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Still, he'd known better than to say a damn thing about her relationship when his motivations were completely suspect--he would have given his right arm for Taylor to break up with her boyfriend so that he could have her for himself. Especially in junior year, when his mother passed away and Taylor had unequivocally been there for him and his family. She'd been there for his mother too, spending hours upon hours at the hospital, all the way until the end.
By senior year, Justin had run out of patience--and self-control. When Taylor was near, all he could think about was kissing her. Pulling her into his arms and finding out if they were as good together as his fantasies told him they'd be.
He hadn't been a monk in college. He'd gone from one woman to the next--too many women, if he was being honest with himself--in the hopes that one of them would do the impossible and make him forget how much he wanted Taylor. By senior year, however, he'd started funneling his frustration into his work, day in, day out, and late into the night.
That was when the universe had decided it was time to throw him a bone and magic started happening in the lab. The kind of magic that meant someone else might not lose their mom to breast cancer in the future. Or their sister. Or their daughter. Even though he knew it was rare for an undergraduate to get research funding, he'd told his senior advisor about his findings, and his brother Grant, who said he would put feelers out to see if there were any investors interested in his research.
And then, magic finally happened outside of the lab too. Justin and Taylor were celebrating making it through a difficult week at school, and somewhere in there, they'd ended up kissing. Idiot that he was, he'd thought their kiss meant everything had changed. He'd thought it meant she was finally going to be his.
But in the morning, she'd been horrified and had fumbled all over herself trying to let him down easy. Saying she'd been drunk, that she couldn't remember what happened at the bar, that she hoped she hadn't ruined their friendship.
She couldn't have made it any clearer--especially in the way she emphasized the word friendship--that she wasn't interested.
Heartbreak, Justin understood in that moment, was just a different shade of grief. Guilt wasn't far behind. He knew she'd had too much to drink that night at the bar, but he'd been so desperate to have her that he hadn't listened to his conscience.
Thank God that same morning his brother Grant called with the offer from Frankfurt to open a lab immediately and get to work taking his research to the next level. Twenty-four hours later, Justin was leaving Stanford on a plane to Germany, planning to bury himself in enough work that he forgot everything else.
Especially his unrequited feelings for Taylor.
Five years later, he had succeeded on both fronts. His team at the lab was so close to a breakthrough that he could taste it. And his desperate need for Taylor was nothing more than a distant memory.
At least, he'd thought so, until his family said her name--and sent him tumbling down memory lane.
His father took off his glasses and cleaned them with his shirttail, another of his standard nervous gestures. "Last month, Grant and I went to take a look at the winery Drew and Ashley are getting married in--Marcus and Nicola Sullivan's place--and we ran into Taylor while we were getting a bite to eat in town." He looked slightly apologetic as he added, "She told us she'd recently moved to St. Helena."
Justin knew why his father looked sorry for him. The fact that Taylor hadn't told him this news herself spoke volumes about the sorry state of their friendship.
In his head, Justin still thought of her as she'd been the last time he'd seen her. Beautiful and sweet, even as she apologized for their drunken kiss. But five years had passed since then. She'd taken a position with a biotech firm in Palo Alto after graduation and had been living in a rental house off College Terrace with a couple of roommates. He hadn't actually seen her, though, had always headed back to California for the holidays just as she was leaving for New York to visit her family--and her boyfriend. At first, there had been email, texts, calls. But soon, one month of silence was stretching into three, and then six, between awkward conversations that felt all wrong.
Finally, he saw what was going on--his family was forcing him to do what he should have done a long time ago: apologize to Taylor for being a terrible friend and hopefully set their friendship back to rights. Whatever happened in St. Helena, he wouldn't put either of them in an awkward position again by trying to kiss her, wouldn't let himself hope that she'd suddenly see him in a different light than she had in college. Besides, he was too busy with the lab for a girlfriend, so just-friends was perfect.
"You're right," he said to his family, "I need to see her. It's been way too long."
/> Maddie threw her arms around his neck. "I'm so glad you agree! And I'm sure Taylor is happy that you're going to be one of the first guests at her B&B, instead of some stranger."
"Wait a minute." Justin reeled from yet more new information. "Taylor owns the B&B you've booked me into?"
Olivia was smiling as she handed him the flyer for the Cardenes Wine Country B&B. "Check-in is at three p.m. The florist that Mom always used is still on University Avenue if you want to pick up some flowers before you head to Napa."
His sister was never one for subtlety. Clearly, she knew he needed to grovel, and she was trying to give him pointers. But he already knew exactly what to bring for Taylor when he saw her tomorrow. Something he'd never had the nerve to give her back in college, but that would hopefully prove to both of them that he could be her friend--and nothing more--without putting pressure on her to change her mind or make her feel as though he blamed her for not loving him back.
"Now that that's settled," his conflict-averse father said, "how about all of us grab some pickleball racquets and get in a match before dark?"
Heading outside with his family was just what Justin needed. Not only to help with the jet lag, but because he'd soon be seeing Taylor again. And not just for a few hours, but for several days. Without his lab to disappear into, he didn't want to fall into old patterns and start mooning over her again.
"I'm game," he said.
"I am too," Maddie agreed. She flexed her biceps and added, "Just as long as you're not too upset when I crush you on the court."
All the Morrison men were built the same--tall and rangy, with well-defined muscles. Despite his insane work hours, Justin was still fit. Working out was the best way he had to blow off steam and frustration. But to make his sister laugh, he pretended to limp out of the kitchen toward the garage to get the paddles and balls.
And as the four of them played a cutthroat game of pickleball, he realized just how much he'd missed his family's laughter during the past five years. Although the truth was that the laughter had died before that, when his mom got sick.
It was why Justin worked so hard in his lab. So that other families wouldn't forget how to laugh the way they had.
