to her feet, he held her close.
“I’m sorry,” he repeated. “I didn’t want to do this.”
“Then don’t.”
“I have to.”
He led her to the sofa and waited until she sat down.
“There’s no one else,” he told her. “I didn’t cheat. What I did was let it go on too long. We’re great as friends, but we’re lousy in a marriage. We’re roommates and we work together and nothing more. I can’t live like that. I won’t. I want more.”
“So this is about you being selfish?”
“Dammit, Steph, I’m not the bad guy.”
“Could have fooled me. What do you want that she’s not giving you?”
“Love. Sex.”
“Oh, please. Sex? Really? That’s the reason? What, she won’t put on a French maid costume for you? Grow up.”
He sat on the sofa and faced her. After swearing softly, he said, “Mackenzie and I haven’t had sex in five years. We sleep in separate rooms, in separate wings of the house. We only ever talk about business. Call me all the names you want, I don’t care. I want more than that. I’m tired of being lonely and horny and trapped in a relationship that isn’t working for either of us.”
Stephanie felt all the mad whoosh out of her. She stared at Rhys, unable to understand what he was saying. “You haven’t had sex in five years?”
“Yeah. You know what really sucks? We did it last week. First time in forever, and that’s when we knew it was over. Hell of a goodbye.”
“But I thought you were happy. You were always together.”
But not touching, she thought suddenly. They never touched. They didn’t hold hands or hug. There was no secret communication or laughs or shared jokes. Not that she could remember. How could she not have seen that?
“I didn’t know,” she breathed. “She never said. You never hinted.”
His mouth twisted. “A man doesn’t like to admit he’s not having sex with his wife. Besides, what was I going to say? We all like and respect Mackenzie. What happened is both our faults. It’s over and you have to deal with that. It’s not about you or the family, it’s about us.”
Even as she was unable to grasp it all, she knew he was telling the truth—about all of it. How could she not have seen through the facade? She and Mackenzie talked about everything—why had her friend kept this from her? Shame? Guilt?
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “About all of it.” Oh, God, she’d been a horrible friend. She hadn’t been supportive at all.
“I yelled at her,” she admitted. “I said she was ruining my life.”
“Not surprising.”
“Hey, you’re supposed to be sympathetic.”
“You need to be there for her,” he said. “I’ve got the whole family. I’m keeping my life, but not Mackenzie. She’s not going to have anything. We’re all she has, and she’s about to lose that. You need to be her friend. You and Four. Lori’s going to side with Mom, and depending on how this all plays out, you know how ugly things could get. If Mom turns on her, her life will be hell.”
Stephanie nodded even as she began to cry. “Everything is going to change. I hate that. But I don’t want you to be unhappy and I feel awful about Mackenzie.”
He slid close and wrapped his arm around her. “I know. Me, too.”
“This sucks. And there’s no good solution.”
“Tell me about it.”
* * *
Mackenzie sat on the ground, a small amount of dry soil clutched in her hand. About fourteen thousand years ago, the Missoula floods, caused by melting glaciers, deposited a smorgasbord of nutrients all across eastern Washington. To the east were the wheat fields, but here, by the Columbia River, were the vineyards.
In 1977 Gary Figgins established Leonetti Cellar as Walla Walla’s first commercial winery. In 1981 Wine & Spirits magazine named the first Leonetti cabernet sauvignon—the 1978 vintage—as the best in the nation. By 2012, six wineries from the Walla Walla area were on the list of Top 100 Wineries of the World. Bel Après was one of them.
In the past, knowing the history had always helped, but not today, she thought, letting the soil slip through her fingers. Today she was sick and confused and lost, and no amount of history was going to make that right. Everything was moving faster and faster and she didn’t know how to make it stop.
The worst was the fear, the uncertainty. She was getting a divorce, she no longer had a best friend, she might lose her job, she might quit