“Who knows?”
“I asked many times what R&R wanted me to do with this space,” Raul said. “I was told to leave it. Keep the grapes growing and the landscape around the house alive.”
Emma passed Raul and picked up another handful of trash. “With the place vacant for nearly two years, I hope you brought your kids around to use the pool,” she said.
Raul straightened, glanced at her. “Uhm.”
“What a waste if you didn’t,” Gio said.
“Maybe a couple of times,” he admitted.
“Good,” Emma said.
Right before lunch they managed to find the bottom of the cellar floor. Cement, stained with all kinds of sin living in the corners.
“I have a friend who has a power washer,” Raul told them as they all stood around looking at the mess.
“That would be great,” Gio said.
“Is that something we need to buy?” Emma asked.
“No.”
“If we need to pay him to use it . . .”
“He’s a friend, Miss Emma. I let him borrow my things, I borrow his.”
Gio patted Raul on the back. “We appreciate it.”
They ate sitting on the front porch of the house, where the shade kept them a little cooler. For hours Gio hadn’t heard Emma say a peep about all the things she was facing. They were dirty and hot . . . and working their way to exhaustion.
Just like she’d asked.
Emma pointed to the pile of scrap metal. “Should we take that to the dump?”
“Scrap metal is worth money,” Gio told her.
“Enough to make a difference?” Emma asked.
He wasn’t sure. Gio had never taken a load like this to a recycling plant.
“I have a friend,” Raul said again between bites of his sandwich. “He has a truck. He takes a percentage of the load but takes care of it for you. Loads it. Unloads it.”
Gio glanced at Emma, gave her a thumbs-up.
“Sold.”
“He might have to come after his day job.”
Emma laughed, finished what was left in her water bottle, and jumped to her feet. “Whenever.”
“Shall we start on the winery?” Gio pointed to the production building.
Raul wadded up a napkin and stood. “Let’s go.”
“We really appreciate your help, Raul,” Emma said as they walked across the driveway.
“It’s my job, Miss Emma.”
She shook her head. “Technically, you’re my vigneron. Cleaning out old buildings does not fall into your job description.”
Raul tilted his head back and laughed. “No one has called me that. Foreman is a good enough title for me.”
Raul left briefly and returned with the power washer and said he didn’t need it back until Monday.
The utility truck was pulled out of the equipment barn and a whole new mess was unearthed.
Gio didn’t consider himself a mechanic. But he knew when an engine on a car didn’t sound right.
“Hey, Raul . . .”
The man smiled. “I have a friend . . .”
Emma laughed. “You have a lot of friends.”
“I’m a blessed man,” Raul told them.
Later that night, with the winery and cellar looking slightly better, but the property surrounding the buildings looking like the backyard of a thrift shop . . . Emma and Gio said goodbye to Raul, called it quits, and dove into the pool.
Emma sat on the steps, submerged up to her waist and leaning on her elbows. “There were a few times today that I had an opportunity to forget about everything that is going on.”
Gio swam over to her. “Me too. Hard work does that.”
She looked at him with a sad smile. “I’m really glad you’re here.”
He framed her body with his hands. “There is nowhere else I want to be.”
“Eventually you’ll have to go home.”
“That’s debatable,” he said.
She narrowed her eyes. “Hmm.”
“Let me worry about that.”
“Okay.”
Gio knelt in front of her in the pool and ran his hands up the sides of her body. “I have a very serious question for you.”
“You do?”
He found the string to her bikini top and played with it. “Why on earth are you wearing this in your private pool?”
Her smile told Gio he was asking the right questions.
“I’m not used to going skinny-dipping.”
He pulled the string and the top fell open. “Oops.”
They sat outside of the liver-ologist’s office inside the air-conditioned car with the engine running.
“That felt like a formality.” Gio said what he thought they were both thinking.
“He didn’t tell us anything we haven’t already heard.”
“Except that your MRI was approved.”
The reminder had Emma digging into her purse for her phone.
Gio put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot.
He listened to one side of the conversation as she booked the appointment. “Monday? Really? No . . . I thought I’d have to wait. Oh, okay. Yeah, no . . . that’s fine. Ten? Yeah.”
She disconnected the call. “That was easier than I thought.”
“We’ll have more answers on Monday.”
“I won’t hold my breath for the results on Monday. They said by Tuesday.”
“Monday MRI. And a week from Thursday your first phlebotomy—”
“Vampire treatment.” She was trying to find humor in what wasn’t funny.
Gio went along with it. “Your first vampire. Should I be concerned? I hear vampires are something women crave.”
“Considering the love bite on my right boob, I’d say you have nothing to worry about.”
He tried not to smile. “I am sorry about that.”
“No, you’re not.”
“No, I’m not.” Gio pulled into the hardware store parking lot. “When do we tell your family?”
“I don’t know. After the genetic test comes back, I guess. I’m not ready to deal with them.”
Gio pulled the car into a parking space and cut the engine. “You’re the boss.”
She looked up at the sign on the home improvement building. “If I’m the boss, then what are we doing here?”
“My brother and mom do the fancy Italian dinners. I am the boss of a barbeque. And you don’t have one.”
Emma smiled. “I like barbeque.”
Emma held the phone to her ear, keeping her tone low as she talked to Nicole. The conversation had started with Emma telling her best friend everything that was happening. There were questions and more tears and a whole lot of “What can I do?”
That’s when Emma explained that Giovanni was doing everything and that more people calling and asking about her health . . . questions she couldn’t answer . . . would make her anxiety and worry escalate.
“It wasn’t anything like this with Kyle. Gio and I’ve been working with each other. Meals, cleaning up . . . laundry. I don’t think I ever saw Kyle put a load of laundry into the washer. Ever.”
“Kyle was convenient. Gio is the real deal. They are not even on the same planet,” Nicole told her.