Page 100 of My Grape Crush
Rhys takes a few seconds before replying, “If Dani’s cool, I’m cool.”
From the simmering intensity in his eyes, I know tonight when he touches me, it will be fierce and unforgiving.
I’m cool with that.
Chapter Thirty-Two
RHYS
It still feelslike summer in Osoyoos if heat is the benchmark. But the leaves on the trees have shifted into bright fall yellows and reds, and the orchards heave with apples. With the zoo of cars and families packed up and gone home, Main Street feels like a ghost town. As we drive down the strip, I quietly tally all the businesses—the ones Dani and I will hit tomorrow during our apology tour. I owe Osoyoos and Evelyn that much.
Idling at a red light, Dani looks over. “What are you thinking of?”
I pop a few jellybeans from the bag in my lap, chewing thoughtfully. “How different it all feels.”
Dani’s hand drifts off the gearshift to scrub my bare knee. “Because you feel different.”
Isn’t that the truth? Nothing plays out guaranteed is the lesson I've learned from this trip. From misplaced bitterness (Sawyer) to delusional ex-bosses (Brett) to woefully off-the-mark sisterly obsessions (Amelia), situations—and yes, Sawyer, the optics—can change if I allow them to.
And change me in the process.
“Oh, hey, I forgot to mention, Bettina called when we stopped at the fruit stand,” I say. “She’s happy to help out once we get up and running.”
“Really?” Dani is downright shocked by this news. “She recovered from the trauma?”
Chic and stark in a black Helmut Lang dress, dark bangs cut viciously straight, Bettina sat stony-faced in her office when Dani and I dropped by last week to share our plans. For years, I thought nothing could dent Bettina’s Teflon coat. But her blazing blue eyes misted over, and her Bavarian accent shrilled with despair.
“Rhys!” she wailed. “You’ve worked so hard to get here. You can’t quit now. Please reconsider.”
I suspect the anticipated drop in her income fueled her unusual display of emotion because I’ve actually worked very little. The fundamental thing I want to change.
Together with Dani.
“We have to tell Evelyn at dinner tonight,” Dani says, mirroring my thoughts. “I can’t pull off Divine Debauchery with this hanging over my head.”
The party to end all parties continues, despite Gail’s protests and the community upheaval. Calvin lands in three days. Gia and JC, tomorrow afternoon. Evelyn insisted I attend as part curiosity, part adhering to one point of my mostly unfulfilled contract. But also to prove she stands behind me and Dani one hundred percent.
Gotta love that lady.
“You know she’ll be cool, right?”
Dani mulls that over with a sound of uncertainty. “I hope so.”
“What else is going on in your mind?” I can tell from how she bites her bottom lip that she hasn’t told me everything. I’m catching on to the ways of my girl.
The light turns green, and she guns it. “The day you arrived, we chatted in my office, and she said all the good employees leave her eventually, and that I would too.” She sighs, a little wistful. “Not that I expected to work here forever.”
“Judging from that,” I say, “she won’t be too shocked.”
She sneaks a quick look at me. “I feel like I owe her indefinitely. She’s afforded us so much grace.”
If there is such a thing as a one-woman battle, Evelyn stormed the goddamn Bastille. She took all the haters to task, claiming that every woman and man has fantasies, and why string me up for mine? Especially in the form of personal, vindictive slander. How would they feel if their private thoughts were aired to the world?
Apparently, most of the Osoyoos citizens sympathized.
The truth will unfold tomorrow when we go door to door.
All I can do is show my utmost regret and pray they accept it. The bright spot is that the fangirls jumped ship weeks ago, disillusioned after I cut out and my feed went dark.
