school together?” Clearly this guy knew her and her inappropriate love of the too sweet soda. It was almost a guilty secret now a day. She kept a stash hidden in the bottom drawer of her fridge, just in case she had a craving. “I’m sorry, I don’t quite remember.”
He put his hand over his heart in fake dismay. “So you’re not here to rekindle our fiery teenage love that never quite worked out for either of us?”
When neither she or Felicia responded, Rob pulled up a chair and sat next to the table. “I’m just kidding with you. I don’t think you even knew I existed, but man, I did have a crush on you. As soon as you showed up sophomore year, I was your slave. Or could have been, if you ever talked to me.”
“I was shy.” Angie remembered arriving at River Vista High School that spring after her parents died. All she’d wanted was to wake up from the nightmare and be back in her canopy bed in Colorado. Instead, she wandered like a ghost through the halls and cooked with Nona at night. The only thing that kept her going was knowing that she’d be gone off to college in a few years and she had to cherish every day she had with her grandmother. Especially since she hadn’t given her folks that respect before they died.
“You were amazing.” Rob grinned at the two women. “Anyway, enough of my teenage wounds. So you’re opening up a dinner place in River Vista? Tell me about it.”
Angie went through the concept, how she wanted to locally source all of the main proteins and most of the ingredients from the area. Seasonal and fresh. She hadn’t worked through a winter menu, yet, but she imagined it full of soups and chowders unless she could find a local greenhouse that would grow her greens inside. When she paused, lost in thought about options, Felicia took over.
“And we’d love to feature your wines. Of course, we’ll have some local microbrews on tap as well, and maybe some locally produced liqueurs, but I’m sure the wines will be the focus for the food pairings.” She picked up the glass that the waitress had brought her while they were talking and sipped. She winked at Angie. “Maybe you could even help us choose the pairings?”
Rob chuckled. “Not sure that my girlfriend would be on board with me spending so much time over at your new place, especially since she runs the lunch restaurant here at the winery. That being said, we’re excited about your new venture and would love to partner with you.”
“That’s wonderful.” Angie held up her glass in a toast. “Felicia will handle all the ordering and I’d love to have you and your girlfriend attend opening night, my treat.”
“Tasha and I will be there.” Rob lowered his voice, scanning the room to see who could overhear. “Tough luck about Old Man Moss dying. I hear you were the last to see him alive.”
“Actually, no. There were a lot of people still at the barn when I left. Including my realtor, Reana.” Angie wondered where that particular piece of gossip was coming from. Ian and the Sheriff had been under the same assumption. “I guess the Sheriff just wanted to know what I was doing out there.”
“The guy had more enemies in town than friends.” He shrugged. “I hate to speak ill of the dead, but the guy was a tool. He hated everyone. My mom said your grandmother used to take the church visitation every month when his name came up. No one but her ever wanted to go visit, even if it got them in good with the big guy upstairs.”
Angie remembered her grandmother doing visitations to different church members as part of her woman’s group. Nona had tried to get her to go, but even when she talked her into driving, Angie had stayed outside in the car and waited. The memory made her smile. “She loved going visiting.”
“She was an amazing woman. Everyone loved her.” He looked at his watch. “Sorry, I’ve got another meeting. It was great to see you again Angie. And Felicia, I’m sure we’ll talk soon. Call me tomorrow and we’ll figure out what you need for your first order.”
As he walked away, Felicia sank back into her chair. “That went better than I’d expected. When I’d called to set up the meeting, he was less than enthusiastic about partnering. Who else had a crush on you in high school that we can use?”
“How am I supposed to know? I didn’t even remember Rob.” Even now, she couldn’t quite place the dark-haired, good looking man with any of the boys she’d remembered from her three years at River Vista High. She was going to have to review her yearbooks so she wouldn’t seem rude the next time a former classmate came up and wanted to revisit the glory days. “I was a loner. I didn’t have many friends and mostly, I just counted the days until I could get out of high school and back to what I’d considered home. Of course, I never did return, even after college.”
“I’m on a Facebook page with my class. We chat all the time.” Felicia took a bite of the sandwich they’d ordered before Rob had descended on their table. “This is good, but I don’t think they are really focusing on their food.”
Angie shook her head. The tomato soup had seemed a good choice, but the taste was flat. Definitely not made in the kitchen. She held up a card. “The menu is pretty limited. Mostly it looks like they are providing lunch just for people who drive out for a wine tasting. Although they will put a picnic basket together for you if you want to head to the river and eat there.”
“That’s a great idea.” Felicia grabbed her notebook out of her purse. “Maybe we can steal it for The County Seat.”
Angie pushed the soup away and tore off a bit of the French bread. “We’d have to advertise it as a BYOB. I don’t think our alcohol license allows people to take wine off the premises for consumption.” The picnic idea was a good one though. Maybe she could find some cheap baskets that they could afford to provide as well. So many ideas, and they only had a few weeks before opening night. She looked at Felicia’s half-eaten sandwich. “Get that to go or hurry up. I’ve got to get you back to town and me home before Dom eats his way through the back door.”
“He wouldn’t do that, would he?” Felicia waved the waitress over for their check.
The young woman shook her head. “Sorry, Rob said your lunch was on him today. No charge.”
“Well, wasn’t that nice of him? Tell him thanks the next time you see him.” Felicia stood, brushing crumbs off her lap. She followed Angie out to the car. “Wine list done. Now I just have to nail down the microbrew guy. Before you look at me like that, I had a guy lined up, but he bailed on me. Something about his licensing. So I went to this new guy who’s been highly recommended, but he’s been out of town. Don’t worry, I have a backup plan in place in case we can’t get this deal closed. But we’ll be serving domestic beer for a few weeks.”
“I guess we could open without a beer selection, but it’s not ideal.” Angie opened the car doors. As she looked past the winery down the road that lead to the cabin, she realized she could reach Mr. Moss’s ranch from this side too. Maybe she’d bring Dom out for a walk this afternoon. If she was going to be asked about the guy’s death, maybe she should know more about how he really died.
“Earth to Angie, what are you thinking about?” Felicia stared at her friend.
She started the car and pulled out of the driveway and away from the river canyon. “I think I’m taking Dom for a long walk this afternoon.”
By the time she got Felicia back to the restaurant and drove the rest of the way home, she had started to worry that she’d really tested Dom’s patience. When she opened the back door, he came bounding outside, ran to the patch of grass and did his business. Then he came and gave her loves. She
