Beach Reads Box Set

by Madden-Mills, Ilsa

  My great-grandparents had bought the first plot of land and planted a vineyard, decades before most of the other wineries in this area had been built. They’d named it Salishan Cellars as a nod to the Native Americans who’d once lived here. Salishan was the name for the family of languages spoken in this region—languages that were almost extinct now.

  Leo took a seat on one side of the table, at the end so he wouldn’t have anyone sitting on his left. Cooper paced, wandering up and down the length of the room. I sat, but checked my email while we waited for my parents. God, I had so much to do. I hoped I could get this wrapped up quickly.

  My dad’s heavy footsteps heralded his entrance. Lawrence Miles was always in a hurry. It didn’t seem to matter what he was doing—working, walking through a theme park on a family vacation, or coming downstairs for breakfast—he moved at the same frenetic pace.

  Mom came in behind him. Dad’s hair was peppered with gray, and he was thicker in the middle than I remembered. He stopped when he spotted me.

  “Roland.”

  “Hi, Dad,” I said.

  “What are you doing here?” His gaze moved around the room, pausing on each of us. I could see his defenses going up. He thought we were here to gang up on him.

  I supposed we were, although I still didn’t know exactly why.

  “I called him,” Leo said. “I know the truth, Dad. I had to do something.”

  Dad crossed his arms. “What are you talking about?”

  Leo sighed. “The bank is going to foreclose on us.”

  For the space of a heartbeat, there was silence. Then the room erupted with voices, everyone trying to talk at once. Dad barked at Leo, Mom yelled at Dad. Cooper shouted, but it was impossible to tell who he was yelling at. Leo stood and pointed at Dad, saying something I couldn’t hear over all the noise.

  I slammed my hand down on the table with a loud crack. “Shut the hell up, all of you!”

  Amazingly, they all went silent.

  “Everyone, sit down,” I said. “If you want to yell at each other, do it over the dinner table. This is a business. Let’s act like it.”

  Leo lowered himself back into his seat, and Cooper took the chair next to me. Mom sat, but Dad stood next to the table. I didn’t bother pushing the issue. Had to pick my battles with Dad.

  “Leo, why do you think the bank is ready to foreclose?” I asked.

  “I went through Dad’s office,” he said.

  “You what?” Dad asked, his voice filled with outrage.

  I held up a hand. “Dad, hold on. Leo?”

  “I talked to Chase recently,” Leo said. Chase was Cooper’s roommate and longtime best friend. He was also the mechanic who worked on the winery’s machinery. “He didn’t want to make it awkward for Coop, so he came to me. We owe him a lot of money. Apparently it’s been months since we’ve paid him.”

  “What the shit?” Cooper asked.

  “Watch your mouth, Cooper,” Mom said.

  “That’s not the first time I’ve heard we weren’t paying our bills,” Leo said. “We all knew things were tight, but this is Chase. That’s personal.”

  “Leo, you should have talked to Dad about it,” Mom said.

  “I did,” Leo said. “He blew me off.”

  Cooper and Dad both started to talk, but I held up my hand again and glared at them both. “Wait.”

  “I was suspicious,” Leo continued. “Like I said, I knew we were behind on other bills, too. I tried to ask where we stood, but…”

  Leo trailed off, and I could guess what had happened. Dad had gotten angry, so Leo had dropped it—and apparently decided to find out the truth on his own.

  “And the bank?” Mom asked.

  “Threatening foreclosure,” Leo said. “I don’t have all the numbers, but we must owe a lot of money for it to have gone this far.”

  “Is that true?” Mom asked, turning to my dad.

  “Yes, but I’m working on some things,” Dad said.

  “How could you let it get this bad without telling me?” Mom asked.

  It was a very good question. My brothers and I stayed quiet and waited to see if Dad would answer.

  “I have it under control,” Dad said, grinding out the words through clenched teeth.

