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19
Rowan
“I’ve never been here before. What’s good?” Ally asks, as she looks over the menu at Saltwater Kitchen.
“Only everything.” I smile at her dubious expression. “My friend Quinn is the chef, and he’s brilliant.”
“Oh. Nice to know I’m in expert hands.”
Our server stops by for our drink orders, and to my surprise, Ally orders a Syrah. I tell the server, “I’ll have the same,” which earns another confused look from my date.
My date. What a weird thing to think of. I’m on a proper date. And it’s…nice. I guess.
Ally smiles. “A Syrah aficionado?”
I nod. “My favorite. You?”
“Same here. At the end of my sophomore year, I decided to do something for me, and took a year off of school to study winemaking in the Rhone Valley, and became positively obsessed with this.”
“Wow, that’s bold.”
“Thanks.”
“What did your parents say about doing something so…unexpected?”
She grins. “They couldn’t say shit. They run a winery in Napa.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I would imagine that put a cork in—oh hell. No pun intended.”
She giggles. “No, it was good. Pun away.”
“That’s the only one I have on the matter, but I’ll be sure to think of another if I get another chance.”
The wine comes, and when she sips it, there is so much more going on in her head than mine, I can tell. “Oh, that’s quite good.”
“It is, but what is it you actually want to say?”
She smirks at herself. “I drone when I get going on a wine, so I try not to do it on a date.”
There’s that word again. Date. I’m on a proper date. No Autumn in sight. Sadly.
“Go ahead. I’d like a true connoisseur’s opinion.”
She smiles, then takes another sip, slurping a little. Musing to herself, she says, “A palate clinger. Full-bodied. With hints of pomegranate syrup…the spice of a chili laced dark chocolate, and a dip of a spoon into a cherry—no. Of anAmarenacherry.”
“After all of that, I feel the urge to applaud.”
She laughs. “What about you? What do you taste?”
I sip it again. “Mmm, fruity.”
She grins. “Yes. Also that.”
“So, why flower shops?”
“Because I could not survive divorce law anymore.”
I nodded knowingly. “I couldn’t do it. I am not cut out for tolerating people at their worst.”
