Page 62 of Just for Tonight

I wouldn’t go that far, but I don’t think he was very kind.

I want to smack him. I want to shout at him. I want to make him understand how wrong he was – and I hate that he has this much power to influence me and my feelings.

Everything about him is infuriating.

Except, you know, for the memories that aren’t. I’m all shook up and I tell myself it’s a very very good thing that he’s never coming back to Empire again.

Yet, I’m annoyed that he didn’t even try to defend himself when I called. He barely said a word. And he never phoned me back.

So, he’s a coward, too. I didn’t expect that.

I fume and I march through the vineyard and the warehouse and my smart co-workers stay out of my way

Just before lunch, my mom calls, right on time. (I wasn’t born punctual: I was trained.) She, of course, has no idea of my mood before she calls, but as soon as I answer the phone, she gets it.

“You sound grumpy,” she says lightly. “Lover’s quarrel?”

“No.” Even my denial sounds grumpy. I force a laugh. “Hardly that.”

“Oh, good. I was afraid for a moment that you’d finally found a nice young man.”

“No,” I say again, biting off the word. “Not that.” I can call Jake a lot of things, but he is not a nice young man. He’s hot. He’s handsome. He’s smart and he’s blunt and he makes love as if he invented it, but he is not nice. He never will be.

He is the world’s biggest asshole. He is…

Wait. What did Mom say?

“What do you mean you were afraid of that?” I ask.

My mother laughs. “Well, I had this little idea.”

I sit back, fighting a smile. My mom is the most organized person in the world, and her best trick is matchmaking. She is naturally social and people open up to her immediately. She invariably creates connections, introducing this person to some other person they didn’t even realize they needed to know. It’s more about business than romance, but she definitely has a talent for networking – and I realize now that if I thought our being thousands of miles apart would stop her from meddling with my connections, I was wrong.

“I met the most wonderful couple at a fundraiser last weekend,” she says. “They were introduced to me because they own a vineyard in the Okanagan, and we had a great conversation about the challenges of the business. They’re looking for a new viticulture manager, and naturally, I thought of you.”

“I have a job, Mom.” I have more than a job. I have a chance of running this vineyard myself, both through inheritance and hard work, and I have a vision for its future that will put Rhodes Vineyard squarely on the map of great vineyards of the world. I’m standing now in the living room at the big picture window that gives a view of the fields, the fields I walk every morning at dawn, just the way my Opa used to. I can see the Grahams’ acreage beyond our vines, planted this year in corn, which is tall and waving in the breeze.

I want that land so very much. It’s been organic for thirty years.

My mom, oblivious, is carrying on with her argument. “And your father always said he wished he had more varied experience than just working at the family firm. He thought he might have been more appreciated if he was.”

“But I have a lot of experience elsewhere.”

“And Empire is a tiny place, with a very small number of eligible men, and you are not getting any younger.”

“Mom!”

“It’s just reality, Mackenzie. If you want to marry and have a family, you need to start soon. Tick tock. You’re thirty-five! Of course, I’m not telling you what to do.”

I shake my head. “Of course not. You would never do that.”

My mom laughs. “But a year in a different environment might be exactly what you need.”

“I can hardly apply for a job with the intention of leaving in a year.”

“You can’t plan those things in advance. We’re not psychics, you and I. It’s perfectly legitimate to apply for a job and subsequently discover that it isn’t a good fit for you. You can also get a job and realize that it’s the opportunity you’ve been waiting for all your life.” My mom takes a breath, a warning that she’s getting to the point. “And they have a son. He’s thirty-six. He’s here with them. Oh, Mackenzie. What a delightful young man. As soon as I met him, I thought of you.”

I smile. “Here we go.”