The Grass is Greener

by Loretta Hill

  Shrouded by darkness, she could see easily out of the large bay windows to where Jack and Chris were talking on the porch. To be honest, she was relieved at first to see them together. It was about time they settled their differences. They couldn’t go on with this silent treatment. It wasn’t good for either of them when it was clear, even to a toddler, how much they loved each other.

  The windows were open and the light curtain was billowing gently with the faint sea breeze. Their voices wafted in clearly.

  ‘What about when I did manage to break through security? You told me that you never wanted to see me again.’ Bronwyn sucked in a breath, startled to hear such anger and hurt in Jack’s voice.

  She glanced at Chris, whose face was grimly set in the faint lighting from the field. ‘And I didn’t, not then,’ he croaked.

  ‘Right,’ Jack said. ‘Which is why it came as no surprise to me when Dad sent me a note explaining how you all wanted me to go. It also included a job offer in Bordeaux and a plane ticket to get me there just in case I was too busy begging to stay to organise one myself.’

  Bronwyn’s hand flew to her throat as Chris put a voice to her thoughts.

  ‘You’re mistaken. Dad would never go that far.’

  ‘Well, he did. So don’t go on to me about how I abandoned you, when you told me to drop off the face of the earth and then had Dad send me a ticket to do so.’

  Oh crap!

  Bronwyn hastily returned to the kitchen. She turned off the kettle and made her way straight back up the stairs. That conversation had just turned her world on its head.

  Did she hear it right?

  Jack thought his dad had given him the opportunity in Bordeaux.

  She shut the door to her bedroom and began to pace the floor. He said something about a note. A note with a plane ticket and a job offer. It was from her mother, no doubt, but she mustn’t have signed it if Jack didn’t realise it was from her. And if that were true, then her mother had lied to her about seeing Jack face to face …

  She sank slowly onto the bed, her fingers trembling in horror. She had been manipulated into doing her mother’s bidding yet again.

  Bianca Hanks had not spoken to Jack five years ago.

  He didn’t know anything about Bronwyn’s feelings for him. He didn’t even know that that job offer in Bordeaux was anything do with her or her family.

  He thought …

  She threw herself back on the doona, a hand to her forehead.

  He thought his own family had wanted him gone. No wonder there was such a rift between them all.

  Shit, Bronwyn! This is all your fault.

  She closed her eyes in disgust at the unfathomable damage her mother had caused. Damage she probably didn’t even know the half of. All she had wanted to do was make her daughter stay in law. She bit her fingernails as her thoughts flew in all directions.

  All this time, all this awkwardness.

  You’ve been so embarrassed over nothing.

  He didn’t reject you. He didn’t even know you had feelings for him.

  Still doesn’t.

  Her significance to him in this whole debacle was actually non-existent. It was all in her head and the cost of that mistake was huge.

  Her mother had destroyed his relationship with his family. She sat up abruptly.

  You are going to have to tell him what really happened.

  Even as the thought formed in her head, another flew in the back door.

  Wait!

  What was she going to tell Jack when he wanted to know why he had been singled out? Why her mother had thought that if he was gone she wouldn’t come back to Oak Hills?

  She chewed her lower lip. Number One Humiliation Street. Her infatuation with him was going to come out after all. Her embarrassing unrequited love that he wasn’t even aware existed. She massaged her temple.

  The situation only got worse the more she unravelled it.

  Then, of course, there was the plan she’d set in motion the afternoon before, which made everything that much worse. Jack would not be pleased with the development, and had she known how much her family had taken from him already she might have thought twice about it. But now it was too late, her offer was out there. And if she was really honest with herself, did she want to take it back?

  Yesterday, when Jack had gone off to settle into Claudia’s messy bedroom, she had tracked down Horace. The old man had been talking to the harvest tractor driver in the yard – discussing the pros and cons of machine harvesting and whether it really produced the same standards as hand-picking. She was sure Horace was gathering support for a debate he was going to have later with John Maxwell, whose organically grown vineyard had never seen a mechanical clipper in its life.

