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“Ladies, if you’ll excuse me. I’ve got to get these to Stacey.”
Beryl and her friends reluctantly let me pass and I made my way to Stacey, hiding beside two fake plants at the back of the room. Lord knows where Grandad Cec had got to.
“Here, Stace.” I held out the paper plate. “Eat something, please. You haven’t been eating right since everyone got sick.”
Stacey gave me the stink eye but still took one. “I hate mini quiche.”
“Not much to choose from by the time I reached the buffet.”
I picked one up but stopped, about to take a bite, as a woman in black approached.
“Stacey, you look lovely. Granny Lynn, she will be missed.” Mama Zanetti lifted a black lace veil over her hair and kissed Stacey on each cheek, then looked me up and down, her expression neutral.
“Hello, Tom. You look well. I don’t see you these days. How is university?”
I cleared my throat, wiping my hand on the back of my pants. “Good to see you, Mama Zanetti.”
There was a very good reason why I hadn’t seen Mama Zanetti in ages. Mostly, it was being away from the farm for my university studies.
That’s what I told myself anyway.
I offered her my hand to shake, but she pulled me in for a hug. God, I had missed Mama Zanetti’s hugs—warm, bone-crushing strong, distinct floral perfume.
Tears stung my eyes.Fuck.
I let go of Mama Zanetti and rapidly blinked at the sight of the young woman behind her.
Rosie Zanetti: daughter of Mama Z and Angelo, eldest of the Zanetti sisters, neighbour, winemaker, and most of all, heartbreaker.
She briefly glared my way, then turned to Stacey, muttering something. But I wasn’t listening. The roar in my ears had rendered me deaf. It had been four years since I’d stood this close to Rosie. She was so beautiful in a black dress that followed her curves to the knee with her curly hair loosely pinned back.
I straightened, grunting.
I am not thinking about how good she looks. Remember what she did.
Stacey dumped her half eaten mini quiche into the fake plant beside her, and Rosie finally cut her eyes to me.
“Hello, Tom.”
Her low voice was like a sucker-punch to the gut. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I’d lost the power of speech.
How did she still have this effect on me after four years?
“Ah, I forget!” Mama Zanetti exclaimed, clapping her hands. “We have news. Rosie is engaged to her professor boyfriend. We, too, have a wedding in the family!”
A jolt of adrenaline zapped my brain into life. “What?”
Rosie looked sharply at her mother. “Mama, we promised Amanda we’d announce the engagement after her party.”
Mama Zanetti shrugged. “Everyone needs cheering up. Amanda won’t care. Besides, she in Sydney, and we are here.”
Good lord, Amanda will flip.Everything was about her wedding at the mo. Planning was in full swing for the big day in four months’ time. The group chat blew up daily with wedding ideas and commands from my older sister.
“Congratulations, Rosie. We’re thrilled for you.” Stacey smiled and then shot me a glance to do so as well.
I let out a shaky breath. “Yeah. Congratulations.”
Did the heater just get turned on?I tugged at my collar. “Excuse me.”
