The Villa

out and we can go over business. Really sorry I didn't get back to you sooner."
    She stared at the machine, imagined herself ripping it out of the wall and heaving it. Of course that wouldn't change anything, and she was too practical a woman to indulge in useless tantrums.
    Too practical, she thought, struggling against tears of disappointment, to let food and wine go to waste because some idiot, inconsiderate man stood her up.
    The hell with him. There were plenty more where he came from. Plenty, she reminded herself as she yanked her broiler open and prepared to cook the steak. She'd had a number of interesting offers in Italy. When she got back, she might just take one of them and see where it led.
    But for now, she was opening the goddamn wine and getting good and drunk.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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    Pilar approached the guest house by the back door. It was a friendly habit. She felt she had become friends with Theo. He was an interesting, and interested, young man once you chipped through the surface. A boy, she thought, who needed the softening influence of a mother.
    She was touched that he seemed to enjoy rather than resent her company when he came by the villa to use the pool. She'd managed to lure him up to the music room and have him play—or at least play around with—the piano. It had been an easy step from there to open up a dialogue, and a debate, over music.
    She hoped he was as entertained by them as she was.
    Maddy was a different matter. The girl was polite but consistently cool. And watched, Pilar thought, everything and everyone. It wasn't resentment so much as a measuring. A measuring, Pilar knew, that was directly connected to her relationship with Maddy's father.
    That aspect appeared to have gone straight over Theo's head. But Pilar recognized the female-to-female judgment in Maddy's eyes. So far, she hadn't come up to snuff.
    Pilar wondered if David was as unaware as his son that Maddy was guarding her territory.
    She hitched her shoulder bag as she started up the back walk. The contents weren't bribes, she assured herself. Just tokens. And she wouldn't stay any longer than was comfortable for all of them. Though part of her hoped they'd want her to stay awhile. Fix them lunch, listen to their chatter.
    She so missed having someone to mother.
    If fate had dealt her another hand, she'd have had a houseful of children, a big messy dog, ripped seams to sew, spats to referee.
    Instead she'd produced one bright and beautiful daughter who'd needed so little tending. And at forty-eight was reduced to nurturing flowers instead of the children she'd longed for.
    And self-pity, Pilar reminded herself, was unattractive. She knocked briskly on the kitchen door and had her smile ready.
    It wobbled a bit when David answered. He wore a work shirt and jeans, and held a cup of coffee. "Now this is handy." He took her hand to draw her inside. "I was just thinking about you."
    "I didn't expect you to be home."
    "Working out of here today." Because he wanted to, and because he knew it would fluster her, he kept her hand firm in his as he leaned down to kiss her.
    "Oh, well. When I didn't see the van—"
    "Theo and Maddy ganged up on me. Professional day, no school. Every parent's nightmare. We solved it by letting them nag me into giving Theo the keys and driving off to the mall and the movies for the day. Which is why your visit's perfectly timed."
    "Really?" She tugged her hand free, fiddled with the strap of her bag. "It is?"
    "Keeps me from sitting here imagining all the trouble they could get into. Want some coffee?"
    "No, I really should… I just stopped by to drop off a couple of things for the kids." It flustered her to be in the house alone with him. In all the time he'd been there, she'd managed to avoid that single event. "Maddy's so interested in the whole winemaking process, I thought she'd like to read about the history of Giambelli, California."
    Pilar tugged the book she'd picked up at the winery gift shop out of the bag.
    "Right up her alley. She'll appreciate it and pound Ty and me with brand-new questions."
    "She has an active mind."
    "Tell me about it."
    "I brought this sheet music along for Theo. He's so into the techno-rock business, but I thought he might get a kick out of trying some of the classics."
    "Sergeant Pepper." David studied the sheet. "Where'd you dig this up?"
    "I used to play it and drive my mother crazy. It was my job."
    "Did you wear love beads and