Chương 7
“Diane reported me,” she said.
“I know.”
“What do you want to do about that?”
“Go home.”
“And then?”
“Hire someone to help twice a week.”
“You refused last month.”
“I have revised my position.”
“Because a social worker asked whether you could cook?”
“Because I told her I could, and then remembered I set fire to a dish towel on Tuesday.”
Lila looked at her.
“It was a small fire.”
“You didn’t mention it.”
“It was embarrassing.”
“Did you damage anything?”
“A spoon.”
“How do you burn a spoon?”
“It was nearby.”
Lila rubbed both hands over her face.
Eleanor touched her knee. “I will hire help. Independently. I will speak to my own lawyer. I will not move in with you or Diane. I will not sign anything this week. Does that satisfy your records?”
“It’s a start.”
“I will also apologize to Savannah.”
“Privately.”
“Privately.”
“And not as a speech.”
Eleanor sighed. “You remove every pleasure from old age.”
By noon, the winery’s public-relations consultant had drafted a statement:
Willow Creek Winery is aware of a private family matter that occurred during a contracted event on Saturday evening. The safety and privacy of our guests remain our highest priority. Operations continue as normal.
Lila deleted the phrase highest priority because no one believed it when companies said it.
She replaced private family matter with personal dispute, then deleted that too.
At one-thirty, Savannah sent her first message.
Do not release the footage.
Lila stared at the screen.
She typed, I wasn’t planning to.
Three dots appeared, vanished, then returned.
Caleb thinks you should.
Lila wrote, Caleb has my number.
The reply came immediately.
You’d like that.
Lila placed the phone facedown.
Mateo, sitting across the desk with spreadsheets open, said, “Productive?”
“No.”
“North Coast wants a call at three.”
“I saw.”
“They asked whether the bride works for the winery.”
“She doesn’t.”
“They asked whether the grandmother has an ownership interest.”
“She doesn’t.”
“They asked whether you intend to profit from the attention.”
“We paused sales.”
“They will enjoy that answer until they see our cash flow.”
Lila looked at the figures. “Restart tomorrow morning.”
“I thought reputation mattered.”
“Payroll also developed a personality.”
At two-fifty, Caleb called.
His voice sounded farther away than the hotel seven miles down the road.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For which part?”
A pause. “That seems to be the family question.”
“She told you I declined.”
“Yes.”
“Did you believe her?”
“I didn’t know why she would lie.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
He exhaled. “I believed her because it was easier.”
Lila leaned back.
“Savannah said you two had a complicated relationship,” he continued. “She said you disapproved of the wedding because it was expensive.”
“I disapproved of a floral quote she sent me fourteen months ago.”
“She showed you the flowers?”
“She asked whether forty-two thousand dollars was normal.”
“What did you say?”
“I said no flower was worth a used Honda.”
Despite himself, Caleb laughed. It stopped quickly.
“She said that conversation was why you stopped speaking.”
“It wasn’t.”
“What was?”
Lila looked at the closed office door. “Ask her.”
“She won’t answer.”
“That doesn’t make it mine to tell.”
Another pause.
“Are you going to release the full video?” he asked.
“No.”
“The gate camera shows Eleanor arriving alone?”
“Probably.”
“That would prove Savannah’s accusation was false.”
“It would prove Eleanor walked to the gate alone. It wouldn’t explain what Savannah believed.”
“She said you planned it.”
“She says many things when frightened.”
“You’re defending her.”
“No. I’m being precise.”
He was quiet long enough that Lila heard a hotel ice machine in the background.
“I loved her yesterday,” he said.
“You probably love her today.”
“I don’t know what that means now.”
“It means love did not provide useful instructions.”
“Does it ever?”
“Not in this family.”
He said, “She wants me to come back.”
“Do you want to?”
“I want the woman I thought I was marrying to tell me why she lied.”
“She told me.”
“What did she say?”
“Ask her.”
His frustration sharpened. “You keep saying that.”
“She needs to tell you the version that costs her something.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means if I explain her fear for her, she gets to remain the person everyone translates.”
He went quiet again.
Before hanging up, he said, “My mother wants to sue the venue.”
“Your mother can speak to counsel.”
“I told her not to.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. She’s still my mother.”
Lila understood.
North Coast Table did not cancel the distribution agreement that afternoon.
They delayed it.
Their vice president used the phrase reputational uncertainty four times. Lila answered questions about ownership structure, guest safety, staff conduct, and whether there were pending criminal allegations. She stated that there were none. She did not mention the incident report. She did not mention the county worker.
At the end of the call, the vice president said, “We admire how you handled the situation.”
Lila looked through the office window at an employee carrying boxes of glassware.
“You saw twelve seconds,” she said.
“We saw restraint.”
“You saw framing.”
There was a pause.
“We’ll revisit in thirty days,” the man said.
After the call, Mateo closed the laptop.
“You could let someone compliment you.”
“I could also swallow a cork.”
“Your refusal to be pleased is not a moral achievement.”
“I’m aware.”
“Are you?”
She looked at him.
He stood and stretched. “I’m going home. My daughter has a soccer game.”
“What time?”
“Six.”
“It’s five-forty.”
“Yes.”
“You won’t make it.”
“She spends most of the game staring at grass. I’ll make the staring.”
He picked up his jacket.
At the door, he turned. “You should leave too.”
“I live upstairs.”
“That is not leaving.”
“I have work.”
“You always have work.”
The sentence was ordinary. That was why it stayed with her.
May you like
At seven, Lila walked through the empty reception lawn.
The florist had removed the rose arch, leaving two pale marks in the grass. Rental crews stacked chairs beneath canvas covers. White petals still lay across the gravel near the gate, bruised brown at the edges.
