Blush - Jamie Brenner Page 0,133
Break
“Your middle button is undone,” Steven said. She didn’t have time to stop and look, instead keeping pace with him as they rushed from the house to the veranda. They were late.
After a day in the field, Leah showered and changed into a pinstriped shirtdress for dinner with the family, texting Steven, Where are you? Clearly, he’d lost track of time in his office at the winery—the space Asher used to occupy right next to Leonard’s. His days were filled managing sales operations, and that meant keeping up with demand for their rosé.
When he finally returned to the house to do a quick change of clothes before dinner, he told her she looked beautiful, kissed her, and then, well, her dress came off just as quickly as she’d put it on. Lately, it was like they were newlyweds again. Something about working outdoors, working together, had ignited a physical hunger between them that surpassed even the earliest days of their courtship.
But some things never changed, and that included Vivian’s intolerance for even a moment’s lateness at the dinner table. So Leah and Steven dashed through the pergola, its flowers just starting to bloom, even as she was still straightening her clothes and fixing her hair.
“We were going to start without you,” Leonard said from his spot at the head of the table, Vivian beside him. Everyone else was already seated: Asher and Bridget (her red hair now bleached a bohemian white-blond—she’d colored it just before her wedding to Asher, declaring that she wanted to be a blond bride for Instagram), Sadie (home for spring break), Mateo beside her, and Javier and Maria Eugenia. After the Harvest Circle last fall, Leah had urged her to consider moving back. “We don’t just want you here, we need you,” she said. And it was true. Maria Eugenia had left the vineyard because she didn’t feel useful after her child was grown, and she wanted to work. Leah made it clear there was a true place for her at the winery. Women were now not only welcome, they had moved front and center.
Leonard, however, was still patriarch of the family. To that end, he stood at the head of the table, raising his glass filled with their signature rosé, a gorgeous, translucent, petal-pink wine. The flavor was a perfect balance between fruity and sweet, with notes of green apple and hibiscus balanced with the hint of fig. The bottle itself was a small work of art; Leah had chosen to go with the Burgundy bottle shape for the slightly wider base. She wanted the bottle to look generous, maybe a little decadent. The neck of the bottle was lightly frosted, making the pink color of the wine really pop. The cork was wrapped in silver, and the label was white parchment with Hollander Bailey Cellars in dove gray block letters and in small silver embossed lettering, the name of the wine: Summer Blush.
It was their calling card, their announcement to the world that a new era of Hollander winemaking had begun. It was a wine that Bridget had launched through social media in the months leading to its arrival on shelves, a campaign successful in building brand awareness and anticipation. Customers who visited Hollander looking for Summer Blush found that Hollander Bailey Cellars also produced a deeper-colored rosé, a pale ruby shade with a velvety mouth feel. The flavor had notes of almond and rose hips. They also offered a sparkling rosé that popped with citrus—her mother’s favorite.
Leonard stood still for a moment, glancing out at the vineyard, then around the table. She knew what he was going to say: his traditional “To the start of the summer season.” She was more than ready to drink to that.
“A toast,” he said. “To my family.”
* * *
By nightfall, only the women were left on the veranda. The table was cleared except for the wine. Instead of plates in front of them, they each had a copy of the same book.
They were only able to meet every few months, with Sadie at school and Bridget and Asher away in the winter. After their honeymoon, they’d started a catamaran charter business in the Caribbean. Starting next month, they planned to expand their business to Sag Harbor. Asher had gotten his wish to sail off into the sunset with Bridget after all.
Leah opened her copy of that month’s book, Mistral’s Daughter by Judith Krantz. Since October, they had read The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, Thurston House by