Page 54 of Love Among Vines

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

RETT

It was here. The party that could decide the winery’s entire future.

Rett surveyed the room. Invited guests milled around glittering cocktail tables.

Tiered trays of cupcakes he had stress baked the night before waited on a banquet table.

He wasn’t satisfied with his icing technique, but they had been a welcome distraction.

The sparkling wine was labeled and chilling in ice buckets in the storeroom.

Thankfully, there had been no sign of Chris or Alexa.

The door opened, and Jade and Margie walked in. He almost staggered. Jade was stunning in a glittering gold gown with a sky-high slit up the leg. She smiled, and her eyes lit up when she saw him. His heart lifted.

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. A realization hit him like a meteor crashing through the roof. He was in love with her. But that was insane. He couldn’t be. They had barely known each other for two weeks.

She came over and wrapped him in a hug. “Everything looks amazing. How are you feeling?”

He shook his head, and slowly his ability to speak returned. “Nervous. But there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

She pulled back and straightened his bowtie. “Your grandmother would be so proud. Seriously.”

She leaned in to kiss him, and there was a gasp.

“I have to admit, Everett, I thought you were lying to us.” Rett’s dad, Gerald, adjusted his horn-rimmed glasses and smoothed his salt-and-pepper hair.

“Pleased to meet you, Jade.” He reached out one hand. It jostled his tie, which had music notes on it. She shook his hand firmly.

“I regret to inform you I am very much real,” she said with a smile.

“Jade, darling.” Rett’s mother, Teresa, glided over like she had snuck in wearing ice skates. She pulled Jade in for a hug, then drew back to look at her.

“It’s so nice to meet you. Rett’s told us so much about you,” Teresa said.

“Has he?” Jade said with a teasing glance at Rett.

He swept his arm out, and she ducked underneath it. He tucked her into his side and she pressed a hand to his chest.

Teresa squeezed his arm. “I’m so happy for you both. Rett says you’re an artist?”

“I am. Normally you could tell by my nail beds, but I made sure to scrub thoroughly for such an important event. Rett’s worked so hard for this.”

“Come have a chat with us, dear,” Gerald said, offering his arm to Jade. “If you have the time.”

“I have nothing but time.” Jade accepted his arm and followed them to one of the glittering cocktail tables.

The calm that had washed over him at her appearance dissipated. Her absence was like a wound. He strode through the gift shop, straightening bottle labels and finding a small bit of order in this chaos.

The book club walked in and waved before beelining for the bar. Waiters milled around with hors d’oeuvres.

He snuck a glance at Jade and his parents.

She laughed at something his dad had said, but he couldn’t tell what it was from the distance.

His hands shook, and he almost dropped a bottle.

All of a sudden things felt very serious.

He was in love with her, and she had met his parents.

Their lives were intertwining. He wasn’t in control anymore.

Jade held his heart, and there was nothing he could do about it.

And the last time someone had held his heart, they had put it through a wood chipper.

He shelved the problem to deal with later and greeted friends and neighbors as they filtered in. People exclaimed over the speakeasy, which he had opened for the first time. The winery was filled with laughter and warmth. A dedicated social butterfly, his grandmother would have loved it.

Half an hour had passed since his parents had taken Jade to the side. That was enough for one evening.

“All right,” Rett announced. “You’ve grilled the poor girl enough. Come with me. We have guests to greet.”

He kissed his mother on the cheek and swept Jade off.

“Sorry. I told you they can be a lot,” he said quietly.

“They were nice,” she said. “I think they were just happy that you found someone. Do you need help with anything?”

She had worked hard all morning, standing on ladders, draping bunting, and polishing glasses.

“Just moral support when I get up there.”

“When will?—”

Her question was interrupted by the opening of the front door. Chris and Alexa came inside, waving to Rett’s parents. His chest tightened. He knew they were coming, but it didn’t make their presence any less annoying.

