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“I don’t want to worry you, but your dad isn’t doing so well. I wondered if you might want to come home and cheer him up.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t worry. Nothing’s the matter with him; he’s just been a bit down in the dumps lately and I know a visit from you would cheer him up. We haven’t seen you since Christmas and … never mind. I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m sure you’re too busy.”
“I’ll be there. I’ll let you know when I can book a flight.”
“Wonderful. We’ll look forward to it. See you soon, then. Bye.” She hung up, leaving Mary Ellen staring at her phone.
“Is everything okay?” asked Chelsea.
Mary Ellen shook her head. “I don’t know. Either my dad’s ill and she doesn’t want to tell me, or she’s guilt-tripping me because I haven’t been home in a while.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Book a flight.” Mary Ellen was already searching on her phone.
“Maybe Piper can take you?”
“I don’t want to screw up their weekend. I’m sure they’ve got enough going on. They might even be going to Summer Lake to work on their wedding plans.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Chelsea pulled her phone out, but Mary Ellen held up a hand. “Don’t. I’ll maybe ask, if I can’t find a flight, but I’d rather not. Let me see what I can do first.”
~ ~ ~
Antonio leaned on the stone balustrade and watched the moonlight shimmer on the sea below. The night air was warm and heavy with the scent of his mom’s flowers. It carried the sound of crickets and of waves crashing down below. It wrapped him in a sense of home. He’d missed it here. It had been a long week, but he and Marcos had accomplished a lot in the time he’d been here. It was Friday night and part of him wanted to rush straight back to California—to Mary Ellen, but his family was important to him, too. He was staying for the weekend to spend time with them. They’d had a wonderful family dinner this evening and he’d come out here to enjoy the night air after his parents had gone to bed.
“Mind if I join you?”
“I was hoping you might.” He smiled at his brother.
“It’s been quite a week, no?”
“You can say that again.”
“I’m sorry I dragged you over here, but I couldn’t do it by myself.”
“I’m glad you asked me. Glad I could help.”
“But now you want to go home, right?”
Antonio smiled. “Honestly, this place is just as much my home as over there. It’s not California I’m in a rush to get back to.”
Marcos smiled. “I know. It’s Mary Ellen.”
“I can’t wait for you to meet her. In fact, why don’t you come with me?”
Marcos shook his head. “Not yet. It’s too soon for me. I didn’t do all this work this week to free me up, just so I can go to the other wine country. I’m going to take off for a while. You really think things will be all right here?”
Antonio punched his arm. “They’ll be better than they were.”
“I know. I screwed up. I let myself go under and almost took the business with me. It’s not like me.”
“It isn’t, but it just goes to show how much you’ve been dealing with. Now it’s all behind you. Caterina has her settlement and she’ll leave you alone. Pietro can deal with everything here. He’s been with us all his life. I think this promotion is exactly what he wanted, but didn’t believe could ever happen. I can help him with anything he needs from over there.”
Marcos blew out a big sigh. “I don’t feel so wonderful knowing that I created this whole big mess, personally and professionally. I ran things down over a matter of years, and my little brother comes in and makes everything right in the space of a week.”
Antonio grasped his shoulder. “It’s like anything—it’s easy to see solutions from the outside, and easier to implement them too.”
