I sigh and sit down. I fold my hands, placing them on top of my desk. “I’ve known Luke for a long time. We went to high school together. More than that, he was my boyfriend.”
“Seriously?” Ryan’s eyes grow wide.
“We ran into each other at our high school reunion, he ended up investing in the winery, and things happened from there.” There is a long pause while Ryan processes what I’ve told him.
“I guess his reaction to me does make a little more sense then.”
I nod in understanding. “He has a very bold personality.”
“I don’t want to make you mad.” Ryan hesitates. “I don’t know much about Luke, but he seems pretty arrogant and intense.”
“I appreciate the concern. Like I said, I’ve known him a long time. I know what I’m getting myself into.”
“Then I’ll back off.”
“Thank you. I really would like to continue our friendship if you can handle that.”
“I’m guessing your new boyfriend won’t like that very much.”
“You behave yourself, and I’ll deal with him.”
“What are you going to wear?” Luke sounds frustrated. I can hear him shuffling papers in the background.
“I planned on wearing my lingerie nurse outfit, but don’t worry, I’ll put a coat over it.”
“Are you trying to be funny, or do you want me to jump in my plane and come down there?”
“I’m going to wear jeans, a sweatshirt, and boots. I’m taking my daughter trick-or-treating, not going to the Playboy Mansion.”
“Yes, trick-or-treating with your husband.”
“Don’t say it like that. All the paperwork has been filed. We’re only waiting for the final stamp from the judge.”
“Right. But let’s talk more about this nurse’s outfit of yours.”
“Sorry, no sexy nurse outfit in my closet.”
“Well now I know what I want for Christmas.”
“You want a sexy nurse outfit to wear? Wow, that’s kinky, even for you.” I smile.
“Oh, trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
I can practically hear his smirk through the phone. “Every time I think I say something shocking or funny, you top me.” I pout.
“I like topping you.” His husky voice makes heat rise in my face.
“I have to go. Some of us have real work to do and don’t get to fly around the world for a living,” I tease. He’s not happy about me meeting up with Grant and humor is my diversion tactic.
“I’m not traveling this week. San Francisco’s only a short flight away. Very easy to come down there if you keep tempting me with all this talk of lingerie.” Luke pauses, and I hear voices in the background. “I have to go too. Contrary to your assumptions that I only fly around all the time, I have actual work to do as well. I’ll see you this weekend at the groundbreaking ceremony.”
“Okay.”
“And afterward, you can put on your sexy nurse costume for me.”
“No sexy nurse costume.”
“We’ll see.”
After we hang up, I go online to search for a costume.
When I found out Grant wanted to join Amelia and me for Halloween, I was surprised. I don’t remember him ever going with us when we were together. It wasn’t fair when he went directly to Amelia and asked if she would like him to come with us. I couldn’t say no when she displayed genuine excitement at the idea.
The doorbell rings as I’m finishing our mini photo session in the family room. When I told Luke I didn’t take photographs anymore, that wasn’t entirely true; I take a ton of Amelia. When Amelia squeals and runs to the door, I know I’ve made the right decision letting Grant tag along.
She opens the door and jumps into his not-quite-ready arms.
He struggles to catch her. “There’s my Batgirl.” He gives her a big hug and then returns her to the floor.
“I am not Batgirl, I’m Batman.” She points at the yellow emblem on her black leotard.
He looks at me and raises an eyebrow.
“Apparently, Amelia and I will spend the winter studying all the great feminists,” I say with a smile. “I couldn’t get her to wear the skirt.”
He smiles but doesn’t laugh. It never dawned on me until this moment how infrequently he laughs. Maybe he simply doesn’t find me particularly funny. I’m trying to remember if he laughs at other people’s jokes when Amelia interrupts.
“Let’s go, Mom!” she yells, racing off to get her orange plastic bucket.
“Let me grab my keys.” I follow her to the kitchen.
“You didn’t dress up this year,” Grant states matter-of-factly when I return.
My mind flashes to the nurse’s costume I ordered a couple of days ago. “My costume this year isn’t appropriate for trick-or-treating with kids.”
I walk past Grant and out the front door, noticing the redness that has flushed his face.
“How was spending time with Grant last night?” Linda asks as I refill my water bottle. It’s only ten in the morning, and I’m already on my third bottle. My increased thirst must be a result of all the sugar I ate.
“It was fine. With Amelia there he couldn’t bring up anything too serious.” I stop in front of her desk. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“You’ve been around Grant several times.”
“Yeah?”
“Has he always been so dull?”
She laughs out loud. “Oh dear. Has divorce led you to some revelations about the good doctor?”
“Maybe. He’s pleasant enough, but he’s not very fun, is he?”
She laughs harder. “No. Fun isn’t the word I would use to describe him.”
“What word would you use?”
“Responsible?” She can barely get the words out between giggles. “Serious?”
“Sturdy?” I picture all the solid wood furniture Grant selected for our home over the years. He’d assured me they were investment pieces and would last forever. I thought they were clunky and lacked character.
