Awakened (Intimate Relations) (29 page)

Marc shook hands with Ben and Jake while Mandy got hugs from both Kaz and Lola. Why he’d thought he could actually stay at home this weekend and then go into his office and work once JD Stirling arrived with his HRD dog was beyond Marc, but it had taken Mandy to convince him that he really needed to be on scene, at least for the first few days.

Ted was already in Healdsburg. He’d found a guest house on a neighboring property for rent so that JD and Bones would be able to stay close to everything. Ted had spent last night in the apartment over the tasting room. He’d wanted to be on-site in order to make sure everything was signed and cleared with Jeb Barton and their use of the dog on his property, and a portable restroom brought on-site for the dog’s handler and the potential recovery team. Sheriff’s deputy Jerry Russo was due back from vacation today. Marc expected to see him at some point once they started work tomorrow afternoon. JD’s plane was due in before noon. He’d told Ted he’d like to go out to the site and let Bones sniff around, that the dog would need a chance to burn off excess energy after being kenneled while on the flight.

There was definitely a lot of interest in Marc’s search, though nothing had officially been made public. He was overwhelmingly grateful that Ted was up there handling the details, though Theo had been noticeably grumpy when Marc called him this morning. He wasn’t very happy that his roommate was gone.

Marc had told him to feel free to close up shop at the office, bring his laptop, and come to the wine country, that he could stay in the tasting room apartment with Ted if they’d reached a point in their relationship where sharing a bed was okay. If not, and if that’s what Ted preferred, Marc would arrange for rooms in town for one or both of them.

He had a feeling Theo might actually beat him there, and as long as he had his laptop, he could deal with any problems that might arise. Besides, Ben was staying in San Francisco to keep an eye on things, and he and Lola could handle almost anything that might need handling.

So that was Ted, Theo, Ben, and Lola, all accounted for. His mind was spinning. There was so much going on, and he didn’t want to forget anything. Which reminded him … “Jake, you and Kaz are going to keep tabs on the contractor, make sure they get your place the way you want it, right?”

“We’re on it,” Jake said. “The entire inside is free of striped wallpaper and that hideous pink paint. A huge improvement already. They’re working right now—the cabinets are done and they’re finishing up the kitchen floor today, putting in the new kitchen appliances tomorrow as soon as they’re delivered. It’s all supposed to be finished by Friday, so with any luck we’ll be heading north and staying at the hotel in Healdsburg so we can make certain everything is good to go for the wedding, which, in case you’ve forgotten, is exactly two weeks away.”

“Smartass.” Marc flipped him off. “Like you’d let anyone forget?”

“We’re not going anywhere until we shop for furniture.” Kaz squeezed Jake’s arm and Marc caught himself so he wouldn’t laugh. She looked like a little kid in a candy shop. “This will be the first time I’ve ever gotten to buy furniture for my own place. It’s so exciting. We’ve already picked out a bedroom set.”

“Priorities, ya know.” Jake’s smile was all for Kaz.

“Mandy and I saved the kitchen table and chairs if you want those.”

“Yes! I love that set. Like the new one, too, but that one has memories. Don’t need to take anything else, though. I’m looking forward to shopping.”

“That’s good. Means I get to keep the bed here, right?” Ben slipped an arm around Lola.

Kaz rolled her eyes. “I think you’ve probably marked that one as Benjamin Lowell territory by now, so yes, it’s all yours.”

They were all laughing when Marc kissed Kaz on the cheek, hugged Lola, and grabbed Mandy. “We’re outta here. We’ll pick up something for dinner once we get there, but at least the traffic should mostly be headed in the opposite direction.”

Their bags were already in the car, so Marc grabbed Mandy’s arm and tugged her toward the door.

Ben stopped Marc with a hand on his shoulder. There was no sign of laughter at all in his dark gray eyes. “You call us, okay? Let us know the minute something turns up.”

“I will.”

Ben hugged him. Ben usually wasn’t a hugger. Then Jake grabbed him in a tight hug. “We’re all holding the good thought for you, man. Hang tight.”

Marc nodded. He’d actually been holding on really well, putting the reason for this trip out of his mind. If he thought of all the shit he had to do, it was a lot easier to deal with exactly why they were headed to Dry Creek Valley. “Thanks. All of you. Thank you.”

