Free The Winemaker's Dinner: Dessert (The Winemaker's Feast) by Dr. Ivan Rusilko Page A

sense to him. After a while he felt confident that he would never know whether texting her was the right answer, so he just pushed the send button.
    Thunder rolled across the sky, and the first drops of rain began to fall. He took a deep breath and turned toward home, scrolling through his music until he found the perfect tune. As he began to run, Adele began to sing.

Chapter 12
    “Against the Wind”
    “I S E VERYTHING O KAY , M AN ?”
    “This side of the dirt,” Ivan mumbled, studying his menu. Oliver’s was their usual hangout, and this lunch was long overdue. After avoiding Micky for weeks, he’d texted him yesterday after his mind-clearing run.
    “Don’t bullshit me.” Micky looked across the table, concern on his face.
    Ivan glanced up from his menu. “What?”
    “I know you know that Jaden is back in town.”
    “So?”
    “So…I just assumed when you texted me and set up this little meeting you were…you know…”
    Ivan put down his menu and leaned back in his chair. “Here we go again.”
    “I thought maybe you were ready to talk. Look, I’m just trying to help you. You haven’t been the same since you and Jaden split up.”
    “Would you be?”
    “Of course not, but it’s been six months.” Micky threw his hands up in exasperation. “What’s your deal? Business is good, and the women are plentiful. That’s not a bad life, if you ask me.”
    Ivan studied him for a moment. If it had been anyone else, he would’ve gotten up and left. He couldn’t even have a simple lunch without being reminded of her? But this was Micky, the only person he could confide in—not that he had. How many times had they seen each other since the proposal debacle? He couldn’t even count, but he’d never so much as acknowledged what had happened, no matter how many times Micky tried to bring it up.
    Yet now his words struck a nerve. “Yeah, I know,” he grudgingly responded. “What’s your point?”
    “Have you even talked to her since The Bath Club?”
    “No, I haven’t. But she texts or emails me almost every day. Yesterday she called and left a voicemail.”
    “Every day?”
    “Yep.”
    “And you’ve never talked to her or responded to her?”
    “Nope. I don’t need to.”
    Micky laughed and shook his head. “I think maybe you do.”
    “She made her bed. She can lie in it.”
    “Do you really think that? How do you know if you haven’t even talked to her? Maybe there’s something you don’t know.”
    Tasha and Micky had clearly overanalyzed this whole Jaden situation. Hell, Tasha was probably the one to put him up to this line of questioning. And they were questions better left unanswered. Once, just once, he wanted a day of peace—one day of not thinking about her. Was that too much to ask?
    As if fate knew he needed a temporary reprieve, the waiter appeared. But even after he’d taken their orders and collected their menus, Micky still wore the same questioning look. Ivan’s reprieve was short lived.
    “What else is there to know, Micky?” Ivan’s voice lowered into a defensive growl. “What would you do if Tasha slept with someone else—some rich kid, pretty boy who had more money than brains? After all the time and energy and love you poured into your relationship—not to mention keeping the rest of your life on track and starting a new business—she slips into bed with her co-worker the second you turn your back, the same co-worker she pissed and moaned about incessantly.”
    Micky sat back with his arms crossed over his chest while he vented.
    “Now, top that off with the fact that you knew you wanted nothing more than to be with her for the rest of your life, and to prove it you got down on one knee in front of all your friends and offered her a commitment that in her eyes was nothing but a joke.” Ivan rubbed his hand over his face and readjusted his chair before continuing. “Actually, wait—let’s take a step back because that’s not even the worst of it. For the