a little. She should, after the porch incident. But Maddy’s fleeting sense of triumph faded fast.
“Hi,” Rain said smoothly, tossing her hair over one shoulder. She met Maddy’s gaze coolly and confidently, with no hint of embarrassment.
Maddy gritted her teeth. Her mom tapped her shoulder. “Daddy and I are going to say hi to the Robertsons,” she said. “We’ll see you inside.” They strolled away, hand in hand.
Thanks a lot, Mom, Maddy thought as silence descended. She was stranded. Walking away now would make her look like a complete doofus. “How’s it going?” she asked in her frostiest voice, pretending to inspect the red flowers on a tree next to her. Really, though, she was eyeing Rain’s outfit. Once again, she’d gone with the outdoorsy look: sage green cotton sundress, thin leather flip-flops, and a simple silver bangle on one wrist. Her hair was done in two loose, tousled braids. Maddy fidgeted with the tie of her own black jersey wrap dress. It had seemed so elegant when she put it on an hour ago, but now it felt stuffy next to Rain’s earth-girl freshness.
“Great!” Rain said aggressively. More silence, which was broken by the sound of a woman calling from the house.
“Dinner is served! Fresh tomatoes are waiting!” Laughing and talking, guests began streaming up the path in twos and threes, clutching their glasses, the women picking their way carefully in high heels. Rain turned with a huff and flounced toward the house. Maddy tried to look nonchalant as she followed, attempting to squash the miserable anger welling up inside her.
Dinner was buffet-style, so Maddy was able to avoid Rain completely, for which she was profoundly grateful. Proximity to that witch would’ve spoiled her appetite, and she planned to enjoy her rare sirloin.
After filling her plate, Maddy perched next to her parents on an overstuffed bench on the expansive teak patio. She thought she might broach the subject of her birthday again. She’d been so good recently—working on the tasting room, helping around the house, not complaining. Dad had already said the shed looked even better than he had thought it would. They had to let her go to the city. Her annoyance with Brian faded as she smiled to herself, thinking of seeing him in San Francisco. It would make up for all of this work if she could just have a weekend alone with him, she thought, spearing a piece of nicely browned potato. She took a deep breath. “Um, guys.”
Her mom looked up from her steak. She smiled fondly at her daughter. “Yes, sweetheart?”
“Well, I was thinking about my birthday….” Mom looked at Dad and set down her fork. Maddy rushed ahead. “And you know how I had mentioned maybe I could go down to the city for a couple of days? Or just overnight?” she added hastily, seeing her mother open her mouth as if to object. “I mean, you know, since the tasting room is looking so good—right, Dad? A couple of days off wouldn’t hurt.”
Maddy’s mother sighed and set her plate on the glass table in front of her. She looked at her husband. He chewed thoughtfully. “Maddy, you know it’s not about the work up here,” he said. “You’ve done a wonderful job so far—your mother and I have been very impressed. But of course, we’re concerned about what happened before. You know that’s why we’re reluctant to let you go to the city.”
Maddy’s stomach plunged. “Dad, please! I know it was stupid to throw that party—I totally admit it! But how long are you going to punish me for it? Haven’t I shown you I can be responsible?” Her voice rose. A couple sitting a few feet away looked around curiously, but Maddy was too upset to care.
Her dad shook his head. “Maddy, it’s not just the party. We have to wonder what other rules you’d disregard if we were to let you go back there alone. It’s time for you to show us that you understand what it means to be a part of this family. We know you miss Brian and Morgan and Kirsten, but your mom and I think it would best if you had just a small, family celebration for your birthday this year. We can do something low-key—maybe go into town for dinner and see a movie, all three of us.” He offered this like it was some sort of treat.
Maddy could feel her face getting red. “Dinner and a movie with my parents? Thanks a lot, guys! That sounds like a great seventeenth birthday! While you’re at it, why don’t the two of you go ahead and buy a vineyard in Napa and then drag me up here all summer without considering what I was planning for my summer? Oh, I’m sorry, you already did that!” She saw a hurt look cross her mother’s face.
