Thirty-four
Leah and Sadie waited for Steven in front of the house. As soon as Leah spotted him pulling into the driveway she felt a ripple of happiness. She’d missed him.
“Hey,” he said, smiling as he got out of the car. “How are my girls?”
He reached for Leah. She inhaled his scent, pressing her face against his stubble. How could she have willingly spent so much time apart? It suddenly seemed like a sort of madness.
“Sadie, look at you! You’ve actually gotten a little sun,” he said.
“Ugh, don’t remind me.” Sadie put her hand up to shade her face.
“It looks healthy,” he said.
“She doesn’t like healthy. She likes the ‘I don’t need air or light, only books’ pallor,” Leah teased.
“Okay, on that note”—Sadie leaned forward and kissed Steven on the cheek—“I’ll see you two at dinner. I’m going to get some writing done.”
They watched her leave, bonded in the emotional shorthand of loving their daughter.
“I’m so glad you came,” she said.
“Me too. So you and Sadie had some quality time together?”
“Yes,” Leah said, and she could feel herself beaming. “It’s been wonderful.”
“I’m happy about that,” he said. “I really am. And now maybe you and I can have some quality time together.”
They looked into each other’s eyes, the tension of the past few weeks evaporating. She felt herself exhale.
“Can I show you the Chardonnay berries?” she said. “I love this time of year. All the fruit has come out. No matter how many times I experience bloom, it still amazes me.”
He smiled. “Sure. Let’s go see those berries.”
They walked hand in hand around the perimeter of the winery to the crop of Chardonnay. Crows called out in the distance. The sound of laughter drifted from the veranda. The day before, they’d had six hundred reservations for the tasting room. Leah examined the end-of-day receipts and noted that while every guest bought wine by the glass, only a fraction left with cases. She thought again about the book club. And her other idea—the one she would present at dinner, with a little help from Village Cheese.
Leah wanted to share all of this with Steven, but he would just hear it as lobbying to stay longer. That wasn’t what she was doing; she’d committed to leaving that weekend, and she would go. These suggestions were just her final effort to make a difference.
She bent down in front of the first row and indicated the baby green grapes sprouting from a shoot.
“That’s a lot of growth since I left,” Steven said.
“It’s amazing,” she said. The sun was strong, but a breeze rustled though the vineyard. If conditions stayed like this through August, they would have an exceptional vintage. If that even mattered anymore. She shook the thoughts away. This moment, at least, she should enjoy without worrying about the winery.
“You know what that tells me?” he said.
“What?”
“We’ve been apart too long.”
Well, she walked right into that one.
Steven pulled her into his arms and kissed her. She kissed him back, the sun warm on her neck and shoulders.
“I’m sorry. I really wanted to do something to help. I wanted to fix things.”
“Leah, you always do your best. This isn’t yours to fix.” He reached for her hand, squeezing it. “So come home to what is yours.”
Hundreds of people filled the veranda. It was perhaps not the best day to be meeting with the party planner about using the space for Asher and Bridget’s wedding, but then Vivian hadn’t been consulted on the matter.
Bridget and Patricia Curtis stood at the base of the steps, next to the hedge of sea grass. Patricia spotted her and waved.
Vivian waved back, trying to smile. She pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes. No, she had not been consulted about the timing of the appointment, but Asher had made it clear that he wanted her to be more involved with the wedding planning—not for her actual help or input, but to make Bridget feel welcomed into the family. “I don’t want this business stuff to put a dark cloud over the most special time in her life. And mine,” he said.
This business stuff? She had been sorely tempted to tell him what she was really thinking: Why waste time planning a wedding when Bridget would soon realize her sugar daddy was sugar-free? Frankly, she was surprised the girl hadn’t already headed for the hills. But then, the “optics”—as Asher would say—still looked good. It was hard, even for her, to reconcile the life they were living today with what might lay in store for tomorrow. If she could still experience moments of denial, surely Asher’s fiancée could labor under similar delusions.
Trying to look on the positive side, Vivian had always wanted to throw a family wedding at the vineyard. She’d thought certainly that would happen with Leah, but her daughter had eloped. Vivian had been terribly disappointed by that decision, and while Leah insisted it had nothing to do with her anger at her father for excluding her from the family business, Vivian felt certain that it did.
So while planning a wedding for the woman standing in front of her was not exactly what she had dreamed of, it was at the very least her chance to plan a family celebration. And it gave her a way to fill her time, to be constructive instead of sitting around wringing her hands. Vivian hadn’t had a big project in a long time. She needed this.
