Chapter Eight
“You going to Brady’s Halloween party?” Rose asked as I removed the pizza crust from my pizza oven.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because the entire town is expected to be there. Nero is even closing the tasting room early so his team can go.”
My head snapped up. “I didn’t approve that.”
Rose laughed. “Well, you can take it up with him. Good luck with that. He and Lainey have already planned their costumes.”
“Oh God. Are they doing one of those dreadful couple costumes?” Every time she saw one in the past, she’d roll her eyes. They were tacky, though most costumes were. She preferred not to dress up, which is why she didn’t go out on Halloween. Her sisters forced her once. She didn’t dress up, and the entire night, she had to deal with people asking what she was. When she told them she wasn’t in costume, they looked at her like she just admitted to poisoning the entire party.
“Why? Are you jealous?” Rose asked.
“I think they’re ridiculous.”
“Hey! Wyatt and I do one every year.”
“And I think it’s ridiculous.”
Rose stuck her tongue out at me, then popped a cherry tomato in her mouth. “Relationships change you. I always thought they were dumb, but Wyatt is all about them, so to make him happy I did it, and now every year we have so much fun coming up with our costumes.”
“I’ve had my fair share of relationships and never have I ever want to dress up in a matching costume.”
“That’s because you’re not fun.”
“I’m fun!” I exclaimed, dropping the crust on the counter and glaring at Rose. I was plenty fun. I just didn’t have time for fun.
“When was the last time you put a pair of jeans on?”
“What do jeans have to do with fun?”
“You don’t let yourself relax. You’re always buttoned up with the perfect hair, clothes, and makeup.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t have fun.”
“I know that, but it’s the structure. Everything with you is so planned. I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘have fun’ is a line on your checklist.”
Maybe it was, but what was wrong with that? It was just a reminder to take some time for myself and do something I enjoyed, whether that be reading, going for a walk, or treating myself to a latte.
“I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
“I knew it!”
“Knew what?” Sherry asked, coming into the kitchen, holding up a cake box from Lainey’s bakery.
“Chardonnay puts ‘have fun’ on her to-do list.”
Sherry let out an obnoxious laugh. “Of course she does.” She placed the box on the counter and reached over Rose to grab a tomato.
“At least I make it a priority,” I said with confidence as I swiped some rogue oregano flakes from the counter and into my hand.
“Do you?” Sherry asked. “Seems like you’re always working.”
“I go to Pilates.”
Rose and Sherry laughed.
“You know what? I could say the same for you.” I pointed my gaze right at Sherry, eyebrows raising.
Sherry clutched at her necklace, a thin gold chain with the letter S hanging from it. “It’s wedding season. In a month or two, things will slow down, and I’ll finally have more of a life, but you don’t have a slow season. You’re always, go, go, go.”
“Someone has to run the business.” With Mom and Dad in Italy and Laurent spending more time on sales calls, I was the sole person to keep the place afloat. I was the only person who knew how every sector of the company worked.
“Grandpa, Mom, and Dad did an amazing job of setting a foundation for the vineyard. It is a well-oiled machine. You can call out sick for a week tomorrow, and the business would not implode.”
I’d never risk it. The vineyard was our family’s legacy, and I would always make it a priority. It’s possibly why my relationships never lasted. Men wanted to be my priority, and when they quickly discovered that would never happen, they left.
Who needed a man, anyway? I had my job, my family, and my vampire sex novels. There wasn’t much else I needed.
“In other words,” Rose said, “live a little. Put a costume on and come to Brady’s Halloween party. Or you can always go to Gold Crest Winery’s party. I hear they’re having a live action Haunted Vineyard Tour.”
“Doesn’t hide the fact that they make subpar wine,” I said.
Rose shrugged. “It’s not bad.”
“It’s generic.”
“I’ll be there,” Sherry said.
“At Gold Crest?” I exclaimed, glaring at Sherry as if she was a traitor.
