Page 4 of Bordeaux Bombshell
I caught her chin and pulled her close for one last lingering kiss. “I promise you, Sydney. I will make the wait worth it.”
We joined the family at the house for my dad’s famous burgers before watching the valley light up with fireworks from the neighboring vineyards. The same way we’d been sharing birthdays for years.
Everything was perfect until the moment my dad cleared his throat from the rich chocolate birthday cake Kel’s mom, Rebecca, had baked. “Well, folks, since we’re all here, I have an announcement to make.” He pulled Mom to her feet, wrapping an arm around her waist like I’d seen a million times before. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, Jackie and I aren’t getting any younger, and the vineyard has been tough business the last few years, especially with Nate gone.”
My stomach dropped, my skin prickling. Why was Dad complaining about me being gone? Going to France had been a joint idea—so I could go learn from the best before coming back to help run the family business. Had something happened that I didn’t know about? Why hadn’t they told me before everyone else?
“Recently, an investor offered to buy Ridge Runner. It’s anextremelygenerous offer… and we’re going to take it.”
The group exploded with questions on all sides, but I sat silent. My home. My legacy. My plans. Everything I’d dreamed of, gone. And Dad hadn’t even had the courtesy of asking my opinion, of telling me first.
My mind raced, memories and dreams and promises flashing past too fast to hold. The cake I’d been enjoying turned to glue in my mouth, and I forced it down as the discussion flowed around me.
“Did you know?” Sydney slipped onto the bench beside me, her hand brushing the back of my neck. She’d been sitting beside Kel, his daughter Olive asleep in her arms—I hadn’t seen her get up. Stiffening at her touch, I shook my head. She shouldn’t sit so close, not if we were trying to keep the family out of our business, but for the moment, I didn’t care what anyone saw.
“No. I swear.” An undignified crack sounded on the last word, and I swallowed hard past the lump in my throat. “Did you?”
Again, she brushed a hand across my back before settling it on the bench between us, almost touching my thigh. “As if anyone tells me anything.”
I was quiet the rest of the night, not hearing any of my dad’s rationalizations for crushing every dream I’d ever had. And that night, when I snuck out of Sydney’s bed to disappear back to France to nurse my wounds, I left her a note that I hoped would save her from the same suffocating pain of heartbreak.
Don’t wait for me. I’m not coming back.
Nate
Icanstillsmellher perfume as I slide into my car. The scent of her on my fingers is driving me mad, but I refuse to give in to the temptation of smelling them, occupying them with starting the engine instead. Even though a sliver of my heart still hopes that the orgasms I give her will melt the ice between us one day, I also know she’s stubborn enough to hold this grudge for decades if she wants to. No matter how good I make her feel.
After I left Kel’s place, I expected to find her at home, maybe working. His fiancée, Maggie, was confident she would be there. Instead, I sat outside her apartment, in the rain, for over an hour. I could have moved back to my car, but the weather matched my mood, so I didn’t. Spent the whole time debating whether confronting her, making her listen to me, was the right thing to do. Or worrying that she was out on a date and about to bring some dude home. Was my promise to Kel enough to makeme break the rules that have kept us at a standstill for well over a year?
I definitely didn’t mean to trip her and then growl at her while convincing her to accept my help.
Old habits die hard, I guess.
Shifting gears, I reverse out of the parking spot, glancing up in time to see the light flip off in Sydney’s apartment. Though a faint glow shines from the window I assume is her bedroom. The holy sanctuary that, according to Kel, she’s declared off-limits to anyone with a penis. Shaking my head at my stupidity, I crank up the music and prepare for the long drive home.
At least I won’t have to drive in the pitch dark now that it’s April and the sun is finally out longer.
Before I came back, I thought I’d finally gotten Sydney out from under my skin. I was sure of it back in Bordeaux, convinced I was there to stay. That France was where I was meant to be, where I was wanted. I had done my best to move on from her. Almost managed it, too, until a phone call from Kel had me on a plane home. Then one look at her worried face burned my resolution to stay away to ashes.
I’ve been back for almost two years. Came home like a wounded dog—snapping and snarling at anyone who came close. I would have given anything for Sydney to lay into me, to give me a reason to lash out. To give me a vent for the burning anger that fuels me.
Every time I get close to getting the life I want, someone pulls the rug out from under me.
I waited for Sydney for years, convinced that one day she would finally see me.
Ridge Runner was supposed to be my legacy, and instead, my dad sold it to the Suttons.
France was supposed to be a chance to start over, but Kel dragged me back.
None of it is anyone’s fault, but all of it fuels the lava steaming away in my soul.
I’d come home ready to tear everything apart. Instead, I got saddled with a Kel who is happier than I’ve ever seen, the twin suns of Maggie and Olive singing and dancing around the winery.
But even that isn’t enough to heal the gaping hole ripped in my heart every time I’m reminded that my winery, myhome, is no longer mine.
My headlights flash over the familiar fields and livestock on the road out to my home. I canalmostbear to call it Sunshine Cellars in my mind, but truly, it will always be Ridge Runner to me. Kel and I will always be the Ridge Runner boys—no matter what some billionaire calls my winery.
It’s late by the time I pull up in front of my house. The cottage my parents live in is lit up, sitting at the top of the slope. The empty cabin that used to be Kel, Maggie, and Olive’s has been dark for months now. Every time I look at it, I miss my best friend, even though it was a relief when he and Maggie bought a house and moved closer to Portland last year. Besides not being excited about hearing their new baby cry at all hours of the night, seeing Kel have the perfect family I knew he always wanted had cut deep.
