California Dreaming: Four Contemporary Romances (52 page)

She began typing again.
“I’m afraid my life is very dull compared to yours. This is my third attempt at making dough since you left. I think I’m doing everything right and then it’s either too dry and falls apart or too wet and clings to the rolling pin. It’s going to take me decades to learn to do this. By then I’ll be too old and gray to serve you ravioli as we watch the sunset.”

Her finger hovered over the backspace key. Would he think she was too forward to talk about a future with him? Or would he take it like she meant it — just a joke.

Or was it?

The phone rang, startling her. Her finger jerked and landed on the enter key.

The email was off.

• • •

Two more tries at ravioli over the following week hadn’t helped. Elizabeth stared at the gelatinous mess in her garbage pail, sighed, and closed the lid. Maybe she should give up.

She squared her shoulders and began to clean the counter, her mind on assembling the documents she needed for the lawyer. Carol had been right; she needed to protect herself before asking any bank for money.

She thudded the cleaned rolling pin on the counter to dry. The phone rang and she snatched it up. “Hello!”

“You haven’t been that glad to hear from me in ages,” Bobby said.

Her shoulders sagged. “Hi, Bobby.”

“Now that’s the reaction I’ve come to know. Has your Italian friend left?”

“Yes. He was only here for a few days; he’s been gone for over a week.”

“What have you been doing?”

“Oh, the normal. Store, taking care of the garden, learning to make ravioli … ”

“Make ravioli? That Italian must have had quite an impact.”

“No, it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I came back from Europe. I remember my nana making them when I was a little girl. I needed a hobby, so … ” Why was she telling him all this? She let the silence linger a bit.

“I was wondering what you’d decided to do about your product line,” he said. “I’m still interested in investing.”

“I’ve decided to invest my own money,” she said.

“Oh, really?” His surprise was evident. “Why do you want to do that?”

She opened her mouth to answer and stopped. Just because he was a man didn’t mean she had to answer every question he asked.

“I’d rather not go into it, Bobby. Is there something I can do for you?”

“Wow. Formal. I was hoping you weren’t too busy. I’d really like to take you to dinner.”

“Bobby, I told you, we’re through.”

“It’s only dinner.”

“No, thank you.”

“I’m lonely,” he said.

So am I.
She thought of Marcos’ touch and an ache began in her chest. She missed him more than she ever thought possible.

“It’s only dinner,” Bobby said again.

“No, thank you.”

“That isn’t an answer.”

“Actually, it is. Bye, Bobby.” She hung up the phone and sat in thought for a moment.

It was one of the first times in her life she’d been able to calmly say no to an insistent male.

She smiled and went to check her email.

Her inbox contained three messages from Marcos and her smile grew deeper with anticipation in spite of her resolve to put the man out of her mind. The first two emails were about harvest and Marcos’ issues with Jacques. The more Marcos probed, the more he was convinced that Jacques was stealing from him, but couldn’t prove it. The third email stopped her short.

“I am coming back to America in the middle of November,”
Marcos said.
“The sale is getting bogged down and I believe it would be better if I am there in person. I would like to spend several days with you, if your shop can let you go. I find I cannot put you from my mind and I hope I can persuade you to come to Napa with me to relax. Separate rooms, of course. Perhaps in different surroundings, you will be able to tell me why you are so afraid of love.”

Good question
.
What would happen if she went to Napa with Marcos? Would she succumb to him in the wine-soaked atmosphere of Napa?

Her eyes fell on the card she’d pinned to her bulletin board many months before: Carol Eos, Life Coach. Her next call with the coach was the following week. Now that she was moving forward with the product line, it was time to tackle the Marcos question.

Remembering her last coaching call, she posed the same question to herself with Marcos in mind. What would happen if the relationship turned out well? Could she imagine jetting all over the globe on the arm of a handsome Italian? Would she still be Elizabeth, or merely an appendage?

She shook the thoughts from her head. Maybe the coach would have insight. Every time Elizabeth thought about Marcos, her head became a muddled, sex-obsessed mess.