“No, Brady’s. I’ll be flying solo since Lainey and Nero are attached at the hip.” Her lips curved down. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m so happy for them, but I feel like I lost my best friend to my brother.
“You did,” Rose said. “It happens.”
“No, she didn’t,” I interjected. “You’re still Lainey’s best friend. She’s just a little preoccupied right now. The honeymoon stage will wear off. It always does.”
“Speak for yourself,” Rose said with a wink.
I shook my head, thinking of Rose and Wyatt and how they continuously broke the mold of everything I thought about when it came to relationships. “You and Wyatt are anomalies.” If Wyatt believed in the concept of marriage, they would have already been wed, proving that college sweethearts can be forever. But they didn’t need a piece of paper to prove their love. It was obvious in the way they looked at each other. It was kind of sickening, to be honest.
“Come to the party and be my wing woman,” Sherry said. “It’ll be fun.”
I wanted to say no. The word was on the tip of my tongue, but Sherry felt like she’d lost her best friend, and as her older sister, I had to step up. It’s what I did. It’s what I have always done and will continue to do until we are all in our eighties and nineties.
“Fine, I’ll go. But I’m not going to be happy about it.”
Sherry squeed and clapped, and Rose smiled at me—the same smile she used as a kid when she knew she did something bad but didn’t care.
“We’ll see about that,” she said.
***
The distillery was decked out in all its Halloween glory. Rose was right—the entire town was here. The place wasn’t nearly as big as the winery, but with bonfires going and heating lamps set up across the property, it gave people plenty of places to spread out. It was smart, not that I would ever tell Brady that. But then again, it’s not like he didn’t know he was smart. He always had been. If it hadn’t been for his upbringing, he could have gone to an Ivy league.
I tried to imagine him in a college classroom, listening to professors give a lecture, and I just couldn’t do it. Not because he didn’t belong, but because it wasn’t who he was. Brady was always meant to carve his own path in life.
I glanced at my costume and sighed. When Sherry told me she had a pirate costume she could loan me, I expected a long, flowing skirt with a leather belt and a corset top. I did not expect the too short skirt that barely covered my ass, or the corset top that dipped dangerously low. This wasn’t a costume; it was lingerie.
“Stop fidgeting,” Sherry said, yanking on my hand and pulling it away from the hem of the skirt. “Tugging on it isn’t going to make it any longer.”
“Well, you’re four inches shorter than me, and nothing is making that more abundantly clear than the length of this skirt.”
“You look amazing, so knock it off.”
“Ms. Grasso, it’s nice to see you,” Ben, a man who had just applied for the warehouse manager position, said. He was dressed like the Mad Hatter. Pretty ironic, considering Alice in Wonderland was standing right next to me.
“Please don’t call me that. There are too many Grasso’s in this area. Chardonnay is fine.”
“Chardonnay it is.” He leaned into Sherry and smiled. “‘The secret, Alice, is to surround yourself with people who make your heart smile.’”
“Are you seriously quoting Alice in Wonderland to me?” Sherry asked.
He motioned to their costumes. “It seemed necessary, don’t you think?”
A smile tilted Sherry’s lips, and I waved toward Ben. “Sherry, this is Ben. He just applied for the position of warehouse manager. He’s new to town. Lives down at Robin’s Landing.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Sherry said, extending her hand. “I’m Sherry Grasso, the nice sister.”
He took her hand and kissed her knuckles. This guy was a real charmer. If he thought charming my sister would help get him hired, he had another think coming. Unfortunately, he had a stellar resume and extensive experience working at wineries throughout the Napa Valley that already made him a shoo-in.
A blush blossomed on Sherry’s cheeks, and I had a feeling I was about to be flying solo for the night. Looked like my work as wingman for the night was done. I mentally checked it off the to-do list in my mind.
“Could I offer you a drink?” Ben said to us, but really, he was looking at Sherry.
