Love The Wine You're With

Chapter 1

1

Alyssa Wright stepped out of the inn she called home and into the sunshine. She’d been looking forward to the day for what felt like forever. She shook her long, light brown hair out, freeing the waves from her sticky neck as the heat sunk into her. In her new pink and blue flowered sundress, she was ready for the party.

Her best friend and cousin, Andrea Young, or Andie as Alyssa called her, waved from across the yard, already setting up. Andie was wearing a low-cut purple top and gauzy, white skirt with a long chain necklace that hung between her breasts. Alyssa headed toward her, barely noticing the vineyard surrounding them as she marveled that her Aunt Pauline, Andie’s mom, let her out of the house in that outfit. Alyssa wished her mom was as cool as her Aunt Pauline. If Alyssa had it her way, she’d spend the day in her bikini swimming at Cayuga Lake. It was too hot for anything else. Even her party.

“How does it feel to finally be eighteen?” Andie asked with a grin.

Alyssa groaned. “Not much different than seventeen. Especially since Mom made me get up at six to help with breakfast.”

Andie shook her head with a grin. “Six more weeks and you’ll be on your own. I’m so jealous! I can’t wait to go to New York.”

Alyssa threw her arm around her cousin’s shoulders. She tilted her face up to the sun, letting the heat warm her. She was happy to finally be eighteen, but she would miss her favorite cousin the year they were apart. Alyssa didn’t remember a time when Andie wasn’t by her side. “One more year and you’ll be with me. We’re going to have so much fun! See shows. Meet hot men. Maybe I’ll finally find someone to take my virginity.”

Andie threw her head back and laughed. “You’ll find someone. Chances are you won’t be a thirty year old virgin.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes and forced a laugh. She was jealous that her cousin had donated her V-card the year before to a new guy at school. Andie told her all about it and while Alyssa admitted it didn’t sound as amazing as she hoped it would be, it bugged her that Andie had beat her to that one. “I don’t want to be a twenty year old virgin. Hell, I didn’t want to be an eighteen year old virgin, but I am as of this morning.”

“Well, at least you know Kristen didn’t beat you.”

Alyssa cringed. “Gross. Kristen is twelve. Although she spends more time with boys than I do. My mom would never let me have a boy as a best friend.” Alyssa watched as their younger cousin, the only other female in their bunch of nine cousins, skipped across the vineyard holding hands with not just one, but two boys. She and Phillip met in kindergarten and were instant best friends, but Ian moved to town a few months earlier and created a perfect trio with Kristen and Phillip.

“Yeah, well, your mom knows you’d be doing something other than talking and giggling all night if you had a boy stay over.”

“I could only hope. You’re lucky though. All the guys at school seem so childish to me.”

Andie snorted. “They are childish. With three brothers, I knew it wouldn’t get better any time soon. Plus, if I waited too long after Max moved to town, either Zach or Henry would have told Dillon and made sure I never even got a date.”

Alyssa laughed, knowing Andie was right. Dillon, Andie’s older brother and the oldest of the nine cousins, had taken it upon himself to scare guys off dating Andie. Henry and Zach, two cousins the same ages as the girls, helped Dillon and told him whenever a guy was sniffing around Andie or Alyssa. Once in a while Dillon scared a few guys off Alyssa, but she didn’t really mind. There were very few she ever had any interest in dating, and that waned quickly when she realized they were all so immature.

“Good thing Dillon doesn’t know what happened with Jimmy. Poor guy would never have known what hit him.”

Andie giggled, sounding far younger than seventeen. “I know. Once we broke up, Dillon had no reason to care about him. Jimmy has no idea how lucky he is.”

Alyssa shook her head. “He seriously dodged a bullet. Can you imagine if Dillon caught you guys?”

Andie peeked over her shoulder. “He almost walked in on us one day. We were in my room. I thought no one was home. Dillon’s classes were canceled and I didn’t know. He came slamming into the house and Jimmy had enough time to climb out the window before Dillon figured out I was home.”

Alyssa snickered. She wanted a story like that. A moment with someone that she could laugh about later, but it would still be a moment.

“I can’t believe you brought him home,” Alyssa said, shocked that her cousin would have the guts to have a guy in her bedroom knowing her parents were never far.

