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Anger gave energy to his stride as he walked to the door "I’ll see you in the ht"

"Alex, wait"

But he didn’t Instead he stepped into the hall and closed her door behind him

He stood there in the darkness, but she didn’t co him to return And then he didn’t knohy he’d left in the first place, but it was too late to change that now

Joe walked through the winery Funny how this was the one place he could usually find to be alone No Grand to feed hirapes or his ex-wife, or Mia wanting to talk about God knohat, including his ex-wife, with Ian offering a hundred different opinions No Darcy

He didn’t have a specific complaint about her, except he was an idiot where she was concerned He wasn’t supposed to even like her She should be a nonperson Si more But she was real and alive, and for soot to him

In an effort to distract himself, he walked into Lorenzo’s office The oldbecause Joe wasn’t interested in going another round on inheritance, his future, or changing his naer books, the charts that detailed production, and the big map on the wall--the one that showed all the Marcelli land, and most of Wild Sea next door He moved closer and traced the line of the coast, then studied the elegant script that spelled out the family name

He wasn’t one of them, never had been, never would be But no nored hiht they could make him believe by their combined force of will As if they could force him into what they saw as his destiny

A faht his attention He turned to the doorway and saw Lorenzo enter the room The old man nodded at Joe, then made his way to his desk where he sat down heavily

"There are too many woainst the desk "There always have been God could have blessed randsons, but instead he saw fit to surround me omen" He leaned back in his chair and eyed Joe "You had the right idea Join the navy and leave the wo women in the navy these days Even on the ships"

"Fools It was better before When aIf Tessa is awake her lips are , and not in prayer"

Joe held in his ae"

Lorenzo nodded "I know She makes s when he takes a wife"

Joe groaned "Not you, too"

"Of course me" The old man shook his head "You didn’t tell us"

"It didn’tover before I knew about the Marcellis"

Before Joe could respond, Ian popped his head in the office "Hey There you are I thought I’d find you here Hi We’re going to be heading out Mia and I want to go down to San Diego for a few days before coet us on base? It would be really cool to see some of the ships and planes and stuff up close I’d really like to"

Ian stepped into the office and looked around "Great place Marcelli is the best Everything is so interesting here I really like the wine stuff Mia doesn’t knowIf I wasn’t going into government work, I think I’d want to ine But here Not in Napa or up there I grew up here" He spotted the randfather tookout here all the tirinned at Joe "There are so boat in them Some fill up with every tide, so you don’t want to be there at the wrong time It could be really bad But I liked the caves You probably know all about swiht? Maybe you two could go fishing Or if you wait until Mia and I coo with you"

Ian actually paused for breath Lorenzo looked shell-shocked while Joe took advantage of the lull "Is that Mia calling you?" he asked

"What? Oh, she doesn’t know I ca You guys have been great" He shook hands with Lorenzo, then turned to Joe "Mia thinks you’re terrific She’s always talking about you and--"

Joe pulled his hand free "Thanks You’d better go find her You kno Mia gets"

"What? Oh, right"

Ian disappeared Joe crossed to the chair opposite Lorenzo’s and sank down "Not uy"

Lorenzo frowned "What does she see in hi"

"Then why is she with hi babies, but not with that one"

Joe agreed "Mia isn’t interested in settling down right now So she picks e her She could never be with someone she didn’t respect That means she’s protected--she won’t fall in love with someone like Ian"

Lorenzo stared at hied "I’ve had a lot of free tiot here"

"You have been around the woo taste from the barrels You can tellheavily on the cane, he led the way into the barrel roo Slasses handed around

Joe braced himself for a volley of criticis with his lie Despite three years of visits to the Marcellis, he still preferred beer to wine