“Just to get you up to speed,” said Patricia, “the last time I met with Bridget and Asher, we discussed a configuration of ten round tables of ten guests, with the family table and the bride and groom’s table on the veranda and the rest of the space used as the dance floor.”
Vivian shook her head. “When I entertain out here, we do fewer tables, rectangular but long, and perhaps in this instance we’d plan seating on just one side so everyone is facing the veranda. No tables on the veranda. The back will still function as the bar, so we want a clear path for the guests.”
Bridget played with a lock of her hair. The roots were coming in dark, so many inches it could not be an oversight but rather a deliberate aesthetic choice.
“Actually,” Bridget said, “Asher and I are thinking differently now.”
Vivian and Patricia looked at her expectantly.
“I knew it,” Patricia said. “Your guest list has expanded.” She winked at Vivian. Those crazy kids.
The guest list. Vivian had lost sleep over it. The cost of throwing a proper wedding was the last thing they needed right now. She had discussed this with Leonard, asking how best to cut corners to keep things going as long as possible.
“Canceling the wedding would be a Band-Aid over a bullet wound,” he’d said. “Might as well bleed it out.”
So it would be a last hurrah, the final celebration at the estate they had built from nothing. It would also be a way to save face with the industry, the press, and their friends: they were selling the winery, but they were not down, and they certainly were not out.
“Bridget, my husband and I have our own guest list to add. So it will certainly be well over the hundred people you’re already planning on. That’s factoring into my thoughts about the tables.”
“Well, what I was going to say is that Asher and I just decided we’re not having any guests aside from immediate family.”
Vivian and Patricia exchanged a look.
“Just immediate family? You mean . . .” Vivian was confused.
“Um, yeah. Just, you know—Leah, Steven, and Sadie. My parents. And you and Leonard, obvi.”
“Why would you do that?” Vivian said.
“To be practical,” Bridget said. “Like, with everything that’s going on.”
Patricia could smell gossip. Her ears practically moved forward—like a dog on high alert.
“Can you excuse us for a moment?” Vivian said, taking Bridget by the arm and leading her off to the side, out of earshot. “What are you thinking?”
“I thought you’d be happy,” Bridget said. “This will save money.”
“Why didn’t you talk to me about it privately? I don’t need you broadcasting our problems to the world! If you’re going to be part of this family, start acting like it.”
She was surprised to see tears spring into the other woman’s eyes. She forgot sometimes how young she was. What was Asher even doing?
“I’m sorry,” Vivian said, softening her tone. “This is a difficult time.”
“A difficult time? From the minute I met you you’ve acted like I’m some gold digger who got her claws into your son. Well, guess what: I don’t need Asher. He needs me.”
Vivian’s jaw dropped. “What’s that supposed to mean? Is that some sort of threat?”
“No, it’s just reality. I make him happy. And I want to keep making him happy—for the rest of his life. And also, we don’t need a wedding. We’re happy to sail off and get married at sea. We were doing this for you. But I don’t see the point anymore. No offense, but if you keep this up, you’ll not only lose your winery, you’ll lose your son, too.”
Vivian whirled around and marched away. How dare Bridget speak to her like that? All she was trying to do was help. Her indignation was too much of a burden to bear alone. She knocked on Leonard’s closed office door.
“Can it wait?” he barked.
“Leonard, it’s me.”
She turned the knob, but it was locked. Unusual. She waited impatiently for the click from the other side of the door.
“Why are you locked in here?” she said, stepping into the office and closing the door behind her.
“Because I don’t want to be disturbed,” he said, returning to his seat behind the desk, which was covered in spreadsheets.
He looked tired, the bags under his eyes tinged with blue. Or maybe it was just the artificial light. She walked to the window and opened the shades.
“What in heaven’s name are you doing that for, Vivian?” he said.
“Why do you think? I’m worried about you.”
“I’m fine. Is that why you stopped by?”
“No. I want to discuss the wedding.”
He drummed his fingers on his desk with impatience. “I’m busy here, Vivian.”
“This is our son’s wedding. The only wedding we’re ever going to host as parents. Doesn’t that mean something to you?”
“At the moment, no.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
He sat back in his seat, moving papers around absently while looking at her. “Another offer came in.”
“They made the offer sight unseen?”
He didn’t look up. “Not exactly. But it’s a decent offer. Not great, not what I’d hoped for. But it’s enough to get us out of this mess.”
“How much?” she said.
“We’re still negotiating.”
“Okay, well, I’d think you’d be happy about that.”
His eyes met hers.
“Vivian,” he said. “The offer is from the baron.”