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“He is. He’s a good guy.”
“But Tori doesn’t want to stay there?” Slade asked.
“She didn’t. At first, she was adamant that we should just drop the truck and get out of here. But now… Now, she’s more open to the idea, but what could she even do here? I can see all kinds of options for myself – but…”
“But that’s going to be the same anywhere,” said Slade. “She spent all of her working life as a backup singer. Unless you guys go back to Nashville, she’s going to have to reinvent herself. It’s not that she can’t do her thing if you guys stay in Summer Lake – it’s more that she doesn’t know what her thing is anymore.”
“Exactly,” said Xander. “She needs to find something that she wants to do with her life. Summer Lake doesn’t exactly have a wide array of options, does it?”
He knew that what he said was true, but he was still disappointed when Slade and Willow both agreed with him.
“I guess all you can do is play it by ear,” said Slade.
“And what are you doing while you’re there?” Willow asked. “You’re right that there aren’t many career opportunities, and there’s not exactly much else going on either, is there?”
“We’ve been happy just taking it easy. It’s been nice to stay put in one place after our trip. We hung out with your mom and Russ. We went up to have lunch with Smoke and Laura on Sunday. We’ve hung out at the resort on this side of the lake, and Tori showed me around Four Mile Creek on the other side of the lake.”
“Oh! Wait a minute!” said Willow. “Did she drag you into the wine bar?”
Xander chuckled. “She did. I ended up buying a case of wine.”
“Why the hell would you do that?” asked Slade.
Willow laughed. “I bet I know. She had you feeling sorry for the couple who run the place, right?”
“Kind of. They’re not a couple anymore. The guy bailed, and the girl, Rachel, is just hanging in while the place goes through its death throes. I did feel sorry for her, but the outcome’s inevitable.”
“Is she selling or shutting down?” asked Willow.
“From what I could gather, she’s looking to liquidate what’s left and walk away without too much debt hanging around her neck.”
“Is Tori interested?”
Xander frowned. “What do you mean? Yeah, she cares about Rachel.”
Willow laughed. “That goes without saying. I mean is she interested in taking the place on.”
“Huh?”
“You know that was always her dream when we were kids, right?”
“It was?”
“Yeah. Even when we were small, Tori had no interest whatsoever in the company. Bentley and I both wanted to know everything about the business and how we could be a part of it. Tori didn’t want to be a part of it, but she didn’t want to feel like she was on the outside. She came up with the idea that she could run a wine bar. Then, she wanted me to be her partner. That was our thing for years and years.”
Xander ran his hand over the stubble on his chin – he hadn’t shaved when he showered, because Tori liked his scruff. “Has she ever talked about it recently?”
Willow laughed. “She was full of ideas for Rachel and Ian when we went in there. She was so enthusiastic, I even suggested that she should stay and help them turn the place around. But of course, she had to get back to work – she was still singing with Callie then. And apart from that, there was no way at the time that she would have considered staying in Summer Lake while Mom’s there.”
Xander stared out at the lake. He couldn’t imagine Tori running a wine bar. He shuddered at the thought of the dark and dreary space. But then again, the space was only a reflection of its owner. How would that place be if Tori were in charge?
“What are you thinking, bro?” Slade asked.
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Talk to her,” said Willow. “I might be wrong; she might tell you that she outgrew that and it’s not something that interests her anymore. But I think that you know Tori as well as I do; she might not have considered it because she doesn’t believe it’s a possibility.”
“Tell me what you’re not saying.”
