Tasting Notes (25 page)

“What are you doing home? I thought you were working late,” Rush said, stepping toward West and pulling him into his arms. “Is everything okay?”

West looked up at him and gave a weak smile. “Better than it’s ever been. I sold my company.”

“You what?” Rush asked, pulling back and looking West in the eye.

“Well, not exactly. I set in motion the sale of my company. Most of it, anyway.”

Rush looked a little shell-shocked. He took West’s hand and led him into the living room. They sat down on the couch, West immediately seeking the physical contact that was broken when they relocated.

“Do you want to start at the beginning?” Rush asked, taking the paperweight and placing it on the coffee table.

West nodded. “This isn’t my home anymore. Being apart from you… it was awful. Before I went to California, I wasn’t really living. I was the job. Every ounce of me was taken up with business, and every waking moment was spent with my head in the company. I didn’t have friends or relationships. Nothing about my life before was really living. And then I stumbled into Canyon Creek, and some asshole turned my whole world upside down, and I fell so hard.

“When I came back, I felt like I stepped from a world in color, back into black-and-white. I’ve only been back for a few weeks, and I kept telling myself it would get easier, that I’d miss you less, but I was deluding myself. Every day I miss you more. I miss the winery and Annette’s coffee, and I miss my
home
. So I started the paperwork to hand over most of the business to Helena. She did a good job while I was away. She’s competent and capable, and the company will flourish in her hands. I am going to remain a silent partner and available on a consultant basis from California.”

“Are you serious?” Rush asked, as though he still was not able to fully digest what West was telling him.

“Yeah. Take me home?”

Rush grinned. “Yeah. Let’s go home.”

West never felt lighter than he had in that moment. All the stress, the anxiety, the dread that had gathered, creating a knot between his shoulder blades, vanished with those words. It wasn’t that he thought Rush wouldn’t want to go back to California. West knew he would. But the agreement felt like a new beginning.

“I’ll go pack,” West said, jumping up from the couch and running into his bedroom.

IT DIDN’T
take long to get everything organized. West insisted that, other than the paperweight and a few photos of his grandfather, there wasn’t a lot he wanted to take with him to California. He spent a couple hours on the phone, making arrangements with a Realtor to put up a listing for his house. West made things simple by including the furniture, appliances, and accessories in the sale, and when that was arranged, there wasn’t much left to do but pack a suitcase. It was amazing what could be done in such a short space of time when there was enough money to buy Canada backing the requests.

“Are you sure there’s nothing else you want to keep?” Rush asked. West knew his decision seemed sudden, and it wasn’t a small change. Everything he’d worked for, everything he’d built, he was handing off to someone else to follow Rush back to California. He knew Rush wanted to be certain. But West had never been more certain of anything in his life. He had new dreams, a new life. His place was at the winery, learning how to make wine that didn’t taste like decomposing gym socks and eating pancakes at Annette’s with Rush, slipping pieces of bacon under the table to Casper and going for weekend beers at the Pour House. His place was in Canyon Creek.

Rush walked over to West and stilled his hands as he was shoving a pair of shoes into his suitcase. “West. Are you positive there’s nothing other than clothes you want to bring? Nothing you want to keep?” Rush repeated.

West smiled at him. A real, genuinely happy smile. “Nope. Just you. That’s all I need.”

Rush leaned down and kissed him, and West savored the feeling of Rush’s lips against his. Anticipation bubbled in his belly at the thought there would be no good-bye kiss. This was it. They were going back to California, and the expression on Rush’s face erased all fears and doubts West ever had. He wanted this. So did Rush.

Of course there was going to be a period of adjustment, but if West thought about it, most of that adjustment had taken place when he first arrived in Canyon Creek.

“I love you,” Rush said.

“Love you too. Now help me get this thing closed,” West said, struggling to move the zipper around the cover of the suitcase. Rush chuckled and eased his body weight onto the top, giving West the leverage he needed to zip it shut.

“I’m ready whenever you are,” he said with a satisfied grin.

THEY’D BEEN
back in Canyon Creek for a little over a month. Things were different—better—than when West was there the first time. There was a permanency to him now, as though he finally clicked into his place in the world. Although West did very little with Forge West during the spring, there was a marked difference in the way he carried himself, in his entire demeanor, as though he shed the weight of the world he’d been carrying. There was a lightness in his eyes Rush loved to see himself reflected in.

As they moved toward the fall, the weather began to change, the air a little crisper in the mornings. Once they arrived back in town, it didn’t make sense to live in separate houses any longer. Making a cross-country move for another person was heavy with commitment, but it wasn’t scary. It was right. They hadn’t decided yet what to do with Rush’s house—keep it as an off-site guest house or sell—but Rush moved in with West. They donated most of the furniture and started fresh, building a home that represented them both.

