Page 134 of Drunk on Love

Elliot took another step into the tasting room.

“There you are. I had a question for you.” He walked over and looked down at her. “Is there a reason you’re sitting on the floor in the dark with a bottle of wine in front of you?”

She stared at the bottle.

“It seemed logical at the time,” she said.

Elliot stood there, staring down at her, for a few seconds. Then he went over to the bar, took down a glass, and sat down next to her.

“What’s going on?” he asked as she poured the rest of the bottle into his glass.

She was too sad and too drunk to tell him anything but the truth.

“I had a fight with the guy I was dating,” she said. “We haven’t talked since. I guess I’m at the sitting-on-the-floor-in-the-dark-drinking-wine stage.”

Elliot looked up from his glass at her, in that serious, thoughtful way he had.

“Luke?”

She sighed.

“Yeah, Luke. Was it that obvious? I didn’t want to tell you because he used to work here, and I thought you’d think... but we didn’t start dating until after he quit.” She sighed again. “Right after. But still.”

Elliot nudged her with his knee.

“Come on, give me some credit. You don’t have to tell me that, I know you wouldn’t do that. And no, it wasn’t obvious. But when you said you’d been dating someone, I remembered the way he looked at you in your office on Saturday. And I did kind of wonder why he was working so hard during the party, when he doesn’t actually work here anymore.” He grinned. “Plus, I always sort of thought he had a crush on you.”

She sighed and picked up her wineglass.

“Well, it was more than that. At least, I thought it was more.” She shrugged. “I guess I was wrong.”

She took a gulp of wine.

“What happened?” Elliot asked.

She shook her head.

“It’s a long story. It was probably all my fault for thinking there was more to the relationship than he wanted. I thought wewere... We had a fight, Sunday morning. I think we broke up. I don’t know. It started with one thing and then there was another thing and then it spiraled and we both said terrible things to each other and I haven’t heard from him since then. Why would he say things like that? Or tell me that it wasn’t a big deal when it was a very big deal! I know they weren’t together for real, but why didn’t he tell me? And...” She looked down at her wine. “I’m sorry, I’m not making sense. But that’s why I’m sitting in the dark getting drunk on your wine and not at all doing it justice.”

Elliot put his arm around her.

“Our wine. And what’s the point of owning a winery if you can’t take advantage of it once in a while?”

“Our wine. You said ‘our wine.’ ” She burst into tears. “I know on Saturday you said... I think it really hit me, just now. I’m sorry, I’m a mess.”

Any other time, she wouldn’t have let herself fall apart around Elliot like this. He’d always hated it, when they were kids, teenagers, when she got all emotional. He never did. She half expected him to get up and leave, maybe toss her a box of tissues. But he just sat there with her, not saying anything, but with his arm tight across her shoulders, until she stopped crying.

“Will you let your big brother give you some advice?” he asked her after a few minutes.

She nodded.

“As you can see, I need all the advice I can get.”

He laughed softly.

“I know that’s not true. But—does Luke know how much you care about him? I don’t have to ask if you care about him a lot. The Margot Noble I know would never sit on the floor of her winery crying about some guy she didn’t care a whole lot about.”

“Our winery,” she said. “And... I think he knows. I mean, it’sonly been a month. But...” She dropped her head into her hands. “I miss him so much. I’m still so mad at him, but I miss him so much.”

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