  I forced myself to pause before I spoke. The younger me would have made a sarcastic remark, but it only would have sparked a pointless argument. I’d spent half my life arguing with my father. Right now, I didn’t need to be Roland the son, I needed to be Roland the businessman. The guy with solutions, who could make financial miracles happen. Because if the bank was threatening foreclosure, that’s what Salishan Cellars needed—a miracle.

  “The first thing Salishan needs is stability,” I said. “Let me use my connections with the banks to take the edge off.”

  “Roland—”

  “Dad,” I said, cutting him off, my voice smooth and even, “you run things like usual while I stop the hemorrhaging. I can buy you some time.”

  He cast a quick glance at Mom, then looked at me again and nodded.

  “I’ll need a couple of days,” I said. “And I can take a look at the books to see what else I can do.”

  “I don’t think so,” Dad said. “It’s one thing for you to call in a favor with the bank. It’s quite another to give you access to all our confidential financial information.”

  “Lawrence,” Mom said, “he’s our son.”

  “Our son who doesn’t work here,” Dad said.

  Don’t react. This was business. I wasn’t going to let him make it personal. “I can put a bandage on the wound. But it’s only going to start bleeding again, and you’ll be right back here in six months.”

  “Let him help,” Mom said. “We can’t lose this land, Lawrence. We can’t.”

  I hated the fear in my mom’s voice. This place had been in her family for generations. Thankfully, my brothers held their tongues. If one of them started in again, they’d all wind up yelling, and we’d never get anywhere.

  Come on, Dad. Do the right thing.

  “Fine,” Dad said. “I’ll get you what you need tomorrow. I have too much to do this afternoon.”

  I kept my face still despite the flare of annoyance. Tomorrow. That meant today was half wasted. “Okay.”

  Dad’s eyes darted around to everyone again, and Leo met his gaze without flinching. I had to respect that. Standing up to our father had never been easy.

  “I have to get going,” Dad said. Without another word, he walked out the door.

  Leo got up and squeezed Mom’s shoulder before leaving. She touched his hand and thanked him. Cooper hugged her and kissed her forehead, then nodded to me.

  Mom didn’t get up, so I waited while Cooper shut the door behind him.

  “I can’t believe he didn’t tell me,” she said.

  “He was hoping he could fix it and you wouldn’t have to know.” I didn’t particularly want to defend my dad, but that was probably the truth. “He doesn’t want you to worry about the business side of things.”

  “I should worry about the business side of things,” she said. “I’ve always let him handle it, but I should be more involved.”

  “Well, maybe now you can be,” I said. “This gives you a good reason.”

  She nodded. “You can use one of the offices upstairs in the Big House while you’re here.”

  “Sure, thanks.”

  “Do you want to stay at the house with us?” she asked. “Or use one of the guest cottages?”

  “I was just going to check into a hotel in town.”

  She scowled at me. “Roland, you do not come home and stay at a hotel in town. Especially not when we have so many unused beds right here. You don’t have to stay at the house, but at least use the Hummingbird Cottage. It’s all made up and ready.”

  That was my mom for you. I was thirty-one years old, and she was still trying to mother me. The winery grounds had several guest houses, all with corny names like Hummingbird Cottage. My grandmother had
insisted every building have a name, and the guest houses were decorated inside to match. They’d been built for paying guests, but Salishan had gotten out of the overnight hospitality business years ago. Now they were used for family and other guests who came to visit.

  I didn’t really want to stay on the property, but if it would make my mom happy…

  “Hummingbirds it is,” I said.

  She smiled and put her hand over mine. “Thank you for coming. I’m glad you’re here.”

  I cleared my throat to suppress the flare of emotion that stole through my chest. “Don’t worry, Mom. You guys aren’t going to lose the winery. I won’t let that happen.”

  Her eyes shimmered with tears, but she swallowed them back and sat up straighter. “No, we’re not. I won’t let it happen, either. Let me know what I can do to help. Even if it’s just running interference between you and your dad.”

  I nodded. Keeping space between me and my dad would be better for everyone.

