Fine in Lingerie (Lingerie 11)

“You’re right. She was an innocent person. It was low…even for me.”

My mother was the only family I had. She’d been dead for nearly as long as I’d been alive, but she was all I had. I had to defend her. I had to defend her the way Vanessa defended her father. It shouldn’t make a difference if she was dead or alive. “She’s all I have. I don’t remember her very well, but that was the only time I celebrated a holiday or had a home…until Vanessa. I listened to you insult her because I was doing whatever I could to keep Vanessa…but I haven’t forgotten it.”

He took a deep breath, his eyes filling with sorrow. “I’m sorry, Griffin. I didn’t mean what I said. I was just angry. I was trying to get you away from my daughter. We all say things we don’t mean.”

“Yeah…maybe.” I turned my gaze back to him.

He stared at me for a long time, his hands still on his hips.

I didn’t know what else to say. The rest of his family was inside, wondering about this conversation as we had it.

“I know you love my daughter.” He dropped his hands before he crossed his arms over his chest. “I see it written all over your face now. I see it in the way you cried when you got her back, a man like you moved to tears. But I want you to prove it to me one last time.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

“I’m not,” he said seriously. “I need you to do this for me.”

I moved my hands into my pockets, unable to believe this asshole was actually asking me for something.

“Griffin?”

I stared at the vineyards in the background for a second, doing my best to lower the rage in my blood. I needed to concentrate on the breeze, to clear my mind, before I looked at him again.

“I want you to come to the winery three times a week. I want you to help me run the place.”

That was the last thing I’d expected him to say. “Free labor?”

“No. Not free labor. I’ll pay you.”

I was so disgusted I spat on the ground at his feet. “I don’t want or need your money, Crow.”

“Fine. Then just come. Three days a week.”

“Why?”

“No questions asked. Do that for her.”

“What does this have to do with Vanessa?”

He took a long time to articulate his next response, his jaw clenching hard before he finally gave me an answer. “Because it would mean the world to her if you gave me a chance. Please give me a chance.”

“I just told you it was too soon. It was less than a month ago when you threatened to kill me.”

“I’m not asking for our relationship to change, Griffin. I’m only asking for a bit of your time.”

If I couldn’t sit inside that house and eat dinner, then I couldn’t go to the winery and pretend that would be okay. “All I want is to not see you or hear from you for a long time. You want a chance to make this right?” I got closer to his face. “Then disappear. Fucking disappear.”

Four

Vanessa

I sat on the couch in the living room with a glass of wine in my hand. My mom rubbed my back and consoled me, handing me tissues so I could wipe away the tears and fix my makeup.

I wasn’t the kind of person that cried, but seeing Bones in that much pain killed me inside.

It killed me that we would never overcome this.

He would always be an outsider. He would never be part of my family.

The worst part was, I didn’t blame him.

My father came back inside, whispered something to my mother, and then took the seat beside me when she left. It was just the two of us in the large living room with the vaulted ceilings and the fireplace. It was the same room where we put up our Christmas tree, where we opened gifts on Christmas morning.

Something Bones would never experience.

My father sat beside me, his knee almost touching mine.

I didn’t ask how his conversation went. Based on Bones’s hostility, he wouldn’t listen to anyone, not even me.

“Tesoro.” He placed his hand on my back, resting it between my shoulder blades. “I’ll find a way to make this work.” He peered into my face, his cologne surrounding me. He held a glass of scotch in his hand and placed it on the table.

“I’m sorry…about all of this.” I stared at the coffee table, avoiding my father’s look of pity.

“You don’t need to apologize, tesoro.”

“He didn’t mean to be rude and ruin dinner. He’s just—”

“Really, it’s fine. I understand. This is hard for him…I don’t blame him.” He lowered his hand from my back and rested it on his thigh. His black wedding ring sat on his left hand, where it remained always. I’d never seen him without it, not when he worked or when he was in the pool.