Page 79 of Blush
“Welcome,” Leonard said. “We thought we’d start with lunch, if you’re amenable.”
The baron smiled, baring his teeth. “Perfect. Lead the way.”
Vivian let the two men walk ahead.
The sparkling, crisp beauty of the day made the meeting that much more agonizing: The sun was bright, not a cloud in the sky. The air was delightfully low in humidity, a gentle breeze blowing off the nearby shores. As they took seats around the table, Vivian kept her back to the vineyard; for once, the view would not bring her joy.
Peternelle cleared away the extra place settings; the baron hadn’t told them ahead of time if he was bringing an entourage.
The tasting room manager filled their wineglasses. Before Leonard could raise a glass to their guest, the baron stood. He took a pointed look around, as if surveying his domain. She realized, with a start, that hewas, in fact, surveying his domain.
Leonard paled. It was one thing to know you had to sell, to negotiate dollars and cents with lawyers and to plan a way forward. But it was quite another to see another man stand at the head of his own table.
“To old friends,” the baron said, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “It was a disappointment that things didn’t work out those many years ago. But here we are, together again.” With this he looked at Vivian. “I look forward to an arrangement that will satisfy all of us this time.”
Sadie stood in the doorway of the office, waiting for Mateo to look up and notice her. When he did, she felt the usual frisson upon eye contact. Would she ever get used to being near him, or would his very presence always set her off-kilter?
“Lock the door,” he said. Just the words made her knees go weak.
He left his seat and sat on the edge of his desk. She moved to stand between his knees, and he kissed her.
“You’re late today,” he said. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
“My grandparents are having a meeting at the winery,” she said, breathing in the scent of him. “We’re in the clear.”
She had visited the barn every morning before sunrise. They could barely wait to lock the door before shedding their clothes, their touch as perfectly choreographed as that of longtime lovers, but at the same time as raw and potent as the meeting of strangers. Sex with Mateo felt profound. It was life-changing, and it was beginning to feel as necessary as oxygen.
But unlike the night in the field when they were covered by darkness and in solitude, their morning meetings meant risking Leonard’s discovery when he made his rounds in the vineyard. Typically, Sadie would dash off quickly, just as the first morning light peeked into the room around the edges of the drawn shade. But today, she knew Vivian and Leonard were hosting lunch on the veranda, so she and Mateo had time to luxuriate in each other’s company for a few minutes. They lay side by side on the floor, holding hands, breathless.
“I think your mother knows about us,” he said, turning to her.
“What? No way. Trust me—the only thing she’s thinking about is the winery.”
“I don’t know. She definitely seemed to be looking at me in a weird way yesterday.”
“In what way?”
“In an ‘are you sleeping with my daughter’ way.”
Sadie laughed. She didn’t care if her mother knew. She wanted the whole world to know. Mateo was the one who was into secrecy. He didn’t want his father or her grandfather to find out, and she respected his wishes.
She asked him about his own mother, Maria Eugenia, whom she’d learned had left the winery after he went to college.
“She missed her mother and sisters back in Guatemala and was lonely here with my dad spending twelve hours a day in the field. It was frustrating for her, too, because she was from an agriculture family, but aside from your grandmother back in the day, all the workers here are men,” he said. “Like I said, it was her idea to use noncommercial yeast. Back home, she really contributes.”
“How often do you see her?” Sadie asked.
“We visit once a year, usually at Christmas. She used to come in August during fruit set, when the weather here is good, but we also have time before the intense workdays of harvest. But she hasn’t come for the past few years. She’s getting older, and I think she’s just waiting for my father to retire and come ‘home.’”
“Is that what he wants?”
“I don’t think so. This has been his home for forty years. He’s a citizen now. I never thought he’d actually leave. Leonard promised him Field House—that even after he retired, it would be his home. My father always believed he’d convince her to come back then. But with the sale of the winery, that’s never going to happen.”
“I feel terrible. My grandfather would never do this if it weren’t his only option.”
“He isn’t thinking about my father’s options. Or mine. If things are this bad, he’s known about it for a long time. We deserved a warning.”
Sadie’s stomach churned with guilt, and the fact that it was just guilt by association didn’t make it any less sickening.
