The Night Before the Winemaking Contest, Floating Comments Exposed His Plan Chapter 02

The Night Before the Winemaking Contest, Floating Comments Exposed His Plan Chapter 02

I stood under the old grapevine until the light started to change.

This was where it started. Eleven years ago, Wesley pressed a vine seedling into my hand.

“Laurel. I believe in you.”

“When you grow golden muscadine and win the championship, I’ll give you the wedding of your life.”

He took my hand.

“We just have to keep our distance for a while, okay? I don’t want the press hounding you before you’re ready.”

I smiled and squeezed back.

“Deal.”

It was just the wind.

That was why my eyes were burning.

“You always come here when something’s eating at you. Hide out and deal with it by yourself.”

His voice came from behind me.

Wesley walked up beside me and held out a cup of warm apple cider.

“You skipped dinner again, didn’t you?”

I didn’t take it. My eyes stayed on the steam curling off the rim.

My father died when I was sixteen. After that, I was so buried in work I forgot to eat for days at a time.

That was when Wesley showed up.

“You’re the one with the verdant touch?”

I ignored him.

He came back to the vineyard hills every day anyway.

Then one afternoon, my blood sugar crashed, and I passed out in the hills.

I woke up in his arms, being carried down the mountain.

He carried me all the way to the clinic in town. His arms were shaking, but he never set me down.

After that, every time he came to see me, he brought a cup of warm apple cider.

I stepped back.

“I don’t need it anymore.”

Wesley frowned.

“Don’t do this to yourself just because you’re upset.”

I cut him off.

“When did it start with Camille?”

Two seconds of silence.

“The year I gave you the seedling.”

A laugh tore out of me. My eyes were on fire.

“You fell in love with someone else. Why didn’t you just tell me?”

“Was it fun? Getting everyone in on it, lying to me for eleven years?”

He frowned.

“Don’t twist it like that. My feelings for you never changed. I always wanted to stand up and tell everyone that this incredible woman is mine.”

“But you’re so strong, Laurel. You can save dying vines, carry your whole family, earn respect from every grower in the valley. You don’t need me.”

“Camille’s different.”

His whole face changed when he said her name. Something in him went soft without him even realizing it.

“She doesn’t have what you have. She needs someone to take care of her.”

He moved closer, lowering his voice like he was offering me something reasonable.

“I can’t let people call Camille a homewrecker. But other than the title of my wife, I’ll make it up to you. Whatever you want.”

My mouth opened, but no sound came out.

The comments hit like a wall.

[Wait, does Wesley actually have feelings for Laurel?]

[Lol don’t fall for it. Read between the lines. That man LEGALLY MARRIED Camille ten years ago. So who’s the real homewrecker here?]

[Camille told him she wanted a real family. Wesley didn’t hesitate and drove her straight to the courthouse the next morning.]

My nails dug into my palms.

A phone buzzed between us.

Wesley checked the screen, and I watched the urgency flash across his face before he could hide it.

My voice came out flat.

“Go. I still need to turn the soil around the seedlings.”

Relief washed over his face, but he held out the cider.

“At least finish the cider. I don’t want your blood sugar crashing again.”

I drank every last drop. Only then did he pick up the phone, visibly relieved, and walk away.

I watched him go until he disappeared.

I stood there for a long time. Then I turned and walked to the golden muscadine vine.

I pulled out an ax and brought it down with everything I had. Again and again, until the vine crashed to the ground and dust rose into the air.

I let the ax fall.

When I left, I didn’t look back.