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“I will. Sally waves to him sometimes, too. Did you know bearded dragons wave?”
“I did know that.”
“You know a lot. You must be smart, too.”
An unexpected surge of pride consumed me. “I think I am.”
“Cool. So where are we going?” He was quite inquisitive for a six-year-old, but appreciated how quickly he warmed up to me.
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
“Aunt Chardonnay says surprises are overrated.”
“Your Aunt Chardonnay must have never had a good surprise then.”
“Maybe.”
“Aunt Rose said she’s just old and bitter.”
I pressed my lips together and forced myself to hold my laugh.
“Then Aunt Chardonnay told Aunt Rose to grow up, but I didn’t get that. She is a grownup.”
“That just means she thinks she should behave like an adult.”
“That makes sense. Aunt Rose eats ice cream before dinner, and sometimes she lets me eat it too, but as long as I don’t tell Dad.”
“Your aunts sound like they’re a lot of fun.”
“They are. They take me out sometimes when Dad is overwhelmed. At least that’s what they say. I’m not really sure what that means.”
“Sometimes adults need some quiet time.” I still hadn’t asked about his mother, but the fact Franc never mentioned her, and there wasn’t a single picture in the house of him with another woman, I assumed she wasn’t in the picture. I was curious still but didn’t want to ask Gio in case it was something they didn’t talk about.
Besides, Franc’s personal life was none of my business.
“Are you going to stop checking your phone and help me or what?” Rhone grumbled as he leaned against an oak barrel. The interns had left for the day, and we were finishing up before we could head home ourselves.
I slipped my phone into my pocket, amazed I hadn’t had a single call from Quinn.
“Yeah, sorry,” I muttered. “It’s just—”
“You’re waiting for your new nanny to call and tell you your son is a horrible child, and she quits.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have put it like that.”
“That’s because Gio isn’t a horrible child. Those people you hired were horrible and shouldn’t be around children if they can’t handle them. I mean, look at Mom and Dad. How many of us did they raise? They never quit on us.”
“It’s kind of hard when you’re the actual parent.”
“Even still, Mom and Dad never would have quit.”
“Except they did. We weren’t too much, but Gio was.”
“You and I both know that is a bunch of bullshit. Mom and Dad didn’t quit on you. Grandpa…” Rhone inhaled and crossed his arms as if protecting his own heart from the words he was about to utter. “Grandpa died, and they needed to get away. Honestly, if they didn’t leave, I would have.”
“You would have left me here with all this wine to make by myself?”
“Not like you can’t handle it. You’re one of the best winemakers in the state, possibly even the country.”
