Page 128 of Love Among Vines

“And this is Alexa,” he said flatly.

“Hi,” Jade said, administering what looked to be another very firm handshake.

Alexa flexed her fingers when they broke apart. Good.

“What brings you two to town?” Jade asked.

“We thought we’d come up early for the party. Spend some time with my little bro,” Chris said. He jokingly punched Rett in the chest.

“They were hoping to stay at the house,” Rett said to Jade.

“Your house?” Her grip tightened on his arm.

He nodded. If he didn’t relax his jaw, he was going to crack a molar.

“Rett was coming to my place anyway tonight, so you’ll have the place to yourselves,” Jade said smoothly.

That was definitely not something they had discussed, but she had gifted him with an out. He drew her in a centimeter tighter. Anything to avoid having to listen to his brother hump his ex-girlfriend through the wall.

“Don’t worry, we won’t be in your space too much. We’re going to do some wine tours while we’re here.” Chris said. “But maybe Alexa and I could make dinner for you tomorrow?”

“Sounds great.” Rett said with a forced smile. That wasn’t going to be torture at all. “Well, we’d better get back to party planning. The spare key is where it always was.”

“Thanks, man.” Chris took Alexa’s hand, and they walked out the front door.

Jade whirled around. “Did you know they were coming early?”

“No.” If he had, he would have boarded up every window and door on the property.

Jade glowered out the window as Chris and Alexa departed. “You say the word, and I will make them believe in their bones that your grandmother is haunting that house. They will run screaming for the hills before morning.”

He sighed. “It’s not worth it. They’ve never had much of a concept for boundaries.”

“I’m so sorry. It must be awful to see them together.”

“Nothing you don’t already know about from first-hand experience.” He turned away from the window.

“Come stay with me tonight. At Margie’s. Or let me come over and have extremely loud sex with you. They shouldn’t be in your safe space because they were too dumb to book a hotel.”

His hand found hers. “Let’s go to Margie’s—or I guess we should call it your place now.”

She smiled. “That’s right. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” He turned back to the wine crate that was sitting on the floor and began shoving bottles onto shelves with gusto.

“I picked out your décor,” she said gently.

“That’s great. Thank you.”

“I have something that might help distract you,” she said. “Let me just get the laptop.”

She disappeared for a moment, and he went down the row of wines until all the labels were perfectly centered. This, at least, was something he could control.

“Here.” Jade’s voice startled him.

She held the computer in his direction. Onscreen, a wine bottle label in a striking art déco style stared back at him. And there in the center was a picture of his grandmother he had never seen. Valentina was written in script font above. His grandmother would have absolutely loved it.

In spite of the shitstorm that had just occurred, his heart grew in his chest.

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