Chaos Among the Vines (Romancing the Vine Book 2) Read online

  “You and Ava can stay to finish. I’ll get started on the dishes.”

  “I haven’t contributed anything to this morning. I’ll take care of the kitchen,” Avalon offered.

  Penny pasted the phoniest smile on her face that Avalon had ever seen. “Oh, then I’ll just apologize right now. I am a messy cook. But if you’re offering to clean up after me, I won’t deny you the task. More time for me to freshen up your room.” She pushed her chair from the table, rose, and huddled against Will’s side.

  “Penny, what are you doing?” He pressed his hand to her shoulder, stepping away hastily.

  She widened her eyes, the picture of innocence. “Nothing. Just trying to be helpful.”

  Mom bumped against Penny’s other shoulder as she brushed past her, carrying a stack of dishes toward the French doors on the other side of the terrace. “Oops, sorry.”

  Penny teetered precariously for an instant, until Will balanced her with an arm around her waist. Avalon stared after her mother, who sashayed her way across the flagstones.

  “Are you coming, Will?” she called back.

  Will eased Penny upright, then turned her toward the house as well, nudging her away. “I think you know where to find everything you need. Let me know if you need help.”

  “I’m sure I can manage just fine.” She stroked his bicep, shooting a cunning look over her shoulder. “I’ll let you know if I need any big muscles.” She flounced away.

  Leaving Avalon staring after her, wondering what the heck the tiny woman was trying to prove.

  “Meet us in the office once you’re done in the kitchen?” he asked.

  “Yeah. I should be down there in twenty minutes.”

  Will grunted. “You haven’t looked in the kitchen yet, have you? Penny’s a messy cook. Probably better to say thirty.”

  He’d never seen her clean. Like every other aspect of her life, Avalon had an efficient system that always worked. “I’ll be there in twenty.”

  With a shrug and a smirk, Will left her, disappearing into the house.

  She gulped the rest of her coffee, stacked her own dishes, and gathered the remaining food. She ran a timetable in her mind as she headed toward the open doors.

  She turned left toward the kitchen and jolted to a standstill in the doorway. Messy honestly didn’t begin to describe the disarray that Penny left behind as a cook. Trash littered every countertop. Flour splashed on the upper cabinets, and a trail of liquid led from the island to the stove. Ingredients hadn’t been cleared away, there were eggshells on the floor, and dirty dishes piled next to the sink.

  Even the calendar hanging on the wall near the pantry had something sticky on it, partially obscuring the fact it was from three years ago and still opened to December.

  “What the—” Who cooks this way?

  Above her head, she thought she heard laughter. She summoned a quick mental map of Will’s house, determining her bedroom was possibly directly above the kitchen. Was Penny laughing about the mess Avalon had volunteered to clean up?

  She should have agreed to Will’s time estimate. But she had a competitive streak and would do her best to meet her original allotment of twenty minutes. She’d start by wiping off the calendar then stowing it in a drawer.

  He’d never move forward if he remained mired in the past.

  Chapter 13

  Will had to admit, he was beginning to see progress in the organization Avalon was intent on forcing on him. She’d only been at the vineyard for a week and already, he’d found extra time to work in among his vines. He liked being in the sun, feeling the leaves between his fingers, the dirt under his feet. A hundred times better than keeping his butt in a hard chair all day long.

  But he also enjoyed the time spent with Ava. The first few days, she’d simply shadowed him from spot to spot, making notes on some app on her phone or her tablet. Asking tons of questions about the how and why of the operation. Although the list of what she wanted to know was exhaustive, he admired her keen mind. It seemed as though the second he explained something, she’d grasped the concept. Which of course launched more inquiries.

