"I go both ways," Jonathan laughed.
Theo took a swig from his bottle and waved Jonathan down the hall to the guest room to get settled. Jonathan could hear him calling Annette in the living room, telling her they had company.
Annette arrived home later and the three old friends grilled chicken on the back patio and drank beer, catching up and reliving college days. Theo and Annette had been together since their second year at Davis, and Jonathan and Theo had been thrown together in the dorms as freshmen.
After dinner, as the sun slid, orange and red, toward the fence line, Theo said, "Jon, I love that you're here." He leaned forward in his chair, fixing his friend with a penetrating look. "But why are you really here?"
Annette kicked her husband and hissed, "Rude!" But she said it with a smile on her face.
Jonathan stared into his beer bottle. "I just feel like I've started down a path in the wrong direction. I needed to get away and think a bit before I make any more mistakes."
"Well, that's not cryptic at all," Annette said. She leaned back in her chair and began her attorney cross-exam. "Jon, what's going on?"
Jonathan looked into the understanding faces of his best friends and felt his guard slide down. He took a deep breath and told them everything that had happened in the days since Isabella had arrived.
"I didn't know you were on the edge financially, man. I wish you'd said something to us," Theo said.
"I couldn't ask you guys for that kind of help," Jonathan said.
"But you asked a stranger?" Theo said.
"I know... but it wasn't really like that," Jon said. "I don't know how to explain. For one thing, I didn’t ever really ask. From the minute Isabella arrived, it was like she already had a stake. In the winery, the vines…in everything."
"In everything," Annette repeated, an eyebrow raised. She leaned forward and took Jonathan's hand. "How do you feel about this woman?"
"It's probably obvious, isn't it?" Jonathan admitted, a sheepish grin on his face. "I'm crazy about her. Literally. Crazy."
"I think that's great!" Annette said, leaning back.
"’Bout time," Theo said. “We wondered if you were ever going to get over Charlotte.”
"But it's been days," Jonathan said. "Not weeks, not months. I barely know her, and she's all I can think about. I feel like I'd jump off the face of the world for her, and I have no idea why I feel this way."
"So you ran away?" Theo said.
"Basically," Jonathan nodded. "I just felt like I needed to get a grip on myself, like I was just spiraling down this abyss…"
"A good abyss?" Annette asked.
"If there is such a thing," Jonathan said quietly.
"You're falling in love with her, that's all," Annette said.
"That's all?" Theo said. "That's not a small thing, woman."
"Of course not," Annette agreed. "But it's not something to run away from, either."
"Love," Jonathan said quietly. "I barely know her. I know nothing about her past, where she comes from."
"I fell in love with Annette the second I saw her," Theo said.
"No, that was just lust," Annette smiled. "You fell in love with me when you found out I could beat you at basketball."
Theo shot Annette an adoring look and turned back to Jonathan. "What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know," Jonathan said.
"It's not the worst problem to have," Annette told him.
"I guess," he said.
"Get some sleep, do your business. You'll know what's right before you head back," Theo said, rising. "I've got work tomorrow, too, so I'm gonna call it a night." He took Annette's hand, pulling her out of the Adirondack chair where she sat.
"G'night, Jonathan," she said, ruffling his hair.
"Goodnight guys," he said. "Hey…"
They both turned to look at him.
"Thanks."
With the house dark and quiet, Jonathan lay on his back in bed and stared at the ceiling, but found no clarity in his thoughts. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall asleep, an image of Isabella's dark hair and fair skin holding steadily just behind his eyelids.
The sourcing deals went easily enough, and there was a small satisfaction for Jonathan in knowing that there'd be some money coming to the winery as a result of his efforts—money beyond Isabella's loan.
Back at Theo's the second night, Jonathan borrowed the phone to check in with Vicki.
"Hey, Little Sis," he said when she answered the phone.
"Jonathan," she said.
"Everything okay up there? Holding down the fort?"
"Yup," she said. "Things are fine. No fires to be put out so far."
"And how is Isabella doing?" he asked, unable to stop himself.
"She's fine," Vicki said, her voice sounding strangely empty, hollow.
"Vick, is everything really okay? You sound strange."
"It is…it's just…well, Charlotte is back in town."
Jonathan felt as if the air had been sucked from his lungs. "Oh," was all he could manage.
"We saw her at the grocery store in town. I guess she's staying with her folks."
"So you talked to her?" he asked, his voice quiet.
"Just a bit. She asked about you."
"I see." Jonathan felt almost dizzy, sick. He could hear the concern in Vicki's voice, but didn't feel equipped to reassure her. "Okay, well, I'll be home tomorrow," he said.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, of course," he said. "Bye, Vick."
"Bye."
Jonathan sat down heavily on the couch in Theo's living room. Neither Theo nor Annette had come home from work yet.
When the front door unlatched, Jonathan looked up, uncertain just how long he'd been sitting there, staring at nothing and wishing that Charlotte had not come back.
"So she's back," Theo said over dinner that night. "What difference does it make? Nothing has changed between you, right? She didn't come running to you the second she got back."
"No," Jonathan agreed. "I just…I can't seem to sort out how I feel about it."
