Page 83 of Blush
“What do you know about it, Leah? It was never my business. It was your father’s idea, your father’s know-how, your father’s name and legacy. I married into it, but it was always his. Why don’t you understand that?”
The door to Leonard’s office opened.
“What’s going on out here?” he said, annoyed.
“We’re talking, Dad,” Leah said.
Vivian reached out and squeezed her arm. “I’m tired. I’ll see you at dinner.”
She turned and walked into the office.
“Leah, can you find your brother?” Leonard said. “Tell him I need him at the office. He’s not answering his phone.”
With that, he closed the office door and Vivian collapsed into a chair.
Leonard crossed his arms. “Is Leah carrying on again?”
“She’s not ‘carrying on.’ She’s rightfully upset.” Vivian covered her face with her hands. She took a deep breath before looking up at him.“I’m trying hard to be supportive. To be on board with what you need to do to save us financially. But I just can’t continue to go along with this. Don’t sell to the baron. Stall. We’ll borrow money somehow. Buy some time. We can run on a skeleton staff. I’ll go back to doing the fieldwork myself...”
Leonard smacked his palm on his desk.
“Fieldwork at your age? Stop—just stop. You don’t understand. I’m already behind in taxes. We owe a lot, and I need to start paying in the fall. The baron’s money is the only way to make that payment.”
“But—”
“It’s done, Vivian. And I don’t want to hear another word about it.”
“Where have youbeen?” Leah asked Asher, finally locating him with Bridget sitting on a wrought iron bench in one of their mother’s flower gardens behind the house. Bridget wore a strapless turquoise sundress, her red hair sun-bleached to a softer strawberry color. Asher was dressed like he was headed to a golf course. Both of them sported fluorescent-colored sunglasses with rubber frames.
“Dad said to make ourselves scarce while the new buyer is here,” he said.
“And that’s okay with you?”
Asher shrugged.
“He can help me with some video for social,” Bridget said. “I’m a brand ambassador for these amazing sunglasses.” She adjusted the pair of brightly colored frames on her face. “They’re super lightweight and totally waterproof.” She spoke like Leah had just walked into an infomercial. “Do you want to try a pair?”
“Would you be filming me?” Leah said.
“Is that okay?” Bridget said.
“Um, maybe another time?” Leah turned to Asher. “We need to talk. Can you come out to the field with me for a few minutes?”
He followed her with surprising willingness.
“Thanks for rescuing me,” he said, glancing back just once.
“Since when do you need rescuing from Bridget?”
“Since it became clear that I’m about to be unemployed and homeless.”
Sometimes she forgot that Asher was suffering through all of this, too. That they had roamed these fields together as children, that he would sneak wine from the bottle room. They were the only two people in the world with those specific shared memories. She might be resentful of her father’s favoritism, but it wasn’t Asher’s fault. The sale of the vineyard and the family home was a loss they shared equally.
“Asher, Bridget doesn’t care about the money.”
“But I do,” he said, stopping in his tracks. “I know you think I’m lazy, but I have my pride. This isn’t a situation I want to drag her into. And I certainly don’t want to be living off her Instagram money.”
“So what are you saying?”
