AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We walked in silence. I didn’t know what to say.
“What about you?” Celine asked.
“What about me?”
“You were so set on breaking the mold, being different from what your family wanted you to be, and now you’re in the wine business just how they wanted it.”
“Not exactly,” I said. “I’m still a free agent in a lot of ways, doing something different from the initial plan. The thing is, I love wine. I realized I missed it when I broke away, and the legacy my parents want to leave me and Gino… it’s special. They worked hard. They came from nothing and worked their way up. My dad was one of the vineyard help when he started out, doing nothing more than picking grapes. Now, he owns his own vineyard, and he’s doing okay. They’re not doing as well as my aunt and uncle, but they’re doing a hell of a lot better than before. And my uncle didn’t have two pennies to rub together when he came here, and he’s pretty damn well off, too.”
“They all started from nothing,” Celine said.
I checked my phone again.
“They did, and they’re leaving us this whole empire. I think that deserves to be celebrated. I love what I do, and I respect what my family did for us. It took some growing up to realize it, but family and heritage is important.”
“Do you think Noah was wrong to leave Seattle and settle here, away from the traditions my dad wants to force us into?”
“I think every man decides for himself who he wants to be and what he wants his children to follow one day. If that was what Noah needed, then that’s good. It’s what I needed once upon a time, too. I just realized it wasn’t the right direction for me.”
“You’ve always been so accepting,” Celine said.
I shrugged. “What else can I be?”
“Well… not accepting,” Celine said with a smile.
I laughed.
“You still have time to find your way, Celine,” I said. “It’s never too late to change direction.”
Celine sighed. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“Look,” I said and pointed.
“Where?”
“A trail,” I said. “That’s something.”
Celine looked at where I was pointing. It was hard to see under all the mud and debris, but there was a trail that led through the trees.
“If we follow that, we might find a lookout point or a camping ground or something. We just have to keep moving down the mountain rather than up.”
Celine nodded, and we moved away from the river. I was reluctant to leave it behind—water was a chance at survival—but the trail was more likely to take us back to civilization. Once they started looking for us, it made sense to follow the trails first.
We continued walking. I kept checking my phone, but the more it came up with no bars, the more I realized we were in much deeper shit than I thought at first.
I put my phone away, trying not to look as worried as I felt. I needed Celine to stay positive, and if I started to panic, she would too. The last thing we needed right now was panic.
“So, you never got serious with someone, huh?” Celine asked.
“Not really,” I admitted. “I’ve dated, but no one really cut it for me.”
“Why not?” Celine asked.
Partly because they hadn’t been Italian, so I hadn’t considered them marriage material. More importantly, it had been because they hadn’t been Celine. I’d told myself time and again that I wouldn’t find someone like her, but I’d still kept looking.
Now, I had her, and that was really the only thing I wanted. I wanted her.
I didn’t say any of that. Instead, I said, “I guess it just wasn’t the right person or the right time.”