“I would love one. What about you, Char?” Sherry asked.
“No, you two go on without me.”
“Please don’t skip out. Stay. Have a drink. Have some fun.”
“I will. Now you go do the same.”
Sherry spun toward Ben, her sexy blue Alice costume flaring around her. She’d paired hers with white knee stockings and garters. I refused that step, already feeling like I should be hiding away in a bedroom and not on display in a distillery. Didn’t need to draw any more attention to my thighs, thank you.
There was a woman I had never seen before behind the bar. I wondered if she was new to town and how she managed to convince Brady to get more help. Franc was always complaining that Brady refused to cut down his workload, and it would kill him one day.
Michael and Kenneth came in from outside, Michael in a short black curly wig and a black dress that flowed behind him. It took me two seconds to realize he was Nancy from The Craft. Kenneth walked behind him in a blond wig with half the hair missing. Epic scene from that movie. The twelve-year-old girl inside me who saw it at a birthday party for the first time was loving it.
They were going to win for the best costume. They had to.
“Sexy pirate, huh?” Brady’s deep baritone came up behind me. I spun toward him, ready to have a snippy comeback, but my words lodged in my throat as my eyes took him in.
I swallowed, wracking my brain for some semblance of a sentence other than sputtered sounds. Heat exploded in my chest, spreading through my neck and into my ears. My thighs tingled as the words on the pages of my books rushed into my mind.
His smile with the fake fangs faltered as I couldn’t do much other than gape at him. Brady’s hair wasn’t just pulled back; it was slicked back, highlighting his chiseled features. A cape with a leather collar wrapped around his broad shoulders. Beneath it, a crushed red velvet vest over a woven shirt with silver details, the top few buttons opened. His legs were encased in tight black dress pants that were nothing like his usual stained cargos.
He held a top hat in his hand along with a silver cane. He placed the hat on his head and cleared a table of glasses. “You okay?”
I shook myself, knocking myself from my stupor. “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you without your usual stained pants and t-shirts.”
“Funny,” he said, surely thinking I was joking, but I wasn’t. What were the freaking chances that Brady would be dressed up as the one thing that had been giving me joy at night? I wanted to be annoyed, but I couldn’t stop staring.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked again, and normally I’d be confused by his concern, but again, all I could do was focus on those three open buttons. The tiny bit of tan skin and chest hair poking out. I wondered what it would feel like beneath my fingers.
What. The. Fuck?
No. I forced the thoughts from my mind and focused on forming sentences. “Have you had a chance to look at those papers I gave you?”
“Not yet, I’ve had a lot going on.”
“Okay.”
“But I will,” he added. “And I do appreciate it.”
He was being nice, which was weird. I wasn’t used to him being nice. Or at least not for a long time anyway.
“Don’t worry about it.
The sheriff came in, head scanning the crowds. When he spotted Brady, he nodded and made his way toward us.
“Hey Brady, sorry to bother you,” Sheriff Holt said. “But I don’t know what to do. It’s your dad.”
Brady’s jaw tightened.
“I tried to take him home, but he insisted he had an appointment today, and you were taking him. I tried to tell him it was Halloween, and it was nighttime, but I couldn’t reason with him.”
I glanced at Brady, and his eyes met mine. I finally was able to see beyond the costume to the man. He looked tired.
“The appointment was yesterday.” He ran a hand over his slicked hair and turned to the sheriff. “I’ll talk to him.”
“I’ll keep an eye on things here,” I said, hoping that gave him some peace of mind while he sorted this all out.
The tension in his jaw eased slightly. “Thank you,” he said to me, before following the sheriff. I watched as he went, wishing I could do more. I couldn’t imagine having to help take care of a man who had treated him so awfully. It shouldn’t be his problem, but Nero was right. Brady would make it his problem because he thought it would be the right thing to do.
I walked to the bar to order a drink. The new bartender walked over, a massive smile on her face. “How can I help you?” she said, loud enough for me to hear her over the crowd.
