by Violet Paige
“Dad, that’s so sweet. I’ve never heard you talk about college like that.”
“I’m not trying to be sweet. I’m trying to tell you that we all have to make decisions and sacrifices. You can’t possibly make it through life without facing a tough choice. If you like him, do something about it before the choice is made for you.”
My father sat back in his chair and smiled at me over his coffee cup. I tried to picture him and my mother fresh out of school, completely in love, with their whole lives ahead of them. It was hard to think of my parents as anyone but my parents. The sparkle in my father’s eye told me there was much more their life together than only parenthood.
“Dad, I think I’ve already messed the whole thing up.”
“What did you mess up, London?” My mother entered the kitchen right on cue. “And your cheeks are looking quite pink this morning—something is going on.”
“Oh, nothing. Good morning, Mom. Thanks, Dad.” I kissed my father on the cheek and walked out on the porch before my mother could analyze anything else written on my face. I could already predict the advice my mother would give: stay home and give up acting. I didn’t need her to tell me what to do; I already knew what my heart wanted.
I needed a way to get Beau alone—away from the James brothers. Think, London. What would Victoria do? The mountains sprawled out in front of me. I rocked on the front porch, sipping my tea and devising a plan to separate Beau from the allure of poker, basketball, video games, and action movies. I had a sinking feeling I might not be able to compete with any of that. I had delivered him straight into the hands of the perfect guy weekend. Wait, I had a brilliant idea. A resource that was more powerful than testosterone. Divide and conquer. I pulled out my phone to text Nina.
Up for a road trip? I need your help.
It only took a second for my friend to respond.
Where are we going?
How fast can you get to my parents’ house? I need you to run interference. My brothers are here.
OMG. On my way. Do I get to pick which one?
Gross. But, yes.
I leaned back in my chair. Nina would probably be here in about four hours. I hoped the boys enjoyed their male bonding. They had just started a new game of corn hole in the backyard. Tonight I was getting my alone time with Beau.
I jumped up and down when I saw Nina’s car roll into the driveway.
“You’re here!” I hugged her fiercely before she had a chance to put both feet on the ground.
“You bet. I wouldn’t miss a chance to spend the night with your brothers.” She smiled.
“Ewww, Nina. I can’t hear that.” I covered my ears with both hands.
She laughed. “Your plan. Not mine. Now where is the pack?”
I pointed to the bonus room over the garage. “Up there. After they played basketball for two hours, they ate lunch, started some kind of weight lifting competition in the wreck room, which I think Austin won, and now they are deep into a Bruce Willis movie. I’m drowning here. Beau doesn’t even know I’m here anymore. It’s like they initiated him into the brother bond.”
“Don’t worry. We can break them up. Who’s the leader?”
“Definitely Austin. But, Nina, he’s the oldest.” I thought about my twenty-eight-year-old brother and his reputation for dating. It was doubtful Nina could sidetrack him that much, no matter how flowy her blond hair was or how long her legs were.
“I brought a secret weapon.” Nina reached into the backseat of her car and pulled out a grocery bag. “Ta-da!”
“Cookie dough?” I shook my head. This definitely wasn’t going to work. “That’s it? The magic that will undo all things testosterone?”
“Come on. It’s worth a shot.” She dangled the bucket of dough in front of my face.
“Ok, but I don’t see how this is going to do anything.” I helped her with her overnight bag and a pillow.
The kitchen door closed behind us. Nina was already searching the cabinets for a cookie sheet before I even had her bag upstairs. In twenty minutes, the entire house smelled like chocolate chip cookies.
Nina and I were sitting at the kitchen table when we heard the low rumble of shuffling feet. Roman was the first to stick his head in the kitchen.
“Did you make cookies?” He ran over to the oven to peek inside.
Jackson, Nash, and Austin sauntered in after him. Nina winked at me.
“All right, guys, give me just a second.” Nina took her time walking to the oven before making the perfect bend at the waist to open the oven and check the cookies. My brothers were ogling every inch of her bottom, and Nina was fully aware of the attention her ass was getting. I had to turn away. Just as I did, I saw Beau enter the kitchen.
Nina shuffled the cookies around and placed the hot tin on the counter to cool. “Who wants the first one?” She smiled brightly at her captive audience.
Austin cut to the front of the line. “Are you Nina?”
“Yep. In the flesh.”
“Haven’t seen you since we moved London into the dorms her freshman year.” Austin was clearly flirting.
“Oh, were you there?” Nina toyed with him. Ok, she was good.
She reached for a spatula and began stacking the cookies on a plate. My other three brothers waited while she served them cookies. They cleared the kitchen and headed back up the stairs to Bruce Willis. Austin hesitated by the oven.
“Since you just got here, you probably haven’t had a chance to see the winery. Would you want to go on a tour of the vineyard?”
Nina’s eyes lit up. “Now? I just got here. I’m not sure. London, would that be ok with you?”
I had to bite my lip to stop myself from giggling. “Yes, if you have the time, Austin, that would be really sweet.”
