He’d been relieved to hear from Gina that Judith and her girls were gone as well. Oddly enough, Gina seemed slightly apologetic too, as if she were somehow responsible for his somber state. Or maybe she regretted the way she’d forced her female friends onto him these past few weeks. But like he’d told her, at least it would be quiet around here for a while. Give them more time to catch their collective breaths and prepare for the upcoming vineyard events that Gina had scheduled. Not that he looked forward to any of it. He would leave the celebration business to Gina. So far she’d managed to prove herself by getting the place fixed up. Just this morning, he’d expressed his pride, thanking her for how well she’d been handling things. And she’d promised to initiate an earnest search for an office manager starting today.
So, really, he should be feeling pretty good about life. Except that he wasn’t. Even as he walked through his empty house, which should’ve felt peaceful, all he felt was strangely out of place. Or maybe just out of sorts. He fixed himself a late breakfast, or maybean early lunch, but he didn’t care to stay inside to eat. Something about sitting down and leisurely eating felt odd. As he carried his sandwich and banana out to his Jeep, he felt like an antisocial hermit. Gobbling down his food and slopping mustard on his shirt as he drove to the south section of the vineyard, he thought perhaps he really was a lone wolf. Maybe it was for the best.
Brynna woke up surprisingly refreshed. Okay, she felt a little strange being here in the cottage that everyone assumed was vacant. Kind of like Goldilocks waiting for the three bears. She decided to venture outside. Her plan was to go to the office and, since it was Monday, she’d simply go back to work. Part of her felt silly, but she didn’t know what else to do. As she strolled over to the office, she prayed, once again, that God would help her through this. She prayed he would help her to be humble like Ruth. And then she put the whole thing, including however it turned out, in God’s hands. Really, what more could she do?
As she neared the office, she remembered she’d left her keys inside. But when she reached the door, she was surprised to discover it was open. She was even more surprised to see that Gina was sitting at the front desk. “Hello?” she called out in a voice that sounded much more confident than she felt.
“What?” Gina looked up with wide eyes. “What on earth are you doing here?”
“I’m like that proverbial bad penny.” Brynna shrugged. “I keep coming back.”
“But I thought you and your friends left. I saw the caravan drive off about an hour ago.”
“Well, your grandmother gave me a little pep talk this morning.” Brynna sat down in the chair across from Gina. “She has strongly encouraged me to stick it out longer.”
“Oh?” Gina leaned back with a hard-to-read expression on her face. “Does my dad know about this?”
Brynna shook her head. “Not yet.”
“Oh?” Gina’s brow creased as she laid down a folder. “I was just going through some applications from people who actually applied for the office manager job. You know, before Sophie hired you.”
“Right.” Brynna studied her for a long moment. “I realize you don’t like me, Gina. And I get that. I’m sure you felt tricked by me, but I never meant—”
“Sophie already told us about that.” Gina waved a dismissive hand through the air, but her tone was sharp. “You don’t need to explain anything to me.”
“I appreciate that, but I still feel I owe you an apology. I never meant to deceive anyone. I just got off on the wrong foot, and after that, it got really awkward. I took the job because it seemed like an interesting opportunity. It didn’t take long to realize it was a mess just waiting to happen. By then I was torn. I knew I should get out of here, but I couldn’t force myself to leave this place. The truth is, I love being here, Gina. I love the work. Love the vineyard...”
“Love my dad?” Her eyes narrowed.
Brynna nodded somberly.
“But you dumped him once, Bree. Then all these years later, you show up here and play your games and then leave abruptly. Then you come back, acting like you’re going to stay. But the next thing we know you are leaving again. Even though Dad says he’s done with women, I know he’s hurting. Seriously, I don’t get it. I really, really don’t get you.”
“I’m sure I look flaky. But the truth is, it seemed best for everyone if I left. For good.” She pursed her lips. “I realized that when I overheard the argument yesterday. I heard you and your sisters and your friends after the birthday party. I could see I’d come between you and Sophie. And Luna was upset too. I hated to hear you girls arguing like that because of me. I hated seeing Sophie hurt by—”
“Oh, we go on like that all the time,” Gina interrupted. “It’s who we are. Blame it on our Italian roots. It’s part of being a Sorrentino. We don’t take our fights seriously.”
“Oh?” Brynna wasn’t fully convinced. “It sounded serious to me. At least as far as I was concerned. You girls got awfully loud.”
“Yeah. We flare up and shout a lot, but then we cool off. We forgive and forget.”
“Your grandmother mentioned something to that effect, but I’m not used to it.”
For a long moment neither of them spoke, but Brynna could feel Gina looking intently at her.
Finally, Brynna decided to lay her cards on the table. “Anyway, the reason I decided to stay on was because of what your grandmother told me. She felt that ... well, that your dad might want me to stay.”
Gina leaned back with a relieved sigh. “I suppose Grandma could be right. Although that’s not what Dad said this morning. And he wouldn’t want you around if you’re just going to hurt him again.”
“I don’t intend to hurt him. It’s hard to admit this out loud, but I really do love him. I think I’ve loved him for a very long time.”
“Okay, that’s fine. You say you love him, but then you take off like a scared rabbit just because we girls have a little squabble.” Gina tipped her head to one side. “How’s that supposed to work?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that I don’t want to ruin what your family has here. I can see it’s something special. Your dad loves you three girls more than anything in this world. I don’t want to mess any of that up. That’s why I decided to leave.”
“What would keep you from doing it again?”
“Humility.” Brynna bit her lip, trying to think of a way to explain this. “I’m determined to see this through all the way this time. I plan to plead my case with your dad. And if he rejects me, I’ll go and never come back.”
