Let It Breathe

by Tawna Fenske

  So her only night with Clay had remained a secret. They’d never even acknowledged it until a few days ago.

  A wailing in the distance jerked Reese’s mind from her memories and back into the present. She sat up in bed, listening.

  Sirens?

  She craned her neck, trying to peer out the window. The flicker of red-and-white lights pulsed back at her, coming up the gravel driveway with alarming speed.

  Shit.

  She scrambled out of bed, her feet tangling briefly in her discarded bra. She fumbled in the dark for clothing, coming up with the black dress she’d peeled off earlier when Clay was watching. Her arms tingled at the memory, but she tossed the dress aside and reached for the light switch.

  She started grabbing clothes from a pile in the corner. Yoga pants, dirty T-shirt—where did she throw that bra? She cursed as she wriggled it on, wishing she were one of those women who could dash out the door without one. She shoved her feet into her clogs and grabbed a fleece sweatshirt off the hook on the back of her door.

  “Reesey?” Larissa’s voice echoed high and panicked from the living room. “Something’s happening.”

  “Can you see what it is?”

  “I’m trying.”

  Reese yanked open her bedroom door and hustled into the living room. Larissa was standing there in a pair of Reese’s old gym shorts and a T-shirt that once belonged to Eric.

  “Do you smell smoke?” Larissa called over her shoulder as she peered out the front window.

  Reese sniffed the air, panic hitting her like a punch in the gut as she threw open the front door. The smoke smell expanded outside. “Shit.”

  She could see the flames from her front porch, licking at the side of the winery barn as smoke slithered up into the night sky. The pulse of lights from the fire engines cast an eerie glow on the nearby grapevines, making them look like twisted old men.

  “’Riss—go put Leon in his pen and stay with him,” she yelled. “Check on all the other animals and make sure they’re safe. Take your cell phone and call my mom and dad.”

  “Be careful!”

  Reese took off running. Her feet slipped on the damp grass as the smoke stung her nostrils, but she recovered her balance and kept running.

  “Honey! Stay back!”

  “Dad?” Reese squinted between the darkened rows of grapevines, trying to see him. “What’s going on?”

  “The fire department has it, hon,” he called. “They said it looks worse than it probably is. Stay put for now, let them do their jobs.”

  “Where are you?”

  “Hold on just a sec. Don’t move, I’ll come to you.”

  Reese turned back toward the fire, watching through ashy darkness as her eyes adjusted to the haze. Burning orange streaks slashed the sky, but she could see streams of water gushing from the end of the hose as fire crews attacked the flames. She watched, horrified, from the safety of her front lawn.

  The winery barn still stood, and now that she could see more clearly, she realized the fire was contained to the east end of the building. Not where the wine was stored, not where the expensive equipment was kept.

  She felt her father’s hand on her shoulder and turned.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  She glanced down, then wished she hadn’t. “Why are you in your underwear?”

  “Your mom and I were making love in the moonlight when—”

  “Never mind,” Reese said, yanking off her fleece and handing it to him. Once it was safely tied around his waist, she continued the conversation. “So you saw the fire and called 911?”

  “Not me, Clay.”

  “Clay?”

  “Your mom texted me a second ago with the details. Guess he was dropping Larissa off at your place when he saw the flames. He tried to get it put out with the hose on the side of the building but called the fire department to be safe.”

  Reese bit her lip as she watched the crews hose down the end of the building. “Is he okay?”

  “I think he got a little burn on his arm, nothing too bad.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Down there with the ambulance crew getting checked out.”

  Reese nodded, not sure whether to rush down there or play it cool. “How did it start?”

  “No one knows yet. Looks like it’s close to where the de-stemmer was, so maybe some wiring?”

  “There’s no reason it would even be hooked up this time of year, is there?”

  “Probably not. Maybe something overheated?”

  Reese bit her lip. “I’m going down there to talk to the crew. Where’s Mom?”

  “She went back down to the house to get me some replacement pants and make sure Axl was okay.”

  “Where are your pants?”

  “Mom got carried away and tossed them in Leon’s trough.”

  Larissa would pull them out. Reese sighed and headed across the lawn to where the lights from the fire trucks were still pulsing. Off to one side, several people from the neighboring cattle ranch were gawking at the scene. Beside the winery barn, the crews were coiling up their hoses and speaking in jovial tones. Reese said a quiet prayer of thanks, realizing the damage didn’t look too bad.

  “Excuse me,” she said as she caught the arm of a passing fireman. “I’m Reese Clark—this is my family’s vineyard. Any idea what happened?”

  The man nodded and touched the edge of his helmet. “Can’t really say. Looks like the fire started over there, but we won’t know anything for sure ’til the fire marshal gets out here.”

  “Can I go look?”

  He shook his head. “Not yet. It wasn’t a bad fire, but we can’t say for sure how stable things are.”

  “How bad is the damage?”

  The guy shrugged. “I don’t really know how much that stuff costs, but I’d say you got lucky. The fire was pretty contained. Most of the big equipment didn’t get hit. You’ll probably have a few bucks tied up in building repairs, but it’s mostly just smoke. You owe a lot to that dude down there in the ambulance.”

