Even closer. Man, I was a glutton for punishment. “I just think it’s smart not to put ourselves in . . . trying situations.”
“Is this a trying situation? Standing out here, alone, negotiating my position?”
Yes. And if there was any position I’d want to negotiate with Brooke, it had nothing to do with a job at Grado. But I kept all that to myself. I wanted her here. Could use her quick mind and expertise. So I was willing to agree to just about anything.
Including this.
I stuck out my hand. “Deal.”
She took it, the contact exactly what I’d have expected it to be. Electric.
Brooke knew it too. She was wading in and just asked me to jump in with her. So what did I do? Ignored the sharks and dove in headfirst.
“Deal,” she said, shaking my hand and letting go much too soon. “Now, about that tasting.”
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
brooke
“How couldI possibly have worked here all week and not know this existed?”
We walked into a barrel room unlike the one Cos showed me before. That one had been pure utility. Barrel after barrel of wine. A true storage facility. But this one was totally different. As unexpected as the office. And his admission. And his offer.
Pretty much everything about this day had been bonkers.
It had started with a bang. A job offer I hadn’t been expecting from a headhunter I never contacted. But there it was, sitting in my inbox. A higher salary than at Avec Coeur and, the kicker, in the same neighborhood as my apartment. Basically, a no-brainer. If one wanted to be the brand manager for a NYC-based, clean haircare company. It was a solid company. A solid job offer. But it excited me about zero percent.
Shutting the lid on my laptop and still marveling that the adorable cottage I’d moved into was mine for the summer, I’d sat on the front porch this morning thinking about my future.
Ok, fine. I sat on my front porch thinking about Cosimo Grado. And trying to think about my future.
If I said anything other than that I’d gotten dressed for our private tasting with butterflies in my stomach and an anticipation of this tasting on par with my excitement prior to this girls’ trip—and nothing was more exciting than the prospect of a wine-filled weekend with my besties—I’d be a stone-cold liar.
At this point, seeing this beautiful barrel room was child’s play after the shock of Cosimo flat-out admitting he was attracted to me, after his offer of a full-time job, and me accepting it, but still. It was amazing.
“There was a private party in here the day you came with your friends,” he said, flicking on another switch. It illuminated little white bulb lights, like the ones in the Barn courtyard. “And this last weekend I worked it myself.”
“It’s so cool.” Stone pillars with well-placed barrels, both decorative and serving as table stands, ran from the floor to the ceiling. White linen-covered tables led to a small bar at the end of the narrow room, with just a handful of stools. Behind it, shelves of wine bottles.
“We used to hold private tastings and small events in the actual barrel room. This was just an old storage room that we had converted a few years ago.”
“I think it’s my favorite place on the property,” I said. “With the exception of my new office balcony. And your front porch. And the tasting room deck.”
Cos headed toward the bar, with me walking behind him, and gestured for me to sit. “Sounds like Grado Valley has gotten to you.”
“I think it has.” As had its proprietor. “Can I tell you something, since today is apparently the ‘let’s get everything off our chests’ day?”
He pulled out a bottle and two glasses. “Oh boy. This sounds ominous.”
“I thought you were a total sourpuss when we met.”
He poured a touch of white wine in each glass. “You don’t say?”
“I feel like you’re not surprised.”
“Because I’m not. It was a crazy day. My parents had just left, the tasting room was swarmed, and Thayle dragged me out to you guys. I’m sure I wasn’t at my best.”
“You weren’t.”