Page 32 of Que Será, Syrah

“I know,” she repeated, patiently. “And that’s why it’s funny. He and I have no illusions. He married me to maintain control, to keep them from ousting him. They don’t know it yet, but he’s put nearly everything they care so much about in my name. They won’t get a penny if they try to act against us.”

I gaped at her as she smiled serenely. “But…”

“So, you see,” she continued. “I have no reason to ever go back to Napa. Why would I? Just so I can argue with my brother? No. I have everything I could ever want right here.”

But she wouldn’t have me, and she wouldn’t have my sisters, and I guess I should already have known how little that mattered to her.

“So where did you go?” the deputy asks, shaking me from my stupor.

“What?”

“Afterwards. If you didn’t stay with your mother, and you didn’t come home…?”

“Oh. No, of course I couldn’t go home, at that point. If I didn’t even stay for the summer? Then everyone would have known that I was wrong, and Nonna was right, and that Geno had played us all; so…I stayed.”

“Stayed where?” he asks, looking confused. “And how? You couldn’t work there, could you? How’d you support yourself.”

I shrug. “Oh, everywhere. Just Europe in general. I moved around a lot. And as it happens, I have dual citizenship through my dad, so I never have to worry about visas, and working anywhere in the EU isn’t a problem, either. So...”

“Lucky.”

“I know. I’m not sure if Geno realized that was the case. Or maybe that was part of what he was counting on? Anyway, who knows? Maybe I’ll get around to asking him sometime.”

“So, what kind of work did you do?”

“Different things. Whatever sounded interesting. The first job I got was at a winery. The timing was perfect; it was getting close to the end of summer, and I knew vineyards can always use extra hands during harvest. Also, as you’ve pointed out, I can sound knowledgeable enough in the short term, so getting hired wasn’t all that difficult.”

Romero frowns. “I meant that as a compliment,” he says in protest. “I don’t know why you’re twisting it into some sort of criticism.”

“Because it works either way, doesn’t it?” I ask. “And anyway, harvesting grapes is harder than you might think—especially since summer in some of these places is so much hotter than it is in Napa. So, I decided I’d try my hand at other things.”

“Such as?”

“Well, I worked in hostels for a while—I’d stay for a few weeks at a time, and then I’d move on. That was great, because it meant I got to travel a lot. I could go wherever I wanted to go, and basically stay there for free. I managed to save a ton of money. And if I didn’t get along with someone—a boss, or my co-workers, or whoever—I could be gone before it became a problem.”

“Did that happen a lot?”

I feel myself blush. “Maybe. At first. Not so much later on. And it honed my customer service and hospitality skills, which comes in surprisingly handy running a tasting room. I worked for several tour companies, too: leading all sorts of tours—walking tours, bike tours, ghost walks, pub crawls. Those were probably the most fun—short shifts, big tips, no supervisors looking over your shoulder, everyone loves you.”

“Sounds nice.”

“Yeah. It was,” I say, as I’m hit by a wave of nostalgia. Running my own show, having everyone love me, that was the dream right there. I sure don’t have that now, and I miss it. “Eventually, I got hired to work on a cruise ship. That’s what I was doing when I got the call about my grandmother.”

“And now you’re back here.”

“Yep. Trying to help my sisters get Caparelli up and running—much to my uncle’s dismay.”

“Yeah. So I’ve noticed. What’s up with that, anyway?”

I shrug again. “Who the hell knows? I guess he was hoping we’d fold, that we’d decide it was too much work and put everything back in his hands.”

“And what about your cousins?”

“What about them?”

“Well, you all seemed to be getting along earlier tonight. Weren’t they also dismayed?”

“Good question,” I mutter. “I’m not altogether certain. I mean, they claim that they understand what Nonna was trying to accomplish, that it was her decision, and that they all wish us luck. But I guess I’m skeptical by nature, or something, because I’m finding that a little hard to believe. But, apparently, they’ve been really supportive so far, so...I dunno maybe I’m wrong.”

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