Page 40

MAKAYLA

“ Y ou take care of yourself, too, big bro,” I say, laughing lightly as I hang up.

“Was that Bryan?” Janet asks, walking in from the kitchen.

“Always the worrier,” I reply. “But look at us. We’ve already made so much happen…”

I gesture to everything around us.

We’ve whipped the house into shape, scrubbing every surface at least once. There’s fresh paint on the walls, and the living room and hallways now sport gorgeous rugs we scored at the best thrift store in town.

Everything is finally coming together. I keep a calendar tacked to the wall, every crucial date inked in: planting, harvesting, bottling.

“Granted, we still have a ton of work ahead,” I admit, hearing the doubt in my voice.

“Hey, we’re still here, still alive, still kicking,” Janet reminds me gently. “My remote setup runs seamlessly, which is good for both of us.”

I smile. “I’ve been doing alright in that department, too.”

She nods. “I told you. There are plenty of online clients who will work with freelancers in this economy. It’s just what you needed so you can focus most of your energy and resources on the grapes. Spring is just around the corner now.”

I’m out in the fields every day, working from sunrise until the sun dips behind the hills.

We don’t have the money to buy an expensive tractor, but there’s a farmer down the way who offered his for rent.

After four days of hard labor, the soil is primed for the grapes.

I’ve already been to the local nursery, and I’m expecting a shipment before the end of this week.

“So, how’s big bro?”

“Impressed,” I say.

“Impressed?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I reply, closing my laptop and standing up to stretch. “He says he checked out your website, and he’s impressed.”

Janet smiles. “Thanks. That really means a lot, coming from a savvy businessman like him.” She’s wearing an apron, which I think is cute, and her hair is up in a messy bun.

It feels like we’re an old farming couple already, having settled into a routine after only a few weeks.

“I can change the template if he thinks something more modern would be better.”

“No, he says it’s really good. You don’t have to change a thing. And I agree. It’s the perfect vibe for what we’re building here.”

Janet smiles. “Well, that’s good to hear. Are you going into town tomorrow? We’re out of milk and flour.”

“I’ll put them on my list,” I say, reaching for my phone.

I’ve learned that it helps to be super organized, and shopping lists are one of my new favorite things.

I think about Oscar and how much he would approve of my new system, but that leads me to thinking about Kellan and Alex and everything we had together.

Best to shut that down quickly before I get depressed.

“Do you want to open a bottle of wine?” Janet asks.

In the name of research, we’ve purchased at least a dozen bottles from different wineries across the valley, and they’re all sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting for one of us to build a wine rack.

I’m trying to narrow down the flavor profiles I like, so that I know which direction I want my own product to go.

“Not right now,” I say. “But if we still have any of the California Belle, I’ll have a glass of that.”

“Coming right up,” Janet says cheerfully.

I’m just settling down with a chilled glass when there’s a knock on the door.

I’m not expecting anyone, so I look over at Janet to confirm whether she’s expecting a guest. She shrugs, indicating that she’s just as confused as I am.

I get up to answer the door and am thrilled when I find Bryan standing on my front porch step.

“Bryan!” I shout, pulling him into a hug. “You asshole. I thought you were just calling to check up on me. How the hell did you get here so quickly?”

“I called from the road,” he says with a devious grin. “I didn’t say anything because I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“I’m surprised,” I say with a laugh. “Come in, please.”

I stand back to let both Bryan and Callie enter my new home. Callie looks tired and worried, two things I wish she didn’t feel. The whole thing with Melanie is such a mess, it left a dent in every relationship they had—with me, with my brother, and clearly, with Callie, too.

“It’s so good to see you,” I tell her with a warm smile.

“I’ve been itching to come up here for a while,” she says, then gives Bryan a playful scowl. “But Mr.I’m-Too-Busy-to-Visit-My-Own-Sister here kept postponing this surprise trip.”

“More like, Mr.I’m-Just-Giving-My-Sister-Space,” Bryan gently corrects her.

“Come here, you!” I give Callie a strong hug, making sure that she knows she’s welcome.

She takes off her coat and hangs it by the door while Bryan says hello to Janet. He grins. “Glad to see you’re settling into the farmer’s life.”

