Chapter 10
MIA
“So, Mia.” Ellen leaned forward, a piece of cantaloupe speared on her fork. “Has Evan introduced you to everyone yet?”
“Not yet,” Mia said. She and Evan had just sat down at the brunch table.
Mia’s plate was full of pastries and fruit from the buffet, while Evan had opted for bread, cheese, and cold cuts.
The buffet had been excellent. As for the company.
.. Mia was trying to hold off on her judgment for now.
Evan had mentioned his mother, father, brother, and future sister-in-law in the car, and Mia had na?vely believed that this would be a small event.
She’d been very wrong.
The spacious dining hall, which featured long wooden tables, skylights letting in bright summer sunshine, and huge picture windows with views out over the vineyards, was filled with between fifteen and twenty people.
And this was before the rest of the wedding guests even arrived.
Mia was already overwhelmed by the number of people she’d have to meet.
“Well, you’ve met me,” Ellen said. “And this is my husband, Arthur. Over there is our other son, Luka, and his fiancée, Sarah. And this is my sister, Tabitha…” As Ellen continued introducing everyone, Mia smiled and nodded.
She was usually great with names — most teachers had to be, to remember the names of all their students year after year — but today she was tired and overwhelmed.
She’d probably forget most of these people’s names by the end of the meal.
“So, Mia,” Arthur said, taking a sip of his black coffee, “my wife tells me that you’re a high school teacher. What’s that like?”
Mia smiled. He seemed genuinely interested. “Oh, it’s great. I love helping my students, and I love math, so it combines my interests very well.”
“How nice,” Ellen said. Her tone bordered on condescending. “I could never be a teacher myself. The pay is too low, and those public high schools are a mess.”
“I’ve heard the same thing,” her sister, Tabitha, put in. “Poor teachers like Mia here are worked to exhaustion. Aren’t you, Mia? But I suppose not everyone has a mind for business. We need teachers, too!”
Mia wanted to sink into the ground and disappear. Not only were they generally dismissive, but they were also attacking the career she’d dedicated her life to. She’d expected Evan to be the biggest problem on this trip, but maybe it was going to be his family instead.
“Excuse me.” As though he’d read her thoughts, Evan jumped into the conversation. “Mia’s work is incredibly important. She’s changing lives! Don’t you remember how much impact your high school teachers had on you? She does more in a day than most of us do in a week.”
Mia’s mouth almost fell open in surprise. Had Evan really jumped in to defend her like that? He was so supportive that she felt the ice in her heart melt a little.
Ellen and Tabitha stared at him, looking equally surprised. Then Ellen chuckled.
“Listen to you, Evan dear, standing up for your girlfriend. I love it. Maybe this is finally something serious.”
“Speaking of which, we still haven’t heard the story of how you met,” Tabitha added. “Mia, tell us everything.”
As Mia told the same mango story they’d told at the last wedding, she kept sneaking glances at Evan.
She knew he’d only been supportive of her to maintain the ruse that they were an actual couple, but it still warmed her heart that he’d stood up for her.
He seemed more like the man she’d met at the wedding than the one who’d ghosted her for the last month.
“I love that story,” Ellen said. “I didn’t even know that Evan did his own shopping.”
“I don’t always,” Evan put in. “But I’m glad I did that time.” He beamed at Mia, who managed to smile back. Luckily, the conversation moved on to Ellen and Tabitha sharing gossip about mutual acquaintances, and Mia was able to finish her brunch in relative peace.
After everyone was finished eating, Ellen stood up and tapped her wine glass to make an announcement.
“Listen up, my dears! As you know, we have a few fun activities scheduled for the wedding week, starting today with a wine tasting/cooking course. That’ll start at eleven o’clock on the dot. Don’t be late.” She winked and sat back down.
Mia was not looking forward to this event.
She didn’t know much about wine, and she didn’t know how to cook at all, beyond boiling water for pasta.
At least Evan would be with her, and he seemed willing to defend her if needed.
Hopefully, he’d be ready to brush off her underwhelming cooking skills, too.
Mia glanced at him. He was stirring his coffee absently as he listened to his mother and aunt talk, but she got the feeling that he was thinking about work.
They finished brunch and headed down into the kitchens, which had been made over for the event.
Bottles of wine lined one shelf, along with a sommelier who greeted them all as they entered.
