by Claire Raye
She stares up at me, a look on her face that I can’t read. I reach out and brush a strand of hair back from her face and she smiles, pushing up on her toes to press her lips to mine.
“Yeah,” she whispers, mouth against mine. “I’m really great.”
We spend the rest of the afternoon and evening chatting with her parents on the back deck of their house over dinner. It’s easy and relaxed, just like it was on the drive home from the airport and both of her parents get a good laugh out of my version of events regarding the skunk and Ellen’s car.
Despite Ellen’s worries and the apparently difficult phone call she made explaining it all to them, they seem remarkably chill about the fact their daughter was drinking. I guess growing up at a winery makes you a little more casual and open about alcohol.
By the time we all go to bed, it’s late, her parents bidding me goodnight as Ellen walks me next door to the guest cottage, because there’s not a chance in hell I’m sharing a bedroom with her in her family’s house.
“Your family are great,” I say, pulling her into my arms.
Ellen smiles up at me. “They really like you,” she says, arms around my waist. “And Lauren clearly thinks the sun shines out of your ass,” she adds, chuckling. “Thanks for being so nice to her today, even if she was a total grump.”
I laugh. “She’s sad and depressed,” I say. “Her true love has left her.”
“Pfft,” Ellen says, swatting my chest. “She’s being kinda melodramatic,” she adds. “I mean I know she’s totally crushing on him, but she did nothing but complain when he was here.”
I shrug, leaning in to kiss her lips. “Like I said before, that’s how it works. He drives her crazy with his teasing and then she misses it when he’s gone. In the meantime, he’s smug as shit because he knows she can’t stop thinking about him.”
Ellen laughs now. “Oh, is that so, is it?”
“Yep,” I tell her. “Just like,” I add, kissing a slow trail down her neck to her shoulder, “you’re not going to be able to stop thinking about me when you’re lying all alone in your bed tonight,” I whisper, pulling her hips hard against mine.
“Will,” she murmurs, fingers tightening at my hips as she presses her chest against mine.
“Good night, El,” I whisper, nibbling on her ear lobe. “Sleep well,” I add before turning and walking inside the guest cottage and closing the door.
I’m woken by a noise, what sounds like a door closing. Staring into the darkness of the house, I will my eyes to focus as the sound of a creaking floor board has me sitting up in bed.
“Hello?” I whisper shout, my eyes on the open door to the bedroom I’m sleeping in.
“Hey,” comes Ellen’s voice as she creeps into the room.
I smile as she walks over to the bed and climbs in beside me. “What are you doing here?” I ask, pulling her against me.
I feel her lips against mine, her hand as it slides around my waist and into my boxers. “You were right,” she whispers against my mouth.
“About what?” I ask, smiling as I slip my hand beneath her tank.
Ellen pushes her body against mine, her fingers digging into my skin. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you,” she murmurs.
I grin now, rolling her beneath me as I say, “I knew it,” before kissing her hard.
Chapter Seven
Ellen
It’s five a.m. as I creep across the yard to my parents’ house, and knowing they will be up any second now, I’m trying to be as discrete as possible. I didn’t intend to stay the night with Will, but after basically living together at school, I find it hard to sleep without him.
I have no idea what my parents’ response would be if they knew I’d snuck over there and I’m not sure I want to find out. But like everything else in life that I’ve tried to keep from my parents, this one is blown to shit too.
As I walk up the back steps to the house, the kitchen light flips on and I stop in my tracks. There’s not a chance either of them will check to see if I’m in my bed; we moved beyond that years ago, but my issue now, is how the hell I’m going to get back in the house?
I rack my brain for ideas and know the only logical option at this point is to hightail it back to the guest cottage and wait until my parents leave for work. That in itself will be a challenge because they work where we live.
Just as I’m tiptoeing down the steps, the backdoor swings open and I hear my dad’s deep voice.
“Ellen? What the hell are you doing out here?” he asks, and despite his attempts to quiet his deep voice, it still resonates loudly.
My eyes are scrunched closed as if this will make this all disappear, and I run a hand over my face as I try to gather my thoughts.
“I…I… was…” I stutter out and almost immediately give up knowing it’s useless to try to lie my way out of this. “I snuck over to the guest cottage and spent the night with Will,” I spit out quickly and suck in a deep breath as I wait for the backlash.
My dad walks over to the table and chairs that take up a portion of the deck and sits down. Setting his bowl of oatmeal and his cup of coffee down, he pulls out a second chair for me and tells me to sit.
I’m fucked.
Will’s fucked.
I do it though, because at this point, there’s no sense in arguing with him. My parents have always been lenient in regards to underage drinking with the whole growing up on a vineyard thing, but I’m not sure sleeping with a boy fits in there as easily.
I am eighteen and they can’t possibly believe I’m a virgin, but it’s probably a similar situation to me not wanting to think about my parents having sex. They definitely don’t want to think about their kid doing it.
“El, we’re not stupid,” my dad starts and I smirk a little because I know they’re not, and I do realize that most of the time they let things go to avoid the conflict. They knew alcohol had been involved in the skunk incident, but they also knew I was safe and in the end that’s what mattered.
