Page 13 of Love You Always

“Just one of them.”

“You tried to hit on Ella Fieldstone at a party?” He laughs in disbelief, and I’m tempted to join him. It does seem ludicrous now. After all, who was I? Some nobody who fell out of a grape bin and thought he’d take Los Angeles by storm.

“I had a bit of an ego. Remember, I’d moved to LA after big fancy-pants investors told me I was going to be huge. In college, I’d had my pick of women, so yeah, I figured the women in LA were just waiting for someone like me.”

He leans back in his chair like this is the most amusing story—or like it’s about to be one. “And?”

“So I was at this party, and this woman caught my eye. I didn’tknow who she was per se—I’m not exactly a rom-com guy—but I remember thinking she was beautiful in a way I’d never seen before.” I also remember that the band was on a break andLittle Wingwas playing. The lyrics felt perfect for the moment, but I keep that tidbit to myself.

“Pretty face, nice rack?” he prods, almost sounding bored.

“Not like that. Something different. She exuded warmth,” I say, thinking back. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but something about her drew me in. Like I was supposed to be there talking to her. I felt like it had to be mutual, that’s how strong it was. So I walked up to her and tried to introduce myself. But as soon as I got within three feet, two goons in suits and earpieces came up and ran interference like I was trying to assassinate her or something. I figured they had it wrong and tried to catch her eye, let her call off her bodyguards. So I lingered, moved a little closer, and said hello. Finally, she looked at me, and instead of a smile or even an acknowledgement, she squinted like she wasn’t even sure I was human. The people she was with asked if she knew me, and this was her response: ‘Don’t know. Don’t wanna know.’ Her friends all laughed and one of them tried to tell me off. She said, ‘My girl doesn’t need one more dude trying to sleep with her, use her, and sell his story to the tabloids, thank you very much. Byeeee.’ Then the bodyguards moved between us, and she laughed and turned away like I was some kind of gnat who’d dared to enter her orbit.” Thinking about it now, it still stings, but less so. “Or at least that’s how it felt. Like I had no business presuming for even a second that I belonged in that crowd or that this beautiful woman would have any interest in me.”

Carson clears his throat and nods. I can tell he’s getting ready to say something profound, or at least logical, and it’s going to piss me off. “Is it possible…” He pauses, takes a sip of his beer, and looks at the ceiling as though this conversation requires serious rumination. He’s just taunting me, but glutton for punishment that I am, I hang on every pause and wait to hear all ofwhat he has to say. “Is there a chance that she was with someone that night? Not looking for a hookup? Not interested in meeting random guys at a party? In other words, maybe it had nothing to do with you?”

“That’s not how I took it. All I did was try to say hello and I was judged and kicked to the curb.”

He gets a rueful expression and rubs his beard like a professor. “Can you blame her? Don’t you remember that dudes kept doing that to her? There was a period of time when you couldn’t look atPeoplemagazine without some tell-all from a dude she dated and dumped. You might want to be a little less butt hurt and man up.”

“I’m not butt hurt. I just don’t like her very much. And I had no idea you were such a fan of gossip magazines.”

He shrugs.

“Whatever. It was her, the parties, LA, all of it. All making it clear I had no business there. Obviously, LA didn’t want to have anything to do with some kid from a small rural town with a few ideas.”

“Was that really the issue? Do you think LA cares one way or another about anyone’s hopes and dreams?”

He sounds like my sister. I swear, if he starts talking about manifesting shit, I’m leaving this bar. “Why is everyone so fixated on hopes and dreams?”

“Who’s everyone?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

He huffs a laugh and drains his beer. “Sounds like you took it all personally in typical Archer Corbett fashion.”

I shrug, not seeing the point of rewinding the past and seeing it differently. “It just summed up everything that was wrong with LA and me trying to make something of myself there. It was all a pretty façade that looked welcoming and beautiful, but when you got up close, it was just a smoke screen. She symbolized everything I hated there.”

“Okay, but now, in hindsight, can you sort of see that maybe, possibly, the woman who’s here now planning a wedding at Buttercup Hill isn’t the demon you’ve made her out to be? Maybe it was just circumstances and maybe you shouldn’t blame her for all the ways you think LA did you dirty?”

I hate how rational he is. Shaking my head at my own stubbornness, I admit, “I guess I hold on to shit.”

“Just a little.”

“What difference does it make? One year in LA, and I ended up back here. Only difference is that now she shows up here to get married.”

A gruff sigh sputters out. I have zero time in my schedule for anything other than making wine and finding new ways to create expensive limited-edition vintages to help us turn a profit.

I just need to show Ella a few things and send her on her way so she can do what every other bride does when planning a wedding here—focus on centerpieces and wedding cakes.

I don’t care if she’s a closet science nerd looking to make small talk about wine making. She’s coming to the wrong guy. Like suggesting the Grinch host a Christmas party. Beatrix knows it, and yet everyone is so cowed by the Hollywood royal that they’re bending over backward to grant her every wish.

Problem is I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her since she showed up here. It doesn’t help that Carson made me dredge up old grudges, which now seem pretty hollow after airing them out. Then again, that never mattered much to me in the past when I grabbed onto some bit of resentment. Once I got mad, I stayed mad.

I signal the bartender for our check and dig my wallet out of my pocket.

“Yeah, that stings a little bit, for sure. But just remember, now she’s on your home turf. You make the rules, and if you don’t feel like dealing with her, walk away. Let your sisters handle things.And before you know it, the whole thing will be behind you, and she’ll be gone.”

I nod, knowing he’s right. I’m wondering why the idea of Ella being gone doesn’t make me as happy as it should. And I’m realizing a small part of me doesn’t hate the idea of giving her a tour in the morning. I try to ignore that part.

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