Andie shrugged. “Where else would we have s*x? The dock isn’t very comfortable. The ground isn’t much better. My favorite house is either rented or locked so that’s not an option. I’ve thought about against your tree, but Jimmy wasn’t strong enough to pick me up. I think it’d be a lot of fun, but now that Dillon is back for good I’m not sure I’ll be able to sneak off for that one.”

Alyssa was more than a little annoyed that Andie wanted to have s*x against her tree. With nine cousins, ten adults, and a bunch of workers and guests running around, Alyssa never felt like she had a space that was hers. Andie knew that tree was where Alyssa went when she needed time alone. Being an only child meant she was alone a lot, but Alyssa liked getting out and away from her mom, Marie. She loved her mother, but as Alyssa got closer to going off to college, her mom seemed to hold on tighter. Which only made Alyssa more anxious to leave.

Not that her mom understood that.

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Alyssa said quietly.

Andie read her mood as easily as if Alyssa had told her she was bothered by it. It was a talent they’d shared forever. The A-Team they called themselves. Always able to tell when something was going on with the other. “You’re mad because I want to have s*x by your tree, aren’t you?”

Alyssa shrugged and turned her eyes toward the lake just beyond the vineyard behind the house she lived in. “No. Of course not.”

Andie spun her around. “You know you can’t lie to me,” Andie said, her light green eyes piercing Alyssa’s darker blue ones. “I didn’t realize the tree was only yours.”

Alyssa was annoyed by the snarkiness in Andie’s tone. As much as they were best friends, they were still cousins, which meant they fought. Almost as much as they got along.

“It’s not my tree. I just wish everything didn’t have to be shared around here all the time. I don’t ever go to your house on the hill, even when it’s empty.”

Andie rolled her eyes. It was an argument they had frequently. “I just don’t think it’s fair that you claimed the tree and get all territorial about it. Dillon told me he can’t even go swimming when you’re out there.”

“Why not? I’ve never told him he couldn’t go swimming?”

Andie shot her a look that said it didn’t matter what she said, they all knew she didn’t want them there. “You don’t know anything about sharing. I have to share my bathroom with all three of my brothers. Do you have any idea how gross boys are?”

“Dillon doesn’t live with you anymore,” Alyssa argued even though she knew it was pointless.

Andie took a deep breath. “Yeah, but I still don’t have any place that I can go. The house that you seem to think I go to all the time is always rented. Between my parents and my brothers, our house is always busy. There’s never any peace.”

“I share my house with all the guests we get here. I never have any peace.”

“Whatever,” Andie said. She turned and walked away, leaving Alyssa annoyed for the second time on her birthday.

Jake Monroe walked across the hilly field with his heart in his throat. He knew going there was going to be hard, but he had no choice. He owed it to Duke Charles, his best friend, to visit.

At the top of the hill, Jake stopped next to the stone that bore Duke’s name. A flag was speared into the ground with a fresh flowering plant right in front. Jake sucked in a breath and set the six pack of beer he’d brought next to the plant.

“Hey Duke.” Jake took another breath, attempting to stifle the emotion choking his throat. “Sorry it’s been so long. I just got out, man.” Jake crouched down and picked at the long grass right against the shiny, new stone. Jake knew the dates as well as he knew his own birthday. Watching your best friend, a man who was more like a brother than a friend, die wasn’t something he’d ever forget.

“The guys aren’t the same. Rodriguez never came back. Mack and I haven’t spoken since you…” Jake sucked in another breath. “And Wendy quit. Just went AWOL. He showed back up in the States and told them he couldn’t handle it. They threatened to court marshall him, but they didn’t. What happened just f****d us all up, man.”

Jake lowered himself to the ground. He leaned back against the tombstone and stared up at the sky. The bright sunshine didn’t seem right when he felt like someone had kicked him in the junk. Or the throat. Or both.

“I’m sorry, Duke. f**k, man. It’s my fault. But I’m here. I’m going to check on Lana and the baby. I’ll make sure they’re okay. I’m not gonna let them down the way I let you down. s**t, man. I f*****g hate this.”

Jake stopped. He wiped the tears from his face then pinched the bridge of his nose to stop more from coming. Like every time he closed his eyes over the last six months, the moments before Duke stopped breathing came back to him in a flash. The pain kicked through his chest, shuttering his heart. He punched his chest, needing the pain to be physical instead of emotional. Physical he could handle. Physical he could solve. The pain he felt from losing the man who was like his brother was something he didn’t think he’d ever get over.

