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We have challenges in front of us, and we have hills to climb. But if we can do that hand-in-hand, then we can overcome all of it.
I hold onto that optimism with everything inside me.
I keep it close to my heart for the entire flight and the Lyft ride over to Spencer’s complex.
I hold it tight as I flash my ID at the front desk, as they check for my name on Spencer’s list of approved guests, and as I wait for the elevator up to his penthouse.
But when I knock on the door and he doesn’t answer…I feel it starting to slip away.
I shouldn’t have assumed he’d be home without calling first. He’s a busy man, and he has a lot going on. But I thought maybe he’d be at home doing Lego sets on his day off.
Instead, I can’t help but think he’s out trying to find some way to move on from what we had.
I can’t help but think he’s already moved on. It felt like everything was falling into place, like he’d have to be here waiting for me to arrive after I made this realization and somehow managed to make my flight and ended up right here.
But he’s not, and somehow that feels significant and awful.
I lean against the door and slide down it until I’m sitting on the floor, and I let that bubble of optimism shatter into a million pieces all around me.
Chapter 59: Spencer Nash
Intricately Woven into the Thread
Five Months After the Wedding
Holy shit.
Holy shit.
We pull away from the vineyard, and it’s all so clear to me now—the reason why Maggie wants to keep Newlywed in the family. The reason why Maggie wants to pass down her vineyard to a married couple. The reason why no infidelity is an actual part of her conditions for handing it down.
Theodore Monroe isn’t just some random dude running Newman Winery in Temecula.
Theodore Monroe is Maggie’s younger half-brother, the product of an affair between her mother and another man.
I have about a million questions, but this was all information I gleaned from Sylvia, the manager of the tasting room. She had no idea who I was, and I was careful with the questions I asked.
She had a way of running her mouth, as if she told this story all the time. Sometimes tasting room workers love to chat about the lore of the place—as if that’ll give people something to talk about. And an affair might be considered one of those juicy details that would help people remember a place, I suppose.
“Oh, yeah, the man who runs this place does it for his half-sister. She’s a sweet little old lady who owns both this one and another vineyard in Minnesota. I guess she found out about him after her parents both passed, and she wanted him to run something that was part of the family. She was devastated to learn about the family secrets after her parents passed, and she decided she’s willing it to her granddaughters, from what I hear.” She shrugged after she said the words, and then she sort of leaned in and winked. “Hope they’re nice enough to keep me on.”
I wonder why Maggie kept Theodore a secret, but the apple doesn’t fall all that far. If her parents kept him a secret from her, she must’ve had her reasons to keep him a secret from everyone else in her family. The fidelity clause makes a lot more sense now, and knowing what I know now tells me she must’ve clung to the vineyard after her parents were gone as a way to hold onto them in the way she knew them rather than in the way they were exposed after they died.
I bought a case of cabernet sauvignon and walked out once I had the information I needed, but I didn’t get the chance to meet Theodore, who was over at the production facility.
Not only does Grace have a relative she doesn’t know about, but she could potentially inherit a vineyard that’s less than an hour from where I live and work right now…and she doesn’t even know?
I need to tell her, but I also need to tell Steve.
But I probably shouldn’t tell Steve without talking to Maggie first.
And…when the hell did I get so intricately woven into the thread of this family?
I quietly told my wife we could stay married so she could get her vineyard, but I’m out. And the fact that I come in second with her still remains true. As much as my mind is blown after visiting the vineyard, I can’t help but remember why I felt like I needed to end things.
I thought those words would give me the sense of relief I was seeking. It’s only been a week, but it’s been one of the goddamn worst weeks of my life. Not because of anything in particular that happened to make it bad, but because there’s a hole in my chest where my heart used to reside, and I fucking miss Grace.
I love her.
