Page 151 of Enthrall
“We do,” lied Richard.
The man pointed. “Over there.”
Richard gave me awellthat was easyglance.
“Mia,” said Cameron softly. “This is a very delicate time--”
“I’m not wasting another second,” I said, squirming out of Richard’s hug.
“We’ll be right here, baby, okay?” Richard, seemed lost as to what to do with his arms.
“Mia,” Lotte called after me. “Go easy on him.”
“Call if you need us,” said Cameron.
I began the journey down the longest avenue, striding between the vines.
My mind looked for refuge, turning to the mundane, like what kind of wine these purple grapes would make. Richard loved wine. Cameron too. Maybe we’d get to taste their vintage. No doubt Cameron would want a bottle or two to take home.
I should have had them come with me.
There, ten or so feet away, stood my father. his heavy jaw clenched in concentration. He picked grapes off a vine, his sunhat pulled low. He painstakingly twisted each grape with a delicate motion, a care I couldn’t remember ever seeing in him.
I took a deep, steadying breath. “Dad.”
He paused, his face unreadable.
“It’s me, Dad.”
“Mia,” he mouthed.
I tried to contain my excitement at this moment I’d never dreamed possible, my joy threatening to fill the air and find its freedom.
A fiftyish blonde stepped into view. “Who is it, dear?”
Her cream colored straw hat flopped over her face and she eased it up. This was the woman from the photos, her cheeks flushed from the sun, her many lines revealing years of exposure to weather.
“It’s no one,” said Dad. “The girl’s lost.” He pointed. “The winery’s that way.”
My mind tried to reason with the truth, my own thoughts betraying me, reassuring that he hadn’t just denied he knew me.
The knot in my stomach tightened, bringing with it a wave of dizziness. Nausea threatened to spill. I reached out to the side and quickly withdrew my hand. With nothing but vines to hold onto, I feared damaging the grapes, feared ruining everything.
It was already ruined.
“She looks like a little lost waif,” whispered the woman.
With a nod of agreement, my father resumed easing grapes off a low hanging vine, his attention focused once more upon his delicate work.
My legs rescued me. Taking over where I failed, they guided me back along the pathway. The journey took longer to get back. Waiting for me beside the Lexus stood Cameron, Richard, and Lotte, their faces marred with confusion.
Walking a steady path back to them, I left myself behind. That innocent version of myself. That silly girl who in my mind’s eye lowered herself to her knees, clawing the dirt, her tears soaking the soil, her fingernails filthy, her wails reaching over this ranch and beyond its stupid perfect white picket fence and its hateful lies.
Its ugly betrayal.
This Mia, this new woman of the world, merely made her way calmly. I followed what Richard and Cameron had taught me about pain, forcing it into a ball to be dealt with later, manipulate it into whatever I needed it to be.
Vaguely, I felt Richard wrap his arms around me.
