She told me that she knew it was my way of getting her attention. Her father had told her to please leave and go home to her house but she’d refused. I had never seen a father get his own child arrested before but the man had called the police. He’d apologized to me and told me not to worry; he’d keep Celeste under control.
I was relieved but the look in her eyes had made me shudder. I’d decided that I won’t be going back to Hawaii any time soon and I’ll be sleeping with one eye open from now on. How could a person get like Celeste? Hayley must be right. The woman had been indulged, spoiled, and pampered her whole life. She’d never had to lift a finger to work or do anything; it was always just given to her or done for her. Even her bakery was not hers but something her father opened for her. It was probably other people who managed it even though Celeste’s name was at the forefront.
I shook it off. I couldn’t wait to get home to California and sleep in my own bed. I felt a twinge in my stomach like I’d been punched in my gut when I thought of sleeping alone. I’d checked my phone multiple times before my plane took off and there’d been no messages from Carla. I wasn’t sure but I thought she’d blocked my number. I would get to the bottom of it when I was back home. I had thought we’d had something special the previous evening and was really hoping we could see where it went.
I leaned back and closed my eyes. I needed to get some sleep as I was exhausted. It had been one hell of a week, and to think, I’d nearly missed it. I took a deep breath as I drifted off to the steady motion and gentle hum of the airplane while my mind conjured images of Carla and our night of passion.
***
I’d been back in Napa for almost nine weeks, and in those nine weeks, I still had not been able to see or speak to Carla. She’d blocked my number and Hayley wasn’t telling me what was going on either.
Carla had leased the property to my family’s wine business but she’d sent her assistant with the documents and proposal changes. Her assistant wouldn’t help schedule me an appointment with Carla for another four weeks, and even then he didn’t know if she would make the appointment.
I needed to talk to her, especially as Drew had dropped a hint as to why Carla had ghosted me. I also wanted to talk to her about an expansion plan I had in mind, which would benefit both our vineyards. I wanted to talk to only her about it, not her second-in-charge or an assistant. I had found out where she lived but I was not a stalker, and thinking about the time I’d just had with Celeste, I didn’t want Carla to think I was doing that to her.
I’d even gone to various wine socials that were held for the vineyards throughout Napa in the hopes of running into Carla, but she hadn’t attended any of them. I eventually got Hayley to tell how Carla was doing at least. Hayley told me that Carla was so busy she’d hardly had time for their weekly lunches. Hayley even had to tell Carla over a video call that she was pregnant.
At one of our weekly dinners that Hayley, Drew, and I started having, Hayley let slip that Carla was planning on going on a bus tour of some of the Californian vineyards. It was a tour for vineyard owners to meet other wine farmers. Carla’s father had insisted she went on the ten-day tour. After the tour, Mr. Reynolds would hand over the keys to the very lucrative Reynolds Wines and Vineyard. Apparently, Carla would be on the tour alone for those ten days. And ten days alone with Carla was all I needed.
Now I just had to see if I could get onto that bus tour at such short notice. It was a very popular and exclusive annual bus tour that got booked up a year in advance. But there was always hope that someone would cancel. I managed to get Drew, who knew the tour operators, to find out if there was any space on the bus. Apparently, there was one pending seat, but if that man cancelled, they’d bump the next person on the waiting list into the man’s position.
After a lot of money changing hands and Drew pulling some strings, without Hayley knowing, which I need to go on record saying I told him was a bad idea. But Drew was blissfully happy with a kid on the way and he wanted me to be happy too so he’d done what he said he needed to do. I knew I was a selfish prick for this, but I was desperate and I knew Hayley would understand if she ever found out. Or at least, I’d hoped Hayley would understand if she ever found out that Drew was the one who got me onto the tour.