Too Close to the Sun by Diana Dempsey Page A

weight loss, the new look. She was
doing what she could to entice, to hold on. If Bob were there, Will
knew he would have wanted to throttle him. Though he probably would
have been wise to wait for Bob's side of the story.
    Which Will could easily imagine. Beth always
saw her family and Bob never saw his. When he went out to Colorado
for college, he didn't necessarily intend to stay forever. Henley
Sand and Gravel had become a bigger part of his life than he'd ever
imagined. His wife was tied to Henley S and G's CEO job.
    And Will knew why. Because it wasn't good
enough for that damn brother of hers. It was too pedestrian, too
humdrum, too small a stage for a Harvard Business School
graduate.
    Will hung his head, guilt rising in his
throat. Once in his life— once —the Golden Boy had rebelled.
One of his greatest fears had always been that someday it would
come back to bite him.
    "You know, Beth . . ." He didn't quite know
how to say it. He knew that was because he didn't say it nearly
enough. "I hope you understand how much it means to me that you
stepped in to run Henley S and G. I wouldn't be able to do what I'm
doing if you hadn't. And it's probably not how you imagined your
life, being tied to it, and to Denver."
    She shook her head. "Look, Will, Denver is my
home. And I'm tied to that company because I want to be." She
leaned forward to force him to meet her eyes. Her voice was low and
passionate. "So what if when we were growing up we always thought
you'd run it? Times change!" She gave a little snort. "It's not
like Japan, where the emperor's got to be male."
    He pinched the skin between his eyes. "But
sometimes I still feel like a shirker."
    "Working eighty hours a week? I don't think
so." She made a scoffing sound. "Anyway, what do you think I should
do?"
    "About Bob? I'm kind of out of my depth
giving marital advice."
    "Take a stab at it."
    The devil sat on his shoulder and whispered. Tell her that whatever Bob does, she should stay in Denver. He tried to shake Beelzebub off, though it wasn't easy. "I don't
know," he said. "It sounds like a midlife crisis to me."
    "At thirty-two?"
    "You guys started young."
    "That's true."
    "I'd try to ride it out. I think there's a
good chance he'll give up the idea. He may even go back to Philly
to interview and realize he's not that crazy about it. He may
realize he doesn't really want to live that close to his family
again. You don't know. Maybe he's just trying to make a point."
    "Well, he's certainly done that."
    They sat silently for a time, then again Beth
spoke. "Maybe you're right." Her expression grew more hopeful. "I
hope so." She sighed and took one last swipe across her nose with a
tissue before stuffing it back in her handbag. "Okay, I'm
officially ready to talk about something else." She tried to put a
smile on her face, but only partly succeeded. "Let's dissect your love life."
    Gabby DeLuca . He had to admit it was a
stretch at the moment to link her name with that phrase, yet if
hope was on the menu, she was the woman who came to mind.
    "I did meet somebody who's pretty
interesting," he told his sister.
    "Good!" She narrowed her eyes at him. "So why
do I get the idea there's a problem?"
    "Well, for one, I'm trying to buy the winery
she works for."
    "For one? There's more?"
    He sipped from his water before speaking.
"She thinks I'm a capitalist pig."
    Beth arched her brows and reached for her
menu. "She reads you like a book. I like her already."
    *
    When Tuesday night finally rolled around,
Gabby cursed herself for having agreed to meet Vittorio. When he'd
called out of the blue on Saturday to announce that he was in Napa
Valley and wanted to see her, why had she agreed? she asked
herself. What had she been thinking?
    She hadn't been thinking about not seeing him. That rebel idea had been shot down instantly, like an
enemy aircraft. She knew she ran a high risk of heartbreak. She
feared her recovery would be seriously set back. Yet she also knew
she could not