  But I wouldn’t be here for long. I kissed my mom, then went out to grab my stuff and take it over to the guest house. I needed to get set up in that empty office. I had a shit-ton of work to do.

  4

  Roland

  A week. I’d been here an entire fucking week. I hadn’t spent this much time in Echo Creek since I was married to Zoe.

  God, why did I choose her as my metric? It couldn’t have been since I lived here, or since college? I had to measure things in terms of my ex?

  I didn’t know why she was on my mind. I’d barely seen her.

  Since I’d convinced Dad to let me dig in and help with the finances, I’d been spending most of my time in what Cooper was now calling Roland’s office. I reminded him daily that it wasn’t my office. I had an office, in a high-rise building in downtown San Francisco. With a great fucking view. And an assistant sitting at a desk outside my door who had been madly rearranging my schedule as my quick trip home stretched out indefinitely.

  I was still doing my actual job, just from here. All I needed was wifi, and thanks to Leo, the internet here was reliable. But between conference calls, answering emails, and basically trying not to sabotage my career, I was buried in the disaster that was Salishan Cellars.

  And Zoe? I didn’t know where she was most of the time. I could hear her come and go. Her office was two doors down from where I was sitting. But when she was in there, she kept the door closed. And the rest of the time, she was out and about, doing her thing. Always busy.

  Or maybe avoiding me.

  I needed to quit thinking about her.

  My phone buzzed, vibrating against the table. I pushed my laptop aside and checked. My brother.

  Cooper: Stop working. Come drink.

  Me: Thanks, I’m good.

  Cooper: Not acceptable. Get your ass down here.

  Me: Where?

  Cooper: Mountainside Tavern

  I stared at my phone, waffling between telling him no, and sucking it up and going down there. I had a lot of work to do, but if I didn’t, he’d probably keep bugging me.

  And there was a small part of me that was glad for the invite. Glad to be included, like I still belonged here.

  Me: Fine.

  I saved the files I’d been working on and closed my laptop. The time caught my eye. Was it really after ten? I hadn’t realized it was so late. I guess I’d done enough for one day.

  Cooper was indeed at Mountainside, in a booth with Chase. The winery had a serious cash flow problem, but I’d made sure Chase had been paid about a third of what they owed him. We’d get him the rest, it would just take a little time. But like Leo had said, this was Chase. It was personal.

  Coop raised his beer to me, then glanced over his shoulder and waved to get the bartender’s attention. “Good man. Come. Sit. Order a beer. Take a load off.”

  I took a seat across from Chase. His dark hair was slicked back, like he’d been wearing a baseball cap all day. Even though he was eight years out of high school and no longer playing school sports, he hadn’t gone the way of a lot of the guys around here, who had beer guts before they were thirty. Like Cooper, Chase kept in good shape.

  “Thanks again,” Chase said. “For helping get shit under control.”

  “Yeah, no problem,” I said. The bartender came to the table and I ordered a Mack and Jack’s African Amber. “We’ll get things squared away with you as soon as we can.”

  “This whole thing still pisses me off,” Cooper said. “I was basically stiffing you. Such bullshit.”

  “It’s not like you sign the checks,” Chase said. “Are things really as bad as people are saying?”

  “What people?” I asked.

  Chase shrugged. “Word around town is that Salishan is pretty much screwed. On the brink of closing.”

  “Hell no,” Cooper said. “The fucking bank will have to haul my cold dead corpse off that land before I’ll leave it.”

  It was weird, but I realized the vehemence in Cooper’s voice wasn’t for show. He wasn’t exaggerating. I had a sudden vision of him standing at the entrance to the property with a double-barreled shotgun in his hands, guarding the family land. In some ways, Cooper had been born in the wrong era. He should have been a homesteader back in the Wild West.

  “It’s not going to come to that,” I said.

  “Don’t listen to those assholes, anyway,” Chase said. “Gossipy bitches.”

  Things were bad. That was true enough. And after a week of trying to get a handle on things, I still didn’t know what they needed to do about it.

