Entangled

by Melissa Brayden

  Becca held up a hand. “Tell you what. You don’t have to decide right now. How about that?”

  “Okay.” Joey wasn’t sure where Becca was going with this.

  “But can we have a glass of wine? As foes, I mean.”

  “You’re asking me to have angry wine with you?”

  “Yes. Furious wine, if you prefer.”

  Damn it. That softened her and she didn’t want it to. Why did Becca have to be so personable? “Maybe sometime.” Joey would have leapt at that opportunity just a week ago, but now she had her walls up.

  “How about right now? Provided you have a few minutes to be angry.”

  Oh, man. Cue the war of feelings. Beautiful woman. Capitalist enemy. Adorable dog. Charm-sucking yuppie trap. What was she supposed to do here? “Maybe I could work that out.”

  Becca sat back in her chair and nodded her understanding. “I hear the pinot is good.”

  “Your sources are stellar.” Joey looked around and saw that everything seemed to be under control, and well, she was due for a break. Was she really considering this? Just then, Sky-the-dog returned and nuzzled her hand with a quiet whine, as if saying, Oh, won’t you please sit with us so I can be your forever friend?

  Becca saw the effect he had on Joey and grinned. He was clearly on the payroll.

  “One glass,” Joey said, “and only because sitting down sounds nice about now. But I retain anger rights.”

  Becca nodded. “One glass it is, and I would expect nothing different.” Joey stole a bottle of pinot from behind the outdoor bar and brought it to Becca’s table, where she poured herself a glass and topped off Becca’s.

  They sat there a moment and let things settle.

  “You gave a great speech the other day at the meeting.” Becca sipped her wine as Sky sat to her left.

  “Thank you. Is this the dog you mentioned during yours?”

  “So you were listening.” She slid a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear. “I wasn’t sure.”

  “Of course I was. Taking detailed notes, even.”

  “Yes. His full name is Skywalker and his favorite thing is apparently sitting on the couch and watching television. We’re good at it. Champions, really. But loud noises are a no-go.”

  “Good thing we’re a quiet little vineyard.”

  “And he seems to like the music.” A pause. Becca seemed to make a decision. “We’re not at war, you know. Can we maybe start over? Find a way to be friends again, like that first day? Lose the anger clause.”

  Joey sighed, as the bricks began to fall from her walls. “Okay, but that doesn’t change how I feel about The Jade.”

  “You’re not a fan. So stipulated.”

  “Not enough.” She gestured higher.

  “You hate The Jade and its existence more than anything in the totality of Planet Earth.”

  Joey laughed and pointed downward. She really liked staring at Becca Crawford.

  “You have a hearty dose of dislike for The Jade and the greedy corporation that brought it here.”

  “Ding, ding, ding.” Behind her, Matt broke into “I’m Yours,” and Joey smiled. She loved Jason Mraz.

  Becca met her gaze, which caused Joey’s stomach muscles to tighten. “Well, just know that I’m aware of your feelings and hell-bent on changing them. If you haven’t noticed, I can be persuasive.”

  “I’ve noticed a lot.”

  Becca seemed to enjoy that comment. She’d left a subtle lip print on her glass that made Joey’s stomach flutter. Sexy.

  “You know, they finished the lobby yesterday, and it’s perfect. Lots of light colors and large windows. It’s entirely cheerful, which,” she said, making a sweeping gesture to the land around them, “will send our guests into the world happy, ready to drink wine and carouse.”

  “Carouse?” Joey asked with a laugh. “You don’t often hear that word.”

  “A shame. It’s a nice word, I think.”

  Well, now it was. Joey swallowed. “Have you eaten?”

  “I have.” Becca tossed a glance over at the truck. “Gabriella and I had a nice chat. She’s a natural up there, tossing things to and fro and holding a conversation easily at the same time. She says there’s a restaurant on the way.”

  “That’s true. In the works as we speak.”

  “I’m excited for that, and I didn’t realize that she was new to town as well.” She lifted a shoulder. “Nice not to be the only recent transplant, you know?”