Several chefs in white coats and aprons waited in front of counters spread with fresh ingredients, from huge dark-pink tomatoes to fresh-ground semolina to perfectly oval eggs to bottles of golden olive oil.
Mia’s mouth fell open when she spotted monogrammed aprons for each member of the family, including her, hanging on pegs against one wall.
“Is your family always like this?” Mia whispered to Evan.
“What do you mean?” Evan asked.
“I mean...” Mia gestured around the room. “The monogrammed aprons. The chefs and a sommelier. This whole event.”
“Is this not normal?” Evan grinned sheepishly. “They do tend to go a little overboard. Get ready.”
Just then, his phone began to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket, gave Mia a guilty look, and swiped to answer.
“Hey, what’s up?”
A brief pause.
“No, no. Tell Creative that we’re not doing that. No matter how much they ask, it — okay. Okay. Give me a minute.” Evan hung up and turned to Mia. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.
“Let me guess.” She kept her tone as neutral as she could. “That was work.”
“It’s really urgent,” he said. “It’ll just take a few minutes.”
“Right. Well, I’ll come up with you, and—”
“Mia, dear, don’t go!” Ellen appeared out of nowhere and took her by the arm. “Just because Evan has to work doesn’t mean you should miss out on the fun. Come on. It’ll be a nice opportunity for us to get to know each other.”
Mia shot Evan a pleading look, but he backed away, pointing to his phone. “I’ll be right back, okay?”
It was not okay. He was abandoning her with his over-the-top family within hours of arriving at the villa, and for work, no less.
Mia looked around the room, her stomach twisting.
She was going to have to make the best of this, even though it was bordering on a nightmare.
Evan headed up the stairs two at a time as the chefs began handing out the aprons.
“We’ll get started with a small glass of wine each,” the sommelier explained.
“This first is a semi-sweet white produced here on this vineyard.” He gestured to the lines of glasses he’d arranged on the table in front, and, as they got their aprons, the guests stepped forward to take some.
Mia took a glass and drank the small amount of wine inside. It was… fine. That was all she knew.
“I like the fruity notes and the crisp aftertaste,” Ellen said. She turned to Mia. “And you, dear? What do you think?”
“Um, it’s nice,” Mia said, feeling immediately inadequate. Ellen gave a hmm that sounded very telling.
“Are you not a connoisseur of wine?” she asked.
“Not so much,” Mia admitted.
“Well, I suppose it would be hard to afford quality wine on a teacher’s salary, right, dear?” Ellen asked. Her tone was increasingly condescending, and Mia wasn’t sure how to respond. To her relief, the chef called them all over a moment later.
“You’ll be working in teams of five today,” he explained. “So, please find a few other people to work with, and then choose a station. Don’t worry, they’re all the same.”
Arthur gravitated back to his wife, and a tall, handsome man with Evan’s short brown hair and blue eyes drifted over, along with an equally tall and beautiful blond woman.
“And Mia, you’ll join us, of course,” Ellen said. “It’ll give us a chance to get to know each other. Have you met Luka and Sarah yet?”
“Not yet, although you pointed them out to me at brunch.” Mia held out a hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“So, you’re Evan’s girlfriend.” Luka grinned, taking her hand. “I have so many questions.”
“Oh, be nice.” Sarah pulled Mia into a hug, and Mia relaxed a little at her friendliness. “So, Mia, are you a good cook?”
“Not really,” she admitted.
“Is that so?” Ellen raised her eyebrows. “Well, we’ll just see how it goes, then. I think we have our group of five.” Mia’s heart sank. This was going to be a long afternoon of interrogations and snide comments; she was already sure.
Still, it would have been rude to try to find another group. So, they found a station near the back, and one of the chefs came over to instruct them on how to start.
“We’ll be making a simple pasta with two sauces today,” he explained. “As well as an appetizer. The first thing you need to make is the dough.” He explained how to mix semolina, eggs, and a little salt together on the countertop to form a firm dough.
“Why don’t you give it a try, Mia?” Sarah said. Mia bit her lip. Probably Sarah was just being friendly, but the last thing Mia wanted to do was try to cook something in front of these people. Especially when classical music was playing over the speakers, making everything feel very serious.
“Um…” she said. “No, that’s all right.”
“No, come on, dear.” Ellen gestured to the flour and eggs. “Give it a try.”