I sat down, seeing right through her. Alanna didn’t want me to interact with the brewery’s owner and was trying to be a buffer between us. I honestly thought she was overreacting. I wasn’t as if I was here to spy.
At least, not actively.
Groaning, I read the text that popped up as Alanna and I walked into the bar. Predictably, it was my father.
How’s it going?
I was surprised it took him this long. I’d been here for a full twenty-four hours already. I texted back.
Uneventful. Jerry isn’t here this weekend. Met the staff. So far so good.
For a guy who didn’t bother to be present in my life when he remarried, he was all hands on deck now. I could see him answering already.
Great! Keep me posted.
He even used emojis.
“Got you the lightest one they had,” Alanna said, plopping two drafts on the table.
“Thanks,” I pulled one toward me. I wasn’t opposed to beer, but the older I got, it seemed to make me bloated, so I much preferred wine.
“This place is really nice.” Alanna took a sip of her beer.
Sipping the beer, I was surprised to find I actually liked it. “Light? It’s a cider.”
“Exactly. Hardly tastes like beer at all.”
“And pretty good too.”
I turned my phone upside down so it didn’t light up.
“Let me guess. I can tell by the look on your face. Good ol’ dad?”
“Yep. Wants to know how it’s going.”
“Did you tell him uneventful so far?”
“I did.” Then smiling at her, I added. “Thanks for coming up with me. It really helps to have a friendly face.”
“No problem.” As a teacher, Alanna had the summer off, though she did have to get away from the hubby and two-year-old to be here. “I could use the break. I feel like such a shitty mom saying this, but twenty-four seven with a two-year-old is not for the faint of heart.”
“I don’t think that’s shitty at all. What’s shitty is that when you go back, I won’t see you again until when? At least October?”
Alanna made a face. “With back to school, I think it’ll be too hard to get away in September. But I’m definitely coming back in October to see what it’s like up here in the fall, unless you can get to me first.”
“If I’m still here by then,” I muttered. And then remembered my vow. One failed career would not turn into a second failed venture. Although having my father hand over his share of Sunset Vineyards to me on a silver platter didn’t sit well, I tried to take Alanna’s advice and not bite off my nose to spite my face. Although, I think when she offered the advice, she said something along the lines of, ‘Don’t spit out your nose to spite your face,’ which made absolutely no sense, obviously.
Alanna frowned at me.
“I know, no self-defeating talk,” I conceded. “I’d love to have you come up in October.”
“That’s better. Um...don’t look.”
“I don’t even know where not to look.”
“Up at the bar.”
It took every bit of willpower not to do exactly that. The bar was to my left, but Alanna had a head-first view of it.