  “I can imagine.” Gabriella and Becca were bonding, and a trickle of jealousy snuck in. Joey shifted in her seat. She wasn’t sure which woman she was jealous of, however. Well, yes she was, too, and didn’t like it. She shook it off. “Are you settling in, getting the boxes taken care of?”

  Becca laughed. “No.”

  “Well, you gotta do something about that. You don’t want to get a reputation as the town box lady, do you?”

  “Mildly tempting, but no.”

  Joey squinted. “Give me the status.”

  “I have eleven boxes left. The problem is at the end of the day I’m exhausted and accept their place in my life. The boxes are my friends, and as someone who tends to assign feelings to inanimate objects, that practice has extended their lease.”

  “Well, stop that right away.”

  “Easier said than done. I’ve stopped short of naming them.”

  “That’s something.” Joey pursed her lips in thought. “You could be unpacking them right now, you know.”

  “Yes, but then I wouldn’t be here talking to you, and I happen to really like getting to know you better. Are you married?”

  Joey nearly spit out her wine. She took a moment. “Definitely not married. Guess you haven’t been in town long enough. Give it time.”

  Becca didn’t seem to understand the reference, which was a good thing. It was nice to have at least one person not know about her personal scandal.

  “In a serious, committed relationship then. Is he around here somewhere?” Becca made a show of looking behind her, then under her chair.

  Joey winced. “You’ll be looking for a long time. He doesn’t exist.” She pointed at Becca. “And you know that, because before I knew you were behind the controls at The Jade, you and I flirted.” Joey was a little surprised she’d just blurted that out. Yet here they were.

  Becca didn’t seem fazed. Joey was beginning to think that very little ruffled her feathers. She was the epitome of cool, calm, collected, and yep, still hot as hell. “We did. It was fun. Now you hate me and it’s awful.” She leaned forward. “Let’s go back to the flirting. Definitely preferable, and we were pretty good at it.”

  “I won’t argue that point.” Joey tapped her finger on the side of her glass. It was hard to resist Becca’s suggestion with her sitting right there, giving off such a warm and friendly vibe. Why couldn’t Becca just have been a self-involved corporate money-grubber, like Joey had imagined Elite’s people to be? “Maybe we could be friendly.”

  Becca smiled and didn’t push. “What do people do for fun in Whisper Wall, besides drink small samples of wine and discuss them?”

  “Food is also pretty major. We all get out of bed early for any kind of festival devoted to the worship of a specific food. You missed Waffle Fest a few months back. Here a waffle, there a waffle. It was a syrupy good time.” She took a sip.

  “God, I’ll count the days until it cycles back around. What’s next?”

  “Wassail Fest in late November.”

  Becca squinted. “Do all the festivals start with W?”

  She laughed. “Nope. Just the luck of the calendar.”

  “Well, I’ll definitely attend any and all festivals. I love meeting new people. Probably why I gravitated toward the hospitality industry. You?”

  “Born into it, remember? But it has given me a chance to come out of my shell. I’m an introvert naturally, though.” She pointed at herself. “You probably noticed. My social energy runs out, and I’m a dormouse.” Why was she all of a
sudden so talkative? This was supposed to be a polite drink. She stared at the truth juice in her glass and knew the answer.

  “Well, you’d never know it, and you happen to be much better looking than a dormouse. Your hair alone tops that of a small rodent.”

  Joey nodded, enjoying their back-and-forth and allowing herself to relax. “I brush it daily.”

  “It shows.” Another sip. Becca held up her glass. “Know what I’m noticing, this time around?”

  “Tell me.” Joey lived for wine talk, and the way Becca held her hand out as she searched for the words to describe the flavors had her gripped. She could watch her grapple for days, almost like she tasted something amazing and just had to figure out what it was.

  “I want to say brown sugar. It reminds me of my childhood, but it’s very subtle.”

  Joey sat taller, energized. “Yes. I’ve had that same thought. My father never explicitly said brown sugar, but it’s there, right?”

  Becca made a show of wiping her brow. “I’m always so nervous talking wine to people who know wine. I’m glad I wasn’t out of left field.”