Mandy took his hand and hurried him down the stairs. “Do you want me to drive?”

He thought about it for at least a second before handing over the key fob. “Thanks.”

*   *   *

He waited until they were well away from the house before pulling out a handkerchief and wiping his eyes. “I was doing okay until those two hugged me.”

Mandy reached across the console and stroked his thigh. “I thought that’s what did it. They both love you very much. I think this is hurting Jake and Ben more than either of them expected. They have such a crappy relationship with their own mother, and you actually had a mom who loved you, but she was taken away from you. It’s got to cause all sorts of convoluted feelings in those two.”

“I hadn’t thought of it from that angle, but you could be right.” He leaned his head against the seat rest. “The really weird thing is, I have such mixed feelings about finding her. I realized that today. If we find her remains, I have to accept that she’s really dead, that she’s not going to come back. The thing is, over the years, as much as I hated her, I used to have fantasies of her showing up one day, telling me it was all a horrible mistake, that she loved me and wanted to spend time with me. Wanted to make up for all the years we’d lost.”

He thought about those years—most of his life, in fact—when he’d believed she’d abandoned him, that money had meant more to her than the child who loved her. It hurt now, to know that was all a lie—one he’d believed without question. On the other hand, finding out what had really happened had allowed him to reclaim her love. Rationally, he’d accepted all along that she wasn’t coming back, but he’d never expected to have this feeling, this overwhelming sense of his mother’s love. Not ever.

“Sometimes I’d imagine telling her to get lost,” he said. “I’d think of all the horrible things I could say when she came back, that I hated her and didn’t need her.” He’d never really meant it, but damn, remembering that now made him feel like such a jerk. She’d been dead, buried on that lonely hillside, and he’d been thinking of her out living the high life, forgetting him entirely.

And hating her for it.

He turned and gazed at Mandy, the one true constant in his life. He’d never doubted her love, not since that night when they’d made love for the first time. “The thing is,” he said, wishing things could be different, knowing they never would, “I never really hated her. I just missed her so damned much. I think I always will.”

*   *   *

He was asleep before they got through San Rafael. Mandy wasn’t the least bit surprised. He’d been restless almost every night over the past week, wandering from her room into his where she’d find him at his computer, working on a new program. She thought it was most likely busywork to keep his mind off the chaos that defined his life right now.

They’d had regular updates on his father, the fact he was still in that jail in Tijuana, though on the last update they’d learned that the Mexican government was moving forward with deportation proceedings against Steven Reed. Sonoma County was sending a deputy to the border to pick him up when he crossed—an official from Tijuana would hand him over. He’d walk across the bridge where he’d be met by a sheriff’s deputy who would handcuff him and put him in the van that would bring him north. As far as Marc knew, it could happen at any time.

They’d all agreed they liked it better when he was locked up in that Tijuana jail.

Traffic was heavy but smooth, the bulk of the vehicles moving in the opposite direction from them, flowing south as the weekend tourists headed home to the city. Even so, it was almost five when Mandy turned off of the freeway into Healdsburg, pulled into the parking lot in front of the Mexican restaurant, and called Cassie.

Marc woke up, blinking, visibly surprised he’d slept the entire trip. He sat straighter in the seat, stretched his back and arms as much as the space would allow, and then leaned against the door and watched Mandy as she and Cassie talked. After a couple of minutes, Mandy ended the call.

“C’mon. We’re picking up dinner for the crew. Cassie’s been in the tasting room all day, Nate just got out of the shower, and Ted and Theo are sitting on their front porch drinking wine. We’re the only ones who haven’t made it in time for happy hour.”

“Okay.” He unbuckled his seatbelt, got out of the car, and followed Mandy. They’d done this so often, there was no need to even ask what everyone wanted. Except … “What are we getting for Ted and Theo?”

“I heard Cassie ask them, and Theo said whatever was good, and a lot of it.”

“Sounds like Theo.” He opened the door for her and followed her inside. The woman working the counter recognized them and smiled.