In the meantime, she could figure out how to make the damn ravioli. Her dinner with Annie was the tomorrow night and she’d like to report
some
progress.

As always during harvest, no one was getting any sleep. If the crew wasn’t picking, they were crushing, stirring, moving future wine from tank to tank and monitoring temperatures, sugar and acidity. Harvest was an intricate dance between man and God, a misstep could turn an offering into sacrilege.

At four in the morning the pickers were already hard at work. They should be done today; the French vineyard was a small one.

Marcos stared at the scribbled piece of paper Jacques had handed him the night before. The numbers didn’t make sense. He’d seen the heavy load on the vines before they’d been picked. The baskets the trucks had brought to the crusher had been filled to the brim. Yet the weight numbers Jacques had given him told a different story.

In the dim morning light, he spotted his vineyard manager talking to a thin man in overalls in the far north corner, almost hidden behind a few pines. Marcos stepped back behind the overhang of his office and watched the pair.

The thin man looked around and then handed Jacques an envelope. The secretiveness made Marcos uneasy. Was his manager selling him out? And how could he prove it if he was?

Marcos pulled the piece of paper back out from his pocket. The numbers couldn’t be right.

He strode over to the crush pad behind the winery. Jacques had crabbed at him when he’d invested in a state-of-the-art platform scale. Jacques wanted to continue to weigh grapes the old-fashioned way — by eyeballing them.

The crush pad was active, but Marcos got the workers to hold off for a few moments. He grabbed a couple of ten-pound weights that had been used to hold open doors and placed them on the scale. Checking the weight, his suspicions were confirmed.

He removed the weights, signaled the men to get back to work, and went back to his office. Once there, he began to pace. If he fired Jacques, who would manage the vineyard? There were a number of young men who were almost ready to do it, but they’d need more supervision than he’d felt necessary with Jacques.

Still, they probably wouldn’t steal from him.

Would he need to delay his expansion to California? He thought of Elizabeth and smiled. He wanted to see her again. She was someone who understood the ups and downs of owning a business. He could tell her anything and she would have something intelligent to say in return.

Would it be possible to convince her to become part of his crazy life?

He shook his head — he was getting ahead of himself. He had a bigger problem to solve. He scanned the area for Jacques and saw him heading toward the crush pad. Out of the corner of his eye, Marcos saw another big load of grapes coming in from the vineyard. Now was the time.

“Hello, Jacques,” he said when he reached the vineyard manager. “Looks like we should finish today, yes?”

“Yes.” Jacques eyed his boss. “Did you want something?”

“Nothing in particular. I wanted to see the grape weight. Yesterday’s figures were low.”

Jacques shrugged. “I only wrote what the scale said.”

Marcos watched as the first bin was placed on the scale. With Jacques, he checked the numbers. Jacques waved for the next bin to be loaded, but Marcos gestured for the driver to stop.

Marcos placed the two ten-pound weights on the scale. He gestured to the reading.

Jacques looked at the numbers with the expression of a man who already knew what he would find. “The scale appears to be off.”

“Yes,” Marcos said. “You were to calibrate it at the beginning of harvest, remember?”

“I did. Someone must have changed it.”

“Really?”

The question hung in the air. All work had stopped and the workers stared at the two men.

Jacques looked at Marcos with defiance. “I did nothing wrong.”

That’s when Marcos knew his mind was made up. He’d figure out a way to get to California somehow.

“You’re fired,” he said to Jacques, turned on his heel and walked back to his office, sorting through his employees to determine who would become the next vineyard manager.

• • •

“I am sorry I have not been in touch with you recently,”
Marcos typed to Elizabeth a week later.
“I have fired Jacques after I discovered the scale had been adjusted downward. This gave me false readings. Thank you for listening to my problems in California. It is lonely being a business owner sometimes.”

