The Winemaker

by Michelle MacQueen

  I nodded. “I like the sound of that.” Hope was a scary thing when one had to put their trust in someone they despised. “We need to discuss every aspect of how this will work leading up to phase one of construction.”

  Conner took a sip of his tea and leaned forward, eager as I was whenever I talked about this project. “That’s where I want to make the first big change. You’re thinking too small, Selena. With an investor, we don’t need to phase it out. Go big or go home, right?” He picked up the master drawing that showed where I wanted to be in ten years. “We go right to phase four and hit the ground running.”

  “Absolutely not.” I stared at him, wondering how he ran a successful business. “We start with phase one.” I lifted the phase one drawing that showed two small buildings closest to town. The general store and the cider cafe. “We use phase one to pay for phase two.” Phase two was the restaurant and the Christmas shop that would open seasonally for the first two years. We would sell Orchard Hill Christmas trees, and eventually, it would stay open year round.

  “We will earn the highest profit margins if we go straight to phase four this year.”

  “This year? Are you nuts?” I gathered up all the documents and shoved them back in the folder. “That’s a great way to go bankrupt within the first three years.” My entire business plan was based on building up to phase four. “This whole venture is a huge risk.” I shook my head. “Phase one is the best way to build slowly over time without risking losing everything.”

  “It’s a big change, I know that.” Conner sipped his tea. “Let it sink in, and we can talk about it again later.”

  “No. If we’re going to do this, we’re doing it my way.”

  “This tea is really good.” Conner took another sip. “Really good.”

  “It’s my gram’s blend. She makes it with chamomile from her garden and our pink lady apples. The wild flower honey Mr. Peterson bottles is what makes it even better.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about.” Conner leaned forward. “This tea should be on our shelves.”

  “It will be, in phase three when we add the Superiore Bay market. I want a place for all the local vendors to sell their products on consignment. From Mr. Peterson’s wild honey to Mallory Ellison’s apple-cherry chutney, and Rusty’s applewood smoked bacon, Mrs. Chapman’s goat cheese, and Mr. Webber’s prize-winning butternut squash. This town has so much to offer. I want them to have a place to showcase the things they’re most proud of.”

  Conner smiled. “That is my favorite part of your plan. What an incredible way to give back to the community.”

  “In phase three.”

  “Think of it, Selena. This time next year, you could have it all up and running.” He smiled over his mug.

  “You’re insane.” I drained the last of my tea and took my mug to the sink. “It’s too much too soon.”

  “If you didn’t have an eager investor willing to fund the project, it would be way too fast. But you do have a very talented, business savvy investor who can front the money to make it happen.” Conner stepped up behind me, setting his empty mug in the sink.

  I turned around, daring to hope. “Show me the figures.”

  “Really?” He grinned.

  I nodded, feeling like I could puke. “I need to see the projections and the debt ratios. If I’m doing this, I want to be in the black within five years.”

  “That’s doable.”

  I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “Are we doing this?”

  Conner grabbed me and pulled me into his arms. “Yes, we’re doing it! You won’t regret it, Selena, I promise.” And then, the idiota kissed me. His lips pressed against mine, warm and inviting. His arms held me pressed close against his chest. And I kissed him back. It had been so long since I’d been kissed, I completely lost my sanity for a single moment.

  “No.” I pulled back, shaking my head. “No, no, no. This,” I pointed between us, “this is just business, nothing else.”

  “Of course.” Conner’s eyes filled with horror. “I got swept away in the excitement.” He stepped back, putting some distance between us. “I should go.” He fumbled for the door. “We’ll talk again soon.” He slammed the door behind him, and I leaned against it.

  Oh man, that was a good kiss.

  23

  Lena

  I woke up smiling for the first time in what felt like forever. Had last night really happened? Rolling onto my side, I stared out my window at the main house where I knew my parents were preparing for another day of work. They’d be horrified if they knew everything I’d agreed to.

  I’d resisted partnering with Conner, but he was so excited about this, so ready to move forward, I couldn’t help feeling the same things. Phase four. He wanted to move straight to phase four.

  The Conner Ashford I thought I’d known was cautious, the stern and hard businessman who did what Daddy told him. But maybe I hadn’t really known him at all. Last night, he hadn’t been hard or cautious. There’d been an almost childlike glee in his eyes when he talked about the business. Almost like he needed this just as much as I did.

  And then, that kiss …

  I squeezed my eyes shut, needing to forget that moment or the fact I wanted to go back and not let it end.

  My phone chirped from my bedside table, and I pulled it free of the charger. Carter. Guilt gnawed at me. What would he say if he knew I’d kissed his brother? If he knew how much I’d enjoyed it.

  But business and … non-business stuff couldn’t mix. I had too much riding on this.

  With a sigh, I answered the phone. “Why are you up so early?” It was six in the morning, not an unusual time for me to get the day started, but Carter was pretty much the opposite.

  “I do that sometimes,” was his reply.

  I snorted. “You do not, but okay.”

  “What are you doing today?”

  I rolled onto my back and stared at the whirring fan blades overhead. “Working. What else?” I was always working.

