Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek) (27 page)

The message being left on her all-too-neglected answering machine was so faint, she couldn’t even make out the words…

* * * * *

“Hey, sis! Man, this is the longest we’ve ever gone without talking. I miss you! The honeymoon is going great. Vienna was amazing. So was Verona and Naples—hence our lack of calls all this time. It’s been an unbelievable few weeks. I swear, I should have planned for more time in that part of Europe; we’d spend a month just in Italy if we could.”

“Anyway, enough about us. Jonathan and I have been hearing all the titillating gossip from Xoey, which I’m assuming is the reason for the lack of calls on your part. We’re dying to hear more about you and this Luke fella so you better get ahold of us soon, sister-dear. Although Jonathan says he’ll settle for an email if you send a photo of Luke with it. The one Xoey took on her phone is way too blurry. It’s like the man didn’t know a camera was on him...”

*A car horn blares*

“Okay, okay, our ride is here. We’ve been in Greece all week; we’re in Santorini now wrapping up our trip. Remember, we’re flying back in on Valentine’s Day so don’t forget to pick us up from the airport. We have a bet going on whether you’ll actually remember to get us this time. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll actually check your voicemail this week.”

*Indistinct laughter in the background*

“Oh, by the way, oddest thing, I got a voicemail from Noah the other day. Something about a winery? I have no idea what he was talking about, and since I promised Jon I’d stop checking my phone for the rest of the trip do you think you could swing by Harold’s to see if he knows what’s up? Who knows, maybe it’ll fit in with my new grand plans in life—I’ll tell you more about that work epiphany when I’m home. See you soon. Love you.”

*click*

CHAPTER TEN

“SHOOT, WHAT’S WITH
all this beer? Where can I get some
chocolate
in this town?” boomed an obnoxiously loud man at the bar.

Dani gasped and dropped everything she was holding, almost taking out a waiter around the corner in her mad dash to the front. “Nice entrance,” she called out, laughing as she hurled herself into the awaiting arms of her one and only big brother. “Sheesh, you look like hell.”

Derek planted a big kiss on her forehead. “Aw, and I missed you too, sweets.”

She grinned, looking around. “Where’s Jonathan?”

“Exhausted from the flight. We got in really early. No worries, he’ll be here later.” He grabbed a seat with her at the nearest table. “So? What’s been going on the last two months?”

“You first. How was the honeymoon? And leave out the TMI parts please.”

“The honeymoon was incredible. I’m glad we held out for a longer trip; experiencing Europe like that made it tough to leave.” Sighing wistfully, his eyes danced as he looked over at her. “Though I admit it is nice to return to the same old, same old.” Tsking, he shook his head with a smile. “You made me lose twenty bucks to Jonathan at the airport today, sister-dear.”

Confusion knitted her brow.

He pitched his voice high, in what was presumably an insulting imitation of her. “I swear I won’t forget to pick you guys up this time...” He rolled his eyes teasingly. “I left a reminder on your home answering machine and everything. Your cellphone inbox is full by the way.”

Her mouth fell open. “Dang it!” She cringed, smiling sheepishly. “That’s right.
I
was your ride home today. I’m so sorry, Derek. Things have just been nuts around here lately.”

He ruffled her hair affectionately. “We figured. From what I hear, plotting to take down a neighboring business and then falling madly in love with its owner can be very exhausting.”

Dani’s eyes narrowed into slits. “You know, ever since you became Xoey’s gay BFF, all you two do is gossip about me,” she huffed, looking around for the perpetrator in question.

“Oh, that’s not true at all. Until you met this Luke guy, your life was way too boring.”

She punched him in the arm. “I am not boring. Keep up this abuse and the bottles of wine I keep for you in the back are going to go right down the drain.” Her eyes widened in mock dismay. “Then you’ll have to drink
beer
with your meals here!”

