“Some. Maybe. It’s unbreakable. I already asked my attorney. I’m going to live up to my part of the agreement. The point is, she’s getting the money.”
Maybe he wasn’t as stupid as she’d feared, she thought, still enraged by what that kind of money would mean to Mackenzie.
“Ask your attorney again. There has to be a way to keep her from getting her hands on that much. It’s ridiculous. What were you thinking?”
He stared at her for a long time. “I was thinking that I loved my wife. It’s where we are. She’s getting the money, Mom. You’re going to have to deal.”
“Oh, right. You create the problem and then leave me to fix it. How typical.” She was back to wanting to slap him. “Why can’t you comprehend what’s happening? We’re only a couple of months away from harvest. And then what? Who is going to take the grapes and make them into wonderful Bel Après wines? We all work hard, and yet without Mackenzie, what is there? Grapes. You have to make her stay.”
“She offered to stay through harvest, Mom. You fired her.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.” He stood. “No more evictions, no more anything like that. It’s done. She’s leaving. Let the rest of it go.”
“I will not,” she snapped. “Keeping her happy was up to you and you failed.”
He walked out of her office. When she was alone, she stood and paced to the window, staring out at the view that usually delighted her.
Mackenzie had to stay, she thought grimly. That was all that mattered. Bel Après needed her, something her own son didn’t seem to understand. Ironically Mackenzie would know what she meant. For Mackenzie, the winery had always come first. With her gone...
“I won’t think about that,” she said aloud. Except she couldn’t think of anything else. Once people knew, they would—
She swore under her breath, then hurried back to her desk. She wrote a quick email to all her children, telling them to keep quiet about Mackenzie’s threat to leave. No one else could know—not until Barbara had figured out a way to solve the problem. One way or another, she was going to get Mackenzie to see she couldn’t leave.
* * *
Friday morning Mackenzie met Rhys in the kitchen while he was eating breakfast at the kitchen table by the window.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning. I need your help. I want to clean out my desk at the office and, well, I don’t want to go there alone.”
She half expected him to tease her about being a coward, but instead he nodded.
“Sure. I’ll go with you. We can get it done before I head out to check the Seven Hills vines.”
She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat across from him. “Is everything all right? I’m worried about the canopy on the south side. The weather has been so hot for the past couple of days and—”
She pressed her lips together. “Sorry. I forgot I was fired.”
“I’ll check the canopy for you.” He gave her a slight smile. “I do know how to do my job.”
“You’re the best. I know that. It’s just I’m a natural-born worrier.”
“You’re a great winemaker. It’s how you’re wired.” He sipped his coffee. “If she’d offered you a piece of it, would you have stayed?”
She considered the question. “Yes. I never wanted to leave. This is all I know. You’re my family and this is my life’s work. But everything is different now. Bruno and I are business partners and we’re moving forward with the purchase of Painted Moon.” She smiled. “We have an office in town.”
“No more working out of a hotel?” he asked, his voice teasing.
She smiled. “It was getting a little weird. The office is better. We have more space. I’m excited about the opportunity but sad that everything has changed.” She paused. “I miss you,” she admitted. “I miss us.”
“The old us or the us we came to be?”
“Both. Mostly the old us. We were good together.”
He nodded. “Just never that special.”
Was that how he saw their relationship? She’d thought it was very special. Obviously she’d been wrong about that, too.
“Let me know when you want to go to the office,” she said.
“We can go now,” he told her, carrying his dishes over to the sink.
She’d already put a couple of tote bags by her purse. She collected them and followed him out to the garage. They each took a golf cart and drove the short distance to the office building, then climbed the stairs.
Mackenzie hurried into her office and glanced around. The only items she wanted were the personal ones. Rhys made himself comfortable in the visitor’s chair while she collected photographs and put them in the first tote bag. There were a couple of knickknacks Rhys had given her, along with a few pictures Stephanie’s and Four’s kids had made for her.
She’d just sat behind her desk to check the drawers when Lori appeared in the doorway.
“You can’t be here. Mom fired you.”
Rhys turned to his sister. “Leave it alone.”
“She’s been fired. What if she steals proprietary information?” She turned to Mackenzie. “I’m going through your bags before you leave.”
“No, you’re not,” Rhys told her. “She’s getting what’s hers and that’s all. Jeez, Lori, give it a rest.”
Mackenzie pulled open each of the drawers. She had some protein bars, hand lotion, a few Band-Aids, a charger for her phone. None of it significant, but all of it hers. She put everything into the second tote bag and tried not to think about how little she was taking. Shouldn’t she have more to show for sixteen years of work?
But there wasn’t anything else, she reminded herself. The rest of it belonged to the company. At least she had the memories. Those were hers to keep for as long as she liked. She thought about the late nights poring over reports, the times she’d stood at the window and watched a summer storm roll in as she eyed the sky and wondered about hail. Hail could ruin a crop in seconds. Here that rarely happened, but she still worried.
