Chapter 14 Saffron
SAFFRON
Istood on the crush pad at Los Caballeros, watching the last bin of Syrah grapes get hoisted toward the tank. Beside me, Snapper’s hand found mine, and he laced our fingers together like we’d been doing it for years instead of days.
“That’s the last of it,” Cru called from the catwalk above the tanks. “We’re looking at enough fruit for fifteen hundred bottles minimum.”
Fifteen hundred bottles. Fifteen hundred chances to save everything.
Bit appeared at my shoulder, clipboard in hand. “Whole clusters going in now. CO2 injection in five minutes.”
I watched the grapes disappear into the sealed tanks. Six to eight weeks of waiting while the wine did what we couldn’t control.
“Are your parents still in Napa?” Eberly asked.
“Yeah. Felicity’s baby isn’t ready to come out yet, I guess.”
I stood staring at the tanks. Inside them, our future was either being saved or I was about to fail spectacularly in front of both our families and our closest friends. The weight of it pressed down on my shoulders. And my parents had no idea any of this was happening.
“Now, we wait,” Cru said, moving between monitors.
“You’ve done your part.” Daphne removed her work gloves. “Let the wine do its work now.”
Snapper’s arm slid around my waist. “Hear that? Time for us to take a break and let the juice cook.”
I looked up at him. He had grape must on his jaw, and his hair was a mess, and I wanted to kiss him right there in front of everyone. The urge hit so hard I had to look away before I acted on it.
“Come on.” He steered me toward the parking lot. “I need food and a shower.”
Behind us, I heard Bit say something to Eberly that made her laugh. When I glanced back, they were both watching us.
“They know,” I said when we reached his truck.
“Of course they do.” He opened my door. “Bit’s been aware of how I felt about you for years. Pretty sure everyone is by now.”
Heat flooded my cheeks. “That obvious?”
“Yeah.” He kissed me, slow and deep, right where anyone could see us. When he leaned away, his eyes had gone dark. “Dinner tonight?”
“Your place or mine?”
“Yours. I’ll cook.”
I drove home exhausted but too wired to rest. I showered until the water ran cool, washing away three days of harvest work.
My phone buzzed as I was getting dressed. Miss you already.
I smiled despite my exhaustion. You just saw me twenty minutes ago.
Still miss you.
The next two weeks fell into a rhythm. Snapper and I stayed together most nights—sometimes at my place, sometimes his. We’d collapse into bed exhausted from commercial harvest work and wake up tangled together, neither of us wanting to move.
Small arguments cropped up. He left socks everywhere. I used all the hot water. We’d bicker and make up, and I’d find myself thinking this was what a life together looked like. The mundane mixed with the profound.
“What happens after all the wine is sold?” I asked one night in late October. We were at his place, both too tired to do anything but lie in bed. His fingers traced lazy patterns on my bare shoulder.
“What do you want to happen?”
“I don’t know.” I pressed my face against his chest. “I’m afraid to think that far ahead.”
His hand stilled. “Maybe that’s the problem. Maybe we should think about it.”
“Like what?”
“This being permanent.”
My heart kicked against my ribs. “Is that what you want?”
“Yeah, Saff. That’s exactly what I want.”
“We hardly know each other. I mean, we know each other, but not that way. I mean—”
“I’ve wanted you for years, Saffron Hope.” He tucked hair behind my ear. “But I’m not pushing. I’m just saying—when you’re ready to think about the future, I’ll be way ahead of you.”
I kissed him instead of answering. His arms came around me, and I let myself get lost in the feel of him, in the solid reality of his body against mine.
Halloween fell on a Friday. I met Snapper at his house just as the sun was dropping toward the horizon. His driveway was packed with vehicles, including Tryst and Jaicon’s SUV, Brix and Addy’s truck, and Alex and Maddox’s minivan with its collection of car seats.
“Fair warning,” he said when I climbed out. “My family goes all out for this.”
“I remember. Your mom used to give out full-size candy bars.”
“Still does.” He took my hand and led me inside. “She buys them in bulk from Costco.”
Chaos greeted us. Kids in costumes ran everywhere—Tryst and Jaicon’s daughter, Neva, dressed as a butterfly with gossamer wings, Brix and Addy’s daughter, Reagan, as a dinosaur complete with tail, Alex and Maddox’s daughter, Coco, as a winemaker, complete with fake grapes sewn all around her purple-stained jeans.
Alfonso was a baseball player. Lucia stood in the middle of it all like a general coordinating troops.
“Snapper!” She shouted when she spotted us. “You’re on candy duty at your house tonight. The bowl is already there.”
