“What is it, Ash?”

The whole story pours out of me in clipped sentences. Dale. Me. Mom. Dennis.

“You poor thing!” my friend Lauren gushes.

“Except she’s married to a master winemaker who’s richer than God,” my friend Catherine adds.

“Still…” This from Mary Beth.

“Let’s get you a drink.” Mariah leads me to the bar.

It’s only noon, but I don’t balk. A drink may take the edge off.

I breathe in. The last time I was here at the beach club, I ended up fucking one of the bartenders.

“What can I get— Hey, baby!”

Fuck. Of course. This bartender.

“Hey, Regan,” I say.

Regan’s still as sexy as ever. Blond, blue-eyed, tanned with a surfer bod. Of course, he is a surfing champ.

“Haven’t seen you around in a while, Ashley,” he says.

“I’ve been doing an internship in Colorado.”

“Oh? For your wine thing?”

Wine thing? Did I actually tell him a little about myself? “Yeah, my wine thing.”

“Good to have you back. I get off at three.” He lifts his eyebrows and smiles slyly.

I flick my left hand at him. “Can’t.”

“Is that what I think it is?”

“Yup. I’m an old married lady now. No more fun in the sun.”

“Bummer. What can I get you, then?”

“Sex on the beach.”

He smiles. “My pleasure.”

“The drink, Regan.”

“Of course. I don’t mess with married women.” He smiles again. “Not usually anyway. I could make an exception for a tigress like you.”

“The drink,” I repeat.

“Make that two,” Mariah pipes in.

“Sex on the beach?” He lifts his eyebrows again.

“Absolutely.” Mariah smiles flirtatiously.

Yeah, I know what she’ll be doing after three.

I take my drink from Regan, head to our cabana, and grab my towel.

Sun, here I come.

Chapter Forty-One

Dale

“I’m flying out in the morning,” I tell Mom and Dad over breakfast the next day, while Darla bustles around the kitchen. “The service is tomorrow afternoon.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Dad asks. “Should we go?”

“No, you hardly knew him. Ashley doesn’t expect any of you to be there.”

“Still, she’s your wife,” Mom says.

“She is, and if the service were here, I’m sure she’d appreciate the effort, but she and I talked. No one expects any of my family there, especially since we’re still dealing with the aftermath of the fire.”

God, the fire. I’m still harboring that secret.

Strong. Stay strong for Ashley. Get her through this thing with her mom, and then you can fall apart. Not before.

“When will you be home?” Mom asks.

“I fly back the next day. I have to keep watch over the Syrah. It’s a very crucial time.”

“What about Ashley?” Dad asks.

“I guess I assumed she’d fly back with me. I got her a ticket.”

“She may want to spend some additional time with her mother.”

I didn’t think of that. “Then we’ll change the ticket. No big deal.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Dad stands. “I’ve got to get to the orchard. Love you.” He kisses Mom’s lips.

“Love you too.”

Cute. My parents almost never leave a room without professing their love for each other.

Is it just habit? Or do they really feel it after all these years?

“I need to ask your opinion on something,” Mom says.

“Sure. What’s up?”

She sighs. “Mary gave her notice yesterday.”

Mary is the Snow Creek assistant city attorney. “Oh? She’s been with you for… Forever, I guess.”

“Yeah. So I’m going to need a new assistant city attorney.”

“Sorry, I don’t have a license to practice law.” I force a smile.

She smiles back. “I’m talking about your brother. Do you think he’d be interested in the job?”

“Donny? Mom, he’s on a partnership track at a major Denver firm. I don’t think he’ll give that up.”

“Even for his mother?”

“Mom…”

“I want someone I can trust. Mary is brilliant, and so is Donny.”

“Do you really need the best legal mind for Snow Creek?”

Mom huffs. “I do, Dale. Being the city attorney for a small town may seem boring to you, but I take it seriously. I don’t settle for second best.”

“Hey, no sweat,” I say. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Yeah, you did.”

Fuck. This is a classic conversation with Mom. She takes everything I say the wrong way. I want to give her what she wants—closeness to me—but we don’t relate. We never have.

She and Donny, though—that’s different. They’re über close. Which is maybe why this isn’t the best idea.

“Are you sure working together would be good for both of you?”

“Why wouldn’t it?”

Oh, maybe because you’re too close. Maybe he wouldn’t like taking orders from his mother. Maybe he’s thirty-two years old and is done doing what his mommy wants.

“I don’t know. Just a thought.”

I can’t say any of this to her. No matter how diplomatic I am—which isn’t my strong suit anyway—she’ll take it all the wrong way.

“Do you think he’d be good at it?”

“Donny’d be good at any job. He’s kicked ass everywhere he’s worked since he started clerking during law school.”

She nods. “Which is why I want him. He’s the best.”

Which means he can do a lot better than assistant city attorney in a Podunk town.

“It’d be a huge pay cut for him,” I say.

“Since when does your brother—or any of you—need to worry about money?”

I don’t reply.

“Plus, I won’t work forever,” she continues. “I’m fifty-one years old, and I’ll retire in five or ten years. Fifteen, at most, and then the job will be his.”