Marc waited beside Mandy while she easily rattled off their order. “You sound as if you’ve done this before,” he said, teasing her. He paid the cashier, and then the two of them stepped back outside and sat at a picnic table in front of the restaurant to wait for the food.

Marc suddenly sat up straighter. “Damn it! I swear that silver Lexus that just went by was my father’s car. And it looked like my father driving. He’s still supposed to be in jail.”

“Call the sheriff’s office.”

“Good idea.” He placed the call while they waited. Mandy realized she was sitting there tapping her foot, but all that nervous energy had to go somewhere. After a couple of minutes, Marc got off the phone.

“They’re sending a guy down to pick him up late Tuesday afternoon. He’s still locked up.”

“I’m glad. Thinking of him running around loose is enough to give me a headache.”

“You and me both.” He glanced up as the waitress walked out with a number of bags looped over her arms.

Mandy grabbed as many as she could while Marc took the rest. This time he drove, so Mandy sat back and enjoyed the ride. With luck, they’d have answers sooner rather than later. It was the best they could hope for.

*   *   *

They moved to the patio behind the house, spread the containers of tacos, rice, beans, chili rellenos, enchiladas, salsa, chips, guacamole, and a platter of heated flour tortillas out on the big picnic table and dug in. Marc took the glass of wine Nate handed to him, held it to the light and then took a sip.

“What is this?” He picked up the bottle, but there was no label, merely a barrel number and a symbol. “It’s absolutely delicious.” He glanced from Nate to Cassie, who had a devilish grin on her face.

“That’s a field blend red from the Mac and Melinda block, the first I’ve made since you deeded it over to me for our wedding gift.”

“It’s amazing. I bet your dad had something to do with this.”

Cassie blinked away tears. “I like to think so. And Mom, too. I felt them so close when I was making the wine, checking the barrel. We only made one barrel of it—twenty-five cases. The rest of the grapes went into Intimate wines, but I felt like I really needed to keep the Tangled Vines label alive.”

“If this is the kind of wine you’re going to make with it, I’m glad you did.” He glanced from Nate to Cassie and nodded. “Your parents must be so proud of you, Cassie. This is truly exquisite wine. Do you have it in the tasting room?”

Cassie shrugged. “It didn’t seem right. It’s your winery and your tasting room.”

“C’mon, Cassie.” He took another sip. “You’re doing all the work. Theo?”

“Yessir?”

Theo looked more relaxed and happier than Marc could remember. He was positive he had Ted to thank for that. “Is there a simple way to figure out accounting so we can separate out Tangled Vines and Intimate Wines without creating a nightmare for the tasting room staff?”

“Easy enough. We just designate a key on the register to denote which winery gets the sale. Eventually I want to have barcodes on the labels, and that would simplify things even further.”

“For now we could do it with stickers, couldn’t we? That way we can print our own for small lots, and…”

Mandy reached over and took his hand. Gently squeezed his fingers and smiled at him.

He stopped talking and shook his head. Laughed quietly at himself. “Sorry. I’m doing it again. When I have things I don’t want to think about or talk about, I start planning business stuff or creating software. Don’t have my computer, so I have to turn a quiet respite from work into … uh … work.”

“S’okay,” Cassie said. “We live on a vineyard and work in a winery. Life around here essentially is work, but we love it. And thank you. We’ll figure out a system that’s easy enough to use in the tasting room, but I like the sticker barcodes just fine.”

“Thank you for getting me out of that one.” He saluted Cassie with his glass, sipped the perfect red wine, and held tightly to Mandy’s hand, while conversation flowed around them. He thought about the changes in his life since the day he’d decided to buy the Tangled Vines winery and vineyards, and that led to a memory of his mother sitting on the back deck at their Marin home, staring off in the distance with a glass of red wine in her hand.

What was she thinking all those years ago?

He’d been too young to understand, but he knew she hadn’t been happy. He remembered an aura of sadness around her; after she left he figured it was because she didn’t want him. Not true at all, if his dreams could be believed.

He glanced toward the dam, the huge earthen wall looming over this end of the valley, and wondered when they’d find her. He had no doubt they would find her. She’d drawn him here almost as if she’d personally asked him to search for her. He was doing the best he could, and with Mandy beside him, he felt that he could do anything. It was all coming together, here, this week.