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“That’s true,” she agreed. “But it’s also hard to be two parents in one.”
“You’re doing okay. He’s a cute kid.”
Some pink appeared beneath the freckles on her cheeks. “Thanks. I think I’ll keep him.”
They both chuckled, and she turned back to her work. But he couldn’t stop looking at her. He normally hated small talk, but he couldn’t resist trying to keep the conversation going.
“So, my brother says this festival is a pretty big deal.”
He’d stopped by Falls Legend Winery yesterday and had a chat with Luke. They’d had their tough years as brothers, but now that Luke was married and a father, and Zayne was building a business and life of his own, they’d started rebuilding their brotherly bonds.
“It’s averybig deal,” Andrea answered. “The Blessing of the Grapes is one of the biggest festivals in town, and probably the most important because of the work the foundation does.”
Luke had told him about that, too. The festival hosted a prestigious wine competition, plus the fun stuff—at least, fun for people who liked that sort of thing—like parades, vendor booths and the corn maze. The profits went into a foundation that offered grants to winemakers who might be struggling.
Luke had pointed to the rows of grapevines marching up the hill at Falls Legend. “We’re successful enough these days to be able to survive a tough weather year, but some of the smaller places are barely hanging on. A storm like we had back in June could wipe them out. The foundation is there for them.”
Andrea’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Haven’t you ever been to the festival? Toanyfestival?”
“Not my thing.” Zayne didn’t like crowds. He didn’t like being jostled around. It made him tense, and tension made him do dumb things like...drink. Or take a swing at someone. Or both. So when he’d sobered up eight years ago, he’d learned to avoid trigger situations like noisy festivals.
“So is this corn maze thingreallythat important?” To him, it made more sense to keep the activities in town, like all the other festivals did.
Andrea came over to the saw table where he stood. “The mazes have turned into artwork over the years. It usually gets us featured in the news in Rochester or Syracuse, which brings in more people. We rent school buses to shuttle people, and the bus ride up the hill is half the fun—they have sing-alongs and play games. It’s pandemonium...” Her face twisted. “And that is totallynota selling point for you, is it?”
Luke had said something similar. He’d also pushed Zayne not to give Andrea false hope. “If you’renotgoing to do this thing, you should tell Andrea now instead of leading her on for ten days. I talked to Whitney, who heard from her aunt Helen, who heard from Iris Taggart, who knowseverything...” Zayne had rolled his eyes at that. This freakin’ town. “And the scuttlebutt is that Andrea really needs this festival to be a winner.”
Zayne had asked why, and Luke just shrugged. “All Whitney knows is that it has something to do with Andrea trying to get a new job, and also something about her mother. She told Zoey Hartford that—” he made air quotes with his fingers “—‘failure is not an option.’”
He looked at Andrea now, standing across from him, her chin high.
“You’re acting like this is a quest,” he said. “Why is this year’s festivalsoimportant to you?”
Her mouth opened to answer, then snapped shut again. Her forehead wrinkled. “Let’s just say I have a lot to prove. I’m the youngest chairperson ever. I don’t want to let people down. I don’t want to fail.”
“You’ve probably never failed at anything in your life.”
She huffed out a laugh. “Boy, do I wish that were true. I’ll give you a list of people to talk to about my failures, starting with my mother.”
When Zayne thought about Marissa Wentworth, he always thought of sharpness. Not thesmartkind of sharp, but the dangerous kind. Sharp eyes. Tight face. Sharp words. There was a time when he’d expected Andrea to be just like her. But he’d seen how hard she’d been working this week. He’d seen her swinging Hudson in the air and laughing. Those images were beginning to push the old ones out of his memory.
“I can’t imagine you failing at something you put your mind to.”
Her eyes brightened. “I’ve put my mind to getting the maze back, so does that mean...?”
“We made a deal.” Despite all the new impressions of Andrea, he had to remember that she’d turned on him before. Just like so many other people in his life. “Finish your part of the bargain and we’ll talk.”
She didn’t look discouraged—she looked defiant. It was a good look on her. She headed back to the desk with a little wave of her fingers. He wanted to trust her. It just wasn’t in his nature to forget a slight. He thought of his brother’s parting words yesterday.
“You have even more reason to carry a chip on your shoulder than I do,” Luke had said, “what with the accident and all. But man, that’s a lot of weight to carry around. It’s exhausting. I was a better man—ahappierman—once I gave it up. I highly recommend it.”
“MOMMA,CANIPLAYwith Duke?”
“We’ll see.”
It was Sunday afternoon, and she wasstillworking on straightening out the mess that was Zayne’s bookkeeping “system.” She’d been surprised Friday night when he’d acted as though he was missing Hudson’s nonstop questions when he was with her. Zayne looked up now from some weed trimming he was doing. He smiled when he saw Hudson and whistled for the dog.
“Can we play?” Hudson asked. Boy and dog had become fast friends this week.