  Reese bit her lip. “Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine. A little shook up, maybe. Go see him if you want.”

  “Thanks.”

  Reese trudged off toward the ambulance, which wasn’t screaming off into the night with sirens blaring. That seemed like a good sign.

  “Clay?” she called as she approached.

  A medic looked up at her. “Give him a sec, honey. We’ve got him on oxygen right now.”

  “Oxygen?”

  “Just a precaution. He’s fine.”

  Reese reached the side of the ambulance and looked down. Clay was sitting up, but there was a mask covering his nose and mouth. He had some sort of monitor hooked to one finger, and there was a bandage on his right forearm. Other than missing his shirt, he looked normal.

  Well, aside from the clearly defined fingernail marks on his right shoulder. Reese flushed, remembering how they got there.

  He looked up at her. She couldn’t see his mouth, but she could see his eyes and was pretty sure he smiled.

  “Hey,” she said. “I heard what happened. Thank you. Can you nod if you’re okay?”

  Clay nodded, then glanced at the medic.

  “Go ahead and take it off,” the guy said. “Just put it back on if you feel dizzy.”

  Clay drew the mask back and gave her a small smile.

  “Hey.”

  Reese felt her eyes start to well up, and she knew it wasn’t just the smoke. “You got hurt.”

  “I’m fine. The burn is pretty small, and I sucked in some smoke, but I’ll be okay.”

  One of the medics laughed. “Someone owes this guy a beer.”

  Reese bit her lip. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say, really. If you
hadn’t been driving by right then—” She stopped, struck by a realization. “I never thought I’d be so grateful to have a man run out on me after sex.”

  Clay grimaced, and the medic gave a choked laugh. “You two want a minute alone?”

  Reese shook her head. “No—it’s okay. Just take care of him, please.”

  Clay shook his head, his expression somewhere between amusement and embarrassment. “I left a note.”

  “I believe you,” she said. “I didn’t see it, what with my barn catching on fire and all, but I’m not mad. Really, it’s okay.”

  Clay nodded. “Not quite the exit I envisioned.”

  “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’m just glad you were here.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “Do you need to put that mask thing back on?”

  He gave her a funny little half smile. “I am feeling a bit lightheaded.”

  He pulled the plastic mask back over his nose and mouth, and Reese glanced back at the winery barn. Firefighters had the blaze extinguished at last, and crews were stringing yellow crime-scene tape around the charred outer edge. She knew it was just to keep people out but couldn’t help but feel violated at the sight of it.

  She looked back down at Clay. “I’m going to go see if they’ll let me have a closer look at things. You okay here?”

  Clay nodded and gave her a thumbs-up.

  “Thanks again,” she said. “For everything.”

  Reese turned and took two steps toward the winery barn before her mother’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

  “I brought brownies,” she called. “Just a little something to say thank you to all of you for saving our place.”

  Reese turned to watch her mother weaving through the crowd of gawking neighbors and firefighting personnel, a large tray of chocolaty treats balanced in her arms. She was wearing yoga pants and a button-down shirt that displayed the small heart she’d had tattooed above her left breast with Jed spelled out in curlicue letters.

  Reese felt her phone vibrate and glanced down to see a text from Larissa.

  All OK w/ your zoo. 2 squirrels in outside cage humping. You?

  Reese texted back. Everyone safe. Too soon to tell damage.

  “Hey, honey,” her mother said. “Did you get a chance to get a look at things yet?”

  “Not yet. I was just headed that way.”

  “I’ll go with you!” announced Axl, pushing his way through the crowd. “I saw a good-lookin’ lady firefighter down there, and I’d like to ask her to uncoil my hose.”

  “Dad, stop it!” June hissed. “That’s our neighbor, not a lady firefighter.”

  Reese rolled her eyes. “So it’s okay if he sexually harasses firefighters but not the neighbors?” She grabbed Axl by the arm and pulled him away from the crowd. “Come on, Axl. Come with me to check out the winery barn, okay?”

  “Yeah, maybe they need some muscle down there,” he said, flexing one arm.

  “Wait, sweetie,” her mom called. “You want a brownie?”

  “No, thanks, Mom. Clay, how about you?”

  Clay pulled off the oxygen mask again and shook his head. “I’m good, thanks.”

  Reese’s mom smiled down at him. “Thank you so much for everything you did, honey. We owe you a lot more than a brownie.”

  Axl snickered and looked at Reese. Reese ignored him.

  “It was nothing.”

  Reese’s mom shook her head and began rearranging the brownies on her tray. “We sure got lucky tonight, didn’t we, Reese?”

  Axl snorted, still looking at Reese. “Sure did. Got lucky, all right.”

  Reese glared at him. “Come on, Grandpa—let’s check out the winery barn.”

  She grabbed Axl by the arm and dragged him away, ignoring the neighbor who made a snide comment about manhandling an old man.

  As soon as they were out of earshot, Reese stopped walking and glared at Axl.

  “What the hell was that about?”

  Axl grinned. “Nice beard burn on your cheek.”

