At least she was pretty sure.
“Are you happy inside yourself?” Sam asked.
Ha. “I’m . . . working on it.”
Sam cocked her head and then, with all the innocence and earnestness of a six-year-old, said, “Try cupcakes. My grandma’s cupcakes can make anyone happy.”
She felt her heart squeeze. Dammit, she was falling for them. It was a problem, a big one, because it made her instinctively want to curl into a ball and close herself off. And she could do it too. She’d managed just fine with the rest of the Capriottis, but with these two, resistance seemed futile.
So maybe it’s okay to like them, a little voice inside her said.
But no one else.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.
When she’d finished their pedicures, she returned them to the big house, doing her best not to run into anyone this time. But her luck wasn’t that good. As they got close, Gracie barked happily from inside and then Alyssa opened the front door, releasing the beast.
The hundred-pound dog took a flying leap at Lanie and licked her chin.
“Okay,” Lanie said, patting the biggest puppy on the planet. “Okay, then.”
Alyssa hustled the girls inside with a quick hug. “The baby’s waiting for you,” she told them.
The twins went racing up the stairs in excitement, deserting Lanie without a backward glance. Alyssa gave her a smile that Lanie was instantly suspicious of.
“Hey,” Alyssa said.
Be cool, Lanie told herself. Just be cool . . . “The twins are wrong,” she burst out.
“Really? About what?”
Lanie grimaced and Alyssa smiled. “Do tell.”
“Whatever the girls think they saw earlier in the week, they didn’t. Mark was just walking me back to my cottage.”
“Interesting.”
Lanie sighed. “No, really—” She broke off as some yelling came from within the house. “What’s going on?”
Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Family dinner. And by this time of day, my patience with everyone is literally at one percent.”
“Don’t you guys get enough of one another during the day?”
Alyssa laughed like Lanie had just told a very funny joke. “It’s Uncle Jack’s birthday. He’s drunk and he asked his daughter Cecilia—the one who is supposedly our receptionist but hasn’t been to work one day this week because she’s spoiled—when she was going to get married and give him grandbabies. She reminded him that she’s not all that into men. And then he reminded her that he didn’t care if she was bisexual, asexual, pansexual, or metrosexual, he still expected additional grandkids.”
“Oh boy,” Lanie said.
“No kidding. Most of my wrinkles are from laughter, except for these right between my eyebrows.” She pointed at them. “These are my ‘WTF’ lines and those suckers are deep, all given to me by our family dinners.”
Lanie laughed.
“You think I’m kidding. We’ll see how deep your WTF lines are at the end of your two months in this place. Anyway, so while the rest of us were looking up pansexual on our phones, Cecilia locked herself in the bathroom. And that isn’t the worst of it. Mia had a Tinder meet-up.” Alyssa put meet-up in air quotes. “She brought him by here first, probably for shock value. They’re in the other bathroom doing God knows what. Meantime, Grandpa’s going back and forth between the two bathrooms banging on the doors saying he needs in pronto, so you should run for the hills. Do it now before Mom sees you standing here and makes you come inside to join us.”
“Your brother warned me to run too.”
Alyssa smiled. “Mark’s a lot of things, smart being one of them.”
Lanie turned to walk away, but good manners had her hesitating. “Uh, you could come back to my cottage to escape if you want.”
“Thanks, but I can’t abandon ship. Family and all that, you understand.”
She didn’t, not really. But she nodded and left. She thought about running away, but that wouldn’t solve any of her problems. So instead she got into her favorite PJs and crawled into bed with her laptop to marathon something good.
Family and all that . . .
Alyssa’s comment played on repeat in her head. Every family had their faults, but some more than others. She knew all too well. Her own family was fractured and always had been. But the Capriottis fascinated her. They didn’t judge. They stuck together no matter what—something she had zero experience with. She picked up her phone and stared at it for a long moment before starting a text.
Lanie: Hi, Mom.
Mom: What’s wrong?
Lanie: Nothing. Just wanted to check in.
Mom: Why?
Lanie: I’m actually in town. Thought I could come by. See you and Dad.
Mom: . . .
Lanie: You there?
Mom: Your dad’s in Europe for work for a month. And us Jacobses don’t do casual visits.
Lanie: There’s always a first time.
Mom: You need something? Are you in trouble?
Lanie sighed and set her phone aside. She told herself it was fine, that she was here to simply hit reset on her life and not get involved emotionally or otherwise. So she loaded Netflix and lost herself in a Friends marathon, season one, when everyone was at least as screwed up as she was.
Chapter 4
Me: It’s not even that serious.
Inner me: Have a breakdown anyway.
River Green sat in her 1998 Camry in the Capriotti Winery parking lot peering through her dusty windshield. The place was pretty, real pretty. And upscale.
Way above her pay grade.
But since she didn’t currently have a pay grade, that wasn’t saying much. People were sitting on the patio at two huge white tables, smiling, laughing, talking, and eating from what looked like a huge feast of food.
Her belly rumbled and she rubbed it. “I know,” she whispered. “I’m hungry too.”
So hungry.
She didn’t belong at those tables. Hell, she didn’t belong anywhere, but that was a problem for another day. Today she was here doing recon. Trying to figure out how to go about her life goal.
Which was to get back what was hers.
Because her legs were cramping, she got out of the car and stretched her aching back. Twenty-one years old last week and yet she felt like an old woman. Driven by more than a little desperation, she walked up the path and peeked into the winery. The big, open, barn-like room had a reception area and yes, thank you, sweet baby Jesus, a drinking fountain with small paper cups available.
She made her way to it and drank. And drank. She needed to go back for her water bottle and fill that up too because this water was fresh and cool and helped her jumbled thoughts come together.
But more than that, she needed to get back to the car before anyone saw her. She went outside again, staggering a little bit because moving too fast had spots dancing across her vision.
“Not now,” she murmured and did her best to shake it off. She got to the Camry and opened the driver’s side door, but then put out a hand to lean heavily against it and give herself a minute.
“Hello,” someone said.
River turned her head. A woman, maybe fifty years old. Dark brunette hair streaked with gray, dark eyes, and a welcoming smile. “Can I help you?” she asked River.