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“Ah.” A grin spread across my face. If she needed several samples, that meant she was going to need to wait for them to come back from the lab. Which also meant she was going to be there for a little while. Probably a week. “Well, I’ll be here,” I said. “If you need anything, I’ll be tooling around working.”
“I’m sure you will be,” she said diplomatically.
It struck me how different she was than the last old curmudgeon that had been there to do the job. It was a couple of years ago and had been the last straw on us needing to completely revamp and revitalize the place. He had walked around with a notebook too, but mostly he spent the time with a frown on his face, seeming perturbed that I accompanied him. When he left, he didn’t bother saying anything and sent us a letter simply informing us that he wouldn’t clear us without significant improvements.
That had been a bad week. I’d spent months agonizing over every mark he had written down, every criticism he had. It fueled me to make him see what I saw. That King Vineyard was going to be a jewel of California wine vineyards. We just needed a chance.
All of those improvements had been made though. Cameron and I had seen to that. As long as they were the bare minimum of what was needed to pass, we should have met that, and now all that was left was improving the fields to what I knew they could be.
Danica headed back to the main building, and I followed her. She turned back to look over her shoulder at me when we entered, seeming surprised I didn’t peel off to the kitchen and instead followed her into the main office. Alex and Cameron had left, presumably to go to lunch themselves, and she stepped in to get her heels.
“Thank you for your time,” she said as she gathered her purse and keys.
“Thank you. I figured I would see you to your car.”
“Oh, that won’t be necessary. I parked just outside the restaurant.”
I grinned what I hoped was a disarming smile. “It’s my place,” I said. “What kind of a host would I be if I didn’t walk a lady to her car?”
A somewhat tense, diplomatic smile turned her lips up just slightly, and she nodded.
“Alright then,” she said, standing.
“Perfect.” I opened the door for her. “After you.”
She walked ahead of me, and her pace was a little faster than probably necessary. I jogged a little to get ahead of her to open doors, and she politely but dismissively thanked me. I followed behind her back out into the sunshine and walked with her to the parking lot.
She pulled out her keys and clicked a button to unlock her door as we neared her car. I stopped at the hood as she opened the driver’s door, tossed her purse in, and then looked me in the eye.
“Goodbye, Mr. King,” she said.
“Kane.”
“Kane,” she repeated. “Goodbye. I will be back tomorrow.”
“Looking forward to it,” I said. She simply nodded once and then ducked into her car. I stepped away as she turned the key and revved the engine to life. I raised my hand to wave at her as she drove past me, but she didn’t acknowledge me.
I rubbed my face and stood there watching her drive away. I had taken a weird pleasure in annoying her as she left, and I didn’t know what that was all about. Why did I have the compulsion to needle her and do something like walk her to her car when she clearly didn’t want me to?
Then it hit me. I was trying to flirt with her, and I had apparently forgotten how. Something about that woman made me revert to being a grade school kid who found ways to annoy the girl he liked rather than actually talk to her.
Turning to go back into the restaurant for lunch, I shook my head. My brothers were never going to let me get away with trying to chat up the inspector, much less acting like a third grader with a schoolyard crush. I was going to have to get a grip on myself and figure out how to either pursue her like an adult or let it go.
But my mind kept floating back to those ruby-red lips and long blonde hair in the French braid. And the way her eyes narrowed and fluttered behind the big blue glasses.
And the way she spoke about the grapes and how she seemed to care about them.
It was all a bit much, and I had to figure out a way to deal with it, because acting like I did today was not going to fly again.
6
Danica
I would never be one to say my career was all about the glamor.