“Want me to bounce those posers out of here?” Jade asked as she stared them down.

“No. I don’t want to make a scene. I’m sure they’ll leave after they’ve swindled my parents out of money.” Rett took a sip of a grüner veltliner and turned his back to them. After tonight, he wouldn’t have to see them again until Christmas.

“You’ve got this. Go wow everyone,” she said firmly and kissed him on the cheek. She walked away and waved at a man he didn’t recognize. How did she know someone that he didn’t at his party?

There was no time to worry about that. It was time to stop teetering on the edge. The future awaited. Tom clapped a hand on his back as he passed, and Cindy offered a quick hug.

Rett made a pit stop at the drink table and reached beneath the tablecloth. He pulled out one of the bottles of sparkling wine and popped the cork before gingerly pouring it into a champagne flute. He carried both to the front of the room and set the bottle on a cocktail table.

With his glass raised, he struck it with a fork until the din quieted.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining Rhodes Vineyard’s golden anniversary celebration this evening. As most of you know, this winery was my grandmother Valentina’s greatest passion and joy.”

He turned the bottle so the label faced the crowd.

“She was an extraordinary woman. Completely unafraid of hard work, deeply involved in every step of the winemaking process. A devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. This business was built on her blood, sweat, and tears. Unfortunately, she passed before she was able to achieve her final piece of the puzzle.” He raised his glass and looked at it, studying the bubbles. “Sparkling wine.”

Waiters descended through the crowd, passing out glasses full to the brim with bubbles.

“This was her dream. The crown jewel of the legacy she spent her life building. There is an excellent chance that I’ve ruined it all.”

A chuckle rippled through the onlookers.

“But I’ll let you all be the judge of that. To Valentina,” he said, raising his glass.

“To Valentina,” everyone echoed.

His dad wiped a tear from under his eye.

Everyone raised their glasses and took a sip. Excited chatter broke out. Rett took a sip himself and closed his eyes for a second, half afraid that it had turned to vinegar overnight.

But it hadn’t. It was crisp and refreshing and tasted like summer. Against all odds and in spite of a smashed case, he had done it. Applause broke out, and his dad rushed out of the crowd to hug him.

Their approval wasn’t easy to come by. It kind of felt like winning the lottery.

“This is going to turn things around. I can tell,” Gerald said. “She would have loved it.”

“Thanks, Dad. I better go mingle.”

A string quartet in the corner started playing.

The crowd descended on him, but the only person he wanted to see was Jade.

Her glass was empty, and she was still laughing with the stranger, who appeared to be squatting and miming something.

He was incredibly muscular with a neck the width of a tree.

Who the hell was he, and why was he talking to Jade?

Jade glanced at him and excitedly waved. “Rett, come here. I want you to meet someone.”

He crossed to them cautiously and shook the stranger’s hand a little more firmly than was necessary.

“Rett, this is Lindon. He’s a CrossFit friend of mine from the city. And he’s also a food and wine critic for the New York Times .”

Rett’s head jerked back like he had whiplash. How had she pulled that off?

“Pleasure to meet you,” Lindon said.

“I am so honored to have you here,” Rett said. “Thanks for making the trip.”

“Honestly? It was worth it. This is your first attempt at sparkling wine?”

“After a lot of painstaking research, yes.”

“I would love to do a feature on the winery if you’d be open to it. And maybe take a half-case home if you have a spare.”

Jade was grinning behind Lindon’s back. She opened her eyes wide and stared at him. Right, he should respond.

“That would be amazing. Thank you.”

Having a feature in the Times would be huge. Life-changing.

“Why don’t I leave you guys to talk? I see a crab puff that is calling my?—”

At that moment, Chris stepped to the front of the room and clinked his fork against his glass. The room fell silent.