  “Nothing to worry about. There’s no wrong impression when you taste wine. You let it settle, you take it in, and you say what comes to you.” Becca blinked, almost like the words had been stolen. “Did I lose you with that one?” Joey asked after a few seconds.

  “Oh. No. I was just…enjoying listening to you talk about what you love.” She glanced at the table. This was Joey’s first glimpse of Becca off her very sure footing. She relished getting a peek behind the perfectly put together curtain. She also wanted to say something to help even them out.

  “It’s one of the few areas in life where I can fully employ confidence. I know wine and I know Tangle Valley. The rest of life? Well, let’s just say I always misjudge the hug or handshake question. Lean in for the wrong thing every damn time. I’m the worst and shouldn’t be allowed out in public.”

  Becca laughed. “Don’t be ashamed of that. It’s earnest.”

  “It’s sad.”

  “Special delivery for hungry people.” Joey turned just as Gabriella set down a plate with a cannoli for each of them.

  Joey practically vibrated happiness. “Those look amazing.”

  Gabriella moved her hand in a circle around the scene. “So does this conversation, which is why it deserves reinforcements.” She hooked a thumb at the truck. “Now quit talking to me, dammit. I have amazing food to cultivate.”

  They watched her go, her pressed chef’s coat now showing signs of her hard work. “A cannoli for your thoughts,” Becca said, holding up the plate in temptation.

  Joey shrugged. “I can admit it. Angry wine has been fun.”

  Sky lifted his head and looked up at Joey from his spot next to Becca’s chair. “I think Skywalker agrees with you. He also wants a bite of cannoli.” Becca obliged, feeding him a tear-off. He wolfed it down, which made Becca laugh. She looked up, the gold flecks in her eyes sparkling with amusement. “He sends his compliments to Chef Gabriella.”

  Joey motioned to the bustling vineyard. “Everyone else does. He’s a trendy dog.”

  “Hear that?” Becca said, giving Sky a good scratching. “This woman thinks you’re with it.” Becca stood and smiled reluctantly. “I should probably take this big guy and get him some real food.”

  “Probably better for him than the pinot.” Joey stood, too, and gathered their now empty glasses.

  “I can’t imagine that being the case for anyone. Thanks for hanging out with us, Joey. Angry or not.” She reached into her pocket and produced a business card. “In case you need anything. A spare tire, a joke, or maybe just a couple of eggs for a cake you’re making.”

  Joey accepted the card, saw the words The Jade scrawled across the top in a modern script, and suppressed a sad shake of her head. Instead she focused on the name Rebecca Crawford, which seemed friendlier, exciting even. She held it up. “For eggs.”

  “Will I see you again?”

  “Oh, you never know. This town is pretty small, and you’re welcome here anytime.”

  Becca squinted. “I can’t decide if that’s code for I’d like you to come back again or If you do, I’ll try my best to be nice.”

  “Well,” Joey said with a shrug, “it could go a lot of ways.”

  Becca seemed to accept that and gave Sky’s leash a tiny tug to signal their departure. “I enjoyed today. Thanks for not killing me.”

  Joey nodded. “Anytime.”

  As Becca headed off down the well-worn path that led to the vineyard’s guest parking, words she hadn’t planned on fled Joey’s lips. “It was code for come back.”

  Becca stopped, turned, and broke into a supermodel grin as the wind hit. It was one of the most beautiful images Joey had ever seen. “Good to know. I will be.”

  “What the hell are you doing right now?” Joey mumbled to herself as she watched after Becca. The view of her ass made Joey’s stomach flutter and her thighs tighten. Her cheeks flashed hot in betrayal.

  “So what the hell are you doing?” Gabriella asked from several feet away. “I saw every minute of that, and it was glorious.”

  “Wait. What did I miss?” Madison asked, arriving in the area between them. She followed Joey’s gaze to Becca Crawford driving away in a Nissan Juke and whistled low. “I see. I always arrive too late. Fill me in?”

  Joey glanced back at the tasting room, which had been hit by a big boom of new arrivals. She pointed at her friends. “Meet me in the big barn at seven, and I’ll tell you all about it. It’s problematic because I’m a weak individual.”

