Page 3 of A Taste of Chardonnay

“Like spreading the legs of that Grasso bitch.”

The fine line that my anger clung to snapped. My hand shot forward, grabbing my old man by the neck and slamming him against the wall.

“Don’t you fucking talk about her like that!” I screamed. My arm shook with the frustration and disgust that flooded through me. I’d never get a chance with Char because of him. He was a lowlife piece of shit. He was trash, and so was I. His inability to get his shit together, overcome the effects of a war that was far too long ago, became my burden to bear, and it wasn’t fucking fair.

His eyes widened as my grip tightened. Years of control went out the damn door, and all I saw was red. I wanted to hate him, but he didn’t deserve my hate. He didn’t deserve shit from me. I released my grip and stepped back just as he kicked me in the balls.

A weaker man would have dropped to his knees and wailed, but my anger held me up and kept me strong against the stabbing pain engulfing my groin.

“Get the fuck out and don’t come back.” He shoved at my chest, a final attempt to knock me down, but on the ground or not, I was already as low as any person could go. “If you do, I’ll call the cops,” he said, as if that were a threat. As if the cops didn’t know he was an abusive drunk.

“Fine!” I bellowed. I marched into my room, grabbed a duffel from under my bed, and crammed as much as I could inside.

I left.

And I never went back.

Present Day

Mom and Dad were escaping to Italy for the third time since Grandpa died, so I had no idea why we needed to have a going away party. Again. Especially since we all just celebrated my brother, Laurent’s wedding to his beautiful bride, Phoebe. But here I was, sitting in Franc’s backyard, which was more like a park, complete with swings, slides, and the whole nine yards, watching my nephew race his bearded dragon for the hundredth time. Though most of the time Sally just lifted her head to the sun and closed her eyes.

It was a gorgeous warm day for mid-October, and I was trying to enjoy the unexpected warmth, but my fingers itched to tackle my mile-long to-do list. Any other Saturday I would have had it completed by now, but instead, I was looking at a million wedding pictures as if I wasn’t there in person or hadn’t seen a million social media posts with the same poses and the same people. I loved Phoebe, though, and she looked beautiful in her custom white dress, so I smiled my way through another round, acting as if it was the first time I was seeing them.

The entire family was here—all six siblings—except for my sister, Sherry, who was at the family vineyard, checking on the crew setting up for another wedding this season. People loved fall weddings, and I never understood why. It was the season of death. The flowers died. The grass died. The leaves were pretty, but it was just part of their death cycle. Soon they’d be a shriveled inconvenience on my lawn.

Then again, it was better than summer. If I wanted to sweat my ass off, I’d take a hot yoga class. At least then I wouldn’t be naïve enough to think my makeup wouldn’t melt off my face and my hair wouldn’t frizz.

Rose, my youngest sister, ran after her boyfriend with a water balloon. Wyatt used a paper plate as a shield. They acted like they were twelve, when in reality, they were thirty. Their personalities were a little too carefree for me—I preferred not to get my pressed shirt and pants wet—but they were happy and perfectly matched. Seeing my baby sister happy made me happy.

I took my unused wine glass and rose from my seat, walking toward the table with the bottles of wine . If I couldn’t get my to-do list done, at least I could enjoy a glass of my favorite merlot. I finished pouring and went to my seat when Gio bounced toward me… and continued to bounce as he stood in front of me. “Aunt Char, guess what?”

“I don’t know,” I said because honestly, the things that came out of this kid’s mouth were as random as his father falling in love with his nanny.

“Did you know the red kangaroo can jump almost eleven feet in the air?” He pushed off the ground harder, and I smiled, not wanting to break it to the kid that no matter how hard he tried, he’d never jump that high.

“I did not know that.” That tidbit must not have made it to any Snapple caps.

“And did you know the males can grow to be five… feet… tall!” Gio’s voice rose with each word.

“I did not know that either.”

“That’s taller than me!”

“Sure is.”

He continued bouncing, and I almost put my hand out to stop him, but if he didn’t dispense his energy now Franc and Quinn wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. Though I’m not sure they’d sleep, anyway. Honeymoon stage and all.

“Why don’t you bounce over to Grandma and Grandpa and ask them if they know?” I nodded toward my parents, who were sitting around a firepit with my youngest brother, Rhone, and his best friend, Sutton.

“Okay!” Gio took off toward my parents.

I loved my nephew, but he was giving me motion sickness.

Sutton jumped up and swooped Gio in her arms, spinning him around. A string of giggles burst from him before she placed him on the ground, and he continued jumping right to my dad.

“Nice of you to pawn your nephew off on your parents.” Brady Noah sidled up next to me. The man was my brother’s best friend… and the biggest asshole on the planet.

“Fuck off.” I took a sip of my wine and closed my eyes, savoring the complexity of flavors. “I’m not in the mood for your shit today.”

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