Chapter 34
I’m notsure if Olivia sleeps at all.
“How long have you been awake?” I ask, rubbing sleep from my eyes. I look out the window and the sky is still a deep violet.
“Just an hour or two,” she replies, typing away. “Just wanted to make a few last-minute changes to the presentation.”
“Come here,” I reach over to her side of the bed, trying to tug her away from the laptop.
“I can’t,” she says, staying put. “You have that look in your eye.”
“What look?” I pout, feigning innocence.
“The one that says you want to do unspeakable things to me. It’s the same look you had last night in the cave.”
“Did you not have fun last night in la grotte?”
“Don’t you dare start speaking French right now. I need to stay focused.” She finally shuts the computer and leans down to kiss me. But it’s just a quick brush of her lips. “I’m gonna jump in the shower. Do not join me.”
I groan, pulling the covers back over my head. It’s going to be a long day.
“Thank you all for coming,”Liv greets the group after everyone empties out of the shuttles.
“Has anyone visited Diamond Sky before?” A few hands raise, Andie’s the highest. “That’s great. I’m Olivia Diamond, and this is where I grew up. A lot of wineries claim to be family run, but we live right there.” She points to their home on the west side of the chateau.
“I started working at Sizzl almost three years ago, and one of my favorite things about our company is our core values. One of those values is ‘treat all our customers like family.’ And in my family, we like to celebrate with wine.”
She gets a few laughs with that one. I’ve never seen Liv more in her element than right now. We’re all outside, hovering around the entrance, but I could swear there’s a spotlight right on her.
“My brother Owen is one of our talented winemakers. He’s coming around with glasses for everyone to start the day. I hope you enjoy one of my favorite wines, the Lyra rosé. If you end up here after dark, you can actually see the Lyra constellation from our telescope on the top floor.”
Owen finishes handing out the glasses and comes to stand by me. My job today is to be his shadow, helping out where I can.
“Want one?” he asks. “I can open another bottle.”
“I’m good. Maybe in a bit.”
Liv continues to the group, “We’re still waiting on a few guests before we start the tour so please introduce yourselves. I’m sure Mario and Daanesh would love to meet you all as well.”
A matte black Maserati pulls into the drive and grabs my attention. Owen’s too.
“Damn,” he says, practically drooling. I might be too if I didn’t have a good guess as to who its owner might be. And when I see Liv grab another glass of rosé and head straight for it, I’m no longer guessing.
“Why do you look like that?” Owen’s voice barely comes through with the ringing in my ears.
“Hmm?”
“You look like you’re about to go on a murder spree. What’s up?”
I grunt, nodding my head toward Liv and the man who just declined her extended hand and stole a hug instead. Bastard.
“Do you know him? What’s the deal?”
I’m trying my best not to be annoyed with Liv’s brother, but he’s making it excessively difficult to read their lips. They start to walk toward us and I shove Owen behind a pillar so we can hide.
“What the hell are you doing?”
I explain the entire Tristan situation as quickly as possible. I know there’s a few key pieces I’ve left out, but it seems to get the point across because now he’s seething with me.
“What are we?—”
“Shh,” I whisper. “I want to hear what they’re saying.”
Owen follows my lead as I flex every muscle in my body, straining to hear them, like I can force some sort of superpower if I just try hard enough. Either it works, or they’ve moved closer to the other side of this giant pillar.
“I feel a bit tricked, Olivia.”
“That was never my intention. I remembered how much you said you loved our wine, and it’s not often we open the private cellar for an event like this.”
“When you said exclusive, I didn’t think we’d be joined by so many of your colleagues.”
If that asshole thinks he’s getting her alone, he’s delusional. The look Owen throws me lets me know he won’t let it happen either. I haven’t spent too much time with the brothers yet, but I’m glad to know at least this one’s as protective as I am.
“I’m sorry if you’re disappointed, but I hope you stay. I have a really exciting tour planned.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good, because I’d like to discuss the outstanding contract as well.”
“Fuck. You’re a little shark aren’t you.”
Owen takes a deep breath and gives away our hiding spot before I can stop him.
“Hey Ollie, last guest? Should we get going?”
“Sure,” Olivia says. She turns back to Tristan. “Want to head inside?”
“After you.”
“How the hellcan you stand this guy being here?” Owen asks an hour later. While Liv started the tour, I was able to fill in the gaps of the full Tristan debacle.
“I can’t.” Tristan McFuckface hasn’t left Liv’s side once. He isn’t doing anything outwardly inappropriate or disrespectful, he’s just always fucking there.