He continues, “I obviously know you stay at Will’s apartment while you’re at school. I was your age once. But, when you’re here, I would like you to respect our rules, and while they may be unspoken, sleeping with Will under our roof,” he says, his hand flitting between my parents’ house and the guest cottage, “is off limits.”
I nod my head in agreement, because I know this is something my dad will stand firm on. I get it. He wants to set an example for Lauren, he wants me to be safe, he doesn’t want me pregnant. The list is pretty endless, honestly.
“I want you in your bed before midnight,” he states firmly and I chuckle a little, but quell it quickly. I had no idea it would be this awkward when I returned from school. Somehow living as an adult and then returning to what it was like when I lived here as a kid.
“I can do that,” I tell him and I can. There’s no reason why for a few days I can’t go without sleeping with Will.
“We like Will, El,” my dad says, now smiling at me. “Don’t make me not like him.”
“I like him too,” I admit, feeling my cheeks grow warm at my confession. I wouldn’t have even considered bringing him home to meet my family if I didn’t. I even think I’m falling in love with him, but like hell if I’m going to tell my dad that.
“I just want you to keep one thing in mind,” my dad starts and I have no idea where he’s heading with this. “Will is from Rhode Island and you’re from California. Your life is here at the vineyard, but it doesn’t have to be.”
“I want it to be,” I say, my words firm. I chose to go to school in Michigan because that’s where my dad is from. We have family there, he went to school there, my mom went to school there, they met there; there’s history there. But I guess I never really gave much thought to the fact that Will might want to return to Rhode Island when he graduates.
My life is here at the vineyard. This will be my career, and while I’ve told Will this, I didn’t even think about how that would affect him. We haven’t even
talked about the future; both of us living in the present and so consumed with the newness of our relationship.
“You need to discuss this with Will,” my dad presses and again I nod my head. This conversation has led somewhere I didn’t expect it to. I was gearing up for a lecture on being responsible and not sleeping around and it’s now suddenly making me take a serious look at my future—my future with Will.
“The vineyard will always be here, whether you decide to work here or not. The same goes for your sister. We, your mom and I, want you both to make your own decisions and sometimes those decisions come with complications.”
The complication he’s talking about is Will, someone I never thought would be a complication.
“But you work here. You’ve always worked here,” I say, reminding my dad that this is where I was born, this is where he’s worked long before I even came into the picture.
“Your mom came with the vineyard,” my dad says, smiling and I know he’s thinking about something that happened long ago. “She made it clear that if I wanted to be with her, that the vineyard and living in California were part of the package.”
“And you just up and left your family because Mom told you to?”
“Not exactly,” my dad says, this time laughing a little at the boldness of my question. “Your mom told me the day we started dating that she was going back to her family’s vineyard when she graduated. She actually never asked me if I wanted to join her.”
“So you followed her? Like a stalker?”
“No, El,” my dad responds, rolling his eyes. “We’d been dating for three years at that point and I knew I wanted to marry your mom, but the distance was an issue. I got a job in Michigan when I graduated and we did the long-distance thing for about a year, and it was hard as hell. I knew one of us would have to sacrifice something, and with me not really loving my job and not really tied to anything specific in Michigan, I found a job in San Francisco.”
“You haven’t always worked at the vineyard?” I ask, shocked by this turn of events. I’ve never really had a conversation with my parents like this. I guess it’s part of growing up. You become an adult and suddenly you have adult conversations with them, and you learn things about them that you never knew.
“Nope. This is your mom’s legacy, and it’s the same reason why you and your sister’s last name is Somerville. We agreed to give our children her last name because of the vineyard. We both wanted to continue her family name. I never wanted to make it look like I was trying to slide in here for an easy job and I still don’t.”
“When did you start working here?”
“I spent about two years living in San Fran and your mom and I would make the long drive to see each other, and while it was better than the Michigan/Cali commute, it was still long. Eventually I proposed and we got married and that’s when I started working here. It wasn’t like I hadn’t worked at the vineyard though. I’d spend weekends helping out and learning things from your grandpa, but until we were married, your mom ran this whole place.”
“I had no idea,” I tell my dad, loving the story of how he ended up here.
“Just keep that all in mind as you make decisions about your relationship with Will. Someone will have to give something up. I have never once regretted leaving Michigan and that’s why this all works.”
“I will,” I say contemplatively. He’s given me a lot to think about.
“Now get your ass in the house before your mom wakes up and I have to explain to her why I didn’t ground you for sneaking over to the cottage.”
“I’m eighteen years old, Dad.”
“I know you are, Ellen, but that never matters. You’ll be forty and I’ll still think of you as my kid.”
Several hours later the vineyard is bustling with tourists and workers as Will, Lauren and I stroll around the property. There isn’t a ton of stuff to do, but Lauren and I find ourselves taking Will to some of the places we missed yesterday.