“Are you okay?” a woman said. She was close to him if her voice was any indication.

Jake’s eyes flipped open. A woman stood there staring down at him. She had a baby, a boy if the blue clothes were any indication, in her arms, struggling to get down. Her long brown hair and eyes were the same ones Jake stared into in picture form more times than he could count over the last few months. If there was any part of going to Bereton, New York instead of home to Charleston, South Carolina he was dreading, it was meeting her.

Jake scrambled to his feet, ducking his head. He couldn’t meet her eyes. Hell, he struggled to stand in front of her. But he wasn’t about to back down. He owed her more than that.

“You had a boy,” Jake blurted, his eyes focused on the child in front of him. A child with Duke’s blue eyes. Damn. There went that pain in his f*****g chest again.

“Excuse me,” Lana said, stepping back.

Jake realized what he said and stepped toward her, his hand outstretched. She recoiled, turning the baby out of Jake’s reach. “I’m sorry. I…” Jake stopped and took a breath. “My name is Jake Monroe, ma’am. I served with Duke. He sure talked about you a lot. I-”

“Stop. Please.” Lana took a deep breath and appeared to be trying to calm her own raging emotions. It made Jake feel better that he wasn’t the only one struggling with the conversation. “I know who you are. Duke talks… I mean talked about you all the time. He spoke very highly of you.”

Jake nodded, unsure how to feel about that. He loved Duke, but he didn’t deserve Lana to think highly of him. He was the reason she was a widow at 25, and a single mom, instead of happily married with her husband by her side.

“I promised Duke I’d help you, ma’am. If anything ever happened to him, I said I’d come. Duke and I talked about me moving here when we got out, but…” Jake paused and shook his head. He wasn’t sure he could be there without Duke. He wasn’t sure he could be anywhere without him. He was there for a reason though. “I’m gonna make sure you and the baby are taken care of.”

She was shaking her head before he finished speaking, tears filling her eyes. “No, I can’t let you do that. Duke wouldn’t have meant-”

Jake held up his hand. “It doesn’t matter what he would have meant. I’m here for the week. And I’m gonna make sure you’re okay. I’d never replace him. I could never do that. I’m not asking you for anything. I have a place to stay already. I don’t have anywhere else I need to be.”

“I can’t ask you to-”

“You’re not asking, ma’am. I’m doing it for Duke.”

Lana finally took a deep breath. Jake could tell the short conversation had been as hard on her as it was on him. She rubbed the baby’s back almost absentmindedly, as though she’d gotten so used to comforting herself with her son that she didn’t even know she was doing it. Jake wanted to ask about the baby, about how they were, but he didn’t know how to ask. He’d know everything about them if Duke were still alive.

Like the kid’s name.

“Do you want to hold him?” Lana asked, apparently noticing where Jake’s eyes had gone.

Jake held his hands up and backed away. “No, ma’am. I don’t know anything about babies.”

Lana didn’t step toward him or try to coerce him into it. He appreciated that of her. He knew he’d like her from all the stories Duke had told about his kind and loving wife. Jake just wished he were the one in the ground instead of his friend.

“Will you tell me about him? About what it was like over there? He promised he’d tell me about it when he came home. He didn’t want me to worry when he was gone, but I asked him all the time.”

Jake ran a hand over his short hair, another thing he had to get used to. No longer needing to keep his hair as short as it’d been for the last four years, he could grow it out. It had already started growing, matching the stubble he was getting used to on his face. It was the first time Jake had ever lived outside the wide reach of the military. He thought he’d have Duke to go through the transition with. Instead, he was staring at Duke’s widow and wondering how much Duke would have actually told her if he’d lived.

“It wasn’t easy, ma’am. None of it was. Getting there wasn’t even easy. But we did it because we believed in something greater than ourselves.”

“And now? I thought you’d re-enlist.”

Jake had given it thought over the months since Duke died. He’d lost others in his four years, but none of them were Duke. None of them were men he’d spent hours with, talking about what they were going to do with their lives one day. Making plans and dreaming up their future.

None were his brother.

