Blush - Jamie Brenner Page 0,29

This sounded very glamorous to her. “The vineyard is on the West Coast, but all the important restaurants are here. Next time I’m in town I’d like to take you out to dinner.”

Vivian simply nodded, too thrilled to put energy into more banter. He wrote her phone number on a matchbook.

It would be a few months before they saw each other again, but after finally meeting for a first date, they were never apart. They married a year later.

Dropping out of school, losing the support of her parents, leaving Manhattan for life on a farm—she’d never second-guessed any of it. She still didn’t.

“You should have seen the look on Leah’s face when I told her what’s going on,” Vivian said.

“I asked you not to do that.”

“I didn’t admit how dire things are financially. But she had a right to know about the decision to sell.”

Leonard sighed, reaching for her hand. “I’m sorry. I know this is hard, but we need to stick together. Fighting with each other is not going to help. It’s you and me against the world. Remember?”

Yes, she remembered.

She remembered it all. That only made it harder.

Fourteen

Steven returned to the house just in time for dinner after taking Sadie scallop fishing late that afternoon in nearby Corey Creek. He kissed Leah on the forehead, and she inhaled the familiar scent of him, woodsy and male and, today, with a hint of saltwater. It was summertime Steven.

She patiently let him download all about the great time he had with Sadie—and she was happy to hear it. But really, all she could think about was the sale of the winery.

She didn’t know what she’d expected when she told him. Maybe some acknowledgment of the loss? Instead, he was maddeningly philosophical.

“Look, people sell businesses,” he said. “Or businesses close. We have our own business to worry about. Your parents will be fine.”

“I opened the cheese shop almost twenty years ago. The Hollanders have been vintners since my father’s grandfather began it in Argentina. Don’t you see the difference?”

“Of course. And one of the main differences is that the cheese shop is ours and Hollander Estates is not. Your father turned you away from the company. It was hard for you at the time, but now you’re in a position where the fate of the winery really has nothing to do with you. So be thankful for that.”

“I grew up here,” she reminded him.

“I understand that. Look, I loved the house in Maine where I grew up. But when my parents retired and sold it, I had to let them do what was best for themselves and move on.”

“But your parents decided together to sell that house. My mother doesn’t want this. She’s putting on a show of a united front, but I know she’s upset.”

“Vivian is a strong woman. She’ll be fine.”

Then he had to get in the shower. The conversation was over.

Steven emerged from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. He had some color from the past few days in the sun, though he had to be careful about that because he burned. The blue in his eyes was particularly vivid; he looked, in that moment, as he had the first time they visited her parents, six months after the night of the Cooler. They had already said “I love you.” And the sex—good lord, the sex.

They had been late for dinner that first visit, too—but for entirely different reasons. After an early-evening swim, she’d gone into the bathroom to shower, but before she could peel off her wet bikini, Steven followed her in and closed the door.

She smiled at him in the mirror. “What are you doing?”

He didn’t answer her, but stepped forward, kissing her neck. A shiver ran through her, a combination of her damp skin and the thrill of anticipation. She protested feebly, murmuring about her parents expecting them. But he slid her bathing suit bottom to the floor, along with his own. She didn’t move—barely breathed—still facing the mirror. She leaned forward just enough to reach out and brace herself against the vanity, and when he was inside her, their eyes met in the reflection. It was the most thrilling moment she’d ever experienced.

Now, standing in front of the full-length Chippendale mirror in the bedroom, she wondered if he was thinking about that first visit, too.

“Can you zip me up?” Leah asked. As his fingers brushed the bare skin of her back, she wondered if he would try to take her dress