by Jane Graves
“There’s a big world out there,” Daniel said. “Hard to keep up with when you’ve never stepped foot out of Rainbow Valley.”
“I haven’t stepped foot out of Rainbow Valley,” Marc said, his voice quivering, “because I was operating this vineyard while you were running all over this country doing whatever the hell you pleased.”
“Whatever I pleased? Whatever I pleased made me a fucking millionaire! Why do you always act as if that’s nothing?”
“I’m not going to let you run this place into the ground.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Yeah? Well, you can’t do a lot of judging when you’re on the back of a motorcycle heading out of town.”
Now as Marc envisioned that, he saw it more as a trap than freedom. He’d be in another state while Daniel was here screwing up the business their father had entrusted to him, and that was absolutely intolerable.
“If you’re so damned worried about this place,” Daniel said, “why are you leaving?”
“Just because I’m leaving it doesn’t mean I don’t care what happens to it!”
“I don’t know, Marc. I think you give up that right the minute you put it in my hands and hit the road.”
So that was what it came down to? If he handed this place over to Daniel everything went to shit, and if he didn’t, he was destined to be here forever?
“Right now we’re stuck with oak barrel aging,” Daniel said. “But as soon as I’m in charge, there may be a few new procedures at Cordero Vineyards.”
“Damn it, Daniel, I’ve sweated blood over this place!”
“Right. Because you’ve always been desperate to live up to the old man’s expectations. Well, he’s dead and gone. It’s your life now. Why don’t you live it?”
“We had a deal,” Marc said hotly. “Don’t you dare try to back out now!”
“I’m not backing out. Just because I decide to do things a little differently—”
“You’re going to destroy this place!”
“Oh, come on, Marc! A vineyard is always one bad season away from closing its doors. It could happen whether you’re running it or I am.”
“You really don’t give a damn about this place, do you? If I sell it, no big deal. If a mold infestation takes out our crop, who cares? If you put micro-oxygenation tanks in and destroy a whole year’s work, so what? If we lose this crop, we’ll miss an entire vintage. It’ll take us years to recover from that!”
“Assuming you decide not to sell.”
“Either way it’s a disaster. If we lose a crop, do you know what that does to the market value of this place? I depend on it for a living, or at least I need to be able to cash out the equity. Have you even stopped to think about that?”
“Do you actually think I’d let you swing from the end of that rope?” Daniel said. “Seriously?”
“What are you talking about?”
“If I make the wrong decision, if things go south, I’ll pay you for the crop. I’ll write you a check. And you know I can do it. You won’t be out a dime.”
“It’s not about the fucking money! When are you going to get that through your head?”
“Then what the hell is it about? You say it’s your livelihood. How is that not about money?”
And that was when Marc knew. His brother was never going to be able to do this. It just wasn’t in him. He could learn how to operate machinery. How to prune grapevines for maximum production. But that didn’t give him the heart for the business, the drive, that feeling of pride when he looked out across the vineyard and imagined the final product, bottled and ready to drink.
“Never mind,” Marc said. “Let’s just get the grapes in on Thursday, and then—”
“No. They need to stay on the vine at least another week.”
“Another week? You leave them on the vine that long and the sugar level will go through the roof.”
“I don’t think so. And the tannins will also be softer.”
“The alcohol content will be too high. Did you test the pH?”
“You told me I have the best palate of anybody in the family. So why don’t you just let me taste the damned grapes and decide when to harvest?”
“No. Let’s get it done. The crew is booked—”
“I rescheduled for next week.”
“You what?”
“You want me to run this place? So let me run it.”
Marc was dumbfounded. He couldn’t do this anymore. He couldn’t listen to his brother ignore every procedure they’d ever established at this vineyard and simply shoot from the hip. He just couldn’t do it.
“You know what?” Marc said. “Fine. Do whatever you want with the place. Harvest when there’s so much sugar in the grapes they taste like candy. Use fake oak flavoring. Hell, burn the place to the ground. I don’t give a shit. It’s all yours, buddy. We’re harvesting in a week? Fine. I’ll bring my shears. The minute those grapes are in, I’m out of here. Then you can deal with the aftermath.”
Kari truly believed Luke and Shannon’s wedding was the most beautiful one she’d ever seen. The late afternoon sun eased through the tree branches, dappling the whole area with clusters of sunshine. Friends and family gathered in front of the grape arbor to watch two people they all loved promising to love each other for the rest of their lives.
This is it, Kari thought. This is the way it’s supposed to be.
After Marc and Daniel fought World War III earlier, Daniel moved out of the main house into the cottage. Angela showed up with only minutes to spare and avoided talking to Kari, coming to sit next to Marc only when the ceremony was about to begin.
Marc didn’t touch Kari through the entire ceremony, and she knew it was because Angela was sitting right next to him. Angela stared straight ahead the whole time, her face tight and unsmiling. Even when Shannon and Luke exchanged rings and became man and wife, her expression never changed. Kari could only imagine what was going on inside her head.
