Everything She Never Wanted

Chapter 14

14

“Hello?” Cynthia said, answering the phone ringing on the wall. Yes, her mom still had a landline. And it was still attached to the wall in the kitchen. Complete with curlicue cord and vomit colored phone.

Which meant no caller ID.

“Hey Cynthia! This is Alyssa Monroe, um, Alyssa Wright in high school. Sorry! Henry’s cousin. Do you remember me?”

“Um, yeah, Alyssa. Of course. How are you?” To say Cynthia was confused was an understatement. She didn’t think Alyssa had ever called her. Which begged the question of why she was now.

“I’m good. Great actually. I heard you were back in town and thought it would be nice to catch up. If you’re available tonight?”

Cynthia searched for an excuse and came up empty. If the phone call wasn’t suspicious enough, the invitation was. “Um, I don’t have any plans tonight,” she found herself admitting, wishing more than anything that she had somewhere else to go.

“Great! Andie, Kristen, and I are getting together at Kristen and Andie’s house. It’s the one up by the road. Do you know where that is?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Cool. So dinner? Maybe six? Does that work for you?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Excellent. We’ll see you then!”

Alyssa was gone before Cynthia could say anything else, probably trying to avoid her backing out. Like she should have done.

Two hours later, Cynthia walked out the door, wondering if she should have asked Alyssa if she could bring something. She had no idea what they were eating or what any of them liked. She knew Alyssa and Andie a little, but Kristen was a child when she moved away. They were all old enough to drink, but it wasn’t like Cynthia could bring wine to the people who made the wine.

With a groan, she left, figuring the night was more about them grilling her than it was about what she brought to the table, literally.

Cynthia found the house easily enough and parked next to the other three cars. She followed the footsteps already in the snow to the front porch and knocked on the door. Music and laughter rang out from inside before footsteps raced to the door. It swung open, warmth welcoming her inside with Henry’s three female cousins.

“Hey Cynthia!” Andie said happily. “We’re so happy you could join us. Come in.”

She stepped back to let Cynthia in then offered to take her coat. Cynthia handed the coat over and untied her boots. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think to ask if there was something I could bring.”

Andie waved off her concerns. “Don’t worry. We always have plenty of food and wine. Do you like wine?”

Cynthia nodded. “I do. I’ve gotten addicted to the Gewürztraminer you guys make. It’s really good.”

“Ah, a sweet drinker. Me too. I go for our Riesling though. Have you tried it?”

Cynthia shook her head and followed Andie into the kitchen.

“Hey Cynthia,” Alyssa said with a large grin and a hug. “It’s so good to see you again.”

“You too, Alyssa. Welcome home. Hey Kristen.”

“Hey,” Kristen said.

“Thanks,” Alyssa said. “I’m so happy to be back. Are you sticking around?”

Cynthia shook her head. “No. At least not forever. I’m ready to get back to a city.”

“Where are you looking for jobs?”

Andie handed Cynthia a glass of wine. She thanked her with a nod and answered Alyssa. “Anywhere really. I can’t go back to Philadelphia, but I’m looking everywhere else. I’ve applied in DC, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh. Whoever will take me.”

“Wow. I give you a lot of credit. I couldn’t do it again. The big cities wore me out.”

Cynthia understood what Alyssa meant. Living in a big city wasn’t for everyone. She’d lost friends who moved to the suburbs and eventually quit working in the city when they got married and had kids. Being single, Cynthia craved the busyness, the activity, knowing she could go out at any time of the day or night and find something to do. Something to avoid the silence.

“It’s too quiet here.”

Alyssa nodded and grinned. “I thought the same when I first came back. I got used to it again though. Of course, I also didn’t love my life anywhere I went. It’s easier to be happy here when I wasn’t happy out there. I always felt like I was missing something. I found it when I came home and saw Jake again.”

Cynthia didn’t want to admit that she felt the same. She liked being busy, but when she saw Henry, she felt like everything she’d been missing, everything she didn’t think she wanted, was right in front of her again.

“Henry mentioned you recently got married. Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” Alyssa beamed. “Fourth time was the charm for me.”