  Sitting next to her in the office to start each morning was both torture and a gift. He needed to continue to remind himself she was here for the vineyard, not for him. He got to know her facial expressions quickly. When she bit the corner of her lip, it meant she had a question. It also led to an uncomfortable moment while he tamed his body’s reaction to the sight and his intense desire to lick the sting away. Sometimes her forehead creased and her eyes narrowed. He’d learned to recognize that as her take-him-to-task look. Always for some small organizational infraction. A couple of times, he’d deliberately done things he knew would elicit that response. Because even irritated, Ava was intriguing.

  Guin was a dream in the office. She’d learned her way around the workings of the farm quickly, and as promised, she’d hit the ground running on Monday. She was in the office by eight each morning, and rarely left the desk. She never took a smoke break, and he doubted she knew where the tasting room was.

  This morning, he sauntered into the office and found both women already at work.

  While Avalon prepared to spend time wandering around the bottling operation with her iPad and a stopwatch, Guin presented him with a piece of paper. “Last night I made a shopping list of things we need from town when you go today.”

  “What do I need two-way radios for?” He tapped his finger at the first item on her list.

  Ava stopped messing with chunky monster on her wrist and stared at Guin with a puzzled tilt to her head.

  “It’s a good way to stay in touch on those days when you have to be somewhere other than the office,” Guin explained as she placed a clean coffee filter in the machine.

  “Okay, I guess.” The next item on her list was a new coffeepot, which he agreed with one hundred percent. He continued reading. “Whoa, that’s an impressively wide assortment of office products. Paperclips, tape dispenser, stapler . . . don’t we have a stapler here?”

  “Not that I could find,” Guin answered as she hit the power button. The light didn’t come on, so she tapped it several times. It finally flared bright and burned steady.

  Ava snatched the sheet from his hand. “Guin, we discussed this. Ordering office supplies online saves time and money.”

  Guin’s reply was simply to point to the antiquated computer on her desk and shake her head.

  Will plucked the list from Guin’s hand and nearly ran from the office to his truck. It was the chicken’s way out, but they’d gone three rounds yesterday about auto-response messages for email. He didn’t want to sit through that kind of discussion again. The logic behind each of their arguments made sense, but Will had gotten breathless watching the rapid-fire conversation.

  “If you need anything, I have my phone.” He held aloft the small silver device, drawing a cute frown from Ava before he escaped the office.

  His first stop was the coffee shop, where he grabbed two to-go cups. His second stop was Drake’s office. “What’s up with your sister?” Will asked as he settled in the rickety wooden chair in front of Drake’s desk.

  Drake rolled his eyes as he pulled off the lid. “She’s Penny. Enough said.”

  “It got really weird at breakfast last Saturday.” Like she’d been trying to stake a claim on him in front of Ava. “What am I doing wrong that she isn’t getting the message? She isn’t ever going to be anything but your little sis to me. Kind of makes her my sister, and . . .” He shuddered.

  “Dude, she’s been crushing on you since high school.”

  “Fourteen years is a long time to carry a torch for someone. And I never encourage her.”

  “I’ve been hoping she’d see the light, but one of us is going to have to sit her down and have a chat with her. I nominate y
ou.” Drake leaned over the desk and tapped his index finger to Will’s forehead.

  Will ducked the jab. “Yeah, it’s a conversation I never wanted to have. But after the way she was this weekend, it’s unavoidable. On the other hand, she did an awesome job fixing up the spare rooms.” While Ava’s room could still be called spartan, Guin’s room had become a warm, cozy haven.

  “Here’s another conversation I know you don’t want to have.” Drake propped his arms on the desk and steepled his fingers under his chin. “I finished a review of your books.”

  Will clutched the edge of his chair, digging his nails into the wood. “What’s the damage?”

  “Not as bad as it could be, but worse than I’d hoped. Meg stole from you for three months. Man, I’m sorry I didn’t catch it sooner.” He slid a paper across the surface.

  Will picked it up and gasped as he located the bottom line. “How’d we miss twenty thousand dollars disappearing?”

