Read Online Let Me Love You by Kristin Miller - Free Book Online Page A

Executive Suite on the north side of the winery.
    “The safety board meeting is on schedule,” Skylie said, sliding beside her. “I took them the tasting platters and three bottles of our finest red. Can I take my break now?”
    What was it with teenagers? They acted like they worked just to get from break to break. Granted, Skylie was the most dependable eighteen-year-old Lucy had ever hired, but still. She’d been asking for breaks more today than ever before.
    As Lucy scanned the dance floor at Janice’s birthday party, realization struck. “I completely forgot that you graduated from Blue Lake High last year. Do you know any of the people here?”
    Skylie bounced on her toes excitedly, her stick-straight blond hair falling over her right eye. “Janice Brackett is my best friend.”
    “Really?” Lucy asked, searching the crowd. “I didn’t know that.”
    “So can I? Do you mind if I jump in?”
    Oh, how easily she could switch from work to play. Lucy would’ve been lying if she said she wasn’t a little jealous.
    “Sure. Take thirty.” Lucy stared out the windows over her vineyard and work yard, the wine in the canisters ever-present on her mind. Her winery manager had said there might be less wine than last year thanks to the drought. It had affected their grapes more than their initial projection. She tried not to worry about something that might not even happen, but the stress remained nonetheless. “Go have fun.”
    As Skylie pocketed her name tag and skipped off to the dance floor, Lucy got a thrill watching her assistant push off her responsibility and join her friends. The music shifted from Jay-Z to Journey and the moshing crowd of high school kids separated. Dane emerged, sweaty and laughing, holding up his hands as they chanted for more.
    He’d been in the middle of that pit the entire time?
    She shook her head, laughing.
    “He’ll never grow up,” a deep voice said from beside her. “It’s both his greatest and most limiting attribute.”
    She turned. “Mr. Brackett.” Joey and Dane’s father. “The party is a hit! Are you having a good time?”
    As he smiled, stress lines appeared beside his eyes and around his mouth. His physique showed that he took good care of himself, but the shadows and lines on his face proved he’d borne a heavy burden. It didn’t take much to determine the cause of his stress. Everyone in Blue Lake had heard what happened. His son and daughter-in-law had died in a house fire, much too early, and had left their daughter behind.
    Parents weren’t supposed to bury their children. Lucy couldn’t fathom the kind of emptiness Mr. Brackett had felt over the last six years.
    “What you’ve done here,” he said, circling a hand over his head to encompass the room, “is wonderful.”
    “Thank you.” Her heart warmed. “That means a lot.”
    “You captured Joey’s vision perfectly.”
    “I didn’t work with Joey, actually. Cara Smith was the one who handled all the meetings with me. She had brilliant ideas about joining two rooms and making them a part of the same party. We’ve never done that before.”
    “Mmm.” He nodded, though pursed his lips in disagreement. “Wouldn’t think a man could have ideas about something like a Sweet Sixteen. I get it. That’s too far out of the box to wrap your head around.”
    “I’m”—was she missing something?—“sorry, but I’m not understanding.”
    “All of this was Joey’s planning.” He lowered his voice. “His idea and his money, though he doesn’t go around blowing his own horn. Cara pulled her weight in making the appointments and securing the details, but Joey was the one willing to go the extra mile for that sweetie-pie over there. Look at her…she’s glowing.”
    “That was”—incredibly sweet—“nice of him.”
    Across the room, Dane and Brody stood fifteen feet apart, throwing grapes into each others’ gaping mouths. Each time the grape dropped in, they whooped and threw their arms