“You were married three times before?” Cynthia blurted before she could stop herself.

She nodded and laughed. “Yeah. Three poor decisions. But I finally made a good one.”

“She did,” Andie teased. “We were happy to see her and Jake finally together. Although it wasn’t easy to get there.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes good-naturedly. Cynthia sensed there was a story there, but she didn’t press. “Do you live here, too?”

“Yeah. We’re in the cottage down by the water. Harry’s old cottage.”

“Is everyone on property somewhere?”

The three of them nodded. “Yeah. We just took over for the aunts last summer. One of the rules is we all have to work here for a year. In July, we’ll officially take over, but they’ve all pretty much backed off.”

“It’s nice to have a job ready and waiting for you.”

“It’s not like we don’t work for it,” Kristen said. “We didn’t just inherit the vineyard without working our asses off.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Cynthia backtracked. “I just meant that finding a job is tough. It’s nice to have something.”

“We’ve all worked here forever. And we work hard.”

“I know,” Cynthia tried. “I wasn’t trying to say you don’t.”

She knew it was pointless to argue. In a way, she was jealous. She wanted someone to hand her a job like they were all given. Not that they didn’t have to work hard, but they didn’t have to apply and wait and stress about their jobs.

“So, um, dinner is almost ready. Do you like stuffed shells, Cynthia?”

She smiled gratefully at Andie and nodded. “Love stuffed shells. Thank you for dinner. And the wine.”

“You’re welcome. We’re glad you could come.”

“Do you guys get together frequently?”

Andie nodded. “Yeah, at least once a month. My brother, Sean, has a little girl. Well, she’s not little anymore. Emily is going to be twelve next week. Her birthday party is tomorrow. She comes over here for girls’ night once or twice a month.”

“She didn’t come tonight?” Cynthia asked, feeling anxious.

“No. We wanted a chance to get to know you a little more.”

Gulp. Yeah, it was definitely a grilling session.

They sat down to dinner in what the cousins called their sunroom. The sunlight was fading quickly, but Cynthia could see it was a gorgeous spot. “Your house is beautiful,” she said to Andie and Kristen. “I’d spend all my time in this room.”

Andie nodded. “I love it out here. Cody and his crew just redid the entire house for us.”

“Really? I was going to ask about your kitchen. The colors are amazing.”

Andie grinned. “I agree. It’s exactly what I always wanted.”

“Cody did everything possible to make her happy. Even taking on her mom. Sort of like Henry is with you. Did you know he’s no longer speaking to my brother?” Kristen asked with a glare.

“Um, no. I didn’t know that.”

“Yeah, I figured. See Zach told Henry to stay away from you. You know, since you destroyed him. Henry told him to stay out of it. I think he told Andie the same thing, didn’t he?”

Andie had the decency to blush, but she didn’t deny it.

“I don’t want to create a problem in your family.”

“Well, you are. My brother has enough to worry about without you messing up his relationship with Henry.”

“Kristen,” Alyssa said firmly. “Ease up. She didn’t realize what was going on.”

“Yeah, but now that she does, is she going to end things with Henry?”

Three pairs of eyes swung toward Cynthia. She didn’t know what to say. She didn’t want to give up Henry. But she didn’t want to ruin the relationships he had with his cousins either.

“I think that’s between Henry and me.”

Kristen scoffed, but Alyssa’s lips curled up. Andie didn’t look either happy or unhappy.

“I know I was young when she broke his heart last time, but I know what it’s like to be in his shoes. To have someone who says they care about you trample all over your heart. I don’t think we should buddy up to her when we know it’s going to end up shredding Henry.”

“How do you know it is?” Alyssa argued. “When I came back, every single one of you told me to stay away from Jake.”

“That was different,” Andie said. “Jake was crushed, but you guys were in love before. He was your first love, and you two couldn’t stay away from each other. Cynthia never wanted Henry. They were friends. Best friends. You weren’t here, but he changed after she turned him down. He became cold. Kind of separated himself from everyone. I think he opened up to his dad, maybe to Jake a bit, but for the most part, he kept his distance. Like he was afraid to care. He never got involved with any women either. I know he cares about you,” she said, meeting Cynthia’s eyes, “but I am afraid he’s going to really sink into himself. Especially since Uncle Victor just died. I’m not sure he can survive losing his dad and you at the same time.”

