November 27.
I had not noticed the date when we entered. Now I could not look away from it.
“Why is the sale closing so soon?” I asked.
Lorraine opened her car door but did not get in.
“The buyers have waited long enough. We cannot hold the vineyards in limbo forever.”
“Who agreed to that date?”
“Caleb has handled the negotiations.”
“And you signed off on them?”
She tucked her handbag under her arm. “I am not going to defend every business decision to you.”
I put the form away. The closing date gave me less than two weeks to find out what had been moved, and why.
At 11:15, we were back in the family house hallway. Lorraine stopped beside a framed photograph of Hannah and me taken at a vineyard harvest dinner. She straightened its lower edge, then adjusted the frame beside it.
“Caroline has always been jealous of this family,” she said.