We’re currently maneuvering our way through the barrel room as Will takes it all in. It is quite a sight with all the oak barrels piled together on pallets, and stacked on top of each other.
“So you guys know how to do all this?” Will asks and I can hear the amazement in his voice.
“Yep, and we’ve been doing it for years now,” my sister says, knowing it has become like second nature for both of us. “It was kinda nice having that annoying Australian boy around because he could help me with all the stupid crap I had to do here.”
Will and I both chuckle a little at Lauren’s words, knowing as much as she’d like to keep up this ruse that she doesn’t like him, we know differently.
“Most of the time we get assigned the tasks that no one wants to do, but from doing all the menial shit, we learned a lot too.”
“So this is where you’ll work when you graduate then?” Will asks, but there’s more of an awe in his tone than anything.
“Yeah, probably, but since I’m going to school for business and accounting, I’ll take over the books and administrative side of things and Lauren will run the place.
I take a look at Lauren, who is now climbing a stack of barrels, and I wonder if there will ever be a time that she runs anything but her mouth. I can’t even picture it.
Just as we’re about to leave, Lauren and I both hear the sound of barrels being shifted and we tug Will in that direction.
“Come on,” Lauren calls, looking over her shoulder at Will and me. “They’re moving barrels around, you’re going to want to see this. You have to rotate them and spray them with a little water…”
“Really?” Will says, shooting me a questioning look.
“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. They’re huge and heavy. It’s just something the public doesn’t normally get to see. And sometimes, they break and wine fucking floods the room. Sixty gallons of wine, everywhere.”
Lauren nods her head and her eyes light up. This is actually why she wants to check it out.
“So how long do these barrels stay in here?” Will asks as we make our way to the back of the large shed.
“It depends,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. “Some are in here for only like six weeks, but those are the mediocre wines, the less expensive shit. Others can be in here for years. But in this shed, they’re in here for about six to eight months.”
“And someone keeps track of all this?” he asks, again looking around at the massive quantity of barrels.
“Of course. My parents do and they have employees who do. It’s a process.”
Just as Will opens his mouth to ask me another question, I hear someone call out my name.
“Ellen! Holy shit! I didn’t know you were coming home?”
It’s Tommy and the sound of his voice makes me smile. When I reach him, he pulls me in for a hug and I return it, squeezing him hard.
“It’s so good to see you. Lauren didn’t tell me you were still working here,” I say as we separate.
“Yeah, in between classes and that I pick up shifts. Your parents always welcome me back.”
“I thought you were going to school in Seattle?” I ask, wondering why he’s back here in February.
“Yeah, things didn’t go so well…”
“He means he flunked out,” Lauren interjects. “Smoked a lot of weed.”
I burst out laughing and I hear Will chuckle from behind me.
“Oh, Tommy, this is my boyfriend Will, and Will this is Tommy. His parents manage the restaurant and café on site and Tommy works around the vineyard doing all the shit Lauren and I can’t do.”
Will and Tommy shake hands, but I can’t help but notice a strange look on Will’s face, and suddenly the air around us seems to be buzzing.
I look over at Lauren but she clearly doesn’t notice and goes back to scaling another wall of barrels.
“We grew up together, went to school together, but he’s a year older than me…” I’m rambling awkwardly and I know it. Luckily Lauren cuts in and saves me.
�
��Will, you want to learn how to rotate barrels?” Lauren asks and Will nods his head.
While the tension has faded I can’t help but wonder if Will’s a little jealous.
Chapter Eight
Will
I wander off with Lauren to watch her rotate the wine barrels. I’m not really paying attention though, instead half listening to Ellen and Tommy as they catch up, their laughter echoing all the way to the back of the shed.
I’m not usually a jealous guy but there’s something about this Tommy guy that’s got me worked up for some reason.
The way his eyes lit up when he saw Ellen, the way he hugged her, his arms lingering a bit too long for my liking.
“Will?”
Lauren’s voice cuts through my obsessive thoughts. “Yeah, what?”
She smiles at me as she indicates the rows of wine barrels that must be stacked about ten high on some sort of wooden rack. “Did you wanna learn?”
I shrug as I walk over to her.
“You okay?”
I let out a long exhale, not sure why I’m about to ask this question, but apparently unable to stop myself. “What’s the deal with Tommy?”
Now it’s Lauren who’s shrugging. “Nothing,” she says. “We’ve known him forever.”
“So, Ellen and him,” I start, forcing myself to try and act casual as though I’m only asking to make conversation, not because I’m jealous. “Did they ever…you know, date?”
Lauren laughs, shaking her head as she grabs some sort of remote control panel and starts punching the buttons. The low hum of an engine starts up and I look up, watch as the mechanism that’s linked to the rack starts slowly rotating the wine barrels one by one.
“Wow,” I murmur, my nerdy engineer side impressed at how the whole thing works.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Lauren says just as the sound of laughter rings out.
I turn and even though it’s dark in the back of the shed, the light streaming through the open door shows Tommy and Ellen in silhouette. I watch as they both laugh at something, Tommy extending his arm as his hand falls on Ellen’s shoulder.