“Oh dear.” Linda’s laughter fills the room. “Dr. Dull?”
She and I quickly quiet our laughter when Mrs. Bianchi pops into our office.
“Glad you ladies are enjoying your day.” She smiles.
“What can we help you with, Mrs. Bianchi?” I still have a wide grin plastered on my face.
“I came by to make sure you’re both attending the groundbreaking tomorrow.”
“Of course,” I say.
“I’ll be here too.” Linda nods.
“It’s my weekend with Amelia, so I’m going to bring her for part of it. Grant will pick her up later in the afternoon to take her to a birthday party.”
“Great! I haven’t seen Amelia in a while.” Mrs. Bianchi has always enjoyed having her around the winery. I assume it reminds her of her own kids running around here many years ago. “I’ll see you both tomorrow then.” She leaves.
“Grant is coming tomorrow?” Linda sounds surprised, and I hear a little apprehension in her voice.
“Just to pick up Amelia.”
“And Luke will be here too?” Linda’s eyes widen.
“It’s not a big deal.” I attempt to dismiss her concern with a wave of my hand. Linda doesn’t appear convinced. “Don’t look at me like that. It’ll be fine.”
“I guess we know Grant’s tendency toward the uninteresting didn’t rub off on you,” Linda calls to me as I return to my office.
Once again, I find myself having to be up early on a Saturday. I jog downstairs to make a cup of tea. Amelia is already in the family room, watching cartoons.
“Morning, love bug.” I grab a big mug from the cabinet.
“Morning, Mom.” She stays focused on the television. “What are we doing today?�
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“We’re going to the winery for a while, and then Dad is going to pick you up and take you to Sam’s birthday party.” I pour milk into the steamer. “You need to make her a card to go with her gift.”
“I will,” Amelia answers, again without looking at me.
“Amelia, we still have lots to do before we leave today. Please go get the stuff to make her card.” She’s still glued to the colorful action on the screen. I raise my voice to get her attention. “Amelia Jane.”
“Sorry, mom.” She turns off the screen and marches up the stairs.
We arrive at the winery while final preparations for the groundbreaking are taking place. Luke sounded excited on the phone last night when I mentioned I was bringing Amelia today, but then I ruined it by telling him I wasn’t ready to introduce him as my boyfriend yet. Not today, not in front of everyone. His mood soured even more when I told him Grant would be stopping by.
Luke and Aaron are already here and appear to be discussing business, based on the serious expressions they wear. Linda is standing with Andre, our events coordinator. I greet her first, and Andre rushes away to handle some crisis.
“How’s my favorite eight-year-old?” Linda says when she sees Amelia.
“Linda!” Amelia screams as she runs to give her a big hug.
“How’s my favorite boss this morning? Ready for all the excitement?” Linda peers at me over Amelia.
“I’m good. It’s exciting to officially kickoff construction.” I glance at the other side of the lawn where Luke is.
“That’s not the excitement I’m referring to,” Linda says.
“I’m going to a mini golf birthday party for my best friend, Sam, today,” Amelia chimes in. “She’s turning eight, and I bought her the coolest gift ever.”
“Did you get her a pony?” Linda asks wearing a serious expression.
“No.” Amelia laughs brightly. “I got her nail polishes and a nail dryer and those weird things that go between your toes so they don’t get messed up.”
“Did you get me some nail polish too?” Linda teases Amelia.
“No.” Amelia looks embarrassed until she catches on. “It’s not your birthday, Linda.”
“It’s not, but I like nail polish.”
“I’ll bring you some next time. Mom, can we buy Linda some nail polish?”
“Sure. I bet Linda would like the dark blue you picked out for Sam. We’ll get her one of those.”
Linda scrunches up her face. “Dark blue? Doesn’t that make it look like your fingertips are frozen?”
“Oh, Linda.” Amelia shakes her head.
“Linda, can you take Amelia to get something to drink from the restaurant while I have a word with Mrs. Bianchi?” I hope she will catch on to my real reason for distracting Amelia for a few minutes.
“Of course, but only if I can get her a cookie too.”
Amelia peers up at me, fidgeting with excitement as she awaits my answer.
“Sure,” I say reluctantly. I always intend to reduce the amount of sugar Amelia eats, and it never seems to go according to plan.
After they leave, I join Luke and Aaron. “Hi, beautiful,” he says when I’m still several feet away.
I smile and tuck my hair behind my ear. “Good morning.”
“Good morning, Jessica.” Aaron gives me a half-smile before returning his attention to Luke. “We need to fix this before it becomes a bigger problem.”
“I know. I’ll go out there this week and get everything straightened out.”
“And if you can’t?” This is the most serious I’ve ever seen Aaron.
“Then we talk to our lawyers and find a way out.” Frustration radiates from Luke.
“That’s not a road I’d like to go down,” Aaron says.
Luke sighs. “Me neither. I’ll try to avoid getting the lawyers involved. No sense worrying about it until I meet with them and see how serious they are.”
“I don’t think I need to spell out what this would do to the company.”
“No, I know what’s at stake, and I told you I’ll take care of it.”
