Page 34 of Love on the Vine
“You could come in, say, two weeks? I wouldn’t want to steal you away from Jake too soon. He said you’ve been a real help with the inventory this summer.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine,” Jake said and then turned to me. “I thought you might be getting bored here. It would be a good opportunity.”
“Of course. Yes, I’d love to do it. Thank you.” I reached for my glass and took a big sip, trying to hide my hurt feelings. Was Jake in that big of a hurry to get rid of me? But when I caught his eye, instead of looking relieved, his jaw was tense and forehead creased.
“Here’s my number. Would you give me yours? We can make plans.” Lucie slipped an off-white card with elegant lettering into my hand. I took it, disappointment gathering in the pit of my stomach.
I couldn’t imagine leaving Moustiers so soon. In the two weeks I’d been here I’d grown attached to the village and my new friends. I’d never felt so immediately at home before.
“Thanks,” I said as I wrote my own contact information on the back of one of her own cards. When I looked back up, Jake was staring at me as if he were trying to gauge my reaction.
After stashing my number in her Kelly bag, Lucie leaned in conspiratorially. “Now, maybe you girls can help me convince Jake to participate in a photo shoot I’m organizing.”
Jake crossed his arms defiantly and sank back in his chair. “I already told you; I’m not interested.”
“What kind of photo shoot?” asked Callie.
“For our fall issue. We’re profiling young food industry professionals,” Lucie explained. “Jake, I already have the perfect Canali suit picked out for you. We could shoot it at the Domaine de la Ruche. It would be fabulous for business. Just think about all the women who’d order your wines for the chance to see you.”
A spark of jealousy ignited in my stomach. But Jake remained impassive. “Reynaud would hate the publicity as much as I would.”
“Anne-Sophie Granger will do the interview and Spencer will shoot. Oh, come on!” She batted her eyes at him and gripped her hands together. “So stubborn! Well, if you won’t do it, I guess I’ll have to ask Thomas.”
“Don’t you dare.” I’d never heard him sound so threatening; even Callie did a double take at the vehemence of his tone.
“Thomas Brinkley is his rival on the Asian market,” Lucie explained while Jake pretended to look bored.
Conversation quickly turned to food industry gossip. I pretended to follow along, but I just wanted to go back home—funny, how I was already feeling like it was home—and curl up with book on the cushions near the pool and try to coax the cat into letting me stroke his sleek back.
I had to enjoy it all while I could. Because it looked as if my tenure in Moustiers was coming to an end.
Chapter 11
JAKE
“Olivia is lovely.” Lucie slid her arm through mine as we walked along the beach. She studied me through narrowed eyes. “Very pretty.”
“And very young,” I reminded her.
“Pfff.” She flicked her wrist in the air as if swatting an invisible insect. “Every young woman needs to be with an experienced man at least once in her life. I’m grateful I had Raoul.”
“And Laurent. And Fabrizio. I wonder what you ever saw in me since we were the same age.”
“I must have seen your potential. But you’ve gotten better with age. If it wasn’t for Arnaud . . .” She wiggled her eyebrows at me and laughed.
Lucie and I had managed to stay friends despite the number of times in our twenties we’d given in to the temptation to try to make it work between us. It never had. One of us—usually Lucie—would end up getting bored or—me—feel suffocated. She never reproached me though, like other women did, for being too emotionally distant.
I never made myself vulnerable. I couldn’t help it. Not when I’d learned early that disappointment came from being dependent on another person’s affection.
And that was precisely why I shouldn’t get involved with an inexperienced, young girl, my childhood friend’s daughter no less, who liked to read romance books for fun. No matter how many people seemed to think it would be good for me.
“I’ll tell you why it would be a bad idea, and why I have zero interest in it, Lucie. She’s at that stage of life where sex and love are confused. I can’t have her romanticizing me.”
“Yes, I know you believe you’re invulnerable to love. I used to be the same until Arnaud.” She tugged at my arm. “But she’s smart, she wouldn’t want to be confronted with your sullen face for the rest of her life.” She nudged me with her hip. “She reminds me of myself when I was her age.”
“Having known you at that age, I can safely say that you are delusional. I can’t think of anyone less like you. She’s sensitive and dangerously selfless. A recipe for disaster.”
“You mean, she would give too much of herself and you wouldn’t want that?”