Nina and Daniel sat to Kari’s left. Daniel checked his phone at least three times during the ceremony, and Nina seemed to be in another world. Her gaze never strayed from that arbor, and as fond as she was of Shannon and Luke, Kari knew she was thinking about Curtis. When Luke kissed his bride, Nina began to cry, and she had to pull a tissue from her purse to dab beneath her eyes.
The reception took place in the barn next to the oak barrels, where Nina had set up tables with linen tablecloths and wine-themed centerpieces. Candles on the tables lit the room with a warm glow. And Shannon looked positively radiant. Kari had been to a lot of weddings before, but there was something about the way she and Luke looked at each other that made Kari feel a sense of envy well up inside her. That was the wrong thing to feel, she knew, because she was truly happy for them. But she couldn’t stop wondering if there would ever come a day when a man would look at her the way Luke looked at Shannon.
Then she glanced up at Marc, and the most frustrating sense of longing swirled through her. Yes, she was leaving town with him. But if he knew what she really wanted, she was sure he’d run far and fast.
“Angela’s still pissed,” Marc said.
“Yeah. I can tell. But she’s coming to dinner, right?”
“She said she was.”
“She’s avoiding me,” Kari said.
“She’ll get over it. Daniel is avoiding me.”
“He’ll get over it, too.”
“He may. I’m not sure I will.”
“I’m sorry everything’s such a mess right now,” Kari said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Marc took her hand. After a moment, he leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss.
“Angela may be watching,” Kari said.
“She knows how I feel about you.”
For a split second, Kari imagined him saying it. I love you. I love Cordero Vineyards. To hell with riding across the country. I want to stay in Rainbow Valley forever.
&
nbsp; “I’m really glad you’re coming away with me,” he said. “We’re going to have such a good time.”
Such a good time. Didn’t he know how much she wanted them to be more than just traveling friends with benefits?
After Shannon and Luke left on their honeymoon and the caterer had cleaned up, Marc made his way back up to the house with Nina. Daniel and Angela walked behind them, talking to each other but acting as if Marc didn’t exist. Marc opened the back door to find Kari already in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on dinner. Nina helped Kari set the table and bring the food to the dining room, and they all sat down to eat. The tension in the room felt as heavy as sludge in the bottom of a fermentation tank, and Marc wished he was anywhere else.
“It was a nice wedding, wasn’t it?” Nina said as she passed the green beans around the table.
“Beautiful,” Kari said.
Nina turned to Angela. “What did you think?”
She shrugged. “It was okay.”
“I’d love to see you get married under that arbor someday.”
“Assuming we still have a vineyard for me to get married in.” She stabbed her fork into a chunk of chicken. Marc felt stress working its way between his shoulders, and he had to bite his tongue bloody to keep from snapping back.
“Chicken’s good,” Daniel said as he ate, because nothing on earth got in the way of his appetite.
“Thanks,” Kari said. “I found a recipe in that old Betty Crocker cookbook in the pantry.”
Angela flicked her gaze to Kari. “That cookbook was Grandma’s. She didn’t let anybody touch it.”
“Grandma is dead, so there’s no reason not to use it now,” Marc said. “Otherwise, it just collects dust.”
Angela pursed her lips and stabbed another bite of chicken.
“So, Angela,” Nina said. “How’s school?”
Oh, crap, Marc thought. Did she have to go there?
“Fine,” Angela said.
Daniel looked up. “That’s not what you told Marc.”
“If she says it’s fine, it’s fine,” Marc snapped.
More silence, so much that the clinking of silverware sounded like Big Ben chiming the hour. Then all at once, Angela tossed her fork down with a clatter.
“It’s not fine,” she said.
Oh, God, Marc thought. Here it comes.
“I’m not crazy enough for Kim and her friends, and I’m not cool enough to pledge a sorority. So where does that leave me? Nowhere.”
“Who the hell cares?” Marc said. “Didn’t I teach you not to follow the crowd?”
“That gives me no one to hang out with. And everybody laughs at me.”
“Why would they laugh at you?” Marc said.
“Because I’m from some dinky little town most of them have never heard of. And they say I talk funny.”
“Aren’t they Texans, too?” Nina asked.
“Most of them are. But it turns out big-city Texans talk different than small-town Texans. I try not to talk like I talk, but I’ve been talking this way for eighteen years, so I don’t know how else to do it.”
“All that will change,” Nina said.
“No, it won’t. That place is so big, and I just don’t fit in.”
“Well, you’ll just have to learn to fit in,” Marc said.
“I don’t want to fit in. I don’t even want to go back.”
Silence fell over the table. “No,” he said carefully, trying like hell not to blow up. “You’re going back to school.”
Angela was silent.
“I’ve paid for this semester, and you’re going to finish it.”
“No, I’m not. I hate that place!”
“What are you talking about? You’re not dropping out!”
“What do you care? You’re not even going to be here!”
With that, Angela pushed her chair back and leaped up from the table, heading for the stairs. Then all at once she came back to the kitchen. “I don’t suppose I could actually go to my own room, could I?”