He saluted. “Yes, ma’am.”
“And, Saffron!” She gathered me in a hug before I could brace for it. “So good to see you, mija. You look tired. Are you eating enough?”
“I’m fine—”
“She’s been working harvest,” Snapper said. “We both have.”
Before Lucia could interrogate me further, Reagan barreled into my legs with the force of a small meteor. “Tía Saffron!”
What she’d called me hit me square in the chest. Tía. It was Spanish for aunt and used like I already belonged to this family.
I froze, looking down at her little dinosaur face. She grinned up at me, completely oblivious to the way she’d just cracked something open inside me.
Snapper’s eyes met mine across the mayhem. His smile was soft and understanding.
“Hey, Reagan.” I crouched down to her level. “You’re a very scary dinosaur.”
She roared, showing me all her teeth. I pretended to be terrified, throwing my hands up. She giggled and ran off to terrorize someone else, her tail bouncing behind her.
Snapper watched as I slowly straightened, and something in his expression made my chest tight. Like he was seeing a future I was too afraid to imagine.
“You okay?” he asked quietly.
“Yeah. Just—” I glanced at Reagan disappearing into the kitchen. “Tía. That’s a big word.”
“She’s three. She doesn’t know it’s big.” His hand felt warm on my lower back when he wrapped me in his arms. “But yeah. It is.”
We spent the evening handing out candy while the parents and kids trick-or-treated through the neighborhood.
The streets were packed with families, porch lights blazing, the air filled with excited shouts and laughter.
I held Snapper’s hand as we greeted each visitor and held out the tub of candy for them to choose from.
As they came and went, kids compared their haul while parents chatted about school and sports and whose turn it was to host Thanksgiving.
When we ran out of our stash, we turned off the porch light and went in search of the others.
I watched Snapper adjust Neva’s butterfly wings so they wouldn’t get crushed before hoisting her onto his shoulders when she got tired.
I marveled at the way he and the kids pointed at decorations, and how animated he was when they argued over which was the best.
This was who he’d be with our kids someday.
The thought came unbidden, and I nearly stumbled. Our kids. When had I started thinking in terms of our anything?
“You good?” He glanced over his shoulder at me, Neva’s little hands gripping his hair.
“Yeah. Just tripped.”
But I wasn’t good. I was watching him with a two-year-old on his shoulders and imagining a future where we did this with our own children. Where I wasn’t just Tía Saffron but Mom. Where he was Dad and we had a house full of chaos and candy and little feet running everywhere.
The image was so vivid it hurt. Because none of it could happen if the wine didn’t work. If we lost the winery. If I failed.
When we returned to his house, where the kids were hyped on sugar and the adults exhausted, I sat on his couch with his arm around me.
The house smelled like chocolate, and autumn leaves tracked in on small feet.
Reagan had crashed on Addy’s lap. Neva was showing her butterfly wings to anyone who would look.
Alex appeared from the kitchen with two beers, handing one to me before dropping into the chair across from us. “So,” she said, her eyes sparkling with mischief. “You two are finally ready to admit you’re more than just friends?”
Heat flooded my face. “Alex—”
“About damn time.” She grinned. “I’ve been watching you two dance around each other since high school. Thought I’d die of old age before you figured it out.”
Snapper laughed. “Nice, sis.”
“I’m just saying.” When he got up and disappeared into another room, Alex took a sip of her beer, then her expression softened. “He’s happy, Saff. Really happy. I haven’t seen him like this ever.” She paused, studying me. “You’re happy too, right? Because you deserve this.”
“I am,” I said quietly. “Happy, I mean.”
“Good.” She reached over and squeezed my knee. “Then, don’t mess it up by overthinking everything like you always do. Just let yourself have this.”
Snapper returned from wherever he’d gone and dropped beside me onto the couch, pulling me against his side. Alex winked at me before rejoining Maddox across the room.
I watched Snapper laugh at something Tryst said and listened to him tease his nieces with gentle affection.
What Alex had said echoed in my head. Don’t mess it up by overthinking everything. Just let yourself have this.
I wanted to. God, I wanted to. But letting myself have things had never come easily to me.
The call came on a Thursday morning in early November. I was at the kitchen table, staring at bills we couldn’t pay, when my phone rang.
“Honey, the doctor is inducing labor today.” My mom sounded excited but equally anxious. “The baby is measuring big, and the doctor doesn’t want to wait any longer. They’re prepping Felicity now.”
I sat up straight. “I am on my way. I will get there as soon as I can.”
“Perfect. Text me when you know your arrival time.”