“You’re driving?” Cos said as I put the key in the engine.
“The boat? Sure,” I said. “But not the ship. That one is all yours,” I teased.
There had never been any question as to who would be Grado’s next proprietor. Our parents had worried about it being an issue, but to us, it was always Cos, hands down. Only one person could do what Mom and Dad had done, pulling us all together—and sometimes back from the brink of an all-out family war—when there were disagreements. Even-keeled, patient, and now, with Brooke, as confident as ever, Cosimo was perfect for the position.
“Thanks,” he said dryly as Marco unmoored us from the dock.
It was the first time we’d be taking the boat out together, and after one hell of a busy summer, this also felt like the perfect day to unwind, with Labor Day weekend behind us and harvest just around the corner.
“Not sure about the VIP part of these tours,” I said to Brooke. “Or why people are paying so much to spend a few hours with us.”
“Speak for yourself.” Marco opened a bottle of beer, handed it to his date, and then opened his own. I tried hard, but failed, not to roll my eyes at how attentive he was being to her. A sure sign this was early stages and wouldn’t last.
Marco’s attention typically didn’t last long with any woman.
“I agree,” Thayle said, plopping herself onto the seat closest to me as we made our way out to the open water. “In fact, I talked a woman out of a tour yesterday. Told her if you were the only brother left, it totally wasn’t worth it.”
Luckily, I was wearing sunglasses. As my sister’s friend uncrossed her legs to lean forward into the cooler, I’m sure my gaze held for too long. It had been bad enough seeing her from time to time with Min. But since she started working at Grado, my life had been hell.
Here Cos thought he’d been alone in his battle against the “can’t touch that girl” demons. If only he knew. But no one did, and no one ever would. Thayle was like a second sister, and for Min’s sake, and Grado’s too, she’d stay that way.
“Did you really?” I asked, not believing her but asking anyway.
“Yeah,” she said, thanking Cos, who’d handed her the bottle opener. “The woman was like, ‘I’m looking at that VIP tour thing. My sister’s birthday is the second weekend in October. That could be a really cool surprise. Do you have any openings? I heard it books up quick.”
“Who did she hear that from?” Brooke asked. “It’s so new, I’m thrilled to hear word of mouth already doing its thing.”
“I asked her that.” Thayle smiled, and I wondered, as I did often, how a girl with such a crappy childhood, with all the odds stacked against her, could stay so pure. Giving. Kind. Never a bad word to say about anyone. “Because I knew you’d want to know.”
And smart too.
“Must have been my brilliant marketing campaign,” Brooke said, smiling at Cosimo as if to say,See? You did good by bringing me on board. As if everyone, most especially my brother, didn’t already know that. She was a gem. For Grado, and more importantly, for Cos.
“Not that your marketing campaign isn’t brilliant,” Thayle hedged, “but she actually heard it from Marco. He’d apparently been talking it up when she and her friends did a tasting in the Barn. They’d come over to the Cellar to just check things out.”
Marco waited for Brooke to praise him, which she did. Brooke was so indulgent with my brother it made me laugh. She credited him with helping bring her and Cos together, and I had to admit that he, by basically forcing Cos to lay his heart on the line, had helped speed things along, even if Cosimo had wanted to throttle Marco for interfering.
“Oh mygod.” Thayle pretended to nearly slide out of her chair. Looking closer, I could see she was eating one of Brooke’s specialties. Her dark-chocolate-covered strawberries had been a huge hit on the girls’ night she and Thayle had last week in the Wine Barn. They were talking about making it a regular thing to drum up business on Mondays, when we were slower. “I could eat these things all day.”
Look at the lake. Watch where you’re going. Ignore. Ignore.
Thayle’s legs now stuck out in the aisle as she pretended to be passed out from the sheer pleasure of Brooke’s strawberry. And honestly, I couldn’t deal. I’d known as soon as I’d heard Thayle was coming today, I’d be totally screwed. Luckily, boat outings with her, and Thayle wearing a bathing suit, were coming to an end with the cooler weather sneaking up on us. And not to mention harvest. It was good I’d been working like crazy. The distraction was exactly what I needed.
Bounding up, she left her seat and made her way to the back of the boat. At least now I could turn my head in all directions. Cos replaced her, sitting next to me. While the others were distracted, mapping out the first official VIP route, which Cos would take this weekend with a bachelorette party, he watched me. He reminded me of Dad, and I told him so.
“You always talk about being so different from Dad,” I said. “And you’re right, he is more outgoing and a better people person.”
“Loving this conversation so far,” my brother said dryly.
“But for a second, when you first sat down, I could have sworn you were him.”
Cos was unimpressed. “We do look alike.”
“True. But it’s more than that.”
Cos took a sip of his beer, saying nothing.
“We always knew you’d take over. But I think...I think Italy was a good idea. Mom was right. Them getting out of Dodge helped you settle in.”