  “Play hooky with me today.”

  “Can’t.”

  “You can, you just won’t.”

  I laughed at that. “True, but some of us have jobs, Carter. I thought your father was going to make you start working for the family.”

  “He hasn’t decided where to put me in the empire so I can’t screw anything up.”

  Despite my joking, I felt bad for Carter. He’d never known exactly what he wanted to do with his life, only that he didn’t want it to have anything to do with wine. He had a trust fund that meant he’d survive if he never got a job his entire life, but no one wanted to be so aimless.

  “Well, you could always come out to the orchard for some manual labor.”

  “Lena? Are you there?” Crackling came over the line but, despite our bad reception, I knew what he was doing. I rolled my eyes. “Lena?”

  “Oh no, Carter. Guess reception is cutting out.” My voice was monotone, but I doubted he noticed.

  “That’s a shame. Crackle crackle. Wanted. Crackle. To help you.” And the line went dead.

  My best friend was ridiculous, but I loved him for it.

  Yelling came from the main house, and I jumped out of bed, pulling on my bathrobe, before hustling outside and across to the kitchen door. My parents stood facing each other in the kitchen, my dad’s face so red I was afraid he’d explode.

  Gram stood near the door, and when she saw me, she shook her head in warning, but I needed to know what was going on. Neither of my parents saw me enter.

  “She’s my daughter!” my father yelled. “I have every right to be upset.” He and Mom started speaking so rapidly in Spanish I couldn’t keep up. I spoke the language, but not nearly as frequently or as well as them.

  I caught small snippets of conversation. My mother had seen Conner’s car here last night, but she didn’t seem to know who it was, only that I had a late visitor.

  Dad was angry she hadn’t woken him so he could confront whoever it
was.

  My eyes widened as I realized what they thought had happened. My parents thought I had a man spend the night, that he’d left early this morning. Embarrassment flooded me and a flush rose in my cheeks.

  “Stop!” I yelled. This was what I got for being secretive.

  Both my parents looked at me in shock. “Mija,” Mom started.

  Dad took a step toward me. “Lena, I know you’re an adult, but you are also living on my property. Unmarried young people should see each other at appropriate hours.”

  “Please stop.” I couldn’t take this much longer. “My ears are bleeding.” I looked to my grandmother for help, but she seemed to be having trouble suppressing a laugh. The traitor.

  I sucked in a breath. “It was Conner Ashford.”

  Both my parents exploded in chatter again, but I hardly caught any of it as they talked over each other. I probably should have led with the why instead of the who.

  “Quiet!” I crossed my arms.

  Both went silent until Mom put an arm around my shoulders. “Mija, the Ashfords are not the kind of company we wish you to keep.”

  “Why?”

  “What?”

  “Gram told me the history of our two families. Keeping that past alive is stupid.”

  “Lena.” My father leveled me with a stern stare. “Watch how you speak.”

  I groaned. “Come on. This entire town is sick and tired of the feud you two and Mr. Ashford insist on continuing. The rift happened generations ago, and you still act like we’re the Capulets and Montagues. We’re not. Not even close. Do you know why?”

  “We aren’t killing each other?” Enzo’s voice came from the doorway.

  “No.” I stared at each member of my family in turn. “They weren’t in danger of losing everything.”

  No one responded, and I swear we could’ve heard a drop of sweat hit the wooden floor.

  Mom covered her mouth with her hand. Dad’s brows drew together in frustration. Enzo stared at his feet.

  But Gram, I could’ve sworn there was pride in her gaze.

  Finally, Dad met my gaze. “Lena, we aren’t in danger—”

  “Don’t say it.” I shook my head. “Grandfather left me his shares, me. I never knew why he didn’t leave them to you or to Enzo, not until recently. He knew the struggles we faced, the struggles we’d continue to face. Orchard Hill Farm hasn’t seen a high profit year in half a decade. I’ve been over the books. We’re leveraged up to our ears, which isn’t a problem right now, but one day, it will be. If we don’t make a change, if we don’t do something to draw visitors and distributors, there won’t be a family business left for me and Enzo.”

  Mom drew in a deep breath. This wasn’t new information to them, but none of us had been so blunt, so honest about it before. “I don’t understand what this has to do with Conner Ashford spending the night.”

  “He didn’t spend the night.” I looked at my brother. It was time. “Will you go out to the bunkhouse? There’s a folder on the pub table. Please bring it here.”

  He nodded and slipped outside.

  I felt pressure in my hand and caught Gram’s smile out of the corner of my eye.

  “You might want to sit down.” I gestured to the small kitchen table where Mom’s jam making supplies were piled up. She always had some project working in the kitchen, but making jam and jarring it always took the longest.

  Enzo returned a moment later with my folder. I opened it and set it on the table to start pulling out papers, starting with the drawings.

  “There are four planned phases.” I laid the pictures in order. “Originally, my plan was to do them one at a time to avoid taking on too much risk.”

  My father only gave the pictures a quick glance before looking at me. “I thought we gave up on this outlandish idea. We cannot begin a new business just because one is failing.”

