Page 123 of Perfect Pairing
“Don’t worry,” she said, sharing a quick look with her boyfriend. “It was one.”
I felt a little bad forcing Liam out of his seat, but he didn’t seem too bothered by it. In fact, the man had more excitement shining on his face than I’d ever seen from him as he slid into the seat next to Ella and immediately drew her into conversation, their heads bent low together.
I hadn’t realized they’d known each other that well. Obviously, the entire Delatou, Inc. and Chateau Delatou staff knew the family, but Ella wasn’t all that connected to the winery, and from my understanding, Liam rarely ventured into town, save for supplies.
Interesting.
My gaze swept across the rest of the people gathered; over Chloe and Logan, Delia and Owen, Leon and Lena, Liam and Ella, Amara and Cal, finally settling on my girl.
She gave me a reassuring smile, and with a cleared throat to garner everyone’s attention, I launched into my speech.
In truth, I barely remembered what I said, seeming to black out in my desire to get it all out as quickly as possible. I hated being the center of attention like this. I liked my food to do the talking for me. But it was obvious to me from my time spent around them that, in this family, we didn’t shy away from the hard conversations or asking for what we wanted.
When I finished explaining how I planned to use it as a learning tool for our youth, to allow adults the opportunity to put fresh produce on their tables, to give the community a fun project to work on year-round, I closed my eyes, mentally bracing myself for the onslaught of questions and backlash.
But it never came.
Instead, a loud clap broke the quiet, and Leon said, “That’s a wonderful idea, Ez.”
My eyes popped open and connected with his. “You really think so?”
“I absolutely do.” He turned to his wife and reached for her hand. “We’ll help you however we can.”
A chorus of agreements rose from the table, and I relaxed further. Convincing these people that this was a good idea—and something the community needed—was more than half the battle.
I was feeling good; great, even.
Until I realized Amara and Liam appeared to be having a silent conversation with hand gestures and meaningful looks.
And I knew when Amara opened her mouth that I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
“It’s a great idea, Ez. It’s just…we don’t really have winery land to allocatefor it.”
The bottom dropped out of my stomach, and my heart sank to the floor.
Fuck, I hadn’t even considered that. I’d been so sure my idea was sound, that I’d done all my research, that Amara and Liam would jump at the chance to make it work.
How could I have been so naïve? They were running a business here, one that couldn’t cater to my little hopes and dreams.
“I’m sorry, man,” Liam said with a wince, though at least he had the decency to meet my gaze head on. “We’re looking to expand our white grape production, and the only undeveloped land we have at the moment is that hillside where we’ll start planting those in a few weeks.”
Shit, I’d forgotten all about that. And speaking of…
“Weren’t you supposed to go out west to pick those new plants up?”
Liam chuckled, and Amara huffed out a sigh.
“I was, but with Amara’s pregnancy, we didn’t really have the few weeks it would take to spare, so we just shipped them in.”
That made a lot of sense. In truth, I never understood why Amara wanted him to drive out there in the first place. I knew she trusted his judgement above all others when it came to these things, save her father’s, but that was a long way to travel knowing he might not approve the purchase.
Then another thought occurred to me.
“But you’re still going on a road trip.”
“I am,” Liam said, and I didn’t miss the way Ella almost imperceptibly stiffened next to him. “At the end of April, once planting season is over and we have a lull before tourist season picks up.”
“Where are you headed?”
