I quickly drink the rest of my juice and stand. “I need to get ready for work.”
Jade sets down her coffee cup. “Please, Ashley. Sit down.”
Oh, God. I don’t know what’s coming, but I know it’ll be uncomfortable. I sit.
“Do you want to talk?”
I shake my head. Already the tears are threatening once more, and if I speak, I’m afraid I won’t be able to contain them.
“All right. Just listen, then.”
I nod.
“Talon and I talked briefly this morning, and we agree there’s something you should know.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Oh?”
“Yeah. Dale won’t tell you, and I don’t want you to mention this to him, but his father—his birth father—recently reached out to him.”
My heart drops. Not just because of what Dale must be going through, but because of what my mother recently told me about my own father a few days before Dee and I left for Colorado—information I buried inside because I couldn’t deal with it. I filed it in the Scarlett O’Hara file. Things to think about tomorrow.
“Really? I thought…”
“I know. Dale never knew him. Didn’t even know his name. He just appeared out of nowhere.”
“Why?”
“We don’t know, really. The first thought that entered all our minds is that he wants money, but he hasn’t asked for any. Still, though, we aren’t sure his motives are pure.”
“I see. I understand.”
“Anyway, Dale took a DNA test, and the man is definitely his father.”
“And Donny’s?”
She nods. “Yeah. We had a DNA test done on the boys after the adoption. They are full-blooded siblings.”
“Wow. I had no idea.”
“Dale isn’t ever real forthcoming with people, but Talon and I wanted you to know, in case you’ve noticed that Dale is more”—she twists her lips—“distant than usual.”
Distant? Try downright apathetic. Aloof. Eremitic, even. Leaving me alone in his home after we made love was one for the books. My guess is he wound up in the vineyards. Alone. Secluded. Because he couldn’t stand sleeping with me. Thank goodness I was there to take care of the dog.
“He hasn’t opened up a lot about his father,” Jade continues, “but that’s Dale’s way.”
No kidding.
“But a mother knows,” she says. “He’s not himself.”
“He seems about the same to me,” I can’t help replying.
“I suppose he would. He hasn’t been welcoming to you, and I’m very sorry about that.”
“I’m fine,” I say, lying through my teeth.
“You’re not fine. You and I both know how you feel about him.”
“You haven’t told…”
“Talon.” She shakes her head and smiles. “No. I haven’t. Some things are better left between girlfriends.”
“Thank you.”
“What you say stays between us,” she replies, “and I expect the same.”
“Of course. Absolutely.” After all, she didn’t rat me out for basically breaking into Dale’s home and nearly losing his dog.
“Then listen to me when I say that my son needs you, Ashley. Perhaps more than he knows.”
“That’s kind of you to say, and no doubt you know Dale better than I do, but his actions say otherwise.”
She leans forward and pats my hand with her own. “His actions always say otherwise.”
“Then how…?”
She smiles—kind of a sad smile. “I’ve told you before. A mother knows.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Dale
I make it into the office by eight, after showering at home and feeding Penny. She picked at her full bowl. Ashley must have fed her.
She was gone when I got home.
Not that I expected her to be there.
She’s not in the office, either, and I did expect her to be there. Maybe she went home and went back to bed.
That doesn’t sound like Ashley, though. I get up and walk down the hall to Uncle Ryan’s office. I peek inside the open door. “Hey.”
“Hey, yourself,” he says.
“You seen Ashley this morning?”
He nods. “She came in and said she’d prefer to work in the vineyards today, so I sent her off.”
I inhale. “Okay. That’s surprising.”
“Did you have something else in mind for her today?”
“Well…we’ve got the lunch and tasting today. I’ve been working with her on the wines.”
“Hmm, she didn’t mention that. I can send someone out to the vineyards to tell her to come back.”
“No, it’s okay. I can handle things.”
“I wasn’t planning to be at the tasting today,” he says, “but if you need a hand, let me know.”
“Will do.”
Anger creeps along my spine. But is it anger? I mean, what did I expect after I left her alone at my place last night?
This isn’t like Ashley, though. She wouldn’t walk out on a tasting. Would she?
Perhaps she just forgot.
In which case, it’s my job, as her boss, to remind her of her obligation.
I head out to the parking lot and get into my truck. To the vineyards I drive. Most of our harvesters are working on the southern vines today. The Merlot and Cabernet Franc. I pull into a spot and walk toward the workers.
“Hey, George,” I say to the foreman.
“Hey, Dale. What can I do for you?”