  Drake drummed his fingers on the desk. “I’ve been thinking about that. She never delivered all the books together. She’d offered to bring them in on her way home to save me a trip out. But she’d show up without some of the items I needed.” His breath wheezed in when he paused and his chest rose sharply. A cue he was fighting off an asthma attack. “I just figured it was because things were so . . . disorganized . . . out there . . . Never guessed . . .”

  Will leaned forward, dismayed by the bluish hue of Drake’s lips. “Got your inhaler, buddy?”

  Drake wheezed out a laugh. “Got something . . . better.”

  He reached into his desk and pulled out a small black device. Dusky blue already darkened his fingernails. He pressed a button on the front and narrowed his eyes on it as he waited for the light. Raising the pen to his mouth, he closed his blue lips around it and inhaled. He held the vapor in his lungs a full thirty seconds then exhaled. A skunky, burnt popcorn odor assailed Will’s nostrils.

  “Medical marijuana,” Drake sighed out. “THC as a bronchodilator.”

  “What brought on this attack?” Will relaxed, pleased to see Drake’s color returning to normal.

  “This time I think anxiety.”

  Guilt riddled Will like Swiss cheese. If he’d paid better attention to his business, Meg would never have been able to rob him. And Drake wouldn’t suffer stress about missing it.

  “I don’t want you blaming yourself about not finding it. She was sneaky and I willingly gave her access to everything. I’m more to blame than anything.”

  Drake shrugged and took another hit off the vaporizer.

  Will downed a slug of coffee, the hot liquid scalding his tongue. “I know I fought it, but I’m glad you contacted On Time Management. I can already see a difference in our efficiency.”

  “Well, you would never have dropped by in the middle of the morning before, so Avalon must be making an impact.”

  Just thinking about the woman caused Will to shift in his chair. She was making an impact, all right. In more than one area of his life.

  When he didn’t say anything, Drake dragged his gaze up. His blue eyes were sharp, despite the drug seeping through his system. “You like her.”

  “No, I . . .” Will scrubbed his knuckles over his jaw. “What I really want is to set her inner chaotic free. She’s wound tighter than a clock, but I’m guessing she’d be incredible fun once she cuts loose. That’s my goal. To get her to let her hair down.” But that would be hard to do if he didn’t find a way to sneak past her rule-following rigidity.

  “Honestly, I can’t remember the last time a woman held your interest this way. You’ve been all about the vineyard, in your distinctively casual manner.”

  “She counterbalances me.”

  “Right, you’re interested in her because she balances you in business. Not because she has a terrific body, a killer smile, and legs for weeks.” Drake laughed, a completely wheeze free sound.

  Will’s turn to shrug. Dismissing the topic of Ava, he rose from the chair and pitched his now empty cup into the basket at the side of Drake’s desk. “Gotta run. I have a shopping list of supplies for the office. Guin has everything under control there, which is good. Ava has scheduled a ninety-minute tour of the vineyard for this afternoon. I’m to explain everything about growing grapes in the allotted time.” He finished with a laugh. “I guess I can try.”

  Stepping from Drake’s office, the bright sunlight temporarily blinded him. He fumbled his sunglasses from his pocket and was slipping them on when a voice assailed him.

  “William.” The gruff, strict tone drew everything in Will taut, setting him immediately on alert.

  He turned slowly. “Dad, what brings you to town?” Normally, the man could be found in his office, no lights on, staring out the window at the charred, lifeless vines that made up his property. Will might be disorganized, but his father suffered a far more serious malady . . . discouragement.

  Dad laid his hand on the hood of Will’s truck. “Nothing to do on the estate. Thought I’d come in for a cup of coffee.”

  With no cup in his hand, and the coffee shop three blocks away on the other side of the street, his father had obviously seen Will’s truck and come over to talk. Or harangue.

  “Well, enjoy.” Will spun around to head to the office supply store.

  “Don’t walk away from me, son.” The command was unmistakable.

