Page 45

We’ve never paid before.

ALANA

Because that was an occasional bottle. We’re talking 48 bottles now. This is my family’s livelihood.

COURT

Well I don’t know why they’re missing, because I didn’t steal anything.

Otto told her to drop it, that they could handle a few missing cases. He trusted the land to take care of them when they needed it. Alana wasn’t as sure, but she knew she needed to do everything she could to protect the vineyard and everything her family had worked so hard for.

When she told Tess, the two of them agreed to keep their distance. Alana was afraid to tell Chris, to hear him say I told you so after his warning so many years earlier. But he simply hugged her and said he was sorry, then asked what he could do to help. She cried at his kindness, because after all was said and done, she still felt like she didn’t deserve him. Or any of them.

They didn’t hear from Courtney or her whereabouts for two months. When they finally received word, it was her name splashed all over the NBC10 Rochester Nightly News.

Fatal car accident. Pronounced dead on site.

She had been driving alone. In her car they found a half-empty handle of tequila, and an empty bottle of Marien wine.

Alana still didn’t remember much about the days that followed, like the details of the funeral she and Tess attended or the questions the cops asked, wondering if Alana or Tess were with her that night. All she could remember was the fetal position she assumed on her bed for weeks on end, and the gnawing guilt that all of it was her fault.

14

Alana stood beside Tess at the bottom of the porch steps as the memory of that horrible night came flooding back. She wrapped an arm around Tess’s shoulder and squeezed tight, and her friend squeezed back in kind.

“You have to promise me something,” Tess said.

She closed her eyes and leaned her cheek on Tess’s crown. She had a good six inches on her oldest friend, and Alana never gave up an opportunity to remind her. Except for now, that was. “Always.”

“Promise me if you decide to leave again that you ask me.” Tess pinched her side lightly. “You need to at least give me the option, okay?”

“Even if you’re living with some hot mystery man?”

“Even then.” She couldn’t see Tess’s face, but she could sense her smile. “And you’ll meet him eventually, I promise.”

She exhaled. “Okay. Then I promise too.”

“Good.”

Leo rounded the corner at the other end of the field near the lake. He was bare-chested, wearing a pair of short navy swim shorts. He was also soaking wet.

Bear leapt to his feet, trying to snip at the small chew toy in his hand. Leo smiled, then vaulted it in the air and up the hill. Bear sprinted after it.

“Heavens me.” Tess giggled. “Now that’s a sight to behold.”

Alana frowned. It certainly was. She had yet to see Leo without a shirt on. He was perfectly sculpted. Lean arms and a carved chest. It was like looking at a piece of art.

She cleared her throat. “Have you met Leo yet?”

“Pfft. Have I met Leo,” she teased. “Girl, I could smell fresh meat as soon as it entered the premises.”

Alana snorted. Some things never changed. “And you didn’t take advantage of the fresh pickings?”

“Nah. He’s too quiet. I needed someone loud enough to keep up with me.”

“And is mystery man loud enough?”

“Cal,” she replied. “His name is Cal.”