“You are a cruel, merciless woman,” laughed Derek, approvingly. “I’ve trained you well. Okay, I take it all back. Xoey and I did nothing but talk about you while you were dull as a doorknob but as soon as you got interesting, we didn’t gossip about you at all!”

“Actually, that’s the closest you’ve ever come to apologizing to me. Good doing business with you.” Chuckling, she called over a waiter and ordered the plate of fancy tapas that Javier always made especially for Derek whenever he came in along with the secret bottle of Spanish wine she’d picked up recently and stashed in the kitchen in honor of his return.

Derek sighed. “I still say it’s a crying shame you don’t serve wine here.”

Dani swallowed back the lump in her throat, startled by her visceral reaction to even the thought of wine in conjunction to Ocotillos now. But she held her guilty conscience in check. Valentine’s Day was hardly the right time to tell Derek the sad little tale of a brewpub-winery merger that was not to be. Finding out they'd been closer than ever to achieving his long held dreams but still not nearly close enough would be a hard blow to take...and deliver.

Next week
, she promised herself.

Shining a bright smile at him, she laughed as she always did at his wine remark and gave him the response he’d come to expect. “You know where I stand. Beer is far superior for the stronger Latin American and Mediterranean flavors on our menu.”

“Spare me. You’ve given me the same beer speech with delicate Asian dishes too.”

Very true. She grinned and lifted her palms unapologetically. “That’s why I’m a brewmaster and not a sommelier. Honestly, I still can’t understand how the beer bug totally skipped over you. It left you completely unvaccinated for that nasty wine virus.”

“Oh please, you beer elitist. Don’t forget who you’re talking to. Remember, I have firsthand knowledge that all Dobsons know their way around a wine cellar too. You may not like it, but your palate rivals that of a seasoned wine connoisseur.”

“Shhh! Keep that dirty little secret to yourself!”

“Speaking of dirty little secrets.” Derek’s mouth tugged up at the corners. “What’s this I hear about you having kinky loud sex in the office?”

Dani’s hands clapped over her mouth in horror, her cheeks burning. “Xoey is DEAD!”

He laughed and hugged her to him. “Oh, don’t go killing Xoey for news I would’ve pried out of one of the other workers anyway.”

Keeping her face buried in his shoulder for a few seconds longer, she asked worriedly, “Did she say she literally ‘heard’ me and Luke in the office?”

“Actually, she only speculated; you just confirmed it for me.”

“Older brothers are
evil
,” she muttered, lightly jabbing an elbow into his gut.

He chuckled unrepentantly. “Okay, so now that I know you and this Luke guy are at least semi-serious, tell me more about him.”

“I’ve told you plenty.”

“Boring facts I could find about him online. I want to know the deep, juicy stuff. Major flaws, skeletons in the closet, plans for world domination. And it
would
be nice to know if I’m going to need a tux and speech ready soon. Details, baby sis. I need details.”

Dani conveniently chose to ignore the question she knew her brother most wanted the answer to. “Other than the fact that he’s a hopeless romantic? No other flaws that I can see.”

“Hey, I’m a romantic, and so is Jonathan. Being a romantic man is not a flaw.”

“If you say so. How’d you get like that anyway? Dad wasn’t romantic at all, and neither am I. How come you’re the only one with romantic genes in the family?” After thanking the waiter for bringing the food and wine, Dani slid the plate over to Derek and poured him a glass.

Derek looked at her like she’d already had a few. “Are you kidding me? Dad was the worst offender in the romance division.”

“No he wasn’t,” she scoffed. “I remember mom used to complain about that very fact about dad, that he wasn’t romantic enough.”

“Dad was plenty romantic, I assure you,” defended Derek with an underlying current in his voice. “Mom had just passed the point of being able to see it.”

Dani gave him a sidelong glance. “Sounds like you know some things I don’t.”