  Will paused without turning, waiting for whatever came next in his dad’s litany of the trials and tribulations of Jared Bradford. This was one area of his life he should employ time management. Because his story never deviated. “What do you want, Dad?”

  “Is it wrong to want to spend a little time with my son?”

  Will pivoted, shoulders tense and arms crossed over his chest as he stared at the stranger in his dad’s body. “Not at all. But last time I saw you, you practically lost your mind. I tried to have a civil conversation with you and you just . . .” God, it had been horrible. Dad screaming and carrying on about how Will should be taking care of them, helping out with his vines, instead focusing on Rolling In The Clover.

  The episode made him rethink his instructions to Drake to find a way to discreetly buy Dad’s land. “You told me never to bother you again. Why the about-face?”

  Dad shoved himself right up in Will’s space. “Can’t a man change his mind? We’re family.” A sour whiff of wine blasted Will’s nostrils.

  Stomach turning, Will pushed right back into his father’s face. “I thought I was dead to you. Isn’t that what you said?”

  It was as if all the air puffed right out of his dad. He deflated before Will’s eyes. “I was wrong about that, son. You know times have been hard. I just need a second chance.”

  “Morning, Jared. Morning, Will,” Mrs. Abernathy greeted them warily as she walked past them on the sidewalk, heading into the hardware store she ran with her husband.

  Will’s cheeks tightened in a smile he didn’t feel and he touched his fingers to his forehead. Dad gave a terse nod. With a big wave and a tiny frown, she disappeared into her store, leaving them alone on an island of hurt feelings and anger.

  His dad wasn’t just talking about a second chance with his business, but with his family. A part of Will’s stoic resolve melted, the bit that forced him to treat his father like a business acquaintance he didn’t much care for. “What do you want from me, Dad? Want me to come to Sunday dinner? Sit on your front porch, drinking wine and shooting the shit? Would that make you happy?”

  Dad propped his meaty fists on his hips and stared over Will’s shoulder, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “I’d like to ask you not to press charges against Meg.”

  “What the—” Will slammed his mouth shut, grateful his eyes were hidden behind his dark glasses. “Dad, she stole money from me. I trusted her, and she made off with over twenty thousand dollars. A
nd she did it in three months.” Imagine what the damage would be if he hadn’t discovered it sooner.

  “She made a mistake. She couldn’t live on the paltry wage you pay her and she was desperate.”

  Eyes wide, Will did a slow count to five. “I pay her twice what you paid her when she worked for you. She made more than a living wage and worked far less than eight hours a day. She took advantage of me.”

  Dad’s face crumbled. “She said she was barely scraping by on the pitiful salary you paid her.”

  Hot sun beat down on Will’s head. “She lied. Tell me, Dad, have you checked your books? Was she stealing from you as well?”

  His mouth opened and closed like a fish on a hook. “I . . . Meg would never steal from me. She worked a long time for me. She wasn’t just an employee, she was like family.”

  “A fact destined to make her betrayal harsher.”

  Dad studied the sidewalk, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “You think she might have taken money from me as well?”

  Will nodded toward Drake’s office. “Talk to Drake. I’m sure he’ll be happy to help you figure it out.” And Will would ask his friend to bill the time to his personal account. It was the least he could do.

  “She wouldn’t do something like that to me,” Dad insisted.

  “You won’t know until you check it out.” Will shoved his hands in his back pockets. “I’ve got to get moving. I have an efficiency expert helping me get organized and she’s probably going to get after me for taking too long to run a couple of errands.”

  His father nodded, his forehead creased by a prodigious frown. Probably conducting a mental review of his finances. “Fine. Call your mother. She misses you.” He whipped around and stalked away, Will staring after him.

  Will sighed in frustration. He could have mentioned Dad had banned him from Clover Vines, which was why his mother missed him. Maybe he should have pointed out he wasn’t to blame for the breach between them.