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“Can I assist in any way?”
Luisa smiled. “I’m really proud of you right now, Press. You didn’t automatically set about arranging an appointment for me.”
“Wouldyoulike to do that now?” I asked.
“Yes, and after that, we need to get to work.”
I cocked my head.
“Last night, you asked if I could start today, and I told you I could.”
“I was being facetious, Luisa.”
She pulled away and folded her arms. However, behind her smile, I saw all the warmth that had been missing when she smiled at my brother earlier.
“Go talk to Beau,” she said, taking a step back. “I’ll meet you back here, and you can show me your office.”
As I walked away, I realized I’d have to find a place here, on the grounds, where Luisa and I could work together. I wasn’t here often enough to have an office per se. I set up my laptop pretty much anywhere and did what needed to be done.
Beau had an office in the winery building. There were several reasons I wouldn’t be interested in making use of it.
I reached the bottom of the staircase at the same time my brother did.
“Do you have a few minutes for us to talk?”
He looked at his mobile. “Not really. I need to leave now to catch my flight.”
“Where are you headed?” I asked, wishing my brother would make eye contact with me rather than looking everywhere else. “Beau?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yet you have a flight to catch.”
“Sod off, Lavery.”
“Boys,” I heard my father say from the top of the stairs. It was a tone of voice we’d heard often when we were growing up.
“Sorry, Father,” I said, looking up at him.
“Sorry, Father,” Beau mimicked under his breath.
“I’d like to take flowers to your mother’s grave. Will the two of you join me?”
Thankfully, Beau didn’t check his mobile or give the excuse he needed to leave to catch a flight.
My father put one arm around my shoulders and the other around my brother’s. “Your mother had a tradition when one year ended and another began. Do you recall what it was?”
I almost laughed at the way he was speaking to us as though we were five-year-olds.
“Out with the old and in with the new,” Beau answered.
“Precisely. If she were here, she’d tell you both to let go of the things that angered you in the past in order to make room for the joy to come in the new year.”
“Not quite so easy this year, Dad,” I said.
“When it isn’t easy, it’s the best time to do it.”
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