Every morning, he got out of bed before I did. Sometimes he would fuck me, and sometimes he would let me sleep. I usually drifted off again because I was too lazy to get out of bed when it was so comfortable and smelled like him.
Wolfe eventually joined me in the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt like he was ready to go out. “What do you want to do today?” His arm circled my lower back, and he gave me a kiss before he looked at the vase. “Did you do this?”
“Yeah, I got them at the market.”
His face immediately turned back to me, picking up on my tone or the weakness in my voice. “What’s wrong?” He knew me thatwell that he could pick up on it that easily. His eyes flicked back and forth between mine, reading the emotion in my gaze.
“My father called a little bit ago…”
He gave a single slow nod as he accepted that information. “What did he say?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t answer.”
He continued to stare at me.
“He texted me. Asked me to call him.”
“You don’t have to call him back if you need more time.”
“I know. But it’s going to hang over my head until I do.” I would rather just get it over with so I could not worry about it anymore. It’d only been a half hour, and it felt like the longest half hour of my life.
He continued to stare at me for a moment longer before he took a step away. “I’ll give you some privacy.” He moved to the stairs and descended to the second floor. I wasn’t sure if he kept going to the bottom floor or if he left the house entirely.
I took a seat at the dining table, blanketed in warm sunlight from the window. I considered sitting on the terrace but didn’t want my voice to carry to neighbors who had their windows open. Their day shouldn’t be ruined by my family drama.
I called him back and put it on speakerphone so I wouldn’t have to hold the phone next to my face.
He answered immediately, just the way Wolfe did whenever I called him.
“Frankie.” He said my name right off the bat, but instead of using his typical authoritative tone, he was a little more subdued. “Where are you?”
I didn’t expect an interrogation right off the bat. “Did you need something?”
He gave a long pause, probably irritated he didn’t get what he wanted immediately. “Could you come by the winery so we can talk? I’d rather not do this over the phone. And I’d like it to be just you and me.”
As in, no Wolfe.
I couldn’t avoid my father forever. I just wished I could know his attitude before I got there. “When?”
“Today. Now.”
I glanced out the window, as if I’d find my decision out there in the blue sky. “I can be there in a couple of hours.”
There was a pause like he didn’t hear me. “Okay, thank you.” He had an audible breath of relief in his sigh, as if he’d expected me to resist his request. “I’ll see you soon, Frankie.” He hung up before I could say anything, as if I might change my mind.
Wolfe had left the house to grab breakfast, and when he came back, we talked downstairs.
“My father wants to speak face-to-face,” I said when he walked in. “I told him I’d be there in a couple of hours.”
He slowly walked up to me then crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes unreadable. He was usually an open book, but ever since my father had called, he’d been a little guarded. “I can drive you.”
“He said he wants it to be just me.”
“I can still drive you and drop you off,” he said. “It’s a long drive.”
“I don’t want you to waste your whole day driving back and forth.”
“If I’m with you, it’s never a waste, baby.”
