Love in the Vineyard (Tavonesi #7)(53)

At the mention of Inspire, Natasha felt heat creep up her face. Coco knew she’d lived at the homeless shelter.

Mermaid, the voice that tormented Natasha whispered. You don’t belong here. These are not your people.

Surrounded by the gorgeous setting, by the gorgeous Tavonesis, she felt the gap that taunted her widen. Why couldn’t she have fallen for a guy from her own small pond? She glanced at Coco.

“One day, people will realize that I know more about life than they think.” Coco winked at Natasha. A subtle, barely perceptible wink. Why Adrian’s sister kept her secret, she didn’t know.

The women oohed over Coco’s photos of flowers and plants with the enthusiasm they’d shown for the shots of the bare-chested men strewn around the room. Natasha harnessed her racing thoughts and focused. Photos were easy for her. She had no troubled helping to select the best shots of native plants for Alana’s book.

Just as she started to excuse herself and make her way back to her work, Coco tapped her on the arm and handed her a large print of the rolling Sonoma hills. She recognized the scene. It was the view from Adrian’s living room window.

“I want you to have this for your new place,” Coco said.

“It’s gorgeous,” Alana exclaimed. “You should forget about shooting all these men and concentrate on landscapes. You have your mother’s eye for composition.”

“You have a new place?” Anastasia asked.

“I moved in yesterday,” Natasha answered and hoped they wouldn’t ask where.

Coco rolled the photo and slipped it into a cardboard tube. “House-warming present,” she said, handing the tube to Natasha. “And you must come to the polo game next Monday afternoon. We have a grand picnic planned. I want you to come as my guest.”

“I have to work,” Natasha said, glad for the excuse.

“I happen to have some clout with your boss,” Coco said. “Zoe’s playing. She’ll give Adrian a run for it. He’s out of shape.”

If the body she’d spent the night making love with was out of shape, then she was a monkey’s uncle.

“I can’t wait to see Zoe trounce him,” Anastasia said with a saucy smile. “I love him, but we Tavonesi women have to stick together.”

Mermaid, the voice whispered as the sisters waited for her answer. And in spite of the warning, she nodded her head.





On Thursday afternoon, Tyler and Brandon chirped all the way to the baseball stadium. Natasha’s nerves and her still-wary feelings about Monica kept her own conversation to the barest of polite comments. Monica drove like a demon, another factor that ramped up the tightness gripping Natasha’s chest.

The boys were fascinated with every aspect of the ballpark. Even Natasha got caught up in the excitement building in the crowd for the game ahead. A woman with a headset met them at the players entrance and ushered them to a spot beside the Giants’ dugout.

Alex Tavonesi approached their little group with a beaming smile.

“Want to meet a couple of my teammates?”

“Yeah!” Brandon and Tyler said in unison.

He nodded to the woman in the headset. “I’ll bring them right back.”

“And why don’t we get such honors?” Monica asked with a teasing tone.

They watched the boys get autographs and pats on the back from several players. Natasha recognized Matt from the pickup game the week before. And who could miss blond, All-American Scotty Donovan?

She was glad that Tyler had insisted that she watch a few games on the refurbished TV she’d bought. Thanks to those shared viewing sessions, Natasha was a bit more familiar with the players and the stadium. The TV was a purchase she hadn’t counted on, but there were some things a ten-year-old had to have. And she’d managed to barter viewing time in exchange for homework sessions, a win-win in her book.

The woman with the headset marshaled the boys back to Natasha and Monica and then marched their group onto the field. The public address announcer blared their names along with those of the principal of the school and the baseball coach. A man trotted out with a huge mock-up of a check. The woman with the headset arranged Tyler and Natasha on one side of the check and Brandon and Monica on the other.

Words were said, but she couldn’t say what. The boys beamed. Natasha saw Monica turn and look over her shoulder. She pointed, then smoothed her hair and smiled. Natasha turned and saw a house-sized image of Monica on a massive screen. Then the camera panned to Natasha and Tyler. Seeing their images up for all the stadium to view made Natasha feel faint. Tyler tugged at her as he glanced over his shoulder.

“It’s us! In Giants stadium.” He turned his face up to hers. “I’m gonna play on this field someday, Mom. I just know it.”

She managed a smile and a nod. In the midst of all the ceremony and excitement, a feeling of dread crawled into her belly and didn’t let go for the duration of the game. The sooner they got out of the stadium and back home, the better.





The next morning Tyler pulled up online images of them at the game on the tablet his school provided to all students. He was thrilled with the close-up shots of him beaming on the field, of him with Alex Tavonesi and shaking hands with Scotty.

Though the full-page photos made her stomach lurch, Natasha smiled in spite of the dread curdling in her stomach.