“Fine. We can talk more about this later.” Aaron takes a deep breath. “Sorry, Jessica. How are you this morning?”
“I’m doing well,” I answer.
“Great. I’ll let you two have a minute.” Aaron leaves us.
Luke is rubbing the back of his neck.
“What was that about?” I ask.
Luke cracks his neck. “One of our other investments. They found a loophole in our contract with them and are trying to screw us over. I need to go have a face-to-face with them. See if we can come up with a reasonable compromise.”
“I’ve never seen Aaron like that.”
“We dumped a large portion of our reserves into this venture. If we get no return on it, the company will be in serious trouble.”
I start to reach out to touch him, but I remember Amelia will be back any minute and retract my hand.
Luke frowns at me. “Perfect. To top off my shitty morning, I have to pretend we’re simply colleagues. This is…never mind. We can’t discuss this here.”
I can tell he’s avoiding eye contact with me. “Are you mad? I thought you understood my position on waiting to tell Amelia.” I cross my arms defensively.
“Not mad…frustrated.”
“I don’t know how to make this better for you right now,” I say stiffly.
“I don’t suppose you can sneak away for a few hours this evening?” Luke gives me a hopeful glance.
“I have Amelia tonight,” I remind him.
“Right.”
I start to say that maybe I can talk my mom into taking Amelia out to dinner to give us some time, but Linda and Amelia are quickly approaching. Amelia has chocolate in the corners of her mouth.
“Looks like someone had a chocolate chip cookie.” I smile at my messy girl.
“Good guess, Mom. Actually, I had two.”
“That was supposed to be our secret.” Linda pretends to whisper in Amelia’s ear but says it loud enough for Luke and me to hear.
“Oops.” Amelia uses her sweetest voice.
I can’t help but laugh, and I’m surprised when Luke joins in.
“You two are trouble.” I put my hands on my hips and pretend to be mad. Amelia knows I’m kidding and giggles. “Amelia, I’d like you to meet Luke.”
“Hi, Luke.” She smiles at him and sticks out a hand.
“Nice to meet you, Amelia.” He shakes her hand.
“Do you work here?”
“Kind of, but not really. It’s sort of complicated.”
She nods like she understands completely. “A lot of things with adults are complicated, aren’t they?”
“Sometimes.”
“My parents use that word a lot.”
“Amelia, Luke and I went to high school together.” I want her to know more about him, but I’m not ready to tell her everything yet.
“Cool. Were you friends?”
“We were.” Luke smiles.
“But then you weren’t?” Amelia frowns.
“And then we weren’t.” Luke matches her frown.
“What happened? Was Mom mean to you?”
“No.”
“Then were you mean to her?”
“Unfortunately, I was.”
Amelia considers his answer for a minute. “Did you say you were sorry?”
“Yes, but not for a long time.”
“But you did, right?”
“Yes.”
“Now you can be friends again. Mom always says we have to forgive people when they apologize.” She gazes up at me, and my heart clenches.
“Yes, we’re friends again.” Luke smiles again, and she smiles back.
“Welcome to Bianchi Winery e
veryone!” Mrs. Bianchi’s voice booms from the speakers.
“Let’s go find a seat. The ceremony is about to start.” Luke offers his hand to Amelia, who freely places it in his.
After Mrs. Bianchi gives her speech and tosses the first shovel of dirt on the specially laid blanket, music from the band fills the air, and the guests mingle on the lawn. Amelia runs off to join a game of tag with other kids in attendance. I recognize many of the attendees from previous meetings and functions, including the young woman who was trying so hard to maintain Luke’s attention the night of the investor dinner. She doesn’t approach Luke though. She appears to be keeping an eye on Ryan instead.
I’m asking Aaron how Andi is when Luke joins us and hands me a glass of red wine. I don’t bother to ask which kind, because I like all the reds Bianchi Winery produces.
“We will have to plan a double date next time you’re in San Francisco,” Aaron says right before Amelia appears.
“That would be great.” I motion to her to wait a minute. She fidgets impatiently.
“Mom,” Amelia interrupts, even though I haven’t given her my attention yet.
“What Amelia?”
“Dad’s here.”
I signal an apology to the others and leave to meet Grant. I’m too much of a coward to watch Luke’s reaction.
Amelia and I cross the lawn to where Grant is waiting for us.
“Thank you again for taking her,” I say.
“No problem. Ready?” He pulls her into a hug. She laughs and wriggles until he releases her.
We walk toward my car in silence. When we’re close enough, I unlock the door and Amelia gets her stuff.
“You brought Luke today.” Grant tries to sound casual, but I’m sure I hear irritation in his voice.
“Not exactly. He’s an investor at the winery. I haven’t told Amelia anything about us yet, so please don’t say anything.”
“That’s interesting.”
“Why is that interesting? I think her parents getting divorced is painful enough without bringing other people into the mix.”
Grant flinches. “Are you mad I introduced her to Stephanie?”
“Would it matter if I was? Thinking of my feelings certainly hasn’t been a priority of yours.”
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