Maddy leaped up from the bench, almost knocking the glass table over in the process. Ignoring the wide-eyed stares of the people around her, she fled into the house, angry tears starting in her eyes. She looked wildly around for a bathroom and spotted it through a half-open door. She darted in, turning the lock behind her, and stared furiously into the mirror. Her face, red and blotchy, stared back at her. They’re holding me prisoner here, she thought. Who knew what this would do to her relationship with Brian? He wasn’t going to be happy about it, that was for sure. He was probably going to forget about her, stuck up here in this pit! Maddy sat down on the closed toilet seat and reached for a tissue. She was going to lose her boyfriend over her parents’ stupid vineyard, and it was all their fault.
She couldn’t spend all evening in the bathroom, so after a few minutes, Maddy splashed some cold water on her face and dried it with a soft blue hand towel. Gazing at her reflection again, she took deep breaths to get her heart rate under control. She rubbed on a little lip gloss and combed her hair. There. Now at least she didn’t look hysterical.
Maddy opened the bathroom door and ran smack into David, who was standing right outside. “What are you doing here?” She gasped.
He scratched his curly head. He was wearing a fitted navy blue polo shirt that skimmed his chest and khakis with Reef flip-flops. It was the first time Maddy had seen him in anything but an old T-shirt and jeans. He looks good, she thought to herself. “I’m staking out the bathroom to see if I can pick up chicks,” he told her. “See? It worked.”
Maddy laughed, totally forgetting about her foul mood. “I thought you weren’t coming tonight,” she said. David led the way to a striped sofa in a corner of the huge, packed living room.
“I decided I was in the mood for free food after all. Anyway, you can only watch ESPN Classic for so long before your brain starts melting.” He stretched his legs out in front of him and laced his fingers behind his head. “Nice place, huh?” he said, taking in the white armchairs, white rugs, and geometric black-and-white paintings on the walls.
Maddy shrugged. “If you like this sort of thing. I’m more into—”
“Hey, David.”
They both craned around. Rain stood just behind the sofa, a frosty glass of mint lemonade in hand and a broad smile pasted on her face. “Oh, hi, Rain,” David replied. Maddy glanced quickly at his face. He looked relaxed and friendly as always but not particularly excited. Rain came around to the front of the couch and threw herself down into one of the white armchairs across from them.
“What’s been going on with you?” She directed her question only at David, Maddy noticed bitterly.
“Not much,” he said briefly, and turned back to Maddy. “Did I tell you my brilliant idea for the tasting room? I think I’m going to patent it.”
Maddy smiled. “No, what, Einstein?”
“I think we should do little tables instead of one long one.”
“They have that over at Smithfield,” Rain broke in. “Have you been over there?” She looked at Maddy. “I don’t know if you’d be interested. It’s pretty…” She paused. “Rustic.” She giggled a little and glanced at David. He shrugged.
“We’ve been rustic all week, haven’t we?” he replied, looking at Maddy instead of Rain. “The bike trip wasn’t exactly a luxury ride.”
“Not exactly.” Maddy was only partly listening to David, though. She was watching Rain’s face, which wrinkled with confusion. This clearly wasn’t going as she’d expected. And to be honest, it wasn’t going as Maddy had expected either. As if to confirm her thoughts, David turned back toward Maddy.
“Next bike trip, I’ll show you this amazing little cave my friends and I found one summer.”
“Cool…,” Maddy said slowly, trying to calm her thoughts. Rain was staring at them, openmouthed. She had loved their bike ride, Maddy thought. Other than the Brian weirdness, hanging out with David had actually been the highlight of her prison sentence. But he’d been all into Rain at the last party—and now he knew that Maddy had a boyfriend. Everything seemed different somehow. He was practically ignoring Rain. What the hell was going on? Whatever it was, Maddy decided she liked this new situation much better.