“I’m fine right where I am.”
“Alright, then.” He took a seat in the armchair and turned it to face my desk directly. “Wolfe mentioned your engagement. I’m happy for you.”
I continued my stare.
“I think he’s right for you.”
“Thank you so much for your approval.”
“Look, I’m not trying to start anything?—”
“Then why the fuck are you here?”
“Cristo,I want a relationship with you.”
I sat back in the chair.
“I would love it if…if I could attend your wedding.”
This was not the request I expected to hear. I’d thought he would say something stupid, like he wanted to move to a different position in the winery, like maybe he was sick of the wine tasks and wanted to be more involved in the arms side. “We aren’t having a wedding. Wolfe and I are just going to get hitched at the church.”
“Well, I’d love to be your witness.”
“The priest will be our witness.”
“Look, you won’t even know I’m there?—”
“Look, you killed my dad.”
He stilled at the verbal punch.
“If Dad were still alive, we’d have a big-ass wedding, and he’d give me away. But that’s not going to happen now, is it? You took that away from me too, Leo. So you have a lot of nerve, coming in here and asking for this.”
He bowed his head and stared at his hands.
I wasn’t sure why I’d let him live. I wasn’t sure why I continued to employ him at the winery. I didn’t see this ever being any less hostile. “Maybe it’s best if you leave.”
He lifted his chin and looked at me, eyes wounded.
“I’ll never stop hating you.”
“If you hated me, you would have killed me.”
I didn’t have a rebuttal to that…my goddamn moment of weakness.
“I know there’s still hope for us. Otherwise, I would be dead or dismissed from the winery. I understand it’s going to take a lot more time than a couple weeks. I just didn’t expect you to get married so quickly. Maybe if this were a year into the future…maybe we would have had more time to work this out.”
“You don’t even seem like the kind of guy who gives a shit about weddings, Leo.”
“I don’t,” he said. “But it’s yours. You’re my sister, and Wolfe will be my brother. Family means even more to me now…now that I’ve lost the only parent I’ve ever really had.”
I had the urge to blast him with another insult, but I decided to swallow it. I’d already savagely eviscerated him. It wasn’t doing either of us any good at this point. My father’s funeral was twoweeks ago, and while I would grieve my whole life, it was time to move forward. I knew I should handle this conflict differently as the one running the show now. “Leo, it’s gonna take time for me to come around. A lot of time, probably years, if it ever even happens at all.” Which it probably wouldn’t. “And I don’t think it’s fair for you to insert yourself into this matter since this is about Wolfe and me. It’s not about anyone else but the two of us, and you asking to be there is taking the spotlight off him and me and shining it on our damaged relationship instead. I’m sure your intentions are pure, but they come off as selfish.”
His eyes dropped like my words hit him in a tender spot.
“We fell in love in secret. Our love blossomed despite the torrential rains that hit us. It’s always been him and me—and that’s how I want this to be.” Wolfe never officially moved in with me, but he pretty much did right off the bat. Our relationship matured by years instead of months. At this point, this ceremony at the church felt more like a formality, because he already felt like my husband. “I hope you can understand that.”
Leo stared at his hands for a while before he lifted his chin and looked at me again. “You’re right.”
