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SERAPHINA
“It’s so beautiful here, isn’t it?” I said to my mother once we were dropped off at the casita.
“We aren’t here on vacation, Seraphina. We’re here to find your sister.”
“I’m so glad you reminded me. It had slipped my mind.” I walked outside, letting the door close behind me. Evidently, I was wrong about the attitude adjustment I’d thought I witnessed in my mother when she got off the plane. She was back to acting as though I couldn’t possibly understand how she felt.
I saw a building in the distance I guessed was the temple and took off on foot in that direction. Once I was close, I noticed Noah walking toward it from the opposite way.
“I was coming to see if you wanted to visit the temple with me,” said Noah.
“I needed to take a walk. My mom and I aren’t getting along very well.”
“I could say the same about Tryst.”
My eyes opened wide.
“Nothing to do with you or Luisa.”
“Something with my mom?”
He studied me. “I’m not sure.”
“What the hell happened back then, Noah? From what I remember, your father did our family a huge favor when he purchased the vineyards and winery.”
“I wish I knew.”
“But you think there’s more to the story too?”
He shrugged. “Tryst seems to want me to think so, not that he’ll elaborate.”
“What did he say?”
“He keeps saying I should talk to my father about it. However, my parents are in Australia. When I told Tryst my plan was to wait until they returned to the States to ask my dad what had happened, he gave me the impression I shouldn’t.”
“Wait?”
“That’s right. However, it’s not something I feel comfortable discussing over the phone. The last thing I want to do is blindside my dad while he’s out of the country on holiday with my mother.”
“Hmm.”
He smiled. “Exactly what I thought.”
“I understand why you’d want to wait.”
“You do?”
I nodded. Now didn’t feel like the right time to tell Noah what my mother had said about his father stealing my dad’s formulas. Especially since I couldn’t prove it and neither could she.
Even if she could, I didn’t believe the formula they’d used to produce the Vineyard Twenty-Seven Blend was anything my father had developed. If he had, he would’ve needed to file a patent to record what the exact varietals and percentages of those varietals used were. If what Ridge Winery produced varied in any way from the exact formula, there’d be no patent infringement. Either way, to my knowledge, there weren’t any patents filed in the first place.
“What’s on your mind, Seraphina?”
“There are three sides to every story. The first party’s, the second party’s, and somewhere in the middle is the truth.”
“I completely agree.”
We’d reached the temple and walked up the large steps made of concrete. The structure itself was built of brick with the exception of the wooden door and the steeple, which also appeared to be made of concrete but with several openings in it that looked like windows.