“Yeah,” Marc said. “It’s all yours again.”
Angela looked at Kari. “But that means that she’s…” She looked heavenward. “Oh, God.”
As she stomped up the stairs, Marc flung his napkin down and stood up, scraping his chair across the floor. Enough of this. He was going to go have a word with her right now.
“Marc,” Nina said.
He kept moving.
“Marc!”
He turned back.
“Don’t you get it?” Nina said.
“What?”
“She’s having a hard time at school. She could probably get through that, except she’s not going to have a father to come home to when things get tough. That’s what she’s trying to tell you.”
“She knew I was leaving. She thought it was fine.”
“It’s one thing to talk about it. It’s another thing when she sees you on the verge of doing it.”
Marc swallowed hard, the truth slowly coming to him. Was this what his leaving was going to do to his daughter? Suddenly he felt sick. The plans he’d been making for years, the ones he thought were set in concrete, were suddenly shifting like sand beneath his feet.
“She’s just a kid,” he said. “Everything seems tough to handle when you’re a kid, right? She’ll get over it.”
“Yeah? How about me? Will I have to get over it, too?”
“What are you talking about?”
For some reason he didn’t understand, tears filled Nina’s eyes. What was going on now?
“You can’t just leave like this,” she said.
“Nina,” Marc said carefully. “We’ve talked about this. Everything is going to be fine. Daniel will be here.”
But he didn’t believe things were going to be fine. Not for one second. So why was he saying it?
Because he couldn’t leave unless it was true.
“I know he’ll be here, but—” Nina waved her hand, a single tear coursing down her cheek. “You won’t be.”
Marc couldn’t believe this. Nina was about as self-sufficient as any woman he’d ever known, and now she was falling apart on him, too?
“Nina,” he said. “It’s okay. It’s not as if I’ll be gone forever.”
“Is that really true? You’ve told me—told all of us—that there’s a chance you’ll decide not to come back to Rainbow Valley. What are we supposed to do then? Have you even stopped to think about what your leaving means to everyone else? Or are you just going to get onto that motorcycle and drive away as if you don’t give a damn about anybody?”
Marc drew back, anger surging through him. “Don’t give a damn about anybody? Are you serious? Almost everything I’ve done for the past eighteen years has been for somebody else. For once in my life, I’m doing something for me. And don’t you dare make me feel like shit for doing it!”
“I have to go,” Nina said.
She rose from the table, spun around, and left the room. The front door opened, then closed.
“Oh, boy,” Daniel said.
“Oh, boy is right,” Marc said. “I can’t believe she went off on me like that!”
“Well, there is kind of a reason why,” Daniel said.
“What reason?”
“I can’t say. She swore me to silence for today.”
“Hey! If there’s something that explains that, you’d better start talking!”
Daniel sighed. “Manfred died this morning.”
Silence fell over the table, and Marc felt as if somebody had punched him in the stomach. “My God. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“She didn’t want anybody to know.”
“Why not?”
“Luke and Shannon’s wedding. She wanted their day to be perfect, and if they knew, she thought they’d be all worried about her.”
Marc dropped his head to his hands. “Shit.” Then he jerked his head up. He took off toward the front door, trying to catch Nina, but she was already gone. He pulled his phone from his poc
ket and dialed her number. She didn’t answer.
Kari came to the entryway.
“She should have said something,” Marc said. “She should have told me. Luke and Shannon didn’t have to know.”
“I know. But I think she knew how Shannon in particular would feel if she found out. Manfred came from the shelter. I guess she just didn’t want to chance it.”
“And what about Angela? If she drops out of college…” Marc exhaled. “God, Kari. Do you have any idea how smart she is?”
“I can only imagine.”
“Well, imagine times ten. That’s what she’s throwing away.”
“I know you think the worst thing in the world is for her not to go to college. It’s not. The worst thing in the world is for her to think you don’t approve of her.”
“Hey! I’ve never made her think that. Never!”
“You didn’t have to. Unless I miss my guess, she’s always done what you wanted her to. What was there for you to disapprove of?” Kari put her hand on his sleeve. “Have you thought about sending her to another school?”
“Yes. Of course I have. But she’d need to go to another state school, or I wouldn’t be able to afford it. The others might not be as big as the University of Texas, but they’re still big schools. I’m not sure that would solve the problem. If she sticks it out where she is, she could still adjust and everything will be fine.”
“She could. But if time passes and she’s still miserable—”
“I know,” Marc said, blowing out a breath. “I know.”
“Just talk to her. It’ll be okay.”
He turned and looked up the stairs. “I will. But Nina first. I have to fix this. I’m going to her house.”
He started out the door, only to realize he didn’t want to deal with this by himself. Maybe this time he didn’t have to. He looked back at Kari.
“Will you come with me?”
She nodded. “Let me get my purse.”
Marc hated this. He never said the right things at the right time, but he had to try to say something. At least with Kari along, there was a chance he wouldn’t make a monumental mistake. But when they drove to Nina’s house, she wasn’t there, and his frustration hit an all-time high.
