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CHAPTER ONE
"You've booked a vacation forwith his sisters Olivia and Madison at the kitchen table in their childhood hoht you needed s done for Drew and Ashley's wedding" If that hadn't been the case, he likely wouldn't have left his lab in Frankfurt until a day or two before the wedding to catch a plane to SFO Of course, he was happy his brother was getting married to the woman of his dreams, but Justin could barely squeeze one free hour out of his research schedule, let alone an entire week
He thought he saw a flash of guilt in Olivia's eyes, but a split second later, it was gone "As you know, Ashley is really organized, so it turns out she doesn't needWhich means," Olivia added with a smile that he didn't quite buy, "you're free to take a little holiday before the wedding"
"Apart fro and Christmas, I've barely been home for the past five years," he reot a free week to spend with everyone, you're trying to get rid of me?"
"Of course not" Maddie was quick to throw her arms around him to back up her words
He couldn't believe hon up his little sister was When he'd left for Gerhteen-year-old Now, at twenty-three, while she still had that same joyful smile, Justin was all too certain that her naive years were long behind her His jaw clenched at the thought of his little sister getting involved with souys as far as he was concerned He'd been planning to pin her down on everything this week, fro career, but now it looked as though she was trying to get rid of him instead
As she loosened her hold on him, he was struck by the concern in her eyes "We're worried about you, Justin"
"Worried?" He looked between Maddie and Olivia "Why would you be worried about me?"
Olivia's lips pressed together as she gathered her thoughts He'd seen this look many times, especially after their o from breast cancer and Olivia had done her best to step into their e that, however Lisa Morrison was irreplaceable, and he felt her loss just as keenly today as he had all those years ago Losing his mother had driven Justin to find a cure for breast cancer--and he wouldn't rest until he did
"You work too hard" Olivia's words were soft but firm
"You're kidding, right?" He couldn't believe Olivia, of all people, was accusing hi a workaholic She was in her last year of a PhD program in education, the sarade Last ti, Olivia's nose had been buried in research papers for two days straight--she'd barely put her work down to eat so "When was the last time you saw the sun?"
"Actually," Olivia said, straightening her shoulders and lifting her chin, "I've been cutting back a lot recently"
When a flush moved across her cheeks, he suddenly wondered if he'd been planning to quiz the wrong sister about her love life Olivia enty-eight, so he shouldn't be surprised that shethe distance with If she had, was there any chance in hell that the guy was good enough for her? All the more reason for Justin to spend the week here in Palo Alto with his family instead of in the wine country
"In any case, we're not talking aboutabout you A week in a char B&B surrounded by the beautiful vineyards of St Helena is exactly what you need"
He ran his hand through his hair, still trying to figure out as behind their decision to surprise him with this trip "Does Grant know about this?"
Maddie and Olivia both nodded as his younger sister told hi"
Now Justin was really confused His oldest brother ran Collide, a social networking company that now also included venture capital and a record company, which made Grant quite possibly the hardest worker of the too hard in the lab--especially when Grant's company was one of the investors with a stake in Justin's research
"Are Sean and Drew also in on your plan to send me off into the boonies?"