"It's confusing," Annette agreed. "Things ended with you so suddenly. You can't expect that the feelings you had before have just disappeared. There was something there. There will still be…something."
"But don't you forget the way she left, man," Theo said, leaning forward and giving Jonathan a meaningful look. He'd been on the receiving end of a few phone calls—both from Jonathan and from Vicki—in the months immediately following Charlotte's departure.
"How could I?" Jonathan asked. If he let himself, he could feel the twisting wounds she'd given him, as if there were ribbons of scar tissue wrapped around his heart. His chest still ached sometimes when he thought about the family he'd almost had. "I can't tell anymore though if I was upset at the end of things with us, or if it was about the baby, the way she just casually ended that possibility."
"I still can't believe she could be so callous about it," Annette said, her dark eyes deepening. "It was your child, too."
"Charlotte was a selfish bitch," Theo said. "Correction. IS a selfish bitch."
"It doesn't help me for you guys to hate her," Jonathan said, grateful to his friends.
"Well someone has to," Theo replied.
"Will you see her?" Annette asked.
"I guess I'll bump into her eventually. It's a small town."
"But you're not gonna go out of your way to see her?" she pushed.
"No," he said. "I can't think why I would."
"Good," Theo said, sitting back. "Time to move on to other things. Happiness is the best revenge."
Jonathan smiled a weak smile at his friend. He wasn't sure that revenge was what he wanted, but he was exhausted and tired of thinking about the woman who'd so recently torn his life to pieces.
He went to bed that night, warring images of Isabella and Charlotte inside his head. He didn't still love Charlotte, did he? He was ready to move on, he thought. He just didn't know if he'd be able to
with Charlotte so nearby.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Isabella
Isabella was out in the vineyard, twining the long vines along wires above the grapes where they were starting to trail on the ground. The work was hard and repetitive, Isabella's hands becoming sore and bleeding, even with her gloves on. She took a break, taking a long drink of water from the canteen she'd brought out with her. She scanned the horizon, wiping the sweat from her brow, and noticed a plume of dust rising from the lane heading to the house.
Her heart jumped inside her chest. He's back, she thought. She felt like a child anticipating a birthday or Christmas, and had to restrain herself to keep from running out to meet the car. I'll see him soon enough, she told herself. She watched the dust move toward the house and pictured him getting out of the truck, his bag slung over the muscled shoulders, his dark eyes scanning the grapevines around him as he went inside.
She went back to her work, shaking her head at the thoughts that she couldn't remove from her mind. It was amazing how important he was to her—though he'd been a stranger just weeks before. She closed her eyes as a dark thought of Charlotte and her baby came to mind. Vicki said he knew that Charlotte was back, but that he knew nothing of the baby…yet. She wished there was some way she could make the revelation easier for him; she wanted to smooth the pained furrow that she could picture forming on his brow, take the hurt away from him.
Her hands moved quickly in the vines as her mind dealt with the knowledge that she was outside all of this; that the baby might change everything and there would be nothing she could do.
I'm here to work, she reminded herself. I didn't come here for anything else. This, she thought, looking around at the tender green vines and the heavy clusters hanging from them, just starting to darken in the early summer sun, this is what I need to care about.
She ducked her head back into the canopy, pulling leaves to allow sunlight to filter though the vines trellised above them. She let her gaze wander up the row ahead of her, taking comfort in the seemingly endless continuity of the vines that stretched as far as her eyes could see.
Taking a deep breath and pushing it slowly from her lungs, Isabella returned to her work, ignoring the fluttering of the butterflies in her stomach, butterflies that seemed intent on celebrating Jonathan's return, oblivious to the complications that lay between them.
The sun began to weaken late in the day; it's ferocity lessening after four o'clock. Isabella climbed onto the ATV and headed back to the barn, waving to Roberto and some of the men still pulling leaves and strapping vines as she passed. She pushed down excitement and hope, reminding herself constantly that this was a job, that she was not an innocent schoolgirl and Jonathan was not a first crush.
She pulled up next to the barn and stepped off the machine, taking a moment to re-tame her hair into the ponytail from which it seemed forever inclined to escape. She was busily pushing curls back into her palm, the rubber band held between her teeth, when the barn door opened and Jonathan stepped out, squinting, into the afternoon sun.
Isabella felt her body ignite at the sight of him. The crinkles around his eyes were there as he squeezed his eyes to slits in the bright light. He wore a tight t-shirt that seemed to struggle to contain the taut muscles of his arms and chest. His jeans were worn and hung on his hips, hugging the thighs that filled them perfectly. She tried not to stare too obviously, but her heart was pulsing faster and she felt a little dizzy. God, she thought. Just seeing him makes me crazy. She wondered if she was losing her grip on reality.
Jonathan took a step forward, put a hand on Isabella's upper arm, as if he wanted to hug her but wasn't sure he should. "Hi," he said simply, a broad smile lighting his face.
"Welcome back," she breathed, finishing her ponytail and smiling back at him. "I'm glad you're home." She kicked herself mentally. Home? This isn't your home and you're not his wife. Idiot.