  “Why I like you,” Gabriella said. “You have a pulse.”

  Joey grimaced. “Seven o’clock. I’ll bring the wine.”

  “The big barn it is,” Madison said. “Little Joey Wilder,” she said with a knowing gleam in her eye as she wandered away back to the barrel room.

  * * *

  Becca clipped off Sky’s leash and watched as he bounded into her living room and up onto her comfy leather couch, which he had apparently declared the best place for sitting and snoozing in the sun that cascaded through the large picture windows. He threw back his head and bellowed, beagle style, before collapsing onto his side in surrender. Becca could imagine how the barking and bellowing could be a problem for anyone who lived in an apartment. She’d take out his orange ball later and give him a workout in the backyard, but for now she’d let him rest.

  “You were so well behaved in front of my friend,” she told him and placed a kiss on the side of his head. And then another one because she’d truly grown to adore him. She loved how warm and smooth he was. “You are a stellar individual,” she told him. He reciprocated with a lick across her face. “Nice one.” She sat next to him on the couch, and unprompted, he snuggled his big body against her side. Who would have guessed from their tentative introduction that he would be such a lover?

  Becca knew she had a lot to organize as opening approached. There were trainings and systems to set up, vendors to schedule, and meetings to sit in on and conduct. God help her. She needed to outline in writing everything about the upcoming week, to keep her head on straight. There would be time for that later that night. For now, she wanted to sit with Sky, decompress from their afternoon out, and ruminate over her conversation with Joey, who she now knew was actually a Josephine. She grinned, thinking the name pretty, but also feeling that Joey fit her better. “Joey Wilder,” she murmured, liking the way the name felt on her lips. The woman had definitely snagged Becca’s attention in a way no one had before. She was beautiful and stubborn and quick witted. A killer combination, even if she was on the wrong side of things.

  Becca’s phone, which she had deposited on the coffee table, vibrated in notification. Probably Louise from corporate in Orlando. She reached for the phone, imagining this was about securing rooms for the out-of-town leadership team who would arrive shortly to assist with opening.

  She was wrong.

  Instead she found a tex
t from her new debonair cowboy friends.

  Becks. We call you that now. We found someone you need to meet. Sending our love to Sky. This is Monty, by the way.

  She smiled at the text and snuggled in. “It’s your foster dads,” she told her dog. “We’re friends now. It’s a whole lovefest.”

  Who is this mystery person I need to meet? she typed back.

  No questions. Do you trust us?

  Becca exchanged a look with Sky. “Do you vouch for these two? I’m serious. I don’t know about this. But it would be nice to meet a new friend.”

  Sky showed her his belly.

  “Good enough.” She returned to her phone and typed out a response. Fine. When and where, cowboys? My calendar is flexible until opening.

  Chapter Seven

  “We’ve gathered in the name of star-crossed lovers. Spill,” Madison said from on top of a bale of hay inside their biggest barn on the property.

  “Can’t we ease in first? The weather was nice today.”

  “I’m not here for weather chatter,” Madison said.

  Gabriella nodded seriously. “We’re here for lurid romance.”

  “I don’t have any of that.”

  Gabriella narrowed her focus. “You’ve got close.”

  Joey grinned. It was dark out and chilly enough that they all wore their warm coats. Joey happened to like her red and black checkered belted number quite a lot and had her hands stuffed in her pockets. They’d used this barn for storage of various farm-related materials and tools, but at Joey’s request, the farmhands had begun to clear the space in preparation for the overhaul she had in store for it. She could already see the gorgeous receptions that would one day take place in the exact spot where they sat.

  Joey adjusted on her bale of hay and pulled a leg beneath her. Gabriella sat on the ground, leaning her back against a bale, already sipping a glass of dolcetto, looking exhausted and happy from her first day of service.

  “I’ve lost my damn mind, that’s what,” Joey remarked, half proud of herself and half horrified.

  Gabriella shook her head. “In the most delicious way. I totally get what you see in Becca Crawford. She’s sexy as hell, all put together, and glamorous.” She shook her head. “Double damn on a silver platter of hot.”