Page 9 of A Wilder Wedding

“I wasn’t going to go after her. She clearly wants to be as far away from me as possible.”

“And why the hell do you think that is?” Elijah asked, glaring at me.

Eli, the CEO of the company and my other friend, folded his arms across his chest and glared at me. He was very good at glaring. Hell, the entire Wilder family could glare. The brothers, the cousins, the women. I was pretty sure even the kids, once they grew into it, could glare. Although the littlest one had that Wilder pout down pat. It was a little disconcerting when a three-year-old glared at you as if you had stolen their candy. Or perhaps broken their favorite person’s heart.

Because everyone loved Naomi.

I loved Naomi.

Not that I had said that out loud.

If I did, I would tether her to me and I would ruin everything.

I couldn’t ruin her life.

I needed her to be able to grow, and I couldn’t stifle her.

I had loved before, and I’d held her back. And when she left me, I had been the one shattered.

And yet she had been the one to break in the end. So why would I do that to Naomi?

“You know you need to fix this.” Elijah moved forward, still scowling.

“I know.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, then began to pace down the vines. These were for a Riesling that wouldn’t be made for at least another year. We worked our asses off and I loved these vines. I loved every inch of this place. I had put my blood, sweat, and tears into it. Literally in all of those cases. I had been with these vines longer than the Wilders had, and I felt like I had a claim to them.

But I hadn’t left when Joanna had asked. She had wanted a new life but hadn’t had any plans for it. I thought we could settle here.

She had hated the word “settle.” She thought I hadn’t loved her enough to make it work.

“How are you going to fix it?” Eli asked, pulling me from my thoughts once again.

“She hates me.”

“You broke her heart. And you know I hate fucking talking about my feelings,” Eli grumbled.

I nodded. “I’m pretty sure you and East have a running tally of who hates it more.”

Eli’s lips quirked for a second before he went back to scowling.

“You win the prize for being an asshole about feelings though,” Elijah interjected. “East and Eli here actually do talk to their wives, and sometimes us, about them. But who do you talk to?”

I looked at both of them, confused. “Why the hell should I talk about my feelings?”

“Maybe you should start,” Eli snapped.

“I agree with him. Because the more you bottle it up, the more you’re going to piss off Naomi. And you’re lucky it was just us standing here and not guests. How many times have you two looked at each other and started fighting or walking away or not talking the way that you should in front of guests?”

I flinched as if he had hit me and shook my head. “It’s not like that.”

“Are you sure? Because it sure as fuck seems like that. You need to fix this. And not just for this job.”

The ground fell out from beneath me, and I staggered. “You’re going to fire me?”

“That’s not what I said,” Elijah corrected quickly. “We’re not going to fire either one of you. But this place is a family. And I know we all hate when corporate execs say that, but we try to make it that way. Nearly all of our family runs this and works here. And you’ve been here even longer than we have. This place is a part of you. Just like it is part of Naomi. And we’re damned lucky she hasn’t moved on to bigger and brighter things. But give her a reason to stay. You have to stop this.”

I rubbed my temples before I nodded. “I know.”

“How are you going to do that?” Eli asked.

---