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Tate gave me a look that clearly said, “Drop it.” I was missing something here, so I needed another strategy.
“Since I’ve got you two here, I want your opinion on this wine.” Tate brought a bottle he’d already chilled from the fridge.
My brother’s wine empire was growing by leaps and bounds every year. Dad shared his passion. In fact, it was probably how Tate got the bug. Growing up, Dad would spend his free time on the vineyard surrounding our childhood home, and Tate would trail him everywhere.
“Always putting us to work,” Reese said in a joking tone. “But I love doing wine tastings.”
I was surprised my brother was so blasé about this. Usually he invited the entire family out to a vineyard near Chicago, and we tasted anywhere between three and five wines.
He poured us each a glass, and we clinked them before the first sip.
It was light, almost fruity. Not a bad wine, for sure, but I preferred mine stronger.
“It reminds me of peaches,” Reese said. “I love it.”
Lexi only smelled it but didn’t taste it. She wrinkled her nose. “A bit too airy for me.”
“I thought you’d say that.” He kissed the top of her head before turning to look at me. “And you, too, right?”
“You know me well, brother.”
“I do. I’ll go back with that to the marketing team. They kept insisting the underlying smoky note was enough to get us out of the fruity category. I disagreed.”
“Happy we could help,” I replied. “I can’t wait to run few ideas for the hotel by you. You could be my own personal focus group.”
Software had been different. It was me and my team, all technical jargon and functionality. But the hotel was a Maxwell project. Luke had already designed the exterior of the building.
“My, doesn’t that make one feel special?” Reese replied. “Seriously, I can’t wait.”
“Same,” Tate said. “Why don’t you give us a heads-up? What are you considering?”
Over the next half hour, I told them about the concepts for the bar that the three design companies I’d asked to pitch came up with. One was a twenties motif—old luxury, paying homage to the building. One was a modern and minimalistic design. And the last one was Asian inspired.
I wasn’t sold on any one in particular, but I didn’t have a clear vision of it—which meant I needed to see more concepts.
“I agree,” Tate replied after I told them I'd asked for more design ideas. “If you’re not happy with any at first glance, discard them.”
“Exactly.”
While we chatted about how many more designs I should ask for, Gran came into the kitchen, announcing she was ready to leave.
"I'll take you home," I said.
"I can get myself home."
"No, I'm taking you." Whenever we had family events, we took turns taking Gran home. "Besides, I want to check your generator. The forecast says we might have a few snowstorms coming up. I want to make sure it's good to go if needed."
"Thank you."
We bid goodbye to the group. I ran upstairs to see Paisley, too, before leaving. The kid was working on her homework like a champ.
On the ride to Gran’s, she talked my ear off about Paisley’s twinkle lights.
I also used the opportunity to gauge her thoughts on the hotel.
“Reese said she took you to the hotel. What did you think?”
“I think it’s going to be lovely. I’m happy it won’t be empty anymore. Just makes me miss your grandfather even more, that’s all.”
