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“Yes, it is. We’ve known each other our whole lives, Thayle. This isn’t some weekend fling. It’s the real deal, and you know it.”
I contemplated his profile, believing every word he said, knowing the way he looked at me, made love to me...it wasn’t just about the sex, which was pretty mind-blowing. When Neo said “I love you,” I thought I’d melt right down to the floor that very instant. Those words, from him? It was like I’d gone to sleep and was dreaming, and would wake up at any moment.
“I do, but—”
“There are no ‘buts’ here, Thayle.”
Except there were. “Your sister—”
“Is going to understand. I know her, trust me.”
He wouldn’t even listen to me.
“I know you think so, but it’s scary,” I said.
“What’s scary?”
Neo truly didn’t understand.
“The thought of telling her. Can’t we just settle back in first? Let me find the right time? Please?” I asked.
He squeezed my hand again. “Of course, if that’s what you want. But for the record, I’m not at all concerned. Once you talk to Min, I will do the same with the rest of my siblings. My parents even, if it makes you feel better. But I’m telling you right now, nothing they say will matter. I love you, have loved you for a long time, and nothing short of the end of the world is going to separate us now that we’re together.”
He was so confident. Yet, Neo wasn’t the one who was coming into a family of accomplished business owners and college graduates and really, really smart people who prided themselves on lifelong learning and setting goals and attaining them.
The only goal I’d ever really set was to survive. And I’d done that, but not much else. Though Neo would never understand if I told him all this. He’d call me crazy and dismiss my concerns out of hand. I know because it had all come up before, when Min had first come to me with the idea of making me Grado’s wine club manager after their old one moved to Napa. I’d said no at first. I didn’t have the qualifications. But she and the other Grados had waved my protests away, just like Neo would do now.
I was on my own, again, and just had to trust my gut. It hadn’t steered me wrong so far. And my gut was saying not to move so fast. This was going to be a shock to the Grados. Hell, it was a shock to me. We would just have to find a perfect moment to tell them and go from there. That couldn’t be too hard to do. Could it?
TWENTY-FIVE
neo
“You are acting so strange today.”Min came around the counter, handing me a bottle. “What about this one?”
We’d been back from the trip for five days, and every day that went by I was getting more and more antsy. I’d agreed to keep Thayle and me on the down low because I’d thought she’d meant it would be a day or two until she talked to Min. But here we were, five days later and still nothing. Sneaking around like a teenager was beginning to get to me, and last night, for the first time since we returned, I didn’t see her after work.
I hadn’t thought Min had noticed my extra visits to the Wine Barn, where Thayle’s office was located, but after I walked in for the second time today, she definitely looked at me weird. I told her I was still looking for the perfect wine to serve Sarah Gibson, who was coming next week, as she planned to taste only one. That was the word we got from Brooke two days ago. Sarah had exactly twenty to thirty minutes to spend at each winery in the Finger Lakes, touring door-to-door, and wanted to keep her palate as “fresh as possible.”
One wine. It was a lot of pressure, and not one person in the family agreed on which wine it should be.
“She likes red more than white,” I reminded her.
Min pulled the bottle back. Thankfully, the tasting room was empty, being a Monday just after opening, but I still wasn’t caught up from being away. Still, nothing was more important than choosing this wine. Except Thayle, who I knew could hear my voice from her office—the door was open, though I couldn’t see into it from here—but still didn’t come out.
When I’d dropped off donuts earlier, she’d been in the main room but practically ran back into her office the moment she spotted me. I hated this. I wanted to scream about us from the rooftops, but Thayle seemed determined to do just the opposite.
“But she reviews both. And probably everyone will be serving her red, so maybe we’ll stand out this way. And also, what is wrong with you?” In typical Min fashion, she moved from topic to topic at warp speed. I’d have ignored the abrupt shift in subjects, but she clearly wasn’t going to let it go.
“Nothing. I’m just distracted. Buried from the trip still.”
“Speaking of the trip, Thayle seemed to have a great time. Oh my god—” She had stopped to look at her phone, which had buzzed. “I totally forgot we were getting the new chairs today. Hold down the fort. I’ll be right back.”
With that, my sister flew from the tasting room out the front door. I had no idea what that was about, or what chairs she was getting. The chairs in the Barn had been removed just a few years back. What were the chairs for?
Either way, with no guests in the room and no other employees in here at the moment, I took the opportunity to head into Thayle’s office. Her head was buried in a laptop, so I stood at the door and waited until she looked up.
I didn’t have to wait long.