His look became hooded, entrenched in secrets. “Comes with being the older brother.” He broke eye contact and switched their focus to the plate of food in front of him as he quickly took a bite and groaned at the savory flavors. “I swear, I would give Javier my shares in the brewpub if he could teach Jonathan to cook like this.”

At the abrupt, not so subtly dismissed discussion about their mother and father, Dani’s head clouded with more thoughts than she’d had about her parents’ relationship in a while.

“You okay, sis?”

Turning her troubled eyes up to his, she attempted to get the words out. “I feel like I can’t...” She bit her lip, suddenly feeling very much like the baby sister she knew Derek still saw her as. Finally she blurted out, “Do you think I’m abnormal? When it comes to love?”

A weary sigh trickled out of him. “I knew this would come up some day.” His expression told her he’d much rather have the birds and the bees talk with her over this one.

She continued to gaze at him until he put down his fork and started talking. “When mom left, it was tough on all of us, but I think it was hardest on you in a lot of ways.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, growing up, you weren’t ever really close to mom. You were always more like dad. And right about the time when you should’ve gotten to bond more with her, she left. At the time when a girl really needs her mom, you know? Dad and I did all we could, but neither of us could replace that motherly insight into love and relationships you missed out on.”

She nodded faintly. “So that’s a yes to my being irrevocably messed up?”

“No. Let me finish. You need to hear the whole thing.” He gripped her hand. “Do you...do you remember that mom met someone else while she was still with dad?”

Shock paled Dani’s face.

“Yeah, I thought you’d made yourself forget that part. You were young, but I know you understood when you and I heard her talking on the phone with that other man one day in the kitchen. I saw the realization in your eyes when you heard mom sounding so happy—it had been awhile. Hearing her so much in love...I don’t think I ever heard her talk like that with dad.” Pain darkened his eyes at the memory. “I remember looking over at you and seeing you so lost and upset that I just grabbed your arm and ran us both out of the house.”

“So that’s why she left?” she whispered. “She was cheating on dad?”

He shook his head firmly. “No, she didn’t cheat. Not really, anyway. But her heart was starting to drift, slowly but surely. And dad knew it too.

Now she was shaking her head. “No, he couldn’t have. Mom left out of the blue.”

“Dad did know, sweetie. Trust me on this. He fought for her too, damn hard. Don’t you remember? Toward the end, every night, he came home to try and sweep her off her feet.”

Suddenly the memories came bombarding back to Dani and she saw pain fill Derek’s eyes as he watched it strike blow after blow.

“Dani, you have to know they tried. But as much as mom still loved dad, she just didn’t feel about him the way he felt about her. Not by the end.”

“Don’t you try and make me feel sorry for her, Derek. There’s no excuse for a mother to abandon her family. She didn’t just break dad’s heart; she broke ours too.”

He took her shaking hands in his. “I’m not trying to make you feel anything about this. All I’m doing is trying to help you remember. You need to see the whole picture. When mom left, she’d only meant to leave dad, not us. She actually wanted to keep us as a part of her life. The only reason we weren’t is because
you
wouldn’t allow it.”

“That’s because she only wanted us on holidays. She left dad and then had the nerve to ask him to raise us and then spend holidays alone without family?! A bitch is what that made her,” spat out Dani in disgust. The floodgates were open now and she just couldn’t stop. “Of course I didn’t want anything to do with her.”

“And you never let her forget it,” said Derek sadly. “For years, you sent back every letter she sent you with a ‘return to sender, not interested’ note slashed across the envelope.”

“I had every right to.”

“I know. You didn’t forgive her. In a lot of ways, I didn’t either. But, in some ways I did.” He eyed her wearily before expelling a loaded, long-held breath. “Dani, I went to go see mom six years ago.”

Dani swung a betrayed glare his way.

Derek was unapologetic. “You were just starting to take over the brewpub then so you were busy enough that you didn’t even know I was gone. There was no real reasoning for it but something in me just wanted a chance to talk to her. So I flew up to go see her in Chicago.”