Two to Tangle (A Tangle Valley Romance #2) - Melissa Brayden Page 0,50

helping.

Gabriella laughed quietly. “See? This is your life, and I’m an idiot.” She gestured to the car. “You know what my life is? 20/20 on the couch with popcorn. We’re just not suited. See you at Tangled, okay?” She offered Ryan an everything is fine shoulder pat and headed for her Jeep.

Ryan didn’t even try to stop her this time. She could not have come up with a more fucked-up way to end the night. Gabriella thought the worst of her, and she’d blown her chance at what seemed like something real. Something important.

Left alone with just Heather, she turned. “Not tonight, okay?” That’s when she heard the words and what they implied. That there would be other nights in the future. “Actually,” she said, taking a bold step forward, “I think maybe it’s best we just focus on the friendship side of things. I’m not available for anything more.”

Heather pulled her face back and frowned. “What’s going on?”

“I think it’s just time for me to chill out a little. Focus on a slower pace for my life.” She was admitting a lot to Heather. She didn’t let too many people in on the regular. Tonight, it seemed important to be open and honest. If only she’d started the night that way. Better late than never.

“Who are you, and what have you done with my sexy Ryan?”

She frowned, not liking the implication. She shrugged. “Just me, trying to do what feels right.”

Heather rolled her eyes, and Ryan felt small. It shined a light on how little she knew Heather outside of their flirtatious banter and late-night hookups. “Have fun with that,” she said and rolled up her window, effectively cutting Ryan out of further conversation.

When Heather peeled out of the parking lot, drawing stares and showcasing her anger, Ryan was left alone, embarrassed, but with a startlingly clear handle on who she wanted to be and which parts of her she wanted to leave behind. Something significant was playing out in her life, and she damned well better pay attention. Very much aware of the precipice on which she stood, Ryan was determined to shed old habits.

She walked to her truck, shaking her head along the way. Gabriella or not, she was heading somewhere different, and she was set on making it there. “Don’t you dare screw this up,” she murmured. “Don’t you dare.”

* * *

“What do you mean she didn’t really speak to you?” Madison asked. “I thought Ryan invited you to the event on some kind of pseudo date? Not that I thought it was a great idea.” It was late morning, and Gabriella swung by the barrel room to say hi to Maddie before finishing up prep for lunch service. Her culinary assistant today was Jace, who’d already cut himself twice with a paring knife while slicing zucchini, so she probably shouldn’t leave him for too long.

Gabriella thought back on the whole cocktail launch debacle with a pit in her stomach. “Me, too, which is why the whole thing surprised me, but not entirely.” She shook her head as if trying to land on the right words to explain. “Ryan means well. I know that part. She didn’t plan to blow me off, but she got caught up with that Heather person because that’s what Ryan does, gets caught up with pretty girls. A little time with this woman, a little time with that one.” Gabriella raised a shoulder. “I just don’t want to be the that one in any scenario. And that’s precisely who I became.”

“Thank you.” Madison nodded wholeheartedly. “That’s what I’ve been saying all along. Why would you ever want that?” She leaned against the side of one of the racks and brushed a wavy strand of dark blond from her eyes. She’d likely had a long day already, and it was only ten a.m. “You deserve so much more, and it makes me want to tell the Biddies all about this and let them go to war with Ryan Jacks online.”

Gabriella’s eyes went wide. “No, no, no. Let’s not release the blue-haired hounds just yet. Ryan is just being Ryan. I should maybe start to expect less.”

Deacon, Madison’s assistant winemaker, approached. He was working full-time at the vineyard while finishing up his degree in Portland. “If you’re talking about the account that gang of ladies started, there’s already a photo from last night of you and Ryan in a tense-looking conversation in the parking lot of Truth or Dare. Over a hundred likes.”