  “No, Papi. You gave up on it. I never did.” I pulled out the business plan. “Our current struggles are precisely the reason we should do this now. Everything about this opportunity connects to Orchard Hill. It will bring tourists up the coast to our small town, tourists who will spend money in the local economy. I want to provide opportunities for this town, for these people. For us.”

  I slid onto the chair next to him. “No one gets anywhere playing it safe.” Reaching for the drawing of phase four, I handed it to him. “This is my dream.”

  No one spoke for a long moment until my mother asked, “What does Conner Ashford have to do with your dream?”

  This was where things got tricky. I rubbed the back of my neck. “If you two came to town meetings, you’d have seen the entire town push us together. They don’t want us working against each other. I needed an investor.”

  Darkness flashed across my father’s face, and he set the drawing down. “No.” Without another word, he stood and walked from the room, leaving the rest of us staring after him.

  “Lena.” My mother sighed. “The Ashfords are not our friends. Their money will always have strings attached.” Her expression softened. “You have done a wonderful job with all of this.” She gestured to the papers. “And we can discuss how to move forward on a smaller scale, but we will not take anything from that family.”

  She followed my father, leaving Gram and Enzo to stare at me with sympathy.

  Gram took a seat beside me. “You’re right about your grandfather. He knew you’d take the risks necessary to lead this family in the right direction.”

  “But is it the right risk?” Maybe my parents had a point. Conner might seem easy to work with now, but how long could that last? I thought back on that kiss, wondering if that too had been a part of the business discussions, a way to make sure I agreed.

  Enzo sank into a chair with a huff and shuffled through the papers until he found what he was looking for. He pointed to phase one. “Who dreamed this up?”

  “Me?”

  “Was that a question?”

  I shrugged.

  “Lena.” His gaze met mine. “This entire idea was yours. Not our parents’. Not mine or Gram’s. No one dreamed of this except you. Can you really let them make you doubt yourself?”

  “But what if they’re right? What if I’m making a giant mistake?”

  Enzo let out a dramatic sigh. “Okay, I’m going to tell you something, and you have to promise not to get mad.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine.”

  “Carter took that picture of you and Colin Hillson.”

  I shot to my feet, and my chair fell over behind me. “What? Enzo, I had one of the worst days because of that photo. This town hated me.”

  Enzo had the decency to at least look ashamed. “As soon as you said you were going to expand your land search to Hidden Cove, we knew we had to do something.”

  “We?” All the whispering and secret meetings.

  “We planted that story in the Weekly Wine and then spread the rumor about you looking to open a business outside of Superiore Bay.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and stared down at my brother, wishing my gaze could burn holes right through his head. “And why did you think it was a good idea to make me a pariah?”

  He stood to face me. “Because, Lena, Superiore Bay is in your blood. You couldn’t do business in Hidden Cove.”

  “The Ashfords were giving me no choice.”

  “That’s the point. We thought the town could put pressure on the Ashfords to make sure Superiore Bay didn’t miss out on this opportunity. And they did.”

  I pinched the bridge of `my nose. It was way too early in the morning for this. “They didn’t just put pressure on them, Enzo, they made Conner part of this.”

  “Is that such a bad thing? Carter thinks Conner needs this too. He needs something outside of his father’s world, a venture that doesn’t belong to his family.”

  “But this is my venture.”

  “One you have no hope of even beginning without funds. We were trying to help you.”

  “You want to help?”
I walked toward the door. “The barn needs a good scrub down today. I’m going to get dressed and head into the orchard, but that sounds like a job for such a helpful brother.”

  I barely breathed until I reached my bedroom and shut the door. My parents were never going to get on board, but Enzo was right. I’d never admit it to him, but I couldn’t do this on my own.

  He was also right about something else. This dream wasn’t my family’s. It belonged to me and only me.

  Well, and maybe now Conner Ashford.

  Help us all.

  24

  Conner

  Here I was about to embark on a new business, and all I could think about was the one moment I’d let myself lose control. If I was honest with myself, I’d wanted to kiss Lena Contreras long before last night. Maybe ever since she pushed me into the bay.

  And now, I couldn’t get the taste of her lips off my mind.

  The way she’d responded before pulling away and deciding it wasn’t a good idea. She was right, of course. If we were going to be business partners, I had to keep my distance.

  Even when that was the last thing I wanted to do.

  I sat in my office, staring out a wide window where I could see our vineyards in the distance. Work had been piling up, but I needed a moment to think.

  It wasn’t long ago I was telling Carter to stay away from Lena, that our families didn’t mix. And here I was, not only tying us financially, but thinking about her way too often. I knew why my brother was drawn to her, whether it was romantically or not. She was honest, down to earth, so different from many of the women I’d known.

  She worked hard for her family, just like I did, and wanted nothing more than to keep the family legacy going strong. It was how I felt about our wine business. I not only wanted to lead it down its current path, but I had plans of expansion, of becoming more than what we were.

  If my father would let me.

  Despite my responsibilities, I had little true power in the company. That had to change. My father and I did equal shares of the work. He was about the age my grandfather had been when he turned over the business to his one son who wanted to keep it going.