Cynthia forced her bite of food down. She knew Andie was right. She’d worried about the same thing. But she still found herself unable to walk away from Henry. Unable to say no to him.

“Henry and I have talked. I’m not hiding anything from him. He knows I’ve applied for jobs. He knows I want to leave. Zach already confronted me. But Henry is the one who said he wanted us to spend time together however long I’m here. I don’t want to hurt him, but I don’t want to avoid him.”

“Then you are going to hurt him,” Kristen argued.

Cynthia shook her head. “I won’t. I’m not hiding anything from him.”

“Do you love him?” Andie asked.

“I, uh… He’s always been my best friend.”

“So no,” Kristen supplied.

“Henry is special to me. I’ve always cared a lot about him.”

“Just not enough to love him.”

“Alright, let’s give her a break,” Alyssa said. “We have to let them make their own mistakes. Maybe it’ll all work out. Maybe it won’t. But we can’t tell them what to do. They’re both adults.”

Kristen huffed. Andie still had a thoughtful look on her face. Alyssa was sympathetic, but it was clear she wasn’t much more excited about Cynthia and Henry than the others. Especially after Cynthia said she wasn’t in love with Henry.

She couldn’t love him. She wouldn’t let herself. She knew what love did. She saw it with her mother and felt it with every guy she thought she could love. Love meant heartbreak, and she wasn’t strong enough to survive that.

Emily grinned widely as she opened her gifts. Henry stood back and watched her, loving how excited she got over everything. It was great to be a kid.

“Oh, Dad, look! A cell phone!”

Sean groaned at the gift his soon-to-be twelve year old got from his parents.

“I thought we agreed you could get a phone when you were thirteen. I’m not sure if this is something you can have now. We might need to take it back.”

Emily clutched the new phone in the white box to her chest and spun away from her father. “No. It was a gift. You can’t have it!”

Sean wrapped his arms around her and tickled her. Her squeals filled the air inside their house. Henry didn’t visit them as often as he knew he should, but whenever he was there, he could feel how much Sean loved his daughter.

“We talked already. I told them you could have the phone.”

“Really? Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I need to call my friends.”

“Oh, no,” Sean said, snatching the phone from her. “Stay here and visit with your family. You have plenty of time to call your friends later. Plus, you have more gifts to open.”

Emily kept opening her gifts, squealing with excitement with each one. Henry sipped his water until he felt a hand on his back.

“How are things going with Cynthia?” Nonna asked as she hugged him.

“Very well, thank you. I appreciate you sticking up for me the other day with Andie and Zach.”

Nonna shrugged. “We’re family. We stick together. I hope you listened to what your cousins had to say and didn’t just get angry though.”

“Excuse me?”

“See, right there. You’re doing it with me. I love you, Henry. We all do. More than you’ll perhaps ever know. What your cousins said about being worried about you is valid. You just lost your father.”

“I know,” Henry blurted.

“And getting into a highly emotional relationship right now is not your smartest move. But,” Nonna continued before Henry could interrupt, “it’s your move. You need to make your own decisions. I see that she makes you happy, and at a time like this, you need to hold on to any happiness you can find.”

“Thank you, Nonna.”

“Just don’t push your cousins away, Henry. You need them, too.”

Henry glanced around the room, his eyes landing on Andie then Zach. Nonna was right. Zach was there for him when no one else was. He needed to find a way to make amends with his cousin.

Henry lugged paint cans up the stairs of the inn and to the end of the hallway. His help remodeling the inn was delayed after his father’s unexpected death, but Henry was ready to get back to work. He needed something to fill his days. He was going crazy at home.

“Thanks for your help,” Andie said with a grin. She stretched plastic over the new soft gray carpet installed weeks ago, securing it to the walls with blue tape.

“I needed to do something.”

“How have you been holding up?”

Henry shrugged and dumped the paint cans into a bucket. He slid a grate in, hooking it on the edge of the bucket, then reached for a roller. “I guess I’m doing okay.”

