“In fact, I’m the one who needs to apologize to you. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to tell you, but for the life of me, I couldn't do it. I couldn't stand the idea of you being hurt.” He tugged on his collar again while I frowned in confusion. “You see, I saw you and Chad at the wine festival. When I caught up with him afterward, he told me you asked for his number.”My face burned. Boston had known this whole time I was texting with Chad? Shoot me now. I should have suspected. They were friends, after all. Chad had probably been telling Boston all about our texts.“I didn’t want him around you, because even back then I worried about you more than I should. And when he gave you his number?”I waited. Whatever was coming next couldn’t be good. “He didn’t,” he said quietly.“He did,” I argued, even though I was starting to realize something was very wrong here.“He didn’t. He gave you mine.” My mind spun. What?“He told me right after that he gave you my number. I had no idea w
Well, that had gone even worse than I’d feared it might.I hastily threw a wad of bills on the table and rushed to the front door, hoping to catch El and explain things. Again. But in a way that didn’t make me sound like such a moronic idiot. Which, I realized, might actually be impossible.The front doors swung open just as I reached them, a very large man essentially blocking my exit.“Pardon,” he chirped at me, stepping inside with a small army at his back.I wasn’t sure if he was hosting a family reunion at this restaurant or something, but the timing could not have been any worse. I stood aside as what appeared to be thirty people swarmed in the doors, making it utterly impossible to exit. They crammed into the small space before the hostess stand, smashing themselves together and pressing me into a corner.“Excuse me, son,” an older woman said as her bosoms literally pinned me to the wall. “My, it’s tight in here, isn’t it?” The woman was almost astall as her companion, putting
“So . . .” I said on a breath, picturing the many, many angry faces I’d have to handle as I explained to the high-end restaurants throughout Napa and the surrounding areas that there’d be no Santa Barbara pinot noir and Syrah, no Paso Robles Rhone blends for a while. This was turning into a pretty awful month for West Wines.“So, just wanted to let you know.” Lincoln turned and went back around the corner, back to his part time gig in the warehouse. I envied him. Today was one of the days I didn’t want to be in charge, didn’t want to try to carry the world on my shoulders.I slumped over my arms, trying to regain my footing. I needed to think. What would Dad do? He was always coming up with on-the-spot solutions for crises when he was running things.But my brain didn’t seem to want to work.I kept picturing El, walking away with Chad. Or seeing her face as she told me she was falling for me, but still walked away seconds later. I felt empty and drained, exhausted and hollow. I didn’t
My body clock was still on an accountant’s schedule. I woke up the next morning bright and early, which was super annoying when all I wanted to do was to pull the covers over my head and sleep in. My body ached like I’d put myself through one of those bootcamps that looked so fun from the outside but was actually just organized torture. My abs hurt from laughing at Chad, my head hurt from crying myself to sleep when I couldn’t stop thinking of Boston, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to fit any rings on my fingers today after eating an unadvised number of hotdogs last night. For a skinny guy, Chad sure could pound the dogs. He’d eaten twenty before tapping out while I’d been one step away from running to the bathroom to puke after the first ten.Note to self: an all you can eat hotdog place was not recommended for a date.I had to be at work by three to pour wines for people looking for an after-work escape. I also wanted to start talking to Pam about getting out and selling the
I’d have to address the shorts with Mom another time. “So what are you doing here?”Mom had a seat on the recliner and we waited while she mashed all the buttons on the side and finally got the leg rest to come up. “Pam called me. We’re besties now, by the way. Boston is an absolute bear, apparently. Pam got the whole story out of him, right before she boxed his ears for being a dimwit and made him late for work.”My heart ached just hearing his name. I hated to hear he was suffering, even though he deserved it. “Again, I ask. What are you doing here?”Mom scoffed. “I’m here to offer you my shoulder to cry on, of course.Or, if your date with Chad went well, we can party!”“Date with Chad?” Ashley piped up, crossing her arms over her chest like she was hurt at my omission. “You didn’t tell me that part.”I rolled my eyes and plopped down on the couch. “I just didn’t get to it yet.”Ashley leaned over and sniffed my arm. “Why do you smell like hotdogs?”My eyes went wide as I sniffed m
I spent the better part of the week after El and I parted ways completely miserable. The worst part was that it wasn’t like ripping off a Band-Aid. She didn’t walk away from me and then leave me to nurse my wounds alone. She walked right back into my life every single day when I went over to the Cunning Ham after a full day at West Wines to help Mom.It wasn’t her fault. El worked there. And I was glad—she was a phenomenal wine hostess and made more sales from behind the counter than I ever could have. I couldn’t wait to see what she’d do when we turned her loose on the unsuspected restaurants around here. But I wasn’t going to be at her side to celebrate with her.And that hurt.What hurt more was the way she utterly ignored me every evening when I arrived, literally turning away as if I didn’t even exist. She laughed and chatted with everyone who came through the door as if her life was just peachy, as if we hadn’t shared anything, as if none of it mattered to her.Meanwhile, I mope
“Yes. So you’ll go?” “Fine. Yes.”“Can you paint me a little flowerpot to put out front, please? And don’t just smear it with paint like you did with that one in third grade. Put a little effort into it.”I picked up the case of wine I’d come back here to get. “You said you loved that pot.”“I didn’t want to hurt your feelings. You were only eight. But you really phoned that one in.”“Nice, Mom.”She smiled and batted her eyes at me, and I spun, ready to push back out to face the ever-ebullient El as she studiously ignored me some more. “Be there at noon.”I sighed and spent the rest of the night trying not to stare wistfully at the beautiful girl who hated me as she laughed and talked like she didn’t have a care in the world. My week had been horrible without her, but I was having trouble believing hers had been anything but great. The only bright point was when Chad called to tell me she was all mine.“She’s a fun girl,” he’d said. “Just not my type.”“Why’s that?”“Mostly because s
I didn’t see anything. Couldn’t hear anything. I was walking out the door like a scared little chicken, too overwhelmed by what Boston had just shared to function properly. And let’s face it, I was Isabel Watson, the bumbling blonde with coordination issues and a surprisingly long streak of bad luck. That was my only explanation for what happened next.My shoulder hit the side of the doorframe and the impact jarred my teeth loose. It also jarred loose the teeth on my zip up sports bra. I spun in a full circle due to the impact, during which time my girls felt their restraints fall away and headed for a hasty escape as the zipper gave. My arms came up to cross over the front of my chest and I ran into another wall. This time the wall was Boston. His eyes peered down at me, looking so concerned it further melted that wall of ice I’d been trying to build around my heart. I wanted to look down to assess the situation, but I didn’t dare. It was bad. I could feel the sides of the bra poking