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“Thanks.”
“Yeah, yeah. Those boxes aren’t going to stack themselves.” The slightest hint of a smile appeared beneath his mustache before he turned and continued on his way.
I finished stacking the boxes of apples and helping Albert unload them into baskets. We worked in silence and though I wanted to drown out my thoughts, I knew I lost my window to talk. Though, I’m sure Albert would still listen even if he bitched and moaned for ten minutes before I could speak.
Silence was my enemy right now, but it was a punishment I earned. I was stuck with my own thoughts and there was no one harsher on me than myself.
Franc’s words kept echoing through my head, and I wanted to punch him in the fucking face for that, but at the same time I wanted to kick my own ass for not listening to him. He loved to tell me he was older and wiser. Hell, he’d been saying it since the day we were able to communicate to each other. What pissed me off most was he was usually right. I hated him for that. He was always right. Always better at everything than me.
The only thing that I excelled at over him was getting girls. I wore that like a badge of honor, and now after Lainey, it felt more like a badge of shame.
“I’ll catch you later,” I said to Albert as I headed out.
“A bunch of us will be at the VFW tonight,” he said. Albert was amongst a group of five war vets who spent their nights, sipping on cans of beer and playing cards. Gramps had been a part of the group up until he died. Now I was kind of the unexpected replacement. Something most in town didn’t know. They wouldn’t understand. I had never been to war, but I knew what it felt like to be lost. Being equipped for one thing, but having to assimilate to something totally different.
“Maybe,” I said. “I might work in the shop.”
“How’s it coming along?” he asked, and I smiled.
Albert had finally approved the sketches, and I’d been in my garage every free second since. “Looks fucking awesome.”
It was sure to be talk of the town, and my family would find out about my best kept secret… other than Lainey, and just like Lainey, I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about it.
Scratch that.
I knew exactly how I felt about Lainey. I just didn’t know how to live with those feelings.
“You’re running out of time. Sure you can finish it?”
“It’ll be done and ready to go with more than enough time to spare.”
Albert nodded, then without another word, went to work. I headed to my car and made my way to the winery. I had to get the tasting room set up and ready to go before we opened.
Luckily, it was not even a ten-minute drive from Albert’s. I scanned the parking lot to make sure Sherry wasn’t hiding in the bushes, ready to pounce on me. Her car was here, but she was parked by the barn, probably preparing it for the event later today. Good. That would keep her busy.
“Hey,” a familiar voice said, and I turned to see Wyatt walk over from the warehouse. He’d been with Rose for so long, he was as much a part of the family as Lainey was.
“Hey, man.”
He ran a hand through his wavy dark brown hair that he kept short. “Heard Sherry wants to kill you.”
“Can anyone in this family keep their fucking mouth shut?”
“No,” Wyatt deadpanned. “So what’d you do?”
That was good. If he didn’t know, then at least Sherry was keeping it to herself. “What didn’t I do? Sherry always wants to kill me.”
Wyatt crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes, but this time there seems to be more rage. She’s usually the cool and collected one, and she’s giving Chardonnay vibes right now. The guys in the warehouse have been hiding when she walks by.”
A laugh rumbled in my throat, imagining the men who moved heavy cases of wine all day, scared of my five-three, buck-twenty sister.
“I jumped into a bush,” Wyatt said, and he nodded vigorously when I glared at him. “No joke. I choose assault by branches over Scary Sherry.”
“You’re being ridicu—” Wyatt shoved me behind my car and grabbed my shoulder, yanking me down. “Dude, what the fuck?”
He held his finger to his mouth and shushed me. “She’s on the prowl.”
“You do realize we’re adults. I’m thirty-six for Christ’s sake. This is stupid.”
