A Vine Mess (Love on the Vine #4)

1. Ella

FOURTEEN DAYS BEFORE THE TRIP

Walking into the greenhouse at the winery was a breath of fresh air…literally. Everything in me settled with the first inhale of the plants that rested inside, waiting for the day when they’d be placed in their forever home on the vineyard.

“Hey, Ella,” someone said from behind me, and I whirled to find Liam standing at the side entrance, smiling softly at me.

I grinned when I faced him. “Hey. Fancy seeing you here.”

Liam paused for a beat, eyes wide and darting across my face. I lifted my hand to my cheek, wondering if there was something there, but he moved on before I could ask. With a snort and eyeroll, he said, “Please. I practically live here.”

That wasn’t a lie. As the winery’s head vintner, his job was never done. He spent more time at the winery than anyone I knew—including my sister Amara, the CEO of the entire company.

“What’re you working on today?” I asked him .

Liam inclined his head to the back left corner of the space. “Getting those new white wine grapes ready to be planted next week. They were looking a little dry when they arrived, so I’m trying to perk them back up.”

“Want some help?”

He blinked, surprised, before his expression slid into the same cool mask I always saw it in. Sometimes, I wondered if I bothered him, being around constantly. But I never asked, and he never said. All he did was nod once and lead me to the new vines.

“I never like nurturing them in pots like this,” he said when we approached the massive spread.

I knew from Amara that we’d received over a hundred new plants from her contact in California, and they took up the bulk of the greenhouse space. The rest was reserved for some of Ezra’s fresh produce and a small plot I used for my personal flower experiments.

“Then why’d you agree to let Amara ship them early? Couldn’t we have just waited until planting season?”

Liam shook his head. “The winery we got them from was going to sell them to someone else if we didn’t take them when we did, and…well, you know your sister. When she sets her sights on something—”

“There’s no changing her mind,” I finished with a grin.

Liam spread his arms out, gesturing to the plants. “So here we are.”

My eyes swept over the large terracotta pots with a large wooden post staked in the center, the vines snaking their way upward. But they were getting dangerously close to overgrowing their confinement, and I could tell by the tightness around Liam’s eyes and mouth that he was stressed.

“What are we doing today then?”

“First,” he said, heading toward the end of the first row where a wheelbarrow waited, filled with a dark substance I knew from the smell was some sort of manure-based mulch, “we’re going to feed them. We’re only about a week away from planting, and I need them to retain as much water as possible so they’re ready for the transition. Adding this to the top soil will help that process along. Then”—he gestured to a pile of wood behind him—“we’re going to extend these stakes so the vines have somewhere to grow before I’m ready for them to start twining together.”

I withdrew my gardening gloves from the back pocket of my baggy denim overalls, slipped them on, and said, “Put me to work then.”

I felt the way Liam looked at me then all the way to my bones, like his ocean eyes cut right to my core, flaying layers away until all that was left was my most vulnerable, soft underbelly. And if he could see that deeply into my heart, he could tell how badly I needed this distraction. I held my breath, waiting for his next move—more than a little grateful when he directed me to start crumbling the mulch into the pots, so I filled a five gallon bucket and moved to the far side to begin.

This kind of work was therapeutic for me, when I got my hands dirty and could let my mind wander. Over three months had passed since Alfie and I had broken up, and I truthfully was doing better than ever. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t the loss of him that made my heart ache. That came from the fact that I’d wasted so much time on him, had allowed him to treat me like less than the woman I was, had changed into someone different to keep him, and that his presence had caused so many problems for my family.

The last one in particular was something I didn’t think I could ever forgive myself for. I’d let him routinely talk shit about my sisters and parents, about our family businesses, about my sisters’ partners. He’d gaslit me and isolated me to the point where instead of the vibrant woman I’d been before, I’d become sullen, my natural light dimmed.

I was slowly clawing my way back, and I had the dirt under my fingernails to prove it.

Several rows across from me, Liam had begun to extend the stakes shooting out of the pots by screwing the new pieces of wood to the old. The construction wasn’t the prettiest thing I’d ever seen, but I knew it would accomplish what he wanted.

“How long do you think before we’ll be able to get these in the ground?” I asked him conversationally, mostly to fill the silence.

Before Alfie, I’d clung to my solitude. But in the wake of his betrayal, my thoughts were too loud. The voices in my head constantly reminded me I wasn’t good enough. Not smart or pretty or talented enough. After all, if a rat like him would cheat on me, what hope did I have of finding someone better?

So I spent my free time—when I wasn’t at Blossom’s—working at the winery, doing whatever menial tasks I could get my hands on to quell the cyclone of my thoughts.

I had to admit, Liam had been…surprising. I wasn’t blind to the way he looked at me, like I was some fragile flower that needed to be handled with care lest my petals wilted and withered. But when I told him to put me to work, he gave me something to do, no questions asked. He didn’t try to talk to me, didn’t try to pry out how I was feeling like my sisters and parents had a habit of doing.

After all, it had been over three months since the breakup. I was fine , if a bit jaded. And the constant reminder of the epic implosion of my relationship certainly didn’t help matters.

In answer to my question at last, Liam said, “I’m hoping next week. Soil conditions are improving rapidly thanks to the warmer weather we’ve been having, and I really want to get them in the ground before I leave on vacation.”

“Your big road trip, right?”

I’d heard rumblings about it here and there, mostly from Amara, who was nervous about the thought of Liam being gone for two weeks. But in all the time I’d known him, the man had never taken more than a few days off here and there. He deserved a vacation.

“Yeah,” Liam grinned. “I’m really excited, but I know I won’t enjoy it as much if I have to leave the planting of these to someone else.”

“Can’t Victor handle it?” I asked, naming the older man who used to have Liam’s job but has since stepped aside to take on a less-involved role.

“Haven’t you heard?” Liam flicked his eyes up to me briefly before he straightened, gripping the plackets of his flannel, which he’d left unbuttoned, and flexing and rolling his arms and shoulders to peel it off. The white tee beneath clung to his torso in the most distracting way, his tattooed biceps truly testing the limits of the sleeves, the back and chest stretched over his broad shoulders and pecs .

The man was a fucking specimen, a goddamn lumber jack wet dream.

“Haven’t I heard, what?” I asked absently, unable to tear my gaze away from the rippling of his abdomen through the thin cotton of his tee as he twisted to grab another piece of wood.

“Victor retired.”

That got my attention. “Really?”

Liam nodded. “Last month.”

“How…”

I’d been about to ask how the fuck I missed that, but Liam only smiled sympathetically.

“You’ve had your own shit going on,” he said softly.

“Still,” I protested weakly. “I’m part owner of the company. I should know when a long-time employee decides to retire.”

“Well, you know Vic,” Liam continued. “Didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“Did he even give you a heads up?”

Liam shook his head. “Nope. Just walked up to me on his last day, stuck out his hand, and said, ‘It’s been nice working with you, kid. Good luck.’”

“Damn, that’s cold,” I said with a chuckle. Then again, Vic wasn’t the friendliest man. In fact, my sisters and I had been terrified of him when we were younger. He reminded me of the old next door neighbor in the first Home Alone movie. But unlike that guy, Vic was actually mean. He used to chase us around with pruning shears when we dared run through the vineyards as kids, and no amount of scolding from my parents could get him to stop.

But he also knew his stuff, which is why my father never fired him because of his antics. Personally, I wasn’t sad to see him go. Not when Liam was far… younger .

And, okay, a lot better looking. No grizzled beard, leathery skin, and ratty old shirts to be found with Liam Danvers. Simply…flannels, a well-maintained beard, tan skin, and a whole lot of muscles.

Fuck, and don’t even get me started on the tattoos.

Liam’s eyes narrowed on me a bit as I lost myself to those thoughts, so I gave my head a little shake and smiled brightly, mentally urging him to let it go.

If there was one thing I knew about Liam, it was that he, unlike the bulk of the other men around here, generally stayed out of other people’s business. He kept to himself, which was something I greatly appreciated.

I had four sisters and two parents who were constantly pestering me about how I was doing in the wake of my breakup with Alfie. The last thing I needed was Liam joining the fray.

That was why I appreciated days like this so much, when he gave me a task and left me to it.

And on that note, I awkwardly pointed at the plant I’d been working on, half-filled with mulch, and said, “I’m just gonna…”

Liam cleared his throat, his hand coming up to scratch at the back of his neck. I quickly averted my gaze to avoid watching his biceps bunch deliciously beneath his shirt.

Fuck, I needed to get it together—or spend some quality time with my vibrator. Going for so long without sex was turning me into a real horndog.

But this bout of celibacy had also been incredibly healing. With Alfie, sex had always been transactional, where he was taking, taking, taking, and I was giving, giving, giving. Finding out he’d been cheating on me with multiple women only made me feel as though I’d lost more than what he’d already stolen from me. My trust was broken, self-esteem shattered, and this time alone had done wonders in helping me find myself again.

I just wished I could’ve done it without my family breathing down my neck, wondering when the “old me” was coming back.

In truth, I didn’t think I’d ever be wholly that girl I was before Alfie again. He’d run off, into the arms of someone else, with pieces of me still stuck to his hands like the mulch on my gloves. And I didn’t even want them back. Those were pieces of me that belonged to him because he’d created them. Nurtured me, took me from a little seedling to a withered old plant that, in those early days after the breakup, hadn’t been sure how to survive without him. But being here, doing something I loved—helping my family and getting my hands dirty in the process—settled me in a way I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

I must have been really lost in my thoughts because Liam startled me when he asked, “You okay over there?”

I canted my head to the side, my brows pinching together. “Yes?”

Liam chuckled. “You just let out the loudest sigh I’ve ever heard from another human.”

“Really? I’m sorry.” I swore softly. “I didn’t realize—”

“It’s okay,” he said, gently cutting me off. “I think we’ve all been there, and you’ve been through a lot lately.”

I grimaced but said, “Being here helps.”

“Then you can stay as long as you want.”