"It's good to be home." He said, the smile still there. "Listen, I thought maybe we could talk…" his hand still rested on her arm, and he was letting it move slowly up and down the back of her tricep, igniting every nerve in her body.
"Jonathan!" Vicki emerged from the kitchen door and strode across the graveled drive to where they stood. "You're back. Hi!" she said.
Jonathan gave Isabella a look that promised more to come, and dropped his hand, leaning over to give his sister a hug.
He looked even bigger when he hugged Vicki, Isabella thought. Vicki was so tiny. Jonathan looked like a giant next to her.
Isabella wiped at her brow, wondering what he'd been about to say. She was having difficulty quelling the excitement inside her, and decided to stay until Vicki had departed again. She couldn't wait much longer.
"Jon," Vicki said, shooting an apologetic glance at Isabella. "Can you come inside for a few minutes? I need to talk to you."
Isabella's eyebrows shot up. She hadn't thought Vicki would broach the subject of Charlotte's child so suddenly upon his return. But it seemed that she wanted to get it out of the way. Isabella felt her chest deflate.
"I'm just going to go check a couple things in the barn," she said. "I'll be in after a bit." She knew that she'd need to give them time to talk, to sort out what would need to be done as a result of Vicki's news.
Isabella chanced one more look at Jonathan. His bronze eyes were on her, a question there. She could almost feel him promising to come finish the conversation they'd started. But she knew that once he'd heard what Vicki had to say, everything would be different.
She went into the barn, angry at the pricking sensation of tears just behind her eyes.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Jonathan
As Jonathan followed Vicki to the house, he contemplated his drive back, and how it had been revelatory for him. He'd found that as the brown hills grew higher and steeper and then began to flatten out again, he'd felt more and more hurried to return. The physical closing of distance between him and his home made it easy for him to feel what it was he was eager to return to. At first he'd thought that he was in a hurry to get back and handle things with Charlotte. He thought that her return meant something, that there was something to be done now. But as he pushed the old truck down the desolate highway, he realized that his heart was getting lighter with every mile he closed, not heavier. He wasn't feeling the sense of dread at seeing Charlotte again grow. He was feeling a sense of excitement, anticipation, and without conscious effort on his part, that excitement took the form of a mental image of Isabella. Every mile he closed between them made him more certain that there was something there worth exploring. Theo and Annette had encouraged him, and he trusted their guidance almost more than his own.
As he had pulled down the lane toward Château Sauvage, he had felt his desire take on a level of certainty that he had not had before. He couldn't wait to find Isabella and take her in his arms again…if she'd let him.
Charlotte was a situation he'd have to handle, he told himself. But until she placed herself in front of him, he was going to stick to the things that he had here. His grapes, his wine…Isabella.
"
What is it, Vick?" Jonathan asked as he walked back to the house with his sister, who was obviously concerned about something. "I really need to have a conversation with Isabella, to settle a couple things."
Vicki raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look as he sat on the long low bench next to the table. She sat next to him. "What kinds of things?"
"Not that it's your business, sis," Jonathan smiled. "I don't know if she's said anything to you…I know it sounds a little nuts. She's just gotten here. But there's something there…between us, I mean."
Vicki sighed and looked down at the floor. "I thought so," she said quietly.
"And I was a jerk before I left," Jonathan said. He tried to see his little sister's face. She seemed to be thinking hard, deciding what to say next. "Vicki, what's going on?"
"I don't want to tell you now." She said simply. "But I know I have
to. You're going to find out anyway."
"What the hell are you talking about? Is it Quentin? Is everything okay between you?"
"No, it's nothing like that. It's not me."
"What, then?"
"Jon, it's about Charlotte."
"I don't want to think about that right now. I'll handle her when I see her."
"No, you don't understand." Vicki looked up into his face, her eyes liquid. "Jon, I didn't tell you everything. When we saw her, she wasn't alone."
"She's found someone else, huh?"
"No, that's not what I mean." Vicki looked around the room, as if something in the homey kitchen could help her deliver her news. "She had a baby with her. Your baby."
Jonathan felt his face go slack. Every thought that had been in his head vanished and was replaced by a black cloud of confusion. "But she didn't have the baby…she… " He shook his head. "She had an abortion, Vicki. It can't be mine."
"She told me herself, Jon. And he looks just like you."
"It's a boy?" Jonathan felt a strange pride flow through him. But why hadn't she told him? How old would he be? It'd been a year since she'd left. "I have to see him," he rose, and then sat back down. "Vicki," he said, searching the tortured face of his sister. "What should I do?" He stood and went to the window. Isabella was just making her way from the barn; the sun turning her wild curls into a bright halo around her head. He turned back to his sister in the dark kitchen. "What the hell do I do now?"
"I don't know," she answered.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Isabella
Isabella spent as long as she could in the barn, which didn't turn out to be very long. She was tired from the long day and the emotional up and down that had come so suddenly at its end. All she wanted was to go take a long shower, maybe have a glass of wine and then go to bed. She almost wished Jonathan would leave again; she dreaded seeing him once he'd learned of Charlotte's betrayal and her return.
A Rare Vintage (Wine Country Romance) Page 6