“Can I get an old-fashioned?”
“You absolutely can!”
“Are you new here?” I asked, curiosity poking at me.
“I am.” She reached her hand over the bar and I shook it. “Name’s Meadow.”
“Chardonnay.”
“I love it! Are you Brady’s girlfriend?”
A laugh burst from me so loud and unexpected, I almost slapped my hand over my mouth to control it. “Definitely not.”
“Oh. I just assumed because the night I came to ask for a job, I saw you leaving.”
“I was just dropping something off.”
“I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You didn’t.”
“Okay good. I hate to make a bad first impression. It’s so hard to reverse it, you know?”
I nodded in agreement. She had a point. But I had a feeling she didn’t have many bad first impressions. She had a light about her that was joyous and inviting. She handed me my drink, and I thanked her. “Brady had to run outside. I told him I’d keep an eye on things, so if you need anything…” I tried not to go into my normal mode of taking charge. Brady would hopefully be right back, and I didn’t need his jabs. Besides, he’d built this distillery from the ground up. As much as I wanted to designate tasks to people, he didn’t need me to.
“How sweet,” she said. “I have it covered, though. This is nothing compared to a dive bar in a college town after the football team won their division. I can pretty much handle anything after that.”
She proved that by taking two more orders, closing a tab, and wiping the bar before I finished my first sip.
She was pretty. Very pretty. Was that why Brady hired her? And why the hell did I care?
Odette, who was dressed like a clown, waved to me as she made her way to the bar. Sherry was in a corner with Ben, laughing at something he said. The rest of my family were all in couple costumes.
Lainey was dressed as a sexy butterfly with black and orange wings that flared out when she opened her arms. Her cleavage was on full display, and Nero, who was dressed as a butterfly catcher, kept staring directly at them. That boy wouldn’t know subtly if it bit him in the ass.
Franc and Quinn were dressed as Sully and Boo from Monster’s Inc, a movie my nephew had played so much, the entire family could cite it word for word. He was at home, probably begging his babysitter to eat more candy.
Rose and Wyatt were elaborate, as always. Wyatt in a full-blown Beetlejuice costume and Rose dressed as Lydia in the red wedding dress. Even Rhone and Sutton, who were not a couple, were dressed in matching salt and pepper shaker costumes.
I was the only one who didn’t have another half. Normally, it wouldn’t bother me, but for some reason tonight, it felt lonely. Not something I was accustomed to feeling, and it bothered the hell out of me.
Jack nudged my leg, and I bent to give the pup some love. I laughed at the headless horseman attached to his back. My eyes roamed the crowd and stopped at the front door. The sheriff had driven off, and I waited for Brady to come back in, but he didn’t. Maybe he stopped to talk to someone. I placed my barely touched drink on the table and stepped outside.
Like me, Brady was alone, staring into the night sky.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
He ran a hand over his face. The cape slipped off his shoulder, and his shirt sleeve tightened around his bicep. “I don’t know.”
“Want to talk about it?” I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, trying to ward off the chill, but it was freezing, and my arms were no match against the October air.
He laughed, his head shaking before he met my eyes. “We haven’t had an actual conversation in years. Why start now?”
“Because you look like you could use a friend.”
“Thanks, but I prefer friends who don’t wield knives.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Sorry. I’m just…” He held his hands up and closed his eyes before lowering his hands to his sides. “Let’s just get back to the party.”
“I’m actually going to go home.” Most of my family was here, so Sherry could hitch a ride with any of them.
“You just got here.”
“Yeah, well, not exactly my scene.” I tugged at the hem of the dress, hoping my ass cheeks weren’t hanging out in the back.
“Sorry, we don’t have a bunch of men dressed up like accountants.” And there he was. The Brady I knew. The Brady I loved to hate. It was easier this way. Better.
“Maybe next year,” I said and walked off to my car, feeling his eyes on me the entire way.