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“Good to see you. I’m going to wash up. You two go ahead and start. Mom’s already out there. Thanks for holding dinner for me.” He leaned down and brushed his lips across Daphne’s.
“No problem.”
Daphne and I joined Mazie on the deck. We made some small talk until Brad arrived.
Belinda’s dinner was delicious, but the conversation was mundane. Brad was quiet, and so was I.
Then, Brad, to my astonishment, turned to me. “What are you really doing here?”
I widened my eyes.
“No offense, man,” Brad continued, “but no one packs up and heads over the Atlantic without letting their friends know they’re coming. Unless they left quickly.”
“Brad…” Daphne said.
“It’s okay, Daph.” I forced out a chuckle. “We both know he’s right.”
Brad’s facial muscles didn’t move as I told him about the dream. Completely immobile. Oddly immobile. As if he were forcing his expression to remain the same.
“I understand why you’d be upset by the nightmare,” Brad said. “But Patty’s parents are the ones who told us she’d decided to join the Peace Corps.”
“I know that. But isn’t it strange that she just left? Didn’t bother telling any of us? We’d just declared our love for each other, for God’s sake.”
“It does seem strange,” Daphne said. “But she’s not the first friend to leave me and never communicate with me again. It happened to me in high school. By my best friend Sage Peterson.”
“And that doesn’t strike you as odd that it’s happened twice?” I asked her.
“If it’s happened twice,” Daphne said, “maybe it’s normal. I don’t know.”
Odd, really, the way she put that. As if having best friends disappear on you is a normal thing. No wonder she was seeing a psychiatrist. Was Daphne all right? She didn’t look ill, but mental illness doesn’t always show itself.
“I’ll tell you what,” Brad said. “Since you came all the way here, I’ll make some phone calls. I have contacts just about everywhere. Someone must know someone at the Peace Corps. I’ll try to get confirmation that Patty’s working with them.”
I nodded eagerly. “That would be great, Brad. Thank you.”
“No problem. Always happy to help out a friend.” Brad stood. “Either of you care for an after-dinner drink?”
“Not while I’m nursing,” Daphne said.
“Sure. Anything’s fine with me,” I said.
Brad left and returned a few minutes later with two bourbons. “I don’t have any decent wine in the house. I’m looking to hire a vintner. Our vineyards bloomed in spring, and we’re expecting a hell of a harvest. My father had a top-scale wine-producing facility built on the east quadrant a year and a half ago. If I don’t find someone soon, I’ll have to arrange to sell our grapes to another winery.”
“I know a little about wine,” I said.
“You do?” Brad lifted his eyebrows.
“Sounds strange, huh? A Brit who knows about wine?” I chuckled. “I have an uncle who married a Frenchwoman. They live in the Bordeaux region of France, where her father’s a winemaker. I’ve visited there since I was a kid, and my aunt has taught me a lot.”
“The job’s yours, then.”
I laughed. “I said I know a little. I can’t take the job, of course, but I could help you talk to candidates while I’m here.”
“Really?” Brad lifted his drink in a toast. “That would be great. Thanks, man.”
“Happy to help. Especially since you’re looking into the Patty situation for me.”
“I’ve got a folder full of résumés,” Brad said. “I’d love it if you went through them and picked out the ones I should interview. Then, if you can stay awhile, you can sit in on the interviews with me.”
