Page 5 of The Pretender

I shrug. “I don’t know exactly. The wine is decent, so I don’t think it’s the product. My grandfather started it hoping we would all go into it, you know?”

Balt nods.

“But none of us did after the first generation, our folks. We all wanted to go our own way. It makes me kind of sad we disappointed him.”

“But you’ll be back now. That’ll make him happy, right?”

“He’s dead.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“Why now?”

Do I tell the hot guy all my troubles? It would be nice to talk to someone who probably won’t judge me and who I’ll never see again after tomorrow.

“My life has gone to shit.”

Balt raises an eyebrow. “How?”

“I was dating this guy I worked with for the past six years. We started out as peers but then he was promoted and eventually ended up being my boss.”

“Damn. How’d that go?”

“Poorly. It was fine at first. We managed to keep work and life separate, but then I got passed up for a promotion I worked my ass off for because he didn’t want it to look like favoritism.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, ouch. It was humiliating and there were whispers around the office. Everyone was looking at me like they felt sorry for me. I tolerated it for three more months, but it caused a rift I couldn’t get past. I ended things, thinking he’d be professional, but he wasn’t. He was a total hard-ass and singled me out in meetings. Never liked my work.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“That was the tip of the bullshit. A coworker told me that the guy who was promoted over me was my ex’s new boyfriend. So it wasn’t about favoritism at all, was it?”

“That must’ve been awful for you.”

I nod, blinking to stop my eyes welling up. “I thought he loved me, but I don’t think it was that deep for him.”

“And for you?”

Shrugging, I play with the gold bracelet on my wrist. “Don’t know anymore. It was pretty easy to get over him, so maybe I didn’t love him either.”

“You left because of him?”

“Yeah. I turned in my resignation before I had another job locked down, but I figured I’d find something soon enough.” I turn my gaze to the snow falling outside. “The more I looked, the less excited I was and the more homesick I felt. I’ve known the business was struggling for a while and my dad and uncle are getting ready to retire. They’ve even thought about selling it, which breaks my nonna’s heart.” I blow out a breath. “So despite being absolutely mortified, I’m going back.”

“Mortified, why?”

I walk over to the only armchair in the room and plop down. “When I left home it caused a lot of drama. No one expected me to do it because I didn’t follow a specific path. My older brothers are both in specialized professions.”

“Like?”

“One’s a doctor and the other is a lawyer. I got a business degree.”

“Why did you leave?”

“I wanted a bigger life. I wanted excitement and to meet a variety of people. I couldn’t imagine taking over a small family vineyard and making wine for the rest of my life. I feel so stupid now because I accomplished nothing. Not really. I’m returning the same way I left. No house, no job, no relationship. So yeah,they’ll be excited to see me, but they’ll be thinking about what a loser I am.”