  “No Leo tonight?” I asked.

  Chase paused, his beer partway to his mouth, and Cooper cleared his throat.

  “Uh, no,” Cooper said. “Leo doesn’t leave the property.”

  He said that like I was an idiot for not knowing.

  “He doesn’t go anywhere?”

  “Nope,” Cooper said. “Hasn’t left once since he came home.”

  “How is that possible?” I asked. “He’s been home for three years, hasn’t he?”

  “Yeah, and he hasn’t left the property in three years,” Cooper said.

  I could tell Cooper was getting annoyed with me, but this was freaking me out. “That can’t be right. How does he get groceries, or go to the doctor? How did he get all his ink done?”

  “He orders shit online,” Cooper said. “And has people come to him. I’m telling you, Leo hasn’t set one foot off Salishan land since he came home.”

  How did I not know that? “Shit,” I said.

  Chase’s eyes widened, and he grabbed a baseball cap from the seat next to him, then shoved it on his head and pulled the brim low.

  Cooper snort-laughed. “Dude, isn’t that Shelly?”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Chase hissed.

  “Wait, did you hit that?” Cooper asked. “When?”

  Chase scowled. “A few weeks ago.”

  I glanced over at the bar. A pretty blonde wearing an off-the-shoulder red shirt and skin-tight jeans stood chatting with the bartender.

  “She’s cute,” I said. “What’s the problem?”

  Chase hunkered down lower in the booth. “Nothing. It would just be better if she doesn’t see me.”

  “So you’re saying you don’t want me to get her attention?” Cooper asked.

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Chase said.

  Cooper snickered.

  “Look, I hooked up with her a few times, and it was cool,” Chase said. “But I’m not into the whole relationship thing, so I called it off. She wasn’t thrilled about that.”

  “We should see if she’ll throw a drink in his face,” Cooper said.

  “Fuck you, dick,” Chase said. “I just don’t want to hurt her feelings or whatever.”

  “Admirable,” Cooper said. “I’ll let it stand.”

  The girl in red—Shelly, apparently—walked past our booth. Chase twisted in his seat and pretended like he’d dropped something. I couldn’t help but laugh. Cooper and Chase had been like this since
we were all kids. Always giving each other shit. Now they had well-earned reputations as Echo Creek’s resident playboys. I kept wondering when they’d outgrow it, but they both seemed happy to keep living the single life. Maybe they just hadn’t found the right girls to settle them down.

  Movement caught my attention from the corner of my eye, and I glanced over. There was a couple sitting at the bar who hadn’t been there a moment ago. I didn’t know the guy, but I did a doubletake when I saw the girl. Was that Zoe?

  “What’s up?” Cooper asked. He leaned over me to look, then muttered oh shit under his breath. “Sorry, man. I didn’t know she’d be here.”

  “It’s fine,” I said.

  Chase raised his eyebrows at Cooper.

  “Knock it off, assholes,” I said. “I’ve seen her around a bunch of times. It’s not a big deal.”

  I had seen her around, and it hadn’t been a big deal. But it had just been her. Now she was with some guy? Who the fuck was he? Not that I gave a shit who she was with. I had no right to care.

  But seriously, who was he?

  “That’s Van.” Cooper said.

  Ah, hell, was it that obvious what I’d been thinking? “What?”

  Cooper nodded toward the bar. “The guy with Zoe. His name is Van.”

  What the fuck kind of name was Van? “I didn’t ask.”

  “Yeah, but you wanted to know,” Cooper said.

  “I just didn’t know Zoe was dating anyone,” I said, trying to sound casual. Because I was. I didn’t care.

  “She’s not really dating him,” Cooper said. “He’s just her boycycle.”

  “Boycycle?” I asked.

  “You know,” Cooper said. “They’re friends, but she takes him for a ride once in a while.”

  That was weird. It didn’t sound like Zoe.

  Chase laughed. “That’s not a thing. You made that up.”

  “It’s definitely a thing,” Cooper said.