“Sure. Yeah. Come on. Let’s take some cookies for the road.” He piled a few on a paper plate and ushered Nina out of the door. I waved good-bye to my over-the-top-conniving friend.
Beau leaned against the counter. “I didn’t know Nina was coming up.”
“Me either. It just kind of happened.” I walked toward him and reached around him for a cookie, making sure my arm grazed his body in the process. I tore off a gooey bite and deliberately held the morsel in front of my lips.
Beau’s gaze was hungry. “Didn’t you want to take me on a tour too?” He cast his eyes to the floor.
“Aren’t you in the middle of a movie?” I savored the chocolate and the moment in my mouth.
“I’ve seen it before. Never been to a winery, though.”
I smiled. These chocolate chip cookies were amazing. “Ok, I could probably show you around. Let’s go.”
There were so many different parts that made the winery function: the vines and grapes, the distillery, the tasting room, and the main office. My mother spent all of her spare time in the office—we would keep the tour away from the number crunching expo.
It was late afternoon—my favorite time of the day to walk through the vineyard.
“How many acres do your parents have?” Beau was walking next to me down a gravel path, his hands stuck in his front pockets.
“It’s almost a hundred. Ninety-six to be exact.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of grapes.”
“Yes, but it’s not all grapes. It includes the house and the office and all of the other buildings used to make the wine.” We had wandered close to the creek that ran along the edge of the property.
“It’s like its own little city. I never thought about wine like this before.” He glanced at the vines running near our path. “To think it starts here on that nubby branch and ends up all the way in a big barrel on tap at the wine bar.”
I stopped at the edge of the water. The stream bubbled over the rocks and flowed into the woods. I pulled my backpack off my shoulder and sat on the cool ground.
“Since we didn’t get to have our wine tasting last night, I brought a few samples.” I pulled out our glasses and the bottles I had opened last night.
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br /> Beau took a glass from me and began pouring from the Pinot Noir bottle.
“So, my father always instructs the tasting seminars, and his wine mantra is ‘swirl, sip, savor.’”
Beau repeated, “Swirl, sip, savor. I think I can do that.”
I watched as he rotated the glass in a circle and the red wine sloshed around the sides. He took a sip. “Mmm. Pretty good. Not that I know anything at all about wine. But it’s good.”
I smiled. “My father would take the compliment.” I swirled my glass before sipping. I felt the warmth spread through my limbs. I edged closer to Beau.
“Ok, so you have to tell me. I know my roommates gave you a hard time about your name, but seriously, why are all of the James kids named after cities?”
I blushed. “It’s kind of embarrassing. Really embarrassing.”
“What is it?”
“Before my parents were upstanding members of the community, they used to travel a lot. They weren’t very conventional—at all. I would say they were kind of like hippies or something.”
“So they liked unique names?”
“I guess that’s part of it. They said they wanted our names to be special. So, they named each of us after the city where we were conceived.”
Beau choked on his sip of wine. “Uh. That is not what I thought you were going to say.” He started to laugh.
“I don’t tell too many people, but since you’ve obviously been initiated into the James family pack, you can probably handle it.”
He grinned. “Yeah, your brothers are awesome. It sort of makes me wish my parents had wanted to have more kids. A brother would have been fun. I’m having a great time with them.”
“I’m glad. They obviously love you. You have managed to experience every competitive sport offered at the winery.”
“So what changed?”
“What do you mean?”
“With your parents. Why did they go from gypsy-hippies to strict, iron fist ruling dictators?”
Beau had asked a question my brothers and I had asked repeatedly. Austin was the only one who could remember all of the trips they used to take and the life that was so different from the one I grew up experiencing.
“I don’t know. They aren’t really dictators.” I thought back to the conversation with my father in the kitchen this morning. He was always genuine and warm—just cautious. I was their only daughter and that wasn’t an easy post to hold among my brothers. They were all protective of me. “I guess they grew up and had responsibilities with five children. They started the winery as a dare almost, but it turned into their entire life. I think they thought it would be more fun and less business. Turns out running a winery is a full-time business.”
“Isn’t that what everyone worries about? Life might stop being fun?” Beau watched the water rippling over the rocks.
“Are you worried about law school in the fall? I’ve heard it’s not much fun. All those vicious one L horror stories.”
“Me? Worried? No.” He slammed back the remaining drops in his glass. “What’s the next wine on the tasting?”
I reached into the bag to pull out our next sample. I let the crimson liquid flow into his glass.
“This one is good too.” He smiled. “Are you worried about L.A.?”
Of course I was worried. I was terrified to move across the country, but I couldn’t tell Beau that. “That’s silly. L.A. is going to be amazing. I know I’ll probably just get commercial spots or be a movie extra for awhile, but it’s still going to be amazing.” I thought about all of the casting calls I had tossed in the trash. I hadn’t even applied for the first spot.
Beau sighed. “I thought you might say that.” He stood up. “It’s getting dark. We should probably get back to the house before your dad gets hungry.”