Janet laughs. “The wine is the best part. Speaking of guests, partner in crime, should we revisit the wine selection?”

“That sounds perfect,” I say. “Do you have any bags we need to bring in from the car? Or do you guys want to take a shower?” I ask my brother. “Hot water’s limited, but there’s enough.”

“I’d love to take a shower,” Callie says, “but I need to talk to you first.”

I look at Bryan for a clue about what’s going on, but he only smiles. “I’ll go get our stuff and let you talk.”

“I can sleep on the couch, and you guys can take my bed,” Janet offers.

“No,” Bryan says quickly. “I’ll sleep on the couch. This is your house; I don’t want to intrude.”

Bryan and Janet keep bickering over who should take the couch as they head outside for the luggage. Callie and I are left alone in the living room, staring awkwardly at each other.

“Makayla,” Callie begins. “This is really hard for me, and I’m so sorry about everything that happened in Sweden.”

“It’s not your fault,” I say, trying to console her, but she’s having none of it.

She lifts a hand, silently asking for patience as she goes on. “Please, let me say this. I think that my sister may have been lying to you.”

My voice cracks. “She… what?”

I was already conflicted enough, but I had almost managed to convince myself that the Anderson triplets were the villains in this story.

That Melanie wasn’t exactly the salt of the earth, either, but whatever happened between them had left her with genuine wounds.

That they did something to her. It’s been my lifeline, my way of healing in their absence.

“I’ve had several conversations with Melanie both at the resort and after we all came home,” Callie begins.

I motion toward the couch and we both sit down, while I brace myself for what follows.

“At first I believed everything that she said. I thought, how could Bryan be such good friends with people who are so awful. But the more she said about the incident, the more things didn’t add up. ”

“Like what?” I ask. As I sift through my memories of Melanie, I realize I missed plenty of red flags, too. The more Callie tells me, the sillier I begin to feel.

“Well, she said that one of the brothers gave her something to drink that made her feel funny, but I happen to know what roofies do to the memory,” Callie continues uncomfortably. “And she had far too many crystal-clear details about what they supposedly did to her. She… she remembered too much.”

“Aren’t there roofies that basically paralyze you?” I ask, pressing for more details.

“She wasn’t paralyzed. See, the thing is…

her story varied and changed the more questions I asked.

First, she couldn’t move. Then, she couldn’t remember much.

But then she had so many details to offer.

At one point, she even tried to fight them off.

So, I asked a friend of mine from the county court to look into the trial transcripts and…

well, I started putting two and two together. ”

“Are you telling me that Melanie lied to get that settlement? That she lied to the cops?” I gasp.

Suddenly the whole picture seems a lot less black and white.

“Yes. And the thing is… My sister has done her fair share of drugs when she was younger. Made plenty of mistakes and was never held accountable for any of it because our parents kept bailing her out,” Callie says.

“I thought… I thought that once she got into law school, once she started working at that firm… that Melanie had finally grown up. There were other minor incidents over the years involving her, but she always managed to explain those away.”

“And the settlement?”

“Here’s what made me start digging. Melanie was not supposed to break that NDA.

She wasn’t supposed to talk about what happened that night with Kellan, Alex, and Oscar.

But she most certainly did at the resort.

To you, to me, to Bryan. And when I asked her why she risked a lawsuit just to put the triplets back in the limelight, Melanie gave me this…

this unhinged look, and she said… because they pushed her away.

” Callie shudders and takes a deep breath.

I open my mouth to argue, but Callie cuts me off.

“Then, I was talking to Bryan and he said that the triplets never engage in any illegal activities. He says that sometimes they drink too much, but they’ve never tried any other drug. Oh, God, Makayla… I think we were wrong about them.”

It must be hard to turn your back on a sibling like that.

Callie and Melanie are family, but in some extreme cases, blood ties are not an excuse to let someone get away with lies, with cheating, with any sort of deed that hurts other people.

No, in a family, we call out poor behavior.

We question that which seems unreasonable.

And it’s precisely what Callie did, once she had a moment to cool down after that Swedish mess.

“So, what are you saying, now? What is Bryan’s opinion about all this?” I ask pointedly.