Blush - Jamie Brenner Page 0,93

Cabernet Franc, but he waved it away.

“Just water for me tonight,” he said.

Vivian and Leah exchanged a glance.

“Peternelle, please clear this extra place setting,” Vivian said.

“It’s not extra,” Leonard said. “The baron’s joining us for dinner.”

“What on earth for?” Vivian said, not even trying to hide her dismay.

“He asked to stay at the house for the next few weeks. The hotel is not to his liking.”

“What? No. That’s out of the question,” she said.

“Don’t give me grief, Vivian,” Leonard said.

She leaned closer to him and whispered, “This is still our home—at least for the time being. Just let him sign the paperwork and write a check and keep some boundaries.”

“He hasn’t written the check yet,” Leonard whispered back. “And until he does, whatever it takes to make him feel invested in this place, so be it.”

She felt Leah looking at her but didn’t dare return her glance. Who knew what her eyes would reveal: Shame? Fear? She felt trapped at the table, trapped in the situation. She’d never felt so out of control in her life.

Leah tried making small talk, but Vivian couldn’t bring herself to contribute. She could barely breathe normally.

The baron arrived, sweeping into the room like a gust from the storm outside. He was dressed in a suit, a broad smile on his face. She saw his calculating eyes sweep over the room, homing in on Sadie.

“Young lady,” he said to her, “would you mind switching places? I prefer this side of the table.” Sadie glanced at Vivian like, Is the guy for real? but Leonard was already directing Peternelle to switch the place settings. The baron slid into the seat next to her, so close she could feel his body heat.

“What a beautiful family you have, Leonard,” he said. “You must be very proud.”

Vivian looked across the table at Leah, who had already made it clear how she felt about the baron—and this was without knowing the secret history between them. Oh, Vivian couldn’t imagine the shame if she ever found out. As much as she wanted to hold on to her home and the vineyard, the sale couldn’t happen soon enough. The baron’s presence was putting her entire world at risk. The sooner her family was able to separate from him, the better.

Peternelle served the first course, and Vivian went through the motions of eating. This was why people arranged all sorts of things around dinner; it provided a distraction, props, an excuse not to talk.

Somehow, the baron engaged Sadie in a discussion about a French literary critic, and Vivian reached for her wine. You can do this, she told herself. Just get through the meal.

And then she felt his hand on her thigh.

* * *

Something was going on. First, her grandmother jumped up from the table like the house was on fire. Then her mother followed her. Sadie excused herself, too. By the time she caught up with her mother, she was halfway up the central staircase.

“Mom! What’s wrong?”

She stopped and turned around. “I think selling this house is going to give Gran a nervous breakdown.”

Sadie could understand that. She’d been having a hard time thinking about losing the library. She glanced behind her, taking in the grand entrance hall. When she was a child, the vantage point had made her almost dizzy. The stairs had seemed endlessly vast, the stuff of storybook castles. She used to pretend she was Rapunzel trapped in a tower. It was a house of whimsy, of romanticism, of fantasy. She didn’t want to see it gone.

“There’s so much history here,” Sadie said. “I’m appreciating that now. You know what I found in the library? Grandpa’s old wine logs. They’re so intricate—like chemistry books.”

Her mother perked up. “Really? I want to see them.”

The library was hot and humid. It had absorbed all the heat of the day, the heavy curtains trapping it inside. The rain pattered against the large windows, but when Leah flipped on the air-conditioning, the gentle hum drowned out the sound of it.

“They’re on the second level,” Sadie said, leading the way up the stairs.

“My mother saves everything,” Leah said when Sadie pulled the first ledger from the shelf and handed it to her.

Leah pulled a few of the books into her arms and flipped through the pages. “I wish I knew everything my father knew about winemaking. I feel like his expertise combined with my willingness to look at things differently could lead to a solution.”

Sadie tried to think of anything she could offer, any