I left the pillows strewn across the living room floor along with the bottles of wine and glasses.
Her purse was gone from the island. I trudged to the front door and saw that her car was missing as well. She’d disappeared sometime in the middle of the night without even waking me up or saying good-bye. Damn, that was cold.
I reached for my phone with a yawn and saw a dozen text messages from Julian, Hollin, and my mother but none from Annie. She’d really just ghosted.
I wasn’t sure what I’d expected from her. We hadn’t even been on speaking terms until last night and then all of that had happened so fast. We probably wouldn’t have even had sex if we’d both been sober. I hadn’t planned for it, but I sure as fuck wouldn’t regret it. Despite all the animosity that lingered between us, it was incredibly easy to be with Annie. It was how we’d tumbled into bed the first night. And last night too.
But if this was just another one-night stand, then fine. We’d done that once before and I was the one who left. It was only fair for her to get her chance.
I cleaned up the house, replacing the pillows, wine, and glasses before taking a scalding shower and getting dressed for my meeting with Julian and Hollin. I was supposed to have met with Sophia last night and gotten her take on the winery purchase. She worked with all the wineries in the area and had insider information that I’d told them both I needed before making a decision.
Obviously…there hadn’t been a meeting.
Nothing I could do about it now.
I grabbed a coffee from a local shop on the way to the winery and guzzled it before I arrived. I should have gotten a second. My mind was still fuzzy from the night before, and I hadn’t felt up to eating anything. Skipping my run had been bad enough.
When I drove into what had once been West Texas Winery, nostalgia washed over me. The barn still looked ramshackle, as if at any point, the entire thing might collapse in on itself. The surrounding vineyards, in contrast, were well maintained and beautiful, even in the barren January morning. Farther down the property was the main processing building and cellars. I’d seen detailed pictures of the facilities, but this was the first time that I’d been on the property for an assessment. First time since Annie and I had been here three years ago.
Julian and Hollin were standing in front of the barn with their arms crossed, looking up at it with broad smiles. I wasn’t sure that we saw the same thing when we looked at it.
“You made it,” Julian said.
He stepped away from Hollin and shook my hand. My brother was the main reason that I was here. Annie had hit it on the head when she said that I couldn’t say no to Julian. I’d been his protector my entire life.
In the beginning, it had been in elementary school when other kids picked on him for siding with the less popular kids. He always had this charismatic way about him and love for those others saw as weaker. He could have handled it himself, but I scared the kids who’d picked on him, and it stopped. In high school, he was a star athlete, running circles around everyone else on the soccer pitch. Even away at college, I kept recruiters from taking advantage of his generous nature. All of that was easy. But it was our father who was the hardest thing to protect him from. Our parents had briefly split when we were younger, and our dad had started a parade of girlfriends. I took the brunt of it and kept Julian from as much of it as I could. And I tried to shield him from our father for the years of manipulative, narcissistic behavior that followed our parents getting back together. It had been a relief when we finally saw the worst of him and could cut ties after the divorce.
“I made it,” I told him. “I thought this was a business meeting.”
Julian looked down at his own fitted khakis, teal polo, and sharp dove-gray jacket. I was pure business, but Julian had style. And he prided himself on it.
“This is business attire for me.”
Hollin just laughed and stuck his hand out. “I don’t want to even know what you think about what I’m wearing.”
I just shook my head.
Hollin Abbey had been born and bred a Lubbock cowboy, complete with boots and belt buckle. I’d bet real money on his hat being in his truck. He wore Wranglers, a plaid button-up, and a jean jacket layered under a leather jacket. Cowboy who rode Harleys on the weekends. A conundrum of clichés. I’d thought that the first time my mother introduced us to her brother Greg and our three cousins: Hollin, Campbell, and Nora.
It was still strange to have all this family around now. For so long, it had just been me and Julian against the world. Now we had three cousins on our mom’s side and five Wright cousins on our dad’s side. I worked with Jensen, Austin, and Morgan through Wright Construction and Jensen Wright Architecture. Landon was my neighbor when he was in town and not out, golfing professionally. Sutton was the youngest and Annie’s best friend. So I didn’t see much of her…more of her husband, David, the CFO of Wright Construction. Either way, it was a lot of family, and I was still getting used to it.
“Have you heard from the agent?” I asked them.
Hollin nodded. “Yeah, Larissa should be here in five. She got caught with her five kids after her husband’s meeting ran over.”
“Perfect.”
“How’d it go with Sophia?” Julian asked.
“Well,” I said with a pause. It wasn’t like I could tell them about Annie. Not after she’d disappeared this morning. “It didn’t really happen.”
“What? You’ve been trying to get this meeting for weeks,” Julian said. “How can one woman give you this much runaround?”
“Yeah. Aren’t you some heartthrob?” Hollin joked.
“That’s Julian.”
Julian rolled his eyes. “Not anymore. Ashleigh and I have been together for almost two years.” He gestured back to me. “It’d be you if you didn’t fuck up all your relationships.”
“Solid point,” I said with a shrug. “Anyway, I saw her, and she gave me a case of wine to try before our next meeting. I know in one of our messages, she had a sommelier recommendation who lives in Houston but studied in France. So, we have options for hiring if we go through with this.”
“Oh, wine to try,” Hollin said eagerly. “We’ll all have to taste-test what she sent over.”
I frowned. “I might have already tasted all the red bottles.”
“Alone?” Julian asked in confusion. “You never drink alone.”
He was right. I avoided that habit after seeing how it had turned my father into more of a monster than he already was. Apparently, alcoholism ran thick like a river through our family.
“No, I wasn’t alone,” I said, turning back to stare up at the barn.
I didn’t miss the look that passed between Julian and Hollin. They’d gotten close over the last three years. They played on the same rec soccer team, and their friendship had only strengthened.
“Was it that blonde?” Julian asked with a cringe. “What was her name?”
“Leslie?” Hollin offered.
“No. It doesn’t matter who it was.”
“Why doesn’t it matter?”
“Because it doesn’t matter,” I insisted, wanting to be done with this conversation. “Anyway, she’d kill me if I told you.”