  ‘Horace, can I talk to you for a minute?’ she had asked.

  After the driver wandered off and she had his full attention, she’d cut to the chase. ‘I want to buy into Oak Hills.’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘You need money and I’ve got money,’ Bronwyn tried to explain. ‘Not immediately available but certainly in time if you agree. I’ve got assets and investments that can easily be liquidated. I’m happy to sell my apartment in Subiaco, which will fetch me a good profit, and I have shares in the Eddings Company Trust, which I’m sure I can cash out –’

  ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa.’ Horace held up his hands. ‘Where is this coming from? Why do you want to do this?’

  Bronwyn had licked dry lips. ‘Because you’re in trouble and I’m sick of the way things stand. I don’t just want to be the resident groupie anymore. I want you guys to take me seriously. I want a real interest in this business and for you to have a real interest in me.’

  Horace smiled. ‘That’s fair, I suppose.’

  ‘I know I’m still green, but don’t you think what I’ve contributed so far has proven my passion about the winery?’

  Horace considered this with a laugh. ‘Bronwyn, anyone who could go through the pile of unfiled documents on Chris’s desk without a word of complaint must have a passion for this business.’

  ‘So …’

  ‘It’s not just my decision,’ he shrugged. ‘I will have to talk to Lydia about it. If we are going to reduce the share we leave to our children she will want to have a hand in that.’

  ‘Okay,’ Bronwyn agreed. ‘I’m willing to wait on your answer.’

  And she was. However, in light of the fact that Jack was here to claim his rightful place, she was doubtful that he was going to be happy about it.

  Under the sting of his rejection, she’d been happy to show him the ‘New Bronwyn’. Yet now that the truth had been revealed, all she wanted to do was give her mother a piece of her mind.

  So what’s stopping you?

  Harvest.

  It was probably the worst day to be making a private phone call. Everybody was up at sparrows to help process the grapes that had been taken off the vine that night. She could already hear people moving downstairs. In an hour, it would be all on.

  The hopper had to be filled. This fed the de-stemmer and crusher. After that they prepped the press and when it had done its business, the must (or grape juice) had to be pumped to the vats or fermentation tanks. Then the lab tests were done and the juice chilled right down. The winery was a bustle of noise, tractors and people. Staff from the cellar door were helping out too. She worked solidly all morning and then thought she’d catch five minutes for herself behind the barrel room to make the call.

  When she made her way over there, however, a couple of others appeared to have had the idea first. Chris and Maria were conversing under the open roller door, so Bronwyn stopped before she rounded the corner.

  ‘In four weeks my visa runs out and I must return to Italy.’

  ‘In four weeks,’ Chris repeated, seemingly at a loss. ‘It seems like only yesterday you started.’

  ‘Yes. I wanted to speak to you about my resignation.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘I have really loved working here,’
she began uncertainly. ‘I have really enjoyed working for … you.’

  Bronwyn crossed her fingers.

  Come on, Chris. Read between the lines.

  Unfortunately, his response was polite and impersonal. ‘We have really enjoyed having you too, Maria. You make a good impression on our customers.’

  ‘Thank you, but I just wanted to say –’ Maria cleared her throat as if coming to the point with some difficulty.

  ‘Yes?’ Chris prompted her.

  ‘How much I … admire you. Particularly how far you’ve come since your accident –’

  ‘Thank you, Maria, but there’s no need to go on.’ His voice was stern, cold even. ‘My accident is, after all, a personal matter.’

  Bronwyn slapped a palm to her forehead.

  ‘Of course. So sorry to have intruded.’ These last words were said in a mumbled rush and Bronwyn heard Maria’s footsteps retreat a little.

  ‘Maria, wait!’

  At last.

  ‘What will you do when you return to Italy?’

  ‘I’m not sure.’

  ‘I’ve always wanted to visit Italy.’

  ‘Then you should,’ Maria said quickly. ‘Don’t let anything stop you.’

