Page 57 of Love Among Vines

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

RETT

“I’ll be honest, it’s hard to pick a favorite.” Lindon sat on the velvet couch in the speakeasy, an array of glasses in front of him. “My husband will kill me if I don’t bring a bottle of this back.” He tapped a Blaufr?nkisch.

“That’s high praise coming from you,” Rett said.

Lindon lifted a glass to his nose and inhaled deeply. Ruby liquid swirled inside. “You really have something special here.”

Had would be more appropriate. Sure, everything he could have hoped for had just come true—a feature in the New York Times would all but guarantee a boom in business.

Everyone’s jobs should theoretically be safe.

He could dive in deeper on the sparkling wine and figure out what the future held for Rhodes Vineyard.

But all the success in the world meant nothing without Jade.

He had spent all of Sunday in bed, hoping that if he just slept enough, he would wake to find that everything had been a nightmare.

He ignored calls from his parents, opting instead to hide in the dark, empty confines of his bedroom.

Jade had blocked his number after their fight, and he hadn’t had the wherewithal to face the hurt written on her face on Sunday.

And now she was gone. After a lengthy interrogation, Cindy had revealed she had left town that morning.

He was such a fucking idiot. Something about seeing Chris propose to Alexa had broken his brain, and he had been unspeakably cruel to the person he cared about the most.

He felt her absence in every inch of the space around him. How could she trust him after that poison had poured from his mouth? He was an idiot, and he deserved to be alone.

When the tasting ended, Rett waved as Lindon’s rented car disappeared down the driveway. He had promised the feature would be in the Sunday edition.

Rett flipped the lights off and locked the door. He had stayed open late to do a special tasting for Lindon. And now he was alone with nothing to distract him.

He tucked the day’s deposit in the safe, and his fingers brushed against something small and hard. He withdrew a small box.

Fuck.

He flipped open the lid. A pear-shaped diamond glinted inside—the ring he had meant to give Alexa two years ago.

At first, he had kept it around because he thought for sure she would come back to him.

But the box sat there for weeks, then months.

At some point, it became a reminder of the person he used to be.

The Rett who had bought this ring was a different person entirely—fun, romantic, optimistic.

He believed in love and the melding of two lives.

He squeezed it so hard the box creaked. He should throw it into the lake. Shove it up his brother’s ass. Do something—anything—to take this pain away. He snapped it shut and slid it into his pocket. Fretting in the winery wasn’t going to do him any good.

He locked up and returned home, greeted only by the emptiness echoing in the gargantuan house. The painting of Penny stared forlornly back at him. It didn’t feel like home without Jade’s frantic painting and Penny’s army of tennis balls.

There wasn’t even a way for him to apologize. What was he going to do, drive to New York and bang on her apartment door? She didn’t want to speak to him. And he didn’t blame her.

She deserved much better than him. But he couldn’t let her go. He needed to apologize in a big way. But how?

On autopilot, he made a pan of brownies and slid them in the oven.

Upstairs, he shed his work clothes and slipped into a pair of athletic shorts.

He went to the gym and punished his body—bicep curls until his arms were screaming, weighted squats that nearly buckled his knees.

But no amount of exertion was going to distract from his depressing reality.

Jade was gone, and Alexa was going to be in his life forever. Every holiday, every wedding, every funeral. He would be forced to stare into the eyes of the woman who slid into his brother’s bed without a second thought.

He threw his dumbbell down with a roar and stomped back up the stairs. The ring box sat on the counter, mocking him with the lake in the background. He should just throw it in. Let it sink to the bottom and decay. He had one hand on the back door when there was a knock.

He stopped and checked the doorbell camera. Tom, still in his postal service uniform, stood on the front porch. At least someone was still speaking to him.

He tossed the box on the counter and opened the front door.

Tom rushed in for a hug, then drew back and slapped him lightly in the face.

“You fucked up, mate.”

“I’m aware,” Rett said, cheek stinging.

Tom handed him a foil-wrapped bundle and strolled inside. He took a seat at the island and helped himself to Rett’s glass of wine.

Rett followed him and opened the bundle. A sandwich sat inside.

“Vegemite and cheese. My mum used to make them for me when I was sick,” Tom said. “I know you’re not sick, but being an idiot is kind of like being sick.”

“Thanks.”

The ring box seemed to have caught Tom’s eye. He opened it and looked at Rett with his eyebrows raised.

“It was for Alexa,” Rett explained. “I never used it, obviously.”

Tom visibly relaxed. “Good. I was worried I was going to have to explain to you what a terrible idea an apology proposal would be.”

Rett slumped at the counter. The ring had cost him almost $15,000. It would be insane not to sell it and be free of this burden. It could give him a jump start on the next batch of sparkling, or generous holiday bonuses for his employees.

Maybe he could use part of it to craft some kind of apology for Jade.

“So how are you going to apologize?” Tom asked as if he had read Rett’s mind.

“I don’t know. She blocked my number. She won’t speak to me.”

“You know where her apartment is, though?”

“For now. For all I know, she’s signed a new lease.” He buried his head in his hands.

Tom’s hand landed on his shoulder. “I know what Chris did fucked you up, mate. But you can’t keep using him—and your grandmother—as an excuse not to live your life.

I can’t keep watching you sabotage every chance of happiness you get.

You need to make it up to her, and you need to sort out your priorities. ”

“I know. My hours at the winery aren’t sustainable.

They never have been. I was just so worried about driving it all into the ground.

Which is exactly what I did. And the only reason there might be light on the other side is because of Jade.

She brought that wine critic to the party. And I repaid her by yelling at her.”

Tom took another sip of wine. “What would Jade tell you to do?”

Rett faltered.

Their agreement echoed in his mind—honesty always.

But words weren’t going to be enough. He needed to show her how much she meant to him.

He hadn’t even fulfilled her most basic request: identifying his dream.

He didn’t deserve to think about his dream.

But no apology he made would feel complete if he didn’t take it seriously.

What did he want? What was his dream? As if in response, the oven beeped behind him. He stared at the glossy, crackly top of the brownies. The warm scent of cocoa filled his kitchen. It was like therapy.

“I didn’t know you baked,” Tom said.

Rett slid them onto a cooling rack. He hesitated. Jade would tell him to be bold. It was stupid to be embarrassed about baking.

“I love to bake,” he said quickly.

“Huh,” Tom said. “What about an apology cake?”

Rett shook his head. “It’s not enough. She deserves change. Action. Something that shows I listen to her.”

He pulled out his laptop and sat at the island. In minutes, his browser was clogged with tabs of local community colleges.

Did any of them have pastry arts classes?

That had been his dream once, before his parents convinced him that business school was the more practical path. But now he had all the benefit of an education and first-hand experience of running his business.

The cursor hovered over enrollment information for a school forty-five minutes away. They had night classes, but it would definitely mean cutting back some at the winery. And it didn’t guarantee that Jade would see he was taking her seriously. Was it insane?

Before he could second-guess himself, he signed up for a night class starting in January. Maybe it was time to follow that little voice.

Step one in his apology was complete. In the meantime, he needed to figure out how to make it up to Jade.

Tom cut into the brownies and took a bite.

“Holy shit, that’s good. You’ve been holding out on us.”

Rett straightened up. “Maybe I have. I need your help.”

“Of course. With what?”

“Call everyone and tell them to come here.”

“Everyone?”

“Everyone.”