“But we didn’t try all the wines.”
I was frantically trying to think of how I could drag out our time away from the house and my brothers. Beau held out his hand. From my position on the ground, I looked up at his brown eyes covered in sadness. I placed my palm in his, allowing him to ease me off the ground.
“Another time, movie star.” His hand still held mine. I didn’t want to let go or break contact with him. I reached down with my free hand and slung my backpack over my left shoulder. His fingers entwined in mine. We walked back to the house, not talking, but somehow I felt Beau was saying something much more important with his hand pressed into mine.
“I feel like you’ve been holding out on me, London.” Nina was busy tucking in the sheets to my trundle bed that we had just erected from under my bed.
“Nina, I love you, but I cannot hear you talk about my brothers. It’s just gross. Nothing. Not one detail. Ok?”
“Awww…but who am I supposed to tell that Austin is such a great kisser?” She giggled as I hit her with one of my throw pillows.
“Ick. That is exactly what I don’t want to hear. You already kissed my brother?” I tried to erase the image burning a hole in my brain of my older brother lip-locked with my best friend.
“Hey. I came here to do you a favor.” She picked up a pillow and pretended to hit me with it.
“You’re right. Thank you. The cookie dough was the perfect magic to break them up.”
“So? What happened? I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since dinner. I can’t believe we played in a card championship all night. They are relentless.”
“Yeah, my brothers are extremely competitive. They play any game they can, any chance they get.”
“And? What about Beau? What happened when you got him alone?” Nina positioned herself on the edge of the single bed.
I smiled. “He held my hand. It was nice.”
“What? Held hands? Why didn’t you jump him in one of those big wine barns and rip his clothes off. That’s what I would have done.”
“He initiated it. It was perfect, actually.” Twenty minutes of hand-holding might be regarded as taking it ultra slow, but considering we were broken up and Beau had put up every roadblock to my other advances, I considered it a true victory.
“You only have one date left, London. Then it’s the end of classes and graduation.” Nina looked stressed.
“Don’t remind me.” I slid between the covers. Beau was only a few feet away, sleeping in the guestroom at the end of the hall. I probably wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight.
I awoke to the smell of bacon. Mmm…bacon. I quickly darted in the bathroom, washed my face, brushed my teeth and hair, and changed out of my pjs before racing downstairs. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
They were all there. As if cooks in an assembly line, my brothers were manning the breakfast stations, along with my favorite houseguest, Beau.
“Wow. What’s gotten into all of you?” I scanned their faces for an answer. My zombie movie-watching experience told me an apocalypse had probably occurred while I was sleeping.
“There she is.” My dad was at the table reading the morning paper. “Isn’t this a treat? Your brothers were possessed in their sleep last night and we get the benefit of them making us breakfast. Sit. Sit.”
I wandered over to the table, still not sure if I was awake. Who knew Roman could scramble eggs or that Nash was any good with toast? Austin handed me a cup of tea.
“Here you go.”
“Thanks.” I took the tea and swirled in a teaspoon of sugar. I glanced around the kitchen. This was utterly amazing. All of my family, my best friend, and the boy I was crazy about were in the same room.
Beau walked over with a tray of bacon. “Don’t you look happy this morning.”
“I am. I really am.”
The parking lot was crowded. It looked like everyone in Beau’s apartment complex had returned from their weekend excursions. I steered into an empty spot far from Beau’s building.
I shifted the car into park and turned to face Beau. “Thanks for going on the hometown with me.” After the rocky start, the weekend had gone
better than I ever could have imagined.
“It was awesome. I loved meeting your family. Your brothers are cool to hang out with. I don’t think I’ve ever played that much basketball and corn hole in one weekend.” My brothers had cornered Beau into every competition they could create. I was surprised they didn’t get into competitive eating.
“So, you’ll go easy on them in your blog?”
The smile that had spread across his face faded. “You’re worried about what I’m going to write for my post?”
Shit. “No, that’s not what I meant. They are overwhelming sometimes. There was so much that happened this weekend.” My joke was a fail. I should have said something about the way he washed dishes and won my mom’s respect, or how he impressed my dad at dinner with his newly learned wine technique, or how my world suddenly felt so complete with his hand in mine. But no, I had to mention the blog.
“Right. I better go. Thanks for the weekend.” Beau opened the door, retrieved his overnight bag from the backseat, and jogged toward his building.
Dammit. Two steps forward and three hundred steps back.
16
Nina shoved her phone between the pillows on the couch as I walked into the living room, ready to start Love Match.
“Who was that?” I eyed the bumpy cushion. She seemed especially jumpy.
“You won’t be mad if I tell you, will you?” Nina was biting her lip.
“No.” I lied.
“It was Austin. He was just calling to say ‘hey.’”
“My brother is calling you now? Austin is calling you?” This was unbelievable.
“You said you wouldn’t get mad.” Nina was pleading with me. “It was just a simple phone call, but if you don’t want me to talk to him anymore, I won’t. He is your brother. I guess things could get weird.”