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Thayle’s lips pursed together, making it clear she wasn’t going to talk until I left. Which I did. In a huff. Like a disgruntled teen who’d just been told to do their chores. It fucking irked me that Thayle wanted to do this on her own. I knew she was used to it, to having to fight her own battles, but if she wouldn’t let me help her with my own sister...
I stalked across the courtyard, into the Wine Cellar’s basement. And did exactly what I had done since before it was legal. Taking the wine thief from its spot on the wall, I stuck it in barrel after barrel, each into a glass. Tasting. Comparing. Telling myself now was the perfect time to find Sarah’s wine, whether it already existed or would be a blend I’d not yet concocted.
“You look happy.”
Cosimo.
I handed him my glass. “Taste this.”
He took a sip. “Brooke Blend.”
Every wine in the Wine Barn, which I’d just left, was named after a woman in the Grado family. When Cos proposed to Brooke, he did it by revealing this wine as a way to welcome her into the family. “What do you think? For Sarah?”
He tasted it again. “I don’t know. Her mental wine library is more extensive than most. This one just doesn’t feel right.” I knew what he meant. “The more important question is, what’s going on with you?”
The problem with working with your siblings? They knew you too well, and there was never any escape. “What do you mean?”
Cos leaned against a wine barrel, crossed his arms, and waited. When I tried another wine, ignoring him, he cleared his throat. “Anytime now. Maybe start with Thayle.”
I supposed the cat was out of the bag, for better or worse. “I know Min didn’t tell you yet. Is it really that obvious?”
“Blatantly.”
“I thought I’d done a pretty good job of hiding it.”
Cos made a sound in his throat as if I’d just told the funniest joke. “You’re joking, right?”
Certain we were talking about two different things, I delayed. Looked at my phone. Nothing from Thayle. They’d probably been talking for at least ten minutes now. Some clue as to what was happening would be nice.
“Neo?”
Sometimes, my brother sounded exactly like our father. He was only four years older than me, but at times like these, those four years felt like a decade. Or more.
“What do you want me to say?”
“Maybe the truth? Tell me why you and Thayle have been dancing around each other more than usual?”
I hadn’t been expecting that. And was speechless.
“You thought no one knew?” he asked.
“But you never said anything.”
“Because Brooke begged me not to.”
“Brooke? What does she have to do with this?”
“She’s the one who first noticed. Honestly, I feel like an idiot for having missed it. After she told me that she suspected the two of you had feelings for each other, it seems so blatantly obvious.”
“Brooke’s been here for less than six months.”
Cos shrugged. “Maybe it took an outsider to see it. We were all used to the way you and Thayle interacted. But frankly, this last week you two have really stepped up your avoidance game with each other. So what happened on the trip?”
I told my brother everything.
From the first glance to my confession on the last night. I skipped some of the details, obviously, but the gist of it was there. Thayle and I had discovered something that had been present for years between us that neither of us had realized existed: that our desire, and love was reciprocated.
“She wanted to wait to tell Min. It was starting to get under my skin. I hate sneaking around and don’t understand why she wanted to in the first place.”