  And then she’d walked off, almost running into Bronwyn as she came around the corner.

  ‘Oh, hi,’ Maria murmured in embarrassment and quickly walked on. Chris rolled forward to see who she was talking to and Bronwyn twiddled her fingers awkwardly at him as Maria disappeared. He seemed unaffected by her presence, though his lips curved into a smile.

  ‘Hey gorgeous, what can I do for you?’

  ‘Don’t you “Hey gorgeous” me!’ She shook her finger at him. ‘What’s going on, Chris? Can’t you see she’s mad for you?’

  ‘What? Who?’ Chris blinked. ‘You’re not jealous of Cathy are you, because I swear to you nothing happened on our date Monday. In fact,’ his smile went lopsided, ‘I helped her pick up somebody else. It was all a crock.’

  Bronwyn put her hands on her hips. ‘It always is. Except for Maria. So get your bloody act together and do something about it.’

  Chris abruptly lost his smile. ‘Honestly, I don’t know where you’re getting these ideas from, but in case you didn’t quite overhear properly, Maria is going back to Italy. There’s no point.’

  ‘You’ve never been one to give up.’ She looked pointedly at his legs. ‘Ever.’

  ‘Where is this coming from?’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Have you been talking about me with Jack?’

  She baulked at this suggestion. ‘Absolutely not. Though there is something you should know.’

  He wheeled forward at the seriousness of her expression. ‘Jack leaving the way he did isn’t what you think. It’s my fault. I hope you can forgive me.’

  ‘What’s to forgive?’

  ‘Jack left because he got a plane ticket and a job opportunity from my mother.’

  Chris blinked, his hands tightening on his wheels. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘He thought you guys wanted him gone but it was actually my mum.’

  ‘But –’ Chris frowned. ‘Why would your mum want Jack gone? It’s nothing to do with her.’

  ‘Well, yes it was, sort of, at the time.’ Bronwyn shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. ‘I was going to quit law and move to Yallingup to be with your family.’

  ‘And Jack.’ Chris’s mouth twisted.

  Bronwyn reddened. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘It’s Jack,’ he shrugged ruefully. ‘I always knew.’

  ‘Are you angry?’

  ‘Yes. No.’ He threw his hands up in the air. ‘I don’t know what to think anymore. I’m angry at myself more, I guess.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because of what I put him through, what I put myself through. All the negative things I said before he left. I was jealous, you know.’ He winced. ‘Still am. I’ve always felt like I got the short end of the stick.’

  ‘You didn’t.’ Bronwyn put her hand on his shoulder. ‘You just got a completely different stick. If you stopped comparing yourself to Jack and just asked yourself for a change what you wanted, then maybe you’d realise that the only thing holding you back is you.’

  ‘That’s a lesson you’ve learnt this month, isn’t it?’ He smiled at her affectionately, shaking his finger. ‘Don’t think Mum and I haven’t noticed you lobbying the old man. Very cunning indeed.’

  She blushed.

  ‘Not that we blame you after we both tried to shut you out.’ He grimaced. ‘You’ve actually done a really great job replacing Claudia. Better than great. Yesterday I went into the office and actually saw my desk. It’s only been three years!’

  Bronwyn shrugged modestly. ‘I enjoyed sorting out all your paperwork.’

  ‘Then you’re completely welcome to keep doing it.’ Chris laughed.

  ‘I hope that ends up being a really long time,’ Bronwyn grinned. ‘I really do want to be part of this business.’

  ‘I believe you.’ This time his smile was absent of flirtation. ‘And I hope you get your wish.’

  As he rolled off, Bronwyn also hoped that what she had said regarding Jack had at least partially sunk in. She wanted the brothers to reconcile. It would be a crying shame if they never found friendship again.

  As for her mother, she doubted she would ever forgive her.

  Surprisingly, it didn’t take long to get hold of Bianca Hanks once Chris was out of earshot. It was the middle of the day, so she was almost sure she’d be in court, but Bianca picked up the phone after two rings.

