Page 20 of Under His Sheets
She turned back to me. “Well, once you get more settled in, you’ll meet someone, probably when you least expect it. I just hope when it happens he absolutely sweeps you off of your feet. You deserve that after all that has happened.”
“Thanks,” I said, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there. I had tamped that rejection and hurt from my band and from Rig down deep and kept it buried in order to keep moving forward. My confidence had surely taken a hit, though. So many years of being afraid of people’s motives in getting involved with me and then having those fears come to fruition? I knew it was a mistaketo get involved with Rig from the get-go, but I hadn’t trusted myself to do what was best for me yet.
Maybe that was why I was so unsettled about Alonso. Not only was he involved in something that worried me, but could I trust that he wouldn’t disappear again? Could I trustanythinghe’d said?
We pulled into the driveway as the last rays of sunlight filtered through a grove of citrus trees alongside the path, with a gorgeous house set back from the winery complex. It was all very quaint and old. Very old. Stone and white plaster. I wondered just how many years this place had been here, how long Felip’s family had been making wine?
Felip pulled the Audi around behind the main house and parked out of sight next to a Mercedes and a Toyota pickup.
“Papa wants us to meet in the winery’s dining room, so Mama won’t stress about cleaning up after us bad kids.”
“She had four boys,” Cecilia said. “What did she think was going to happen?”
We left the car and walked along a lighted path past the house and into one of the buildings with a rounded roof. Inside, it looked even more ancient but with tables and candles and photographs along the walls that seemed to range in eras.
“Ah, bé, you made it!”
An older man moved toward Cecilia with his arms out and picked her up in a big hug, then he hugged Felip and pounded on his back. There were cheek kisses. And then he turned to me.
“¿Qui és?” He held his hand out for me and I shook it, my hand trembling a bit.
“Jo sóc Randall Sutter.”
His eyes brightened in surprise, and he turned on Cecilia. “And he’s been practicing his Catalan, unlike someone I know.”
She laughed, and I figured this was a long-running joke between them. Then she began to sign to me.This is Mr. Seguraand he is a wonderful man. You will love him, though be prepared, he will very likely pull out his guitar once he knows you are a musician. He and Felip play sometimes. I love it but it gets competitive.
“This is how it’s going to be, huh?” Mr. Segura said to Felip, who shrugged but then winked at me.
“Thanks for the warning,” I said out loud as I signed back to her. Cecilia was hard of hearing, but she wore hearing aids and you’d honestly never know unless she didn’t have them in for some reason. She could pick up the quietest conversations in the back of the room, or when kids would try to cheat. If ever a teacher had eyes in the back of their head, and super-hearing, it was her.
“Why are you warning people, eh, senyora?”
Another man came forward, this one looking very much like Felip.
“Randall, this is my brother Tomás, and over there with the lovely harpy—I mean enchanting woman?—”
“Felip, I swear,” the woman said, exasperated. I was surprised that she had an American accent. I’d assumed she’d be Spanish if she worked with the Seguras. She pushed back from the table with a huff, exchanged a look with the young man who seemed not much older than me, and they both approached us.
“My youngest brother, Mateu, and June, my dearest friend and the person fully capable of eviscerating me—I mean, running Cava Segura.”
“Pleased to meet you,” June said. “I’m really a professional babysitter and cleaner.”
“Sí, like Harvey Keitel inPulp Fiction,” Tomás said, and she rolled her eyes.
“Mucho gusto,” Mateu said quietly as he shook my hand. “I promise we are not all obnoxious.”
“Who’s obnoxious?” Felip put his arms around his similarly handsome brothers, and I could absolutely see the worry about cleaning up messes.
“Now, everyone to your places. My beautiful wife will be arriving any moment.”
Mr. Segura shooed us over to a table that was set with all the fancy shit that I was afraid of using. He sat at the head of the table, Felip sat at the other end with Cecilia at his right hand. And, much to my chagrin, I was seated across from her with a seat left empty on one side of me. Tomás sat next to Cecilia, June sat next to me with Mateu on her other side, next to his father. Great, the most intimidating person was next to me.
“Don’t worry,” she said, leaning in. “Once they start talking, no one pays any attention to etiquette. They are very neat and proper, but eating with the Seguras is like any old family dinner.”
I turned sharply toward her, and she raised her eyebrow and winked at me.
Perhaps not so scary.
