Our waitress shows up with a beaming smile and places a basket of chips and a bowl of salsa between us. At least someone is happy to see us. “What can I get you to drink? Soda, margaritas…wine?” She winks at me. It’s funny because I know they carry our wine, but that’s just not strong enough for tonight.
“Margarita, please. Strong.”
The smirk Beau gives me is annoying. He knows the reason I need it is so I don’t go off on our former classmates.
“I’ll have a margarita, too. Normal, please.”
“Smart ass,” I mutter under my breath.
The waitress laughs and turns toward the bar. “I’ll be back with your drinks and to take your order.”
“Thanks.” I call out to her. “Is it wrong that I hope they leave sooner rather than later.” My voice is barely a whisper because I know how to do it correctly and not be heard by neighboring tables.
Beau leans forward and grabs a chip before dipping it into the salsa. “If they are still anything like they were in high school,I think we’re shit out of luck. They’ll stay as long as they can so they have something to gossip about tomorrow.”
Ugh, he’s probably right. They were always the last to leave parties and the first to say some horrible shit about people at school when we went back. Honestly, I don’t know why they kept getting invited. I would have flipped them the finger and moved on.
I need to change the subject before I lose my shit. “So, how was work today?”
He scrubs a hand over his face. “It was fine. The boss called me in his office to ask how the marketing we’re doing is going.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” He’s finally being recognized for the amazing work he does.
“Yes?”
“You don’t sound too sure about that.”
Our drinks are here and we give the waitress our order before turning back to the conversation.
“No, it’s good. But…he keeps talking about me moving up the ranks and I’m not sure I want to do that. And Cole keeps trying to buddy up to me because I’m getting his uncle’s attention.”
“Oh, that’s gross.” I take a sip of my margarita, and it’s exactly what I wanted. “He’s the one that keeps trying to give his shit to you to do, right?”
“Yep. He’s kind of a douchebag, and everyone knows it. But, they’re scared to say anything because they don’t want to get fired.”
“Double gross.” My nose scrunches in disgust. “Getting a promotion wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
“Except I’d have to work with the bigger companies, and I don’t want to do that. I love focusing on the little guy. Helping a small business find their footing and grow into something amazing is where my passion lies. I think it’s because I spent somuch time at the winery with you. Seeing how every day, normal people succeed is what it’s all about for me.”
“Glad I could be an inspiration.” The small bow I add in has him rolling his eyes. “So, what are you going to do? You realize you could probably branch out on your own. You would do amazing things for the small businesses here.”
“The thought has been bouncing around in here.” He taps his forehead. “But…it would be a drastic pay cut until I get a big enough customer base.”
Therein always lies the problem with trying to start a new business on your own. It’s rocky until you can find your customer base. It makes me wonder how my family did it when they opened the winery all those years ago. There wasn’t an easy way to get the word out. At least, not like there is now.
“It’s doable though, right?” The last thing I want is for him to be miserable in his job. And honestly, after my dad sees the numbers, we’ve been doing, he’d probably pay Beau for all his hard work helping me get the social media campaigns off the ground.
“Of course, but I don’t want to eat through my savings just yet.” He eats another chip and shrugs his shoulders. “For now, I’ll wait and see what the boss offers me after he sees the success. Maybe I’ll have done so well, he’ll let me decide what I want to do. Because being in management for anyone but myself does not sound appealing to me.”
I get that. It’s even part of the pain point with the winery. Even though there’s no true boss vs employee hierarchy since Dad wants us to run it equally, it does suck having to check in with Pierce all the time. In his eyes, and Dad’s, he gets a bit of seniority because he’s the oldest. If Paula was still officially part of the winery, I wonder how the dynamic would work. I’m sure it would be slightly different.
“Well, I support you no matter what you decide to do.” I slide my foot forward gently rubbing it against his as a sign of affirmation. Putting my hand on his would have probably been better, but I have a chip in one and my margarita in the other. Quite frankly, I’m not setting either of those down.
“Ar—are you playing footsies with me?” The false shock on his face is adorable. “You better stop before the jerks next to us take notice.”
“Like I care what they think.” I set down my drink and flip my hair over my shoulder. “Let them talk. It’s all they know how to do.”
A loud slam comes from the table next to us. Out of the corner of my eye I watch as they scoot their chairs out and stomp toward the door. Serves them right for listening in.
