My brother Cosimo poured himself a beer and added, “I’m not sure Karla wants that sort of treatment from you.”
Karla laughed. “I have four brothers,” she said. Something I knew from her interview. “I can hold my own.”
“Glad to hear it,” Hudson poured himself a beer too.
“Neo and Thayle?” I asked to no one in particular.
“Taking the boat out for a late-night ride,” Brooke said. She and my brother had been married a few months now, but she was a part of the family way before that. Both of my brothers, and even Min, though I wouldn’t tell her or Hudson, had done well for themselves. Hudson was not only Grado Brewing Company’s manager but one of my best friends now. Brooke and I had always gotten along well, despite the fact that she attempted to put me in my place more often than not. And Thayle? That was an easy one. Neo’s fiancé had been Min’s best friend for so many years, I sometimes forgot she wasn’t my sister.
Except for the Wine Barn fire, we’d had a good run this past year and a half since my parents retired and left the vineyard to us. I raised a glass. “Here’s to another successful weekend at GVV,” I said. And added, “And a good ride for Neo and Thayle.”
Everyone groaned but clinked glasses and toasted anyway. “Seriously? You have to follow up something nice with a sexual reference?” Min asked. She was, as usual, nearly plastered to Hudson’s side.
“What?” I asked innocently. “I didn’t say anything sexual.”
“Oh, so you just meant boat ride?” she countered.
“Of course. What did you think I meant?” I turned to Hudson. “You better get your fiancé’s mind out of the gutter.”
Hudson pretended to think about it. “Yeah, I probably won’t do that anytime soon.”
Cos sat on the barstool beside me. “Heard you had an interesting visitor tonight.”
My pulse raced at the thought of her. Unfortunately, my cock also hadn’t gotten the message that Rae Watson was the enemy.
“Interesting visitor. A good way to describe her,” I said. Still not quite over the shock of it. “Watson apparently has a daughter,” I explained to the others, “who took it upon herself to come check us out on the down low.”
“Does anyone even say that anymore?” Min asked. She was all of five years younger than me but never got tired of making old jokes. Which was interesting because Cos was two years my senior and she never did that with him.
“A daughter,” Cos mused. “Interesting.” And then to Hudson. “What aren’t you telling us?”
Hudson cleared his throat, so I just got it out into the open. “I was just being friendly.”
Every single person in the room groaned. I didn’t even bother defending myself. “Seriously Marco?” Cos, of both my brothers, tolerated my shit the least.
“Lecture me later. That’s not all.”
Of course, he didn’t listen. “Strange you don’t want to talk about hitting on our customers now.” He said it withthat tone. The ‘I’m only two years older than you but know a hell of a lot more than you ever will’ tone. Normally, I’d take exception to it. But tonight, Cos was right.
“Whatever. She’s not just his daughter,” I distracted him with the more interesting bit of information, “She’s taking over.”
Hudson, who I told already, wasn’t at all surprised. But as Cos, Brooke, and Min looked back and forth, it was evident they were shocked as hell.
“Taking over?” Brooke repeated. As Grado’s marketing director, she was as aware as anyone how little Sunset Vineyards played nice in the Kitchi Falls sandbox. They were the only ones who didn’t belong to the Seneca Lake Wineries Association. The owners, when we’d reached out, had either ignored us or downright refused to sit at the table to talk about cross promotion. They frustrated her as much as anyone. “What do you mean, taking over?”
“I mean, she’s the new proprietor.” Everyone digested that piece of information at once. I added, “She’s apparently an attorney too. Got her sommelier certification. Level three.”
“Just what we need,” Min voiced my exact concerns. “An attorney in charge of Sunset.”
“Not to mention,” Hudson said, “just today a building permit was filed for the new property. Looks like they’re finally making a move.”
“Ah, shit.” Cos said, echoing my sentiments.
“Ok,” Min was serious now. She even moved away from Hudson’s side to lean onto the bar. I knew that look in her eyes. “We need a game plan.”
“I agree,” Brooke fell deep into thought. No one spoke for a few minutes until she broke the silence. “This could be a great opportunity. Ultimately, the goal is to get Sunset to work with us. We’d both benefit if they did.”
“True,” Cos said. “But they’ve shown as much interest in doing that as Marco has in dating a girl for more than a month.”