He dipped his roller into the paint and pressed it against the grate. He was struggling to find the words he needed to say. He liked Andie, and thought she was on his side, but if she was going to g**g up on Cynthia, he was wrong about her.

“My mom asked yours if she wanted to go away. The sisters were all going to do some of the trip your parents planned, but she said no.”

Henry didn’t know that but wasn’t surprised. “Mom is still pretty upset. I doubt she could take the trip without constantly thinking about Dad.”

Andie nodded in understanding. “I told Mom that.”

Henry rolled paint on the wall, a soft gold color that had hints of red in it. The movement was methodical, each of them working on opposite sides of the hall. Henry worked from the end of the hall, where the door to the Sangiovese Room interrupted the gold, to the door to the Merlot Room. When his roller got as close as he could to the rich wood door frame, Henry paused.

“I heard Cynthia was at your house for dinner Saturday night.”

The only indication Andie heard him was the pause of her roller. She pulled it from the wall and dipped it again. “She did.”

“It sounded like an interesting night when I talked to her yesterday.”

“Yeah, it was nice getting to know her.”

“Is that what you call it?”

“Come on, Henry. It wasn’t like that.”

“Then tell me what it was like, Andie. Because I thought you were okay with us. I thought you weren’t going to give me any more s**t about it. I didn’t realize that meant you were going to harass Cynthia.”

“I didn’t harass her! It wasn’t like that.”

A cough from inside one of the rooms reminded Henry where they were. He shot Andie a look, one she returned, and they both fell silent.

Henry painted from the Merlot Room down to the Chardonnay Room and kept going. When he reached the Riesling Room, one of their two suites, he worked his way across the end of the hall and met Andie.

“Zach has been talking to Kristen,” Andie said quietly. “She was upset. She thinks Cynthia is taking advantage of you.”

“What?” Henry sighed. “You have to be kidding me.”

Andie shook her head. “She’s upset about Phillip. Any relationship has put her on edge lately.”

“That doesn’t mean she should attack Cynthia.”

Andie gave him a sympathetic look. “I know. Last time Cynthia was here, she broke you. Kristen is broken right now. She’s lashing out at anyone who’s hurt someone she cares about.”

“Cynthia and I aren’t her business.”

Andie nodded. “I know. And I told her that after Cynthia left. Zach has been talking to her. They both think you’re going to fall for her and you’re going to get hurt again.”

“It’s not like that,” Henry lied. The words were bitter on his tongue, but he wouldn’t admit that he was almost as lost as when they were kids. He was older, more experienced with women, smarter, but he was just as big a fool as he’d always been when it came to Cynthia.

“Listen, I know you see a different side to her. We all just want to make sure you aren’t blinded by her.”

“Did I tell you that Cody was all wrong for you? That him loving you forever meant you shouldn’t be together? Did I tell Kristen she should break up with Phillip because they wanted different things? Or that Zach should settle down or that Jake should tell Alyssa to f**k off? No. Because it wasn’t my business. I’m having trouble understanding where my relationship with Cynthia is any of yours.”

Andie sighed. “You’re right, but I didn’t lose someone right before Cody and I got together. We didn’t have a messy history. None of us went through what you went through right before we jumped into a relationship. It’s very different.”

Henry shook his head. “No. It’s the same thing. What’s between you and Cody is between you and Cody. Same with the others. Cynthia and I aren’t falling in love. We’re not starting something that’s going to last forever. We’re having fun while she’s here.”

Andie smiled at him, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was a smile that said she knew his words weren’t the whole truth. “I hope that’s true. For your sake as well as hers. I liked Cynthia. I didn’t know her well in school, and admit I didn’t like her the last fifteen years. But I saw a little bit of her the other night. I like her. I think the two of you would be good together.”

Henry chuckled. “It doesn’t matter. She’s a city girl. I’m a country boy. We don’t mix. For now, we’ll have our fun, but when she gets a job and leaves, I’ll let her go.”

“Will you?”

Henry forced a grin. “Of course I will. I’ll have no choice.”