  Reese raised a hand to her face, feeling herself flush. “So? I had a date tonight. With that hot vet, the one from yesterday.”

  “It wasn’t the vet who left you grinning like a cat who got porked with a Q-tip,” Axl said. “Looked like Clay hadn’t shaved this evening, you notice that? That five o’clock shadow sure can chafe sensitive skin, eh?”

  Reese closed her eyes and shook her head. “Axl—”

  “And then there’s the claw marks on his shoulder,” Axl continued. “Oh, and the lipstick on his earlobe. Same shade you were wearing earlier, wasn’t it?”

  Reese sighed. “What do you want?”

  “You to admit it.”

  “Admit what?”

  “That you scratched your itch with that boy. That you two stroked the lamb’s head, got hay for your donkey, did the wild monkey dance, tickled the—”

  “Okay, fine!” Reese snapped. “Stop! We did, okay? Is that what you want? It wasn’t a big deal.”

  Axl grinned. “The hell it wasn’t. You two have been hot for each other for years. ’Bout damn time you did something about it.”

  “Can we just drop it?”

  “Sure, sure,” he said, waving a hand as he glanced over at the barn. “Whatever you want, Peanut Butter Cup.”

  Reese gritted her teeth. “I want something to cover the beard burn. Give me your scarf.”

  “Nah. There’s no beard burn. I just wanted you to admit it. I can die happy now.”

  Reese glared at him and wondered about the penalties for elder abuse. “Keep that up, you’ll be dying a lot sooner. Come on. Let’s go look at the damage.”

  “You go ahead,” Axl said, turning back the direction they’d just come from. “I gotta go check the woods, make sure nothing damaged my ’shrooms, you know what I’m sayin’?”

  “No, I really don’t. That’s usually best, isn’t it?”

  Axl shrugged and trudged off up the hill, leaving Reese staring after him.

  “Rough night, Reese?”

  She turned and saw Dick Smart from Larchwood Vineyards. He wore the same smug expression he always wore and was immaculately dressed for a guy who’d been roused from bed at one a.m.

  “What are you doing here?” she snapped.

  “Came to see if you needed any help. Being neighborly.”

  “You’re not being neighborly. You’re being nosy.”

  He ignored her snide tone and nodded toward the winery barn. “You lose anything in the fire?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ve been trying to find someone to talk to, but I keep getting pulled away.”

  “Hmmm. Well, I do hope it all turns out okay for you. Be a damn shame if you lost any of your wines.”

  Reese looked at him, narrowing her eyes a little. Dick stared back, his expression unblinking.

  “What?” he demanded.

  Reese shook her head, suppressing a shiver. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”

  Clay got to the vineyard early the next morning. Early by construction standards, anyway, which were pretty damn early. But he was learning that was nothing compared to winery hours.

  From the looks of things, the vineyard crew had been there awhile. They were standing next to the winery barn, frowning at the blackened hole in the side of the building. Yellow police tape fluttered in the breeze, and everyone wore matching grim expressions.

  Clay approached quietly and kept his distance, not wanting to interrupt.

  “Look, at least we didn’t lose any equipment,” Reese’s dad was saying. “We can count our blessings for that. The structural damage was minimal. All in all, we got lucky.”

  “What about the wine?” Reese asked. “How’s the smoke going to affect what we’ve got in the barrels here?”

  Eric scratc
hed his chin. “We’re lucky we moved all the Reserve down to the other cellar a couple days ago, but I’ll have to go through and check everything else for smoke damage.”

  “Can we move all the barrels out of here?” Reese asked. “I don’t want any of the wines getting worse just sitting in this smoky building.”

  “Already on it,” Eric said. “I’ve got a couple guys coming in to help run the forklift and get everything moved to the other cellar.”

  “What about the white wines?” June asked. “Everything we have stored in the tanks—the smoke can’t be good for those.”

  Eric sighed. “There’s the Sauvignon Blanc in steel over there. It’s pretty delicate. We might lose that one.”

  “The whole tank?” June asked. “What about the Chardonnay?”

  Eric shook his head. “We can taste it and see, but—”

  He trailed off, looking grim. Reese closed her eyes. What did that leave them with? How many of those white wines were presold? How much money would they lose?

  “Most of those are sold to restaurants already,” Larissa whispered. “Without the white wines—” She bit her lip.

  Reese sighed. “Let’s just move what we can and hope for the best.”

  “No one was hurt,” June said. “That’s the important thing. It was a pretty small fire all in all.”

  Clay felt a pang in his chest as he watched Jed put his arm around his daughter. “It’ll be okay. I’ve got a meeting in an hour with our insurance guy. This is what we have the policy for.”

  “But we’re already thin on whites for this season,” Larissa said. “Our buyers have all been demanding more. What do I tell them now?”

  Sheila—who must’ve driven Eric—squeezed her husband’s hand. “I don’t like this. Any of it. This whole thing seems dangerous to me.”

  “Accidents happen, hon,” Eric said.

  “Are we sure it was an accident?” Larissa asked.

  Reese frowned at her cousin. “What are you suggesting?”

  “I don’t know. Just speculating if anyone would want to do this on purpose.”