“But you were annoyed with me on Saturday.”
He didn’t deny it.
Finally, after an awkward silence, Cosimo nodded to the phone in my hand. “You must have looked down fifty times in the last ten minutes.”
Without thinking, I brought the phone up and glanced at the screen again. Though I didn’t owe him an explanation, I felt like we’d entered into a mini truce this morning. So I gave him one anyway.
“A friend of mine is on her way home. She’s supposed to text me when she gets there, that she’s safe.”
“Is she sixteen?”
“No. Twenty-nine.”
“Did she just get her license last week?”
I made a face. “No.” I kept thesmart-assto myself. “She’s actually being driven back into the city. And probably won’t get there for another three hours.”
“I don’t get it.”
Neither did anyone else, which was precisely why I should have kept my mouth closed. Too late now.
“It’s just...a thing with me. My mother stressed out whenever I traveled. Still does. And I have to text her when I arrive. I sort of inherited her anxiety in this area.”
His arms crossed. “You’re saying that you know your friend, who’s being driven by a professional driver, is still three hours away from her destination, and that’s why you keep looking at your phone? Because you’re nervous for her safety?”
God, it sounded so dumb. I shrugged. “Guilty as charged.”
I waited for his derisive laughter or sneer. From a guy like him, it was inevitable.
Instead, his expression softened. “That’s thoughtful. If not incredibly odd.”
“Show me one person who isn’t odd in some way, and I’ll show you...”
He waited, but there was nothing else in my brain.
“You’ll show me?” he prompted.
“So that’s another thing about me. I’m terrible at analogies.”
It was hard to tell behind those dark glasses, but he was focused on me, and he wasn’t frowning or smirking or otherwise seeming disgusted by me, so it seemed like maybe we had turned a corner a little bit. In fact, he stared at me for so long, I had to remember my confidence training. Do not look away. Do not fidget. Chin up, shoulders squared.
“You’re a strange one, Brooke Ellis. Come on, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover still.”
I followed him and pretended my name rolling off his lips didn’t make my heart skip a bit in my chest. Whatever good pretending did me. Another thing I was not good at? Lying to myself.
CHAPTERTEN
cosimo
Despite the factthat I should have been calling an entomologist about lanternflies or talking to Marco about the marketing director problem on our doorstep, I was giving a damn tour. But after having been skewered by Neo Monday night for treating Brooke like shit, I now felt compelled to make some sort of effort with her. I’d almost felt badly enough to seek her out yesterday, actually.
Obviously, I hadn’t, but I knew Neo was right. Not that I’d admit it to my brother, but the stress of fully taking over had finally caught up to me. I refused to let my parents down. They had set the bar high, working themselves to the bone building this place into what it was today. They’d definitely earned their retirement. The transition had been in the works for a long time, years really, and I knew this trip to Italy was as symbolic as it was rejuvenating. My parents had as hard a time walking away as my siblings and I were having adjusting to this new normal. So they decided their retirement trip would no longer wait. It was now or never.
And now we were on our own.
“You own all of this?” Brooke asked as we reached the edge of the lawn overlooking the entirety of Grado Valley Vineyards.
“My family does,” I clarified. “My parents just recently retired. My siblings and I are all part owners.”