Page 111 of A Vine Mess
“Mom,” I said, careful not to touch her when I reached her side. “Are you okay?”
Mom rested her hand against my cheek—against the beard I’d refused to shave simply on principle when Sam asked me to—and gave me a soft smile. “I’m leaving him, sweetheart. I’ve never been better.”
Any normal person probably would’ve been blindsided and hurt by the news that their parents were getting divorced, but not me. All I could do was grin at my mom and wrap her in my arms, whispering into her raven hair how proud of her I was.
“You can move to Michigan,” I whispered when we broke apart.
“I’ll consider it,” she said. “Depends if you’re giving me grandchildren anytime soon.”
She glanced pointedly over my shoulder, at where Ella and Gramps chatted at the table, as he tipped his head back and laughed loudly, Ella giggling behind her margarita glass.
“Maybe.”
“You love her.”
It wasn’t a question, but it was the second time in as many days that she’d brought it up.
“More than I ever thought possible.”
Mom nodded, and rose to kiss my cheek. “I love you, my boy. You’ve done beautifully, and I’m so proud of you.”
My nose stung with emotion and I croaked, “I love you too.”
“I think I might like Apple Blossom Bay,” she said almost absently as she wandered away. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
As I continued my trip to the bar, I felt like I was floating. Everything was so…good. Perfect. Exactly as it should be.
Until Mellie stepped into my path and rained all over my parade.
“So tell me aboutyourself, Ella,” Bill Danvers said when we were seated at our table.
“What do you want to know?”
He leaned forward conspiratorially. “Everything.”
A chuckle burst free, but if that’s what he wanted, that’s what he’d get.
I told him about growing up in Traverse City and spending our summers on the peninsula. How my sisters and I were raised on the vineyard, running rampant through the vines and generally giving our parents grey hair.
“That can’t have been easy for your dad,” he said. “Raising five girls.”
“I actually think it was easier on him than we were on Mom,” I admitted with a grimace. “That man…he’d do anything for us. And I meananything, if you catch my drift.”
Bill nodded knowingly. “I’d do the same for my grandsons.”
I raised a brow. “Even Sam?” I blurted, then clapped a handover my mouth. “Sorry, that was rude.”
He just waved me off. “Yes, even Sam. I don’t think people are inherently bad. I just think they’re a product of their circumstances. Three has always been a much kinder, gentler soul who wanted absolutely nothing to do with the family business, and unfortunately, when Will realized that, Sam was the next best thing to take up the mantle when he eventually retires. But I’ve seen good in that boy, and despite the, shall we say,messyway in which he and Chardonnay—”
“Wait, her name isChardonnay?”
Bill sighed heavily as though he was annoyed, even going so far as to pinch the bridge of his nose before saying, “Yes. Awful, isn’t it?”
“It’s definitely a choice,” I said as diplomatically as I could. “Damn, I’m glad my parents hadn’t namedusafter wine varietals.”
Bill nodded sagely. “The point I’m trying to make,” he said, steering us back to the matter at hand, “is that despite the messy way they got together, they do actually love each other, and that sort of bond can go a long way for changing people for the better.”
For their sake, I hoped he was right. That this marriage union would make Sam a better person who maybe wouldn’t blindly follow in his father’s footsteps. Who, maybe one day, would be able to build a better relationship with his big brother.
