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Sully picked up the menu, eager to have the conversation over with. It wasn’t like he was really retired in the traditional sense. He had plans, after all. Plans to learn new skills, keep building his real estate portfolio, and maybe, just maybe, find a sweet and wonderful woman to share his newfound free time with.
“So,” Theo said, seeming to recognize Sully’s discomfort, “what kind of wine do you like, Sully? Or are you a beer-swilling heathen like Hue?”
Truthfully, Sully would never turn down a light, crisp IPA, but he also enjoyed a glass of wine every once in a while. “Dry, oaky… I think,” he answered.
Theo’s eyes lit up with unsuppressed glee. “I’m going to pour you a glass of my red blend. It’s called Obsession.”
“Oh God, please don’t get him started on the red blend,” Hue groaned.
“The grapes have been growing right here in this vineyard for over six decades,” Theo bragged, his chest puffing with pride. “Ten years ago, I switched up the yeast and tweaked the fermentation process.” He chuckled to himself. “All the guys at the California Vintners Society thought I was crazy, but I just opened the first barrel this morning and it’s good. Really, really good.” He lowered his voice. “I’m actually going to be entering it into The Southern California Wine and Spirits Jamboree later this year. It’s the most prestigious wine competition in Southern California, and I just—”
“Holy shit,” Hue hissed. “Alanna Sandoval just walked in.”
Theo twisted around.
“Don’t look, you dolt!” Hue snapped.
“Oh.” Theo turned back.
“Slowly,” Hue coached.
“She hasn’t been back in ages,” Theo said.
What woman could make Hue’s eyes grow the size of dinner plates? Oh-so-casually, Sully turned his head just in time to see a woman march to the tasting counter.
A beautiful woman.
She possessed scarlet lips. Topaz eyes. Short, golden hair framed an oval face. She walked through the winery like she owned the place, like the world turned just for her. Sully couldn’t breathe.
“Itisher,” Theo whispered.
“Told you,” Hue said.
“What’s she doing in town?” Theo wondered out loud. “I thought she was living it up in Los Angeles.”
Sully’s lungs finally remembered how to work. His voice… not so much. “Who is she?” he croaked.
Hue leaned back in his seat. “Oh, just the local girl who made good.”
Sully’s entire body thrummed. He hadn’t felt anything close to this since Michelle. It was like his heart was finally waking after a long slumber.
Alanna Sandoval.Her name lit a flame inside of him.
Ch. 4 Alanna
AsAlannastrodetothe tasting counter of The Rose and Thorn, she noted the winery was unchanged. But not unchanged in the timeless way of a vintage Versace mini dress. Rather, the winery seemed trapped beneath the weight of its accumulated years. The same fading pictures hung on the walls under dim lights and the old wooden bar was still shiny with smudges from innumerable elbows through the decades. A few patrons hunched around tables murmuring quietly, almost as if out of respect for the aging institution. All in all, the place seemed to be surviving through sheer stubbornness alone.
And yet, Alanna also felt a sense of comfort inside these walls. In Los Angeles, restaurants bloomed and died in a single season, but The Rose and Thorn stood, ever perennial. A burst of laughter from a corner table broke the spell of her contemplation.
Right. She was here on a mission.
Wine and work.
Alanna eyed the two servers at the tasting bar. A gorgeous young woman with streams of platinum blonde hair giggled and kicked out a hip as she served an old man in a trucker hat who practically drooled into his glass of wine. On the other end of the bar, a brunette with a nose ring appraised Alanna curiously.
Bingo.
Alanna walked to the brunette.