“I still believe in what’s going on over there, but I have a hard time getting back in. My focus wasn’t there. Without Duke by my side I felt…”

Jake trailed off, knowing what he was about to say would sound foolish to the man’s wife.

“Like nothing would ever be the same. That you weren’t safe without him by your side. That what you were fighting for was costing you more than you had to give?”

Jake couldn’t have said it that well if he’d tried so he just nodded.

“What are you going to do while you’re here? Do you want to come out to the house? It isn’t much, but I’d really like to hear about Duke some more.”

Her tone was hopeful as she rubbed the baby’s head. He looked up at her, drool hanging down from his chin, one white speck peeking through pink gums. Duke would never look into his son’s eyes and know he’d never seen anything more perfect.

“I have a room at a B&B for the week, but yeah. I’d like to see y’all again.”

Lana nodded. “Good. Well, let me give you my number and address. Um, I know you said you didn’t want to hold him, but I need to grab a pen and paper from my bag.”

Jake nodded and stepped forward. “How do I hold him?”

Lana shrugged. “Like a sack of potatoes? That’s what everyone told me. I’d never held a sack of potatoes so it didn’t help. Support his weight underneath and keep a hand on his back. He’s old enough to hold his head up, but he might wiggle on you.”

Jake tried to take the wiggling baby from his mama’s arms without touching her. He didn’t want her to think he was making a move. When he finally had the baby in his arms, Lana dropped her bag to the ground and dug through it. She scribbled her contact information on a sheet then tore it off. She shoved the pen and pad back inside and zipped the bag up before she stood and draped it over her shoulder again.

They completed the baby transfer again and Lana handed him the sheet of paper. “He likes you. He’s not around many men and he usually cries when they try to pick him up. I wonder if he can sense that you knew his daddy.”

Jake nodded since he didn’t know what to say.

Lana nodded to the piece of paper. “Call me whenever you want to come by. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier. They wouldn’t let me leave.”

She shook her head. “I understand completely. I’m glad you’re here now. I’ll see you soon.”

“Oh, uh, when are you working? I don’t want to mess up your schedule.”

She ducked her head, avoiding his eyes. “I’m, um, not right now. I lost my job last week.”

“s**t,” Jake mumbled. “What are you going to do?”

She shrugged, glancing up just enough for him to see the worry in her brown eyes. “I don’t really know. I have benefits from the VA, but it’s not enough for us to live on.”

“I have money,” he blurted out.

Lana immediately shook her head. “No. I can’t take your money.”

“At least let me help while I’m here. Maybe you can get some interviews?”

She nodded. “I’m trying. That’s nice of you to help.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jake said, wishing he could do more for her.

“You can call me Lana, you know.”

Jake nodded. He started to back toward his car then remembered he’d never asked about the baby. “Is he a good baby?”

Lana looked down at her son and smiled. “Very good. He has his daddy’s temperament. Sweet as can be with a sneaky side if he thinks he can get away with it.”

Jake grinned. “We called Duke ‘Devil.’ I don’t know if he ever told you that. It started because the blue in his eyes reminded the guys of Duke Blue Devils’ uniforms, but it stuck when that sneaky side came out.”

Lana tipped her head back and laughed. “He was always a prankster. That’s how we met. I’m sure you know that story.”

Jake stepped back toward her and shook his head. “No, he never told me.”

Lana smiled, the memory painted on her face. Jake took a moment to appraise the woman he was afraid to meet. Her brown eyes were lit with a good memory. Her olive skin flushed. Her dark hair hung long and loose behind her, almost to her waist. She was curvy and attractive. But she was Duke’s. He felt no pull to her except the one that held him to Duke. Duke loved her, so Jake loved her.

Lana delved into the story of how she and Duke met in high school. When she finished, Jake told her about the first time he’d met Duke. They traded stories until the baby squirmed in her arms and whimpered.

“Oh, jeez, I’m sorry. I need to get him home to feed him. He’s going to have a fit any second now.”

Jake nodded. “Nothing to apologize for. I understand.”

“Thanks, Jake. It was really great meeting you. I look forward to hearing more stories about you guys.”

Jake shook his head. “Of course not. I’ll be in touch tomorrow. Oh, what’s the baby’s name?”

Lana held his eyes for a long minute before she said, “DJ. Duke Jacob Charles.”