She does a barrel tasting, he’s first in line. She walks to the next place, he’s reaching a hand to her back like he’s guiding her or some shit. We’ve spent most of the time in the cave, so whenever I get especially angry, I just picture Liv from last night, propped up on a barrel with her legs wrapped around my neck. It’s the best coping mechanism I’ve come up with so far.
“I need to go help Deacon and Phil set up for the lunch and presentation stuff. You should come with me.”
“Then who will be watching Liv?”
“Nothing’s going to happen with all these people here. I think you’ll feel better if you can’t see them anyway.”
I grunt, not wanting to agree with him even though I know he’s right. “Fine.”
I follow Owen into the chef’s kitchen to see if we’re needed.
Deacon points us to a case of wine. “Just need to open those bottles. Food’s all done. Can you check on Phil, too? He said he set up the projector but he’s an idiot when it comes to that stuff. Guy’s never left the vineyard.”
I grab the case and bring it out to the table so we can pour them into the decanters already laid out.
“Was he serious about your brother?” I ask Owen. “Phil’s never left the vineyard?”
Owen looks thoughtful for a moment. “Not really. Loves the land. We all do though. Ollie’s the only one who hates it here.”
“Hates it? Why would you say that? She loves this place.”
“Could have fooled me.”
Our conversation from months ago comes back to me. Olivia said she was the black sheep in her family. The only one who isn’t an artist. She also told me Owen was the brother she was closest with growing up, but that he was angry at her for moving to the city.
“She does. I think she misses it a lot, actually. At least, she misses you and the rest of your family. I know she’d love to see you more. She just loves the city too.”
Owen narrows his eyes like he’s not sure if he should believe me, but I pin him with a pointed look. It’s true.
“Thanks, man, for telling me that. You’re umm, a lot better than the last one.”
“Not much of a compliment,” I retort. “The last one’s a piece of shit.”
“Amen,” Owen says, handing me a full glass. We clink and down both glasses like we’re chugging beer at a frat party.
Phil is nowhere to be found—“probably out in the vines sniffing soil,” according to Owen—but a few minutes later, we have the projector set up.
Deacon comes out with huge platters of meats, cheeses and dried fruit just as Liv shows up with the rest of the tour group.
“Sit wherever you like,” she says to the group. “My brother, Deacon, has prepared lunch for us and we’re starting with some of my favorite charcuterie. All the cheeses are local to northern California. If you fall in love with any of them, let me know and I can tell you where to find it.”
She really is impressive at playing host. Seeing her command the room like this has me falling for her even harder if that’s possible. God, after our conversation last night during dinner, I felt like a proposal might slip out of me if I wasn’t careful.
“We have three wines to choose from on the table. The red here is the Vega. This is the same one we just finished tasting from the barrels. It’s the same grape from the same block of the vineyard, but we had much more rain the year this was produced. You’ll notice a deeper flavor with earthier notes than the barrel wine.”
“Where are you sitting?” Tristan asks Liv. I suppress the growl forming in my throat.
“I’m not. Take a seat.” She coolly walks away from him and joins me and Owen where all the tech is set up.
“Are you okay?” I whisper. “He’s on you like fucking glue.”
“I’m good. I still need to get him alone to talk about the deal though.”
“Alone? No way.”
“Definitely not.” Owen and I speak at the same time.
“I thought you trusted me?” She ignores Owen but looks at me, her face full of steel.
“I do. He’s the one I don’t trust.”
“I can handle it, I promise.”
Liv’s presentation goes flawlessly.
I’m not sure why she wouldn’t let me look at it before now. She put together an entire storyboard of how marketing a business mirrors creating a fine wine.
Each of her metaphors work seamlessly, comparing a/b testing different channels to mixing different grapes, and getting your hands dirty on your own “turf” instead of outsourcing to agency partners (or other winemakers). My favorite was the one where she compared choosing Sizzl as your platform to selecting the best terroir for farming.
I’m in awe of this version of her. She’s never sparkled more than right now.
I look around the room to find every guest focused on her. Daanesh and Mario are both smiling, whispering back and forth and I already know they can see this for the success that it is. Part of me wishes Mitch were here to see too. The other part is glad he’s still in Portland, unable to ruin such a perfect day.
“Thank you all so much for letting me share my wine obsession with you. I hope you’ve enjoyed your time with me and my family and that you’ve also seen how much our team at Sizzl cares about our partnerships with all of you. If you’d like to bring any wine home today, we’re offering our friends and family discount on anything you’d like. Enjoy the rest of your lunch.”
As soon as Liv concludes her speech I stand up, desperate to hug her. But she doesn’t come to me.
Owen puts a hand on my shoulder, either to console me or stop me from doing something stupid. We both watch as she taps Tristan’s shoulder, and then as he follows her into the cave.