“Wow. That’s big. Congrats. I know you always wanted to own a wedding business.”
He remembered that? Ashley swallowed and set her sandwich down, wiping her hands with a napkin. “Thanks. And yes, it’s exciting, but also a bit nerve wracking. There’s just a lot riding on …”
Yeah, she definitely shouldn’t tell him that.
“On what?” Derek polished off the rest of his burger and leaned back on his hands, finally turning his head to look at her.
Tiny wings flapped in her gut, tickling her insides. “Oh, um, on your wedding, actually.”
“How’s that?”
“My boss said if I prove that I can successfully handle a last-minute, upscale event like your wedding, then he’d sell me the business. Otherwise, it might go to his niece.”
Derek was quiet for a moment. The shadow of flames from the bonfire several feet away danced across his face. “Sorry.” He whispered the word, so she had to lean in to hear. “That it’s so last minute.”
And here was her chance to dig in, to learn more about him and Claire, what made them tick. What he loved about her. Why they worked. And why they were in such a hurry to get married.
Here, in the quiet, all she had to do was ask.
But did she really want to know? Maybe they had a very private reason for the rush—one that would become evident in less than nine months. Hadn’t Claire mentioned having a fairly traditional family?
The thought made Ashley queasy.
Straightening, she tugged off the shirt he’d loaned her, folding it in half and gently setting it back in his lap. “It’s my job to make your day perfect, no matter what. I just want you both to be happy.”
And what about you?
But just like she always did when the voice in her head got brave enough to speak up, Ashley shoved the thought away into the distant corners of her heart where she wouldn’t have time to really chew on it.
Chapter 4
There was nothing like being underground, away from all the stress and noise. Here, in this cool cellar cut into the side of a hill, Derek allowed peace to fill his lungs for the first time since he’d arrived back home.
He ran his fingers along the strong wood of a nearby barrel and inhaled the damp, earthy scent of his surroundings.
“You look happy, Boss.” Mateo, his cellar master, came up beside him. Though a foot shorter than Derek in height, his broad shoulders and strong back more than made up for it. “Good to be home, eh?”
“It is.” Good to be home … and away from wedding planning.
Away from Ashley.
If yesterday’s meeting and subsequent dinner on the beach were any indication, he’d be best off leaving the planning to her. By herself. Without him. Because somehow, despite all his reservations, she’d needled her way past his defenses—and he couldn’t let that happen again.
“Boss?”
“Yes?” Derek shook himself from the memory of Ashley sitting on the sand snuggled in his shirt. Even this morning, the thing had still smelled like some sort of tropical fruit.
“I asked if there was anything I could do for you.” Mateo’s bushy eyebrows came together like two caterpillars crawling close.
A shout echoed from the back of the underground enclosure—probably some cellar rats hard at work.
“I wanted to chat with you about our barrels.” Derek rapped his knuckles against the one to his left. “I’d like to ask Donovan about crafting us some made from Limousin.”
“That’s a European oak, right?”
“Yes, and it has a wider, looser grain. The vineyard where I interned used it for their chardonnay and cognac, and frankly, it was the best of both I’ve ever tasted.”
Mateo scratched behind his ear. “I can see what kind of pricing he’d give us on those. How many would you want?”
Though the partnership with Claire’s vineyard would provide extra resources, Derek needed to conserve in the meantime. “Let’s see what price he comes back with and then decide.”
“You got it.”
“And one more—”
“Derek, there you are.”
He turned to find his youngest sister, Heather, behind them. Wisps of hair fell from her brown ponytail, and she seemed a bit out of breath.
“Everything okay?”
“Dad and Nancy just got home from his doctor’s appointment.” She crossed her arms. “They want to talk with us.”
“Right now?” If Dad was interrupting the workday, that didn’t bode well for their news.
“Yeah.”
Mateo gripped Derek’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’ll be here until six if you need to talk some more. Stay happy, okay, Boss?”
Derek forced a weak smile as he followed Heather out into the bright sunlight. Happy. Right. What was happiness, anyway?
“I just want you both to be happy.”
Ashley’s voice floated back to him on the breeze as he trudged with his sister through the vineyard toward the house. The fact Ashley could wish him well meant she felt nothing but friendship for him—if even that.
That was good. Because knowing the truth meant he could be happy with Claire.
Maybe just not as happy as he would have been with someone he loved. But then again, look at his parents. They’d loved each other once upon a time, and then his mom had left, never to be heard from again.
Yeah, happiness was not a realistic goal for his life, and he was better off for it.
“Why do you think they need to talk to us?” Derek caught up to Heather, who’d strode ahead as if ants bit at her heels.
Heather rubbed the edge of her eyes as she turned to him. She looked tired, but being a single working mom of a four-year-old was bound to be exhausting. “Not sure. But their moods didn’t seem to indicate good news.”
He picked up the pace as well, and soon they arrived at the house and headed inside. While Claire’s family home was a veritable castle, the Campbells’ residence smacked more of a homey vibe, with a faux bearskin rug covering the wood floor and a comfortable but worn microfiber couch and loveseat draped in
