Nobody said anything. Somewhere out past the terrace, a bird was going through its whole repertoire, and the sound of it only made the quiet at the table louder.
"And what does your day hold, Reaves?" His dad made a clumsy but welcome attempt to break through the awkward silence that had fallen.
Reaves jumped at it. "Whatever any of you guys want. I'm here for the day. In fact, I'm here until Monday."
His dad's eyebrows drew together.
"I mean, every day until Monday," he corrected himself. "I have to go into work for a couple of hours on Monday for the planning meeting and a few other things. But other than that, I'll be around."
"You're not flying at all?" Faye asked with a puzzled look. "Are things quiet at the DuPont place?"
He didn't want to lie. Flights were starting to stack up on the schedule. But while Elliott was free for the next little while, he'd offered to cover for Reaves as much as he could.
Rather than answer, he just gave Faye a shrug and said the truest thing he could. "Things are kind of up in the air at the moment."
He looked past her while he said it, down the side of the house, where the sunflowers stood in a ragged golden line with their heads all turned the same way.
~ ~ ~
Alara made a conscious effort to relax as she sat on the wicker sofa. She was here on the terrace alone now.
Charles had gone about his day. He might not know much about the broader business side of things, but it seemed to her that he definitely knew how to run a winery. The men and women she'd seen working the vines, and the crew down at the cellar, all seemed to have great respect for him, and he went out to check with them every day.
Faye had returned to the kitchen. She seemed intent on researching and preparing highly nutritious foods loaded with iron and B. Alara had finally switched from trying to insist that she didn't need to go to all that trouble, to thanking her profusely—although she already knew that was wearing thin on Faye. At some point she'd have to just get used to it and accept graciously.
Zia and Reaves had run around the lawn for a while, chasing each other, but now they'd gone off to water the sunflowers. Reaves had told her that his dad planted them in memory of his mom, and she loved that, without knowing, Zia had become a part of that. She didn't think Reaves was aware, but they were both children who only had one living parent.
She sighed. It wasn't often she admitted that about Zia. But it was the truth. Her daughter had never known her father—he'd died before she was born. When Zia eventually asked why she didn't have a daddy, Alara had told her about him in the gentlest way she could think of at the time. She'd told her that he'd left the earth and lived among the stars now. That he was a kind man, but he died.
Maybe one day she’d tell her the rest of it. That he'd been her friend for years. That they’d only spent one night together. That neither of them had known about Zia before he died.
She came back to the moment when Zia came running around the corner with Reaves right behind her.
"Mom! Mom, can I go help Mrs. Faye?" She skidded to a stop in front of her.
"Did she ask you to?"
Zia nodded solemnly. "She needs my help. Squishing oranges."
Alara shot Reaves a puzzled smile. "She does?"
"She does," said Zia. "She has lots and lots of them. And they all need squishing to make fresh juice. I like doing it. Can I?"
"Okay. But you come back here to me when she says you're done, okay?"
"I will." She grinned up at Reaves. "You can stay here and be with Mom."
"Thanks, Z. Want me to walk you back in there?"
She made a face. "I know where it is."
Reaves chuckled. "Yes, I know. I just thought…"
Zia patted his hand. "It's okay. Mom's the one who needs looking after."
They watched her go, skipping along until she disappeared around the side of the house.
"How are you feeling?" Reaves asked as he sat down beside her.