Marcos paused in his typing, imagining Elizabeth’s smile and laughter. He missed her. Even though he hadn’t spent much time with her, her absence was noticeable. Yet it would be weeks before he saw her again. Would she agree to go to Napa with him?

“With Jacques gone,”
he continued to write,
“I have had to take on the management of harvest by myself. The crop has been good and I have sold most of it. I have kept some back and crushed it to make my own wine. As you know, it is my dream to create wine from all over the world, but for now, I can only do small lots. I have hired a young man to watch over the wine while I come to California again.”

He paused again, trying to decide how to phrase the question. In the end, he simply asked.

“Will you be able to join me in Napa?”

What could he say to convince her? She was established in California. A relationship with him would mean a different life — one of travel and living in various parts of the world. But even if she developed a successful product line, they could be together. He was sure of it.

Between them they could have great synergy, cross-pollinate their business knowledge. He imagined vibrant late-night discussions about business, the world, even, heaven forbid, politics! They could see many places, get their children together for vacation and spoil future grandchildren.

He laughed out loud. He was so far ahead of himself. First he had to get Elizabeth to join him in Napa.

He templed his fingers as he thought about the different methods he could use to persuade her.

He began to type again.
“I know we have only known each other a short time, but I feel a kinship with you. Your passion to learn to make ravioli and how you make things around you so beautiful are dear to me. I am growing to care very much about you.”

I am falling in love with you, he admitted to himself.

“I wish to court you, if you will allow me. Please let me begin with Napa.”

He read it over again, added his name and clicked send.

Then he began his search for the perfect inn for his courtship.

• • •

“Thanks, Mandy,” Elizabeth said as the waitress put down glasses of wine on the table for her and Annie.

Annie raised her glass and said, “Here’s to regular meals with good friends.” She clinked her glass to Elizabeth’s. “So what’s up?” Annie asked. “Anything new with that handsome Italian?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “He emails, but he’s in the middle of harvest. He’s also got issues with one of his employees, a guy named Jacques.”

“Well, you know how that goes.”

“Well, I do over here. Not sure how it works in France.” Elizabeth toyed with the crab cake Mandy had left for them as an appetizer. “How’s it going with John?”

“He’s gearing up for the annual birthday celebration of the bookstore and the launch of the holiday season. I know I’m not going to see him much for the next two months. But … ” Annie flashed a smile at Elizabeth. “He did ask me how I felt about a week in Mexico in January. Seems one of his friends has a timeshare down there.”

“Sounds heavenly.”

The friends ate in silence for a few moments.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Annie asked.

Elizabeth grimaced. How did Annie always know when she was holding something back? The same way she knew Annie was hiding something. Intuition.

“Out with it,” Annie said.

“Okay. But I’m sure you’ll agree with me, so that’s why I didn’t bother to bring it up.”

“Uh-huh.”

Elizabeth took a sip of her wine. “Nice Chardonnay,” she said.

Annie glared at her.

“Okay, okay. Marcos is coming back in mid-November to seal up the vineyard deal.”

“Will I finally get to meet him? After all, I am your best friend and you kept him all to yourself last time.”

“Maybe.” Elizabeth didn’t know why she didn’t want the two to meet. Could it be it would make Marcos too real? “It’s just that … ” Elizabeth hesitated, took a deep breath and said, “He wants me to come to Napa with him for several days. I couldn’t possibly go. The store … and all … I mean, how would it look?”

Annie’s jaw dropped. “How would it look? In this day and age? After your five-year affair with Bobby?”

“I’m not ready to get involved.”

“Who says you have to get involved? You’re going to have a romantic fling with a handsome Italian man. Use protection and have a great time. You have my blessing.” Annie raised her glass again and Elizabeth automatically clinked it.

The conversation was not turning out as Elizabeth wanted. “I thought you’d encourage me to turn it down. It’s too risky.”

“Life is risky, Elizabeth. You of all people should know that. Who expected Joe to die of a heart attack or have a three-year affair? You need to grab life and live it. Otherwise you’ll wind up with nothing but regrets at the end.”