She stood and grabbed a couple of jackets she’d left on the coatrack in the corner. “This is everything,” she said.
Rhys rose. “I’ll walk you out.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
They both turned and saw Barbara standing behind Lori. Mackenzie hoped she didn’t flinch as she stared at the other woman. Their eyes met.
“Go back to work, Lori,” Barbara said, her voice surprisingly pleasant. “You, too, Rhys. I want to have a word with Mackenzie.” She smiled slightly. “I promise there will be no bloodshed.”
Rhys glanced at Mackenzie. “You okay?”
She nodded.
He leaned close. “I’ll stay in my office until you two are finished.”
“It’s okay. You need to get to Seven Hills.”
He hesitated. “Are you sure?”
“I’m fine.” She lowered her voice. “I’m pretty sure I could take her if I had to.”
“Unless Lori joins in. Then it’s two against one.”
“Stop worrying. You need to check on the vines.”
He nodded and left. Mackenzie followed him out of what had been her office and went into Barbara’s.
“Close the door, would you please?”
Mackenzie did as she was asked. She left her totes by the door and took the visitor’s chair.
Barbara sat with her hands folded on top of her desk. She looked as she always did—perfectly groomed, wearing a suit. There were no dark circles, no hint of worry. Mackenzie didn’t know if the other woman was that unconcerned about what was happening or if she was just that good at makeup.
“We seem to have found ourselves in a pickle,” Barbara said with a smile. “Maybe it’s time to talk about getting ourselves out of it.”
“
I don’t know what that means,” Mackenzie admitted, wanting to believe they could work out some kind of compromise, but not willing to trust her soon-to-be-former mother-in-law.
“I want things to be right between us, Mackenzie. We’ve always been so close. I was just thinking about how long it took us to find the right sofas for your living room.”
Despite everything, Mackenzie smiled. “I was thinking about the decorating, too. We did a good job.”
“That’s because we’re a good team.”
“We are. Barbara, you’re so important to me. You’ve been like a second mother to me. I don’t want us to fight.”
“Good. I don’t want that, either. So let’s see if we can fix the problem. I’ll double your salary. How does that sound?”
Mackenzie didn’t know what to say. She’d been talking about their emotional connection while Barbara had obviously meant her job at Bel Après.
“So I’m not fired?”
“That depends on you, my dear. Do you want to not be fired?”
She thought about what she was doing with Bruno. The partnership and how generous he was being with everything. She thought about waking up every morning knowing she owned the land, the vines and everything in it. Or at least half of it.
“Would I own any part of Bel Après?”
“No, but you’d be very valued. Your work has always been the biggest part of your life. Why should that change?” Barbara leaned back in her chair. “I wish you wouldn’t get in a snit about ownership. It comes with a lot of responsibility. Wouldn’t you rather spend your time making beautiful wines?”
“And then what? Put money in my 401(k) every month and get a gold watch when I’m ready to retire?”
“No one gets a gold watch these days. Mackenzie, there’s no need to be difficult.”
“So I should just shut up and do my job.”
Barbara’s pleasant expression faded. “Expecting more is unreasonable. You’re divorcing Rhys. You won’t be one of us anymore. I’m willing to give you more money. You already have control of the wines. Do you think you can do better somewhere else? On your own?”
Barbara raised her eyebrows. “I know about the postnuptial agreement. Rhys mentioned how much he regrets it. What if he fights you for the money? What if you end up with nothing?”
Mackenzie told herself not to react. Barbara was trying to hurt her, to frighten her, and while she was doing a damned good job, there was no reason to let her know it was working.
“I’ll be fine,” Mackenzie said as confidently as she could. “I know what I’m doing.”
Barbara laughed. “Do you really? Do you actually think you can run a winery on your own? You can’t manage the costs, the marketing and keep it all going. You are good at what you do, but that is all you can do. If you try to do more, you’re going to fail.”
“Thanks for the pep talk.”
Barbara’s expression darkened. “I’m telling you the truth. That isn’t always kind, but that doesn’t mean what I’m saying isn’t true.”
Mackenzie told herself to ignore the sting of the words. She would deal with the pain of them later.
“While we’re talking truths,” she said, “let me give you a few of my own. I would have stayed for very little. I don’t want more money. I want to belong. But you’ve never been willing to let that happen. You hold on so tight and I can’t figure out what you’re afraid of losing. I suppose it doesn’t matter, because when you squeeze something that hard, you destroy it.” She gave her a bitter smile. “I was going to offer to help with harvest, but I can see you’re not interested in that.” She rose. “I can’t be bought. Not for what you’re offering.”
“You ungrateful bitch.” Barbara stood. “I should never have trusted you. Well, don’t try getting a job in this town. I’m going to warn everyone about you. I’m going to tell them how you betrayed me, betrayed all of us.”
“Go ahead. Say what you’d like.” Mackenzie walked to the door and picked up her bags. “One last truth. You can’t say anything to hurt my career. Want to know why? Everyone likes me better than they like you, and they won’t believe a word you say.”
With that she walked out of Barbara’s office for what she was sure was the last time. She made her way downstairs and into the golf cart. Minutes later she was at the house. It was only when she was inside that she gave in to tears. She sank onto the kitchen floor and cried until she was empty. The entire time she half expected Rhys to come in and check on her, knowing when he did, he would hold her and tell her everything was going to be all right. That of course he wanted her to have the money because he cared about her. Only he never did and, in the end, she was left completely on her own.
seventeen
Saturday morning, Stephanie drove into the parking garage behind Bellevue Square. The multistory shopping center was an upscale, busy place with lots of stores and restaurants, and was only a sky bridge away from not one but two movie theaters.
She’d brought Avery and her BFF, Madison, over the night before. The three of them had stayed in a cute Airbnb close by and would head back to Walla Walla on Sunday afternoon. In the meantime there would be plenty of shopping and hanging out. The teens had a list of three movies they wanted to see. Stephanie planned to do a little wardrobe update for herself, and maybe buy some things for Carson. Not that he cared about clothes, but she had a feeling he would need a few things when he got home from baseball camp.
Once she’d parked, she turned to her daughter.
“Are you two going to be all right on your own?” she asked, careful to keep her voice teasing rather than concerned. In the past week or so, she and Avery were getting along better and she didn’t want to upset their tenuous détente.
“We’ll be fine, Mom.” Avery waved her phone. “We have movie tickets to the 2:10 showing. We’re going to eat lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and meet you at five at the Starbucks on the second level.”
Madison leaned forward from her place in the back seat. “The rest of the time, we’re going to be shopping,” she said in a singsong voice.
The previous evening they’d had dinner at the Mexican place and had walked around, but there hadn’t been time to do much more than stare at store windows.
“You two have fun,” Stephanie said as she got out of the car.
“What are you going to do?” Avery asked.
“A little shopping. I’m meeting your dad for lunch.” The real reason for the trip, although she hadn’t shared that with her daughter when she’d suggested the outing.
They headed into the mall together, then split up by Nordstrom. While the girls went off in search of trendy boutiques, Stephanie browsed her favorite store.
Even as she tried on a few dresses and looked for a pair of new jeans, she was aware of the time. She was meeting Kyle at noon and didn’t want to be late.
He’d been surprised when she’d told him she was coming over the pass to the Seattle side of the state for the weekend, but had quickly agreed to lunch. What she hadn’t shared was the topic she wanted to discuss.
A little before noon, she stowed her purchases in her car, then walked through the mall and across the sky bridge to the restaurant. Kyle was already waiting by the host station, and he smiled when he saw her.
“How does it feel to be back in the big city?” he asked with a grin.
“I’m a simple country girl, trying not to get lost among you sophisticated people.”
He laughed, then turned to the host and gave his name.
They were shown to a table by the window. They were over thirty stories up and the views were fantastic, but Stephanie was more concerned about their conversation than the view of the Sound and Mount Rainier. She fiddled with her menu, picking it up, then putting it down until Kyle took it from her.
“Talk,” he said firmly. “You obviously have something on you
r mind. Let’s get it out and then we can enjoy lunch.”
She wasn’t happy that he could read her so easily, but while that was interesting, it wasn’t relevant to the moment.
“Avery and her boyfriend broke up a few weeks ago,” she said, forcing herself to look at him. “She dumped him after he cheated on her, then said it was her fault, claiming he had to do it because she wouldn’t have sex with him.”
A muscle in Kyle’s jaw tightened. “Alexander did that? She told me they weren’t seeing each other anymore but didn’t tell me why. That little bastard.”
“Yes, it’s awful, but not the point. I told Avery I was proud of her for being so strong.” She squeezed her fingers into her palms, telling herself she wasn’t going to cry.
“She said she had to end things because she wasn’t going to be like me. She wasn’t going to be weak and stay with a guy who cheated on her.” She sharpened her gaze. “You told our sixteen-year-old daughter that you cheated on me and you didn’t tell me she knew. You let me be blindsided, which is bad enough, but worse, you dropped the information on her without giving her any support, or letting me tell my side of things.”
He flinched. “I’m sorry. I should have let you know what happened. She and I talked and I thought she was fine.”
“When did this happen and why didn’t you say something to me?”
“Over the holidays last year, when she and Carson were staying with me. A guy I know at the station came by to talk about what was going on in his marriage. He’d cheated and his wife found out and he didn’t know what to do. It was late and I thought both kids were asleep.”
Their server approached, but Kyle waved him away.
“I said that I’d been in his position and I’d handled it badly. That I’d been a fool and I’d lost something important to me because of that. I told him to own up to his mistake and make it right.”
“Something you never did,” she snapped.
“You’re right. I didn’t and I regret that more than you can know.”
The Vineyard at Painted Moon Page 18