  ‘Ah, so at last you have come to your senses,’ Bianca purred in satisfaction. ‘Has your friend been complaining to you of my cruelty?’

  Bronwyn tossed her head. ‘Not at all. Claudia can hold her own. I’m just ringing to inform you that I know what you did five years ago with Jack Franklin. You didn’t even speak to him, did you?’

  Her mother was silent a few seconds too long. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘You lied to me so I would be too humiliated to do anything but accept what you wanted.’

  ‘I honestly can’t remember what happened.’ Bianca seemed unperturbed. ‘Is there a point to this conversation?’

  ‘That’s it?’ Bronwyn gasped. ‘That’s all you’re going to say?’

  ‘What do you except me to say?’

  ‘Maybe an apology or something? You estranged Jack from his family.’

  ‘Jack Franklin is not my concern. You are.’

  ‘Not anymore,’ Bronwyn said firmly. ‘You’re never going to be able to have that sort of power over me again. I’m selling my apartment. I’m cutting all ties with the city and with you.’

  Bianca sucked in a breath. ‘There’s no need to be so rash. If you want to take a break, fine, but why sell your apartment?’

  ‘I’m buying a share in the Oak Hills Winery.’

  ‘Oak Hills Winery!’ Bianca Hanks repeated. ‘That’s where you are, isn’t it? Where you’ve been hiding. What a fool I am. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.’

  ‘Yes, well I have always loved this place,’ said Bronwyn, ‘and it’s always loved me in return.’

  ‘Are we back to how much I never loved you?’ Bianca was contemptuous. ‘If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t care what you did.’

  ‘Well, perhaps I’m a bit over your brand of love.’ Bronwyn sighed. ‘Goodbye, Mother.’

  She hung up, completely dissatisfied with Bianca’s complete indifference to the havoc she had wreaked in the lives of others. It wasn’t until much later that Bronwyn realised the cardinal mistake she had made during the phone call.

  Bianca Hanks now knew exactly where she was.

  Chapter 24

  After his dysfunctional conversation with Chris, Jack found it no easier to get back to sleep when he returned to Claudia’s room. As a result, when he finally left his bed, he was tired and cranky. Not a good combination for an intense day of crushing and pressing. It
didn’t help that Ant was in such good spirits.

  ‘So have you spoken to your father yet?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Why not? It’s best we make our move as soon as possible, is it not?’

  ‘Depends.’

  ‘Depends on what?’

  Jack ran a rough hand through his hair. ‘Look, I’m angry with Dad but I’m not here to make things worse. I’m here to show my family that they need me and get them back on side.’

  ‘I think showing your father how serious you are about zis business will do that.’ Ant seemed unperturbed. ‘I wish you would stop resting on your hands, Jack, and make our offer. I have been doing ze tastings in the cellar door with zat brother of yours, who hates me by ze way, and I am done. I need to get back to ze winemaking. My body craves it like a smoker craves cigarettes.’ He threw his hands in the air. ‘I do not know why you continue to allow me to suffer these agonies of the suppressed artist!’

  ‘All right, all right,’ Jack agreed with smile. ‘I’ll see what I can do.’

  As he finished the sentence he saw Bronwyn enter the winery yard and his mind went blank. She looked so wholesome, even in that ratty old T-shirt and pair of jean-shorts. He couldn’t help but acknowledge how she fit right in. He could barely even imagine her in a corporate suit, strutting the Terrace with files under her arm. This was where she belonged.

  ‘Good morning, Jack,’ she greeted him, rather formally. She seemed worried and he wasn’t sure why that was. His senses went on high alert.

  ‘Hi, Bronwyn,’ he said. ‘Are you helping out today as well?’

  ‘Where else would I be?’

  ‘She wishes to be by my side, toiling in the Australian sun,’ Ant announced, much to Jack’s annoyance.

  ‘Hi, Ant,’ she giggled, with a warmth Jack did not like.