“Yeah, blue cheese. I love that too. It’s really strong, though.”
“I know. Ever since I was little, I’ve always liked strong, salty things—even sardines!”
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“Wow,” David said approvingly. “My grandma likes sardines.”
Maddy sighed. “That’s good. I thought I was the only person in the world, but I’m glad there’s an old lady out there who likes them too.”
“Um-hm.”
She glanced over at David. He was lying with his hands crossed on his chest, and his eyes were closed. As she watched, he took a long, slow breath and then another. “Are you falling asleep?” she asked, propping herself up on one elbow.
“Huh-mm.”
Maddy curled up and tucked her hands under her cheek. The grass was soft and the breeze felt lovely on her face. She closed her eyes too and, listening to David’s regular breathing beside her, fell asleep. 150
Chapter Seventeen
!
Mads,” Maddy’s father said, coming into the kitchen the next morning while Maddy was sitting half awake over her bagel and cream cheese.
“What?” She didn’t care how long she’d been in Napa—she still didn’t like 7 a.m. Her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail and she was wearing a dance the night away prom 2008 T-shirt and a pair of boxers with teddy bears on them.
Her dad poured himself a cup of coffee and, leaning an elbow on the counter, downed half of it in two gulps.
“Mom and I want you to have a break on your birthday—and David, too. So take Saturday off, okay?
No working—don’t even try to sneak in a little painting. And tell David the same goes for him.”
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“Aw, thanks, Daddy.” Maddy rose from the table and gave him a hug. He squeezed her back and then headed for the porch. At the door, he turned.
“Oh, and we’re going to have a birthday dinner, here at the vineyard, for everyone.”
“That’ll be great. Brian will love it.”
“Well, I hope you love it. It’s not his birthday.”
Maddy rolled her eyes. “I know, Dad.” He waved and Maddy heard him clattering down the porch steps. Maddy stuffed the rest of the bagel into her mouth and, after a quick glance around, took a swig of orange juice straight from the carton. Saturday would be great, she decided as she climbed the stairs for her shower. A whole day with Brian. The idea sounded good, but she didn’t feel that thrill of excitement in the pit of her stomach when she thought about it. She just felt sort of . . . eh. Napa had really taken over her brain, she mused, staring idly into the bathroom mirror. She was getting an excellent tan, though.
! ! !
“Guess what?” Maddy said to David a couple hours later. All around them, crystal sparkled on glass shelves of Standish & Sons—the biggest glassware dealer in wine country—dramatically displayed against dark blue walls. David hadn’t even moaned about shopping when Maddy 152
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told him they needed to go pick out wineglasses for the tasting room.
“What?” He poured a little Perrier into a wineglass they were testing. A dozen different glasses were spread out on the sleek black table in front of them, all shapes, heights, and sizes. “Look, this is what you’re supposed to do with wine,” he said. He stuck his nose into the glass as far as it would go and inhaled deeply. “Ah, what a bouquet,” he murmured in a fake French accent.
“Mmm, le scent du Perrier,” Maddy teased. She poured some water into another glass and held it up. “This one is so sparkly.” She admired the sparks of blue, orange, and purple shooting from the crystal as she twisted it in a beam of sunlight. “I like the shape of these big ones. What do you think?”
David glanced over at the huge balloon glass. “I could take a bath in that one. How about this?” He held up a smaller, more slender version.
“Okay,” Maddy said doubtfully. “A little boring. How about something more edgy? Anyway, don’t you want to know what I was going to say?”
“Yeah, what?” He set the glass down and turned to her.
“Well, my dad told me to tell you that we get my birthday off on Saturday.” Maddy grinned, anticipating his reaction.
“Woo-hoo!” he hooted. “Wow! No work for an entire 153
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day!” He gave her a little hug, which left her breathless.
“I’m actually really excited.”
Maddy grinned, her fingertips tingling a little. “Me too. We’re such nerds—all worked up about one day with no work.”
“I know.”
They kept grinning at each other. Maddy had to force herself not to hug him again.
“Oh, and I almost forgot,” she went on once she had regained control of her hands, “there’s going to be a birthday dinner, too.”
“Cool! Who’s cooking?” David took a sip of Perrier out of a champagne flute that had somehow wound up on their table.
Maddy set aside eight glasses she didn’t like and lined up four possibilities in front of them. “I don’t know—
probably my mom. I think it’ll be just us and your dad and my parents and—” She shut her mouth abruptly. For some reason, she didn’t feel like mentioning that Brian would be there also. She held up her favorite wineglass instead. “Okay, what do you think of this one? It’s gorgeous, perfectly proportioned, and not horribly expensive.”
David nodded. “Good. Let’s do it. Hey, I could give your mom some suggestions for your birthday dinner. I have this amazing torte recipe we could do with fresh raspberries. And I know the best place to set up the out154
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door table, too.” He led the way to the counter at the front, chattering about plans, while a wave of guilt swept over Maddy.
Back in the truck, she made her decision. It was wrong not to mention that Brian was coming to visit, though wrong to David or Brian, she didn’t know. David clicked on the radio and made a face as country music blared from the speakers. “Wow, my dad must have been driving last,” he shouted over the twanging guitars. Keeping one eye on the road, he punched in an oldies station. “I think this is the best we’re going to get out here,” he said, tapping in time to “Respect.”
Maddy suddenly reached over and clicked Aretha off in the middle of “find out what it means to me. ” David glanced over.
“What, you don’t like Aretha?”
“No, I love Aretha. Um, hey!” She tapped her cheek as if something had just occurred to her. “I totally forgot to tell you—Brian’s coming for a visit . . . on Saturday.”
She faltered a little at the end and watched his face nervously. For an infinitesimal moment, his hands tightened on the steering wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white. Then he relaxed them with what seemed like a conscious effort. “Oh, yeah?” he said.
“Yeah.”
The silence in the truck felt like it was expanding, 155
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pressing against the windshield, bulging into the back of the cab. They both stared straight ahead for a few miles. This is stupid, Maddy thought. She spoke aloud. “So, won’t it be exciting when they deliver the furniture?”
David stared straight ahead as he drove. “Yeah.” His voice sounded hollow. More silence. Maddy was starting to feel a little pissed. He’d known all along that she had a boyfriend. They’d definitely had a great time working and hanging out together, but she needed to focus on Brian for a while now. It had been so long since they’d seen each other, and judging from their last phone call, they were in desperate need of quality time. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that David was a little jealous. Well, she thought, he’s just going to have to deal with it.
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Chapter Eighteen
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From her perch on the old wooden porch swing on Saturday afternoon, Maddy could hear the purr of Brian’s XTerra long before she actually saw it. She felt her pulse increase immediately but forced herself to sit still, gently pushing the swing back and forth with one bare toe. The sun was ferociously hot, but Maddy had found that if she didn’t move too much and stayed in the shade, she could manage not to sweat through a new shirt every half hour she spent outside. The vineyard was very quiet, but she could hear all the sounds around her distinctly: Brian’s motor, the squee-squee of the swing chains, and the faint ocean-wave rustle of the wind in the tops of the trees.