Wine Tasting

CHAPTER

Lee woke up the next morning having reconsidered everything.  Since Michelle had married and moved to Wisconsin and Kirk had gone off to college it had just been him and Willy at home.  His father’s sickness had weighed heavily on him taking up time and energy he didn’t have.  If Willy felt the same way he did, then his dad may be right.  Willy wasn’t necessarily jealous of Camille so much as she needed some quality time. If that’s what Willy needed then he’d make a point of providing it.

For Lee, the hard part would be finding the right avenue to spend time with Willy in a way that wouldn’t entice him to think of her as anything but in a sisterly fashion.  He’d been waiting to drop two broodmares off at a neighboring ranch until they were ready, but the time it took to drop the mares off may be the opportunity he needed to spend time with Willy.  He’d have to pay extra mare care if he dropped the horses off early but if he succeeded in getting Willy to accompany him for the drive it would be worth it.  Hopefully there would even be time to catch lunch together afterwards.   

He’d been surprised when Camille had come down to breakfast early this morning.  He still owed her another pair of shoes thanks to the dinner episode, but he didn’t want to spend today at the mall.  Fortunately Camille didn’t ask what his plans were for the day, and he didn’t offer to tell her.  He left Camille visiting with his father over breakfast while he headed down to the barn. 

He pulled the mares from the paddock and loaded them into the trailer before he went in search of Willy.  He found her sitting on a folding chair in the middle of the sizeable tack room that smelt like leather and horseflesh.  Her short dark cap of hair shone in the fluorescent light.  She reclined back in the chair with one leg crossed femininely over the other.  She held a bridle in her lap and was using a rag to clean and condition the leather.  She didn’t look up when he entered the room, and he wondered if she knew he was there.  She didn’t seem surprised when he spoke.

“Hey, Will, I need to run those two mare over to the Taylor Ranch.  Do you want to ride along?”

She slowly raised her head to look at him.  Her blue eyes flashed.  She started to say something and then stopped, her pink lip caught between her teeth.  He thought for a moment that she would refuse him, but then she smiled and popped up from the chair with more enthusiasm then he’d seen from her in weeks.  She hung the bridle up on a hook behind her. 

“I’m ready whenever you are,” she said as she nearly skipped to the truck.

 

 

Willy didn’t know why Lee had asked her to go along to drop the broodmares off, and she didn’t care.  She didn’t want to miss the opportunity to spend some alone time with him so she could apologize for her attitude the past couple days.  While she was still upset with him, but she knew she’d never feel better if she didn’t apologize.  She tagged hurried along beside him to the waiting truck and trailer and then stepped into the passenger side.

She snapped her seat belt and waited while he started the truck.  She shifted uncomfortably.  Her emotions were so jumbled that she couldn’t sit still.  She’d go crazy if she didn’t find a way to talk to him.  She just needed the right opening.

Lee maneuvered the truck and trailer down the driveway.  He’d almost made it past the house when Camille burst from the door waving a dazzling purple scarf at them as she rushed down the sidewalk. She was chicly dressed in black slacks, a sequined shirt, and high black boots that Willy hadn’t seen before.  She guessed they were the boots Lee bought her to replace the ones wrecked in the water episode. 

Willy wished Lee would step on the gas and ignore the other woman, but it didn’t appear that would happen.  As Camille wrapped the scarf around her neck Lee eased the truck to a stop. Willy envisioned tightening the scarf until Camille’s face turned purple.  She watched Camille bounce around to the driver’s side window.

Camille quizzed Lee on their destination and when they’d be back.  To his credit, Lee tried to make the trip sound as unglamorous as possible, but Camille refused to take the hint.  She asked to ride along.  Lee turned his head to look at Willy.  His dark eyebrows raised in question.  Willy didn’t want Camille along but knew that Lee would feel it was impolite to deny the woman.  She shrugged and turned away so Lee couldn’t see her expression when he agreed that Camille could ride along with them.  Camille gushed with excitement and then prowled around to the passenger side of the truck.

Camille paused outside the truck and waited for Willy to move from the front seat.   She gave a hearty sigh and moved to relinquish the front seat to Camille.  His hand closed down on her shoulder.  The personal touch surprised her.  She tilted her head and looked at him from the corner of her eye. 

“Stay. I invited you first.  Camille’s our house guest.  Since she asked to come along it would be rude not to bring her, but it won’t hurt her to sit in the back seat.”

Impatiently, Camille reached out a finger and tapped at the glass.  Willy couldn’t keep the smile from her face as she flagged her thumb toward the back door.  Willy hoped forcing Camille to sit in the back seat would cause her to have a change of heart about coming along.  When she remained standing outside in stunned disbelief Willy rolled down the window. 

“Did you change your mind about coming along?”

“No.  I’m coