Emma glanced at him. “Being a part of the family business was what I always wanted. Now my goals have changed.”
A couple of seconds went by before Gio said, “You’re obviously competent.”
“I can run circles around Richard, and everyone knows it.”
“Who’s Richard?”
“My older brother. He’s my dad’s right hand. Yes, he’s the oldest . . . and it was assumed that he’d take up beside my father.”
Gio gripped the wheel a little tighter. “Do you and your brother get along?”
She shrugged. “We don’t fight over Thanksgiving dinner if that’s what you mean.”
“That’s not what I mean. Do you spend any time together, outside work? Is he there for you when you need him?”
Emma started laughing, settled, and started laughing again. “No. That’s funny. Richard is entirely too into his own life. Ryan, my other brother, makes a point of coming around. We’ll go out for drinks and talk on the phone.”
“What does Ryan do with the winery?”
“Nothing. Never had any desire to enter the offices of R&R. Our father pushed against his resistance for a while but gave up early on. When I graduated from college, Dad tucked me down in the Temecula arm, which I was okay with. My parents have homes both in Napa and Temecula. Most of the time when I wasn’t in school, I’d go to wherever my mother was. In Temecula I found more autonomy. I wasn’t dismissed like when I was in Napa, so I owned it.”
She stopped talking and Gio looked over.
He could see the frustration in how she kept blinking. “You don’t want to hear all this,” she said.
“I’m fascinated. And pissed on your behalf.”
“You haven’t even heard the best part.”
He paused. “There’s more?”
“My ex-husband is the man who took the job that should have been mine.”
Gio’s eyes snapped to hers. “You were married?” He didn’t see that coming.
“Don’t get excited. It wasn’t for that long. Kyle worked for my father. He was told to mentor me. I think he felt it was a babysitting position at first. There was an attraction, obviously. Kyle saw how my dad was pushing me aside, and I felt like I had an ally. When we made it known we were dating, my dad approved and at the same time said that he wasn’t going to lose a valuable employee should things not work out.”
“Ouch.”
“And that’s how it played out. Kyle was promoted after we were married. For a short time, I lived in Napa with him.”
“How did it fall apart?”
“I feel stupid,” Emma said.
“No judgment here. We all have a past.”
“Six months in he was pressuring me to have a baby. I was barely twenty-four. I went off of birth control pills and had an IUD placed. I was not ready to be a mother and as far as I saw it, this wasn’t something that was going to change in five years. All of which we’d talked about before the ceremony. He was not happy. And it was then that I opened my eyes. Kyle was moving up the ladder. Kyle was being groomed for the boardroom. Kyle was getting an audience with my father for the future of R&R Wineries. After all, he was part of the family now. Kyle never wanted me. He wanted my name.”
That cut. Gio could see it in Emma’s eyes, hear it in her voice. “You deserve better. I’m sorry.”
“I filed for a divorce a week shy of our first anniversary. Dad was pissed. Kyle stayed in Napa, I went back to Temecula. I grew up a lot that year.”
“I’m not sure what to say.”
Her smile was halfway. “I don’t throw my name around to open doors, or cry on someone else’s shoulder for their sympathy. I’m well aware that I have first-world problems. Problems most people would cut off a limb for.”
“That doesn’t make them less.”
Her voice softened. “Thank you. I need to hear that once in a while.”
“I’ll tell you every day.”
Gio stayed quiet as her story sunk in.
Then he heard her stomach growl. “Ready for breakfast?”
They both started to laugh while Gio looked for an exit that promised food.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
They made their breakfast stop quick, intending on taking more time for lunch after they picked up her bag.
For every complaint Emma had about her family, Giovanni praised his.
They were a half an hour from their destination, and she had his phone in her hand, scrolling through the pictures.
Within five minutes she recognized his sister Chloe’s face, along with her husband, Dante. Gio’s older brother, Luca, and his wife, Brooke, and Gio’s niece, Francesca. “Why the nickname Franny?” Emma asked.
“I don’t remember how it got started. My mother, I think. Gianluca, Giovanni . . . Francesca. These are names you hear a lot in our community. Maybe it was easier for my mother to call us out. We certainly listen more when our full names are used.”
Emma flipped to the next picture. This one was Chloe’s formal wedding. His sister was stunning. Olive skin, long dark hair. Rail thin. “I like Giovanni.”
“You can call me that, I just might think you’re mad at me.”
That made her laugh.
Another picture was of his mother standing with Chloe. “Why hasn’t your mom remarried?”
“You have to date to find someone to marry.”
“She doesn’t date?”
“Ew!”
That had Emma laughing. “Moms can’t have sex, is that it?”
“I don’t even want to think of my mother having sex with my father back when he was alive.”
“Boys and their mothers,” she said. “I bet Chloe encourages her to get out.”
Another picture, this one of Gio and his mother dancing.
“My parents had the kind of love that most people can only dream about. I wouldn’t be surprised if my mother never puts herself out there again. Besides, she’s spent all her time raising us, keeping the restaurant going, and meddling in our lives, trying to get everyone married.”
A few more pictures in and Gio was standing beside one of the bridesmaids. Italian, from what Emma could tell. A little shorter than him, beautiful, young. She was laughing, with her hand on his chest.
“This looks cozy,” Emma said. “Your mother’s matchmaking attempt?” she asked as she turned the phone his way.
He glanced at the picture. “No, no. That’s Salena. Chloe’s best friend. Someone we’ve known forever.”
“She’s gorgeous.” Emma couldn’t help but wonder if she and Gio had ever dated.
“She knows it, too.”
“Conceited?”
“I wouldn’t say that. Very self-aware.” He glanced at Emma. “No.”
“No what?”
“We never dated.”
“Did I ask?”
“You weren’t curious?”
Emma tilted her head to the side, found another picture of the two of them. “Well . . .”
Gio laughed. “Once, in junior high, there was a party at a mutual friend’s. Chloe wasn’t there, I don’t remember why . . . Anyway . . . someone brought out a bottle. There may have been some underaged drinking. Spin the bottle was introduced.”