“Fine.” Emma moved faster than they did and reached the door first.
“She’s not fine,” Nicole whispered.
“I can tell.”
“Could this be more beautiful?” Nicole asked Emma.
The lacy green vines early in their growth didn’t end. Emma couldn’t see the next property from the back porch of their room. Up on the hillside there was a structure, but it looked more like a castle than a home. “I don’t think so.”
“You know what would make it better?”
“What?” Emma glanced at her friend, saw mischief in her eyes, and knew what she was going to say before she said it.
“Wine.” She walked over to where a complimentary bottle made at the villa sat.
“I won’t say no.”
The stop for lunch was not at a winery, but in a small town. The house wine there was drinkable, and Lord knew Emma was in the headspace to indulge.
While Nicole poured, Emma hung a few items of hand-washed clothing on the backs of the unused chairs on their tiny patio to dry. The villa was a sprawling home that had a hacienda feel, with spidery halls that had at least nine guest rooms. There was an upstairs on the main structure, but they were told it was for the family that owned the place. They weren’t in attendance, which was unfortunate. Emma would have liked to speak with them.
Nicole handed Emma a glass. Both of them stared at the patio furniture.
“You know, this daily Laundromat look is growing on me,” Nicole teased.
“At least we have an outside breeze to dry them faster.”
“It’s very Italian.”
Emma tilted her glass toward Nicole’s. “Cheers.”
A sniff and taste later, Emma said, “Not bad.”
“I love it!” Nicole took another drink.
Emma giggled and grabbed her phone to plug it into a charger.
“Any more messages from your mom?”
“No.” Early in the morning, which would have been late at night back home, Beth had messaged to say her father had agreed that Emma should move into the property.
There were zero details and no guarantee that her dad had agreed to her terms.
“Do you want to try your dad again?”
Emma shook her head. “I left a message with his secretary.” Not that she thought her dad would call her back.
“Do you really think he’s going to hand you the property and walk away?”
“No.”
They walked outside and sat at a small table opposite their “Italian Laundromat.”
“Your mom seems to think he will.”
Emma sipped from her glass. “If my dad wants me to be in that house, it’s likely because he doesn’t want me in Napa making good on my threat of buying something up there. He likes being able to avoid me. Keeping me in Temecula has given him some control. My dad likes control . . . over everything. So no . . . he won’t just hand over the property. I don’t care what my mother thinks.”
“Why not just walk away, then, do what you say and do it all by yourself?”
Emma looked out over the vineyard they were surrounded by and sighed. She’d asked herself that question many times since she’d started this ball rolling. “I spent my twenties bending over backwards, doing everything short of circus tricks to get my father to see how capable I am. I even married Kyle.”
“You don’t think Kyle was ever in love?”
“He was into my father’s money. Still is. I was the quickest way to it. I was young and stupid.” Biggest regret of her life. “I think the fact that my father bought that property for his married daughter and holds it away from his single daughter makes me want it even more.”
“Revenge?”
Emma shrugged. “Maybe. Regardless of the house, I am done working alongside or beneath my ex. And I won’t have to talk to Kyle anymore.”
Nicole lifted her glass. “Cheers to that.”
Emma sipped with a smile.
They sat for a moment, staring out at the view, and her thoughts drifted to an entirely different subject. “What do you think about Gio?”
“I think right now he’s trying to figure out how to get out of his celibacy oath.” Nicole laughed.
Emma had shared the conversation with Nicole when she’d come back to the room the night before. “He cornered himself with that one. ‘I’m looking for the one.’ Sounds like a dating app line that always ends in a hookup.”
“It does, but . . .”
They glanced at each other. “I know. He doesn’t really fit the asshole type that would say that kind of stuff.”
Nicole put her feet up on the chair across from her. “What do you think of him?”
“He’s, ah . . . interesting.”
“Is that a metaphor for hot?”
Emma laughed. “He is that, too. He definitely knows his wine.”
“Something you two have in common.”
She knew where her friend was going. “I’m not looking to be anyone’s wife again. And a house full of kids? If that’s what he wants, there is no use wasting his time.”
“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind wasting some of his time,” Nicole said.
“Maybe.” More like absolutely. Even though she thought the celibacy crap was just that, if he was actually looking for the real thing, she wasn’t about to pretend she could be in the running.
Emma shook her head. Why am I even thinking this way?
“I say we take a walk around.” Nicole lifted her glass. “With our wine.”
“We should enjoy the place now since we’re going to miss a day retrieving my luggage.”
With that settled, they picked themselves up from the patio and walked out of their room.
The second they were out the door they saw Gio leaving his room.
His eyes found Emma’s and the corners of his mouth lifted.
Her breath hitched.
“Hi,” he said.
“Hey,” she replied.
Nicole chuckled.
Gio looked at the glass in her hand. “I was about to go to the tasting room. Wanna join me?”
Emma shook her head. “This is more of a drinking day and less of a tasting day.”
The man had such a striking smile. “I like how you ladies think. Let me grab a glass and I’ll tag along. I mean, if you don’t mind.”
“The more the merrier.”
He opened his door and disappeared inside.
Emma found herself looking at his butt as he did.
“He has a nice—” Nicole started.
“He sure does.”
Ten minutes later, the three of them found half of their group by the pool.
Apparently drinking, and not tasting, was on the agenda for everyone.
“Come forward, future Betty Ford Clinic attendees, have a seat.” Chris was already glassy-eyed and loud.
“Yeah!” Nicole sang and did a little dance.
“No swimsuits?” Pierre asked, his legs dangling in the pool.
“No luggage,” Emma reminded him.
“Maybe tomorrow,” Nicole said. “Wait, no . . . we’re driving all day tomorrow.”
“Only if we get a call.” Emma updated the guys on the baggage fiasco. “It sucks.”