Of course he couldn’t let the evening pass without making it about him.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Chris said, “I just wanted to say I’m so happy to see you all here tonight. My brother has done such an incredible job carrying on the Rhodes family legacy. I would be remiss if I didn’t do what I could to carry on the legacy in my own way.”

He turned to Alexa, who was simpering nearby. With his eyes on her, he slowly came down to one knee.

A gasp raced through the crowd. Shock radiated straight to Rett’s core. Heat flared in his face. Chris was going to propose to Alexa at his party? On the night of his triumph? Absolutely not.

Jade had gone rigid beside him, and her hands were curled into fists.

“Alexa Marie Dumont,” Chris began. He fished a square box out of his pocket and clutched it in his hands.

Tears sprung in Alexa’s eyes.

“I’ve been waiting to do this for two years. I’ve known from the moment we met that you were the girl I was going to marry someday.”

Oh, the moment they met as in that time Rett had brought her home for Christmas? Fucking typical.

“Your laugh is contagious. Your heart is so beautiful, so pure. I love you endlessly. Would you do me the great honor of being my wife?” He cracked the box open, and Alexa gasped. It must have been a big one. Maybe that was the real source of this round of money troubles.

“Yes! Of course I’ll marry you.” She burst into tears, and he slid the ring onto her finger. It flashed under the overhead lights.

Applause broke out. Rett’s parents converged on the couple, clapping Chris on the back.

The shock receded, and in its place rage boiled hot and overwhelming.

“Would you excuse me for a minute?” he said through gritted teeth. He dove out the front door and stood on the front porch, hands shaking.

The door popped open behind him, and Jade stepped out. Fear gripped his heart. He was looking at his future.

He had thought he was in love with Alexa, and her betrayal almost destroyed him. But what he felt for Jade was so much stronger. If she left and the future that he so desperately wanted disappeared, there would be nothing left of him.

“Are you okay? I can’t believe he did that.” She laid a gentle hand on his arm, and he shook it off.

She shrank back like he had screamed at her.

What was he thinking? They were too different.

It would never work. She was a city girl who would grow tired of small- town life.

Or she’d get sick of his work schedule or his need to control everything.

She’d leave him just like Alexa had, and he would be left broken. It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair.

Fear and anger poured out of him like a poison.

“Are you kidding me? Of course I’m not okay.

I have given everything I have to this place.

” He jutted a finger over his shoulder. “Spent years learning how to make wine, trying to make nice with my fucking cheating liar of a brother because it’s what my family wanted.

And on the night we were supposed to celebrate this final piece of the dream—her dream—my own brother proposes to my ex-girlfriend in front of me. ”

He paced, heels striking the pavement. “She’s going to be in my life forever now. Every holiday, every family gathering. I’m tired of sweeping everything under the rug. I’m tired of trying so hard to take care of everyone else’s dreams and feelings but my own.”

“Does this mean you figured out what your dream is?” she asked gently.

Was she trying to redirect him like a fucking toddler?

“My dream is to be left the fuck alone,” he shouted.

This time, she took a step back. “It’s going to be okay. I’m right here. We can fix this,” she said. Her tone was calm, but color had bloomed in her cheeks.

“Fix it?” He let out a bitter laugh. “How are you going to fix it when you can’t even fix yourself, Jade? Are you going to run them over with your car? Oh, that’s right. You don’t have a driver’s license. You don’t have retirement savings. Not even a steady job. You have nothing.”

Tears shimmered in her eyes. She squeezed them shut and turned away.

Shit. He had gone too far.

She shook her head. “I knew it. Deep down, I knew this is how you felt about me. You looked at me like I was a pet, a little project for your savior complex.” She opened her eyes and turned to look at him.

“I guess you’re right. I have nothing.” She turned on her heel and stormed off across the parking lot, nearly tripping on the hem of her dress.

Regret filled him immediately. Chris fucked with his head and now everything was ruined.

“Jade, wait?—”

“Fuck you.” Her car door slammed, and she fishtailed out of the parking lot.