Besides, there was something about having sex in a bed that once belonged to his parents that didn’t sit right with Rush. It was time for a fresh start. As the days passed, the more settled the two of them became into their routine. The winery took up a lot of their time, and West insisted on hiring a few helping hands for the harvest that was set to begin the following month. Rush was glad for the help. The busy season at the vineyard led into the busy season at the farm, but somehow he knew they’d get through it.

He was happier than he’d ever been, and he couldn’t believe the way his life turned out, but he wouldn’t have changed it for anything. It seemed as though everything worked out for the best. Even Scarlet decided to relocate to Canyon Creek.

She called a few days after they flew in, asking if there was a position available for her at the winery. West jumped on the chance to have her there in less than a heartbeat. They had worked together for so long, she said she couldn’t imagine being anyone else’s assistant, and that she was considering a change of pace anyway. West was elated, and they decided she would look after the bookkeeping and general office work that surrounded both businesses—with a pay raise of course—and since Rush was living with West, there was an empty house sitting, waiting for her.

She was set to arrive before Christmas, giving her enough time to settle her affairs in Chicago before making the move. Rush didn’t know Scarlet well, but the few times they met, he knew there was something inherently good about her. He was happy she was willing to relocate.

“ARE YOU
sure you don’t want to come with me to look at the hutch?” West asked as he walked into the kitchen and over to the coffeemaker. He filled his cup and slipped the frilly cozy Rush had given him around it.

“Yeah, I’ve got some things to take care of around here.”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. You go, have a good time with Rosie. You’ll be back by dinner?”

“Shouldn’t be later than four,” West replied.

“Drive safely.”

A moment later, West was gone, off to an antique dealer in Redding who had a beautiful solid mahogany hutch listed for sale. It was a far cry from the cold chrome and glass West left behind, but when he and Rush went to look at furniture, he gravitated toward the warmer tones and pieces with a story. When he saw the hutch online, he fell in love with it. His trip to Redding was perfect timing for Rush to make a trip of his own.

Rush waited for the text from Rosie, letting him know she and West were safely out of Canyon Creek, then called Annette to give her the all-clear. They’d been planning the party since the day after he and West arrived back in town. It was Rosie’s idea originally, a welcome home/housewarming party to celebrate West moving permanently.

In a little under three hours, he’d have a house full of people, and Rush could feel the flicker of excitement in his guts when he imagined West’s reaction. All the usual suspects pitched in. Rosie created the diversion while Rush picked Scarlet up, and the three of them decorated the house and prepared the food. It was going to be a party to remember.

EVERYONE HID
as the truck approached, given the heads-up by another text from Rosie when they were ten minutes out.

“Rush! Come help me unload this hutch!” West called as he unlocked the door. “Let’s get it in the dining room, and then I’ll let you bend me….” West’s words died away as he walked in and realized their house was filled with all their friends.

“Surprise,” Rush said through peals of laughter. “Welcome home, honey.”

“Uh… hi, guys,” West said, giving a little wave.

He ventured in, giving everyone a hug as he saw them and thanked them for coming. He stepped in front of Rush last, and Rush could tell by the look in his eyes, he was happy. Perhaps a bit overwhelmed, but happy.

“Thank you for this,” West said.

Rush shrugged. “It was nothing. It was Rosie, really, who had the idea. We wanted to do something to celebrate you moving here, and we figured if there was anything that would guarantee you would stay forever, it would be Annette’s cupcakes.”

“Chocolate?”

“Of course.”

“You’re right. I’m never leaving.”

“Good. If you did, I’d come find you again and bring you back.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

West smiled and kissed him, wrapping his arms around Rush’s waist. When the catcalls and whistles started in the background, West broke the kiss but not the contact, settling in against Rush’s side, where he fit perfectly.

They say that time heals all wounds, but losing Parley, his one true love, left Zach with a hole in his heart that no one else can fill. After forty-eight blissful hours alone together as teens in an abandoned house, Parley disappeared. Parley is what he is, and the pray-away-the-gay camp his parents ship him to won’t change that. However, finding the balance between accepting his true nature and not losing his family means tough sacrifices.

Sixteen years later, Zach is thunderstruck when Parley stands on the front doorstep of his house—the house that had been their refuge, which Zach restored. But Parley isn’t alone, and Zach wonders if he’s found Parley only to lose him a second time. If they can overcome the terrors of the past and the situation of the present, maybe they can build a new relationship just as Zach rebuilt the house—brick by brick.

A Piece Us Back Together story

Carter McClintock’s life is uncomplicated. For the past five years, he’s spent so much time in hospital scrubs that one day bleeds into the next, and that’s just the way he likes it. That is, until he meets Matthew Nolan. Carter has never had a patient affect him the way Matthew does. During Matthew’s stay in the hospital, the chemistry is unmistakable, and once he is discharged, Carter asks him out.

Despite the obvious attraction between them, Matthew’s HIV status keeps him from handing Carter his heart, refusing to believe anyone could ever truly want him. When Matthew’s past comes to light, their budding relationship is threatened before it has even begun. But Carter isn’t one to give up without a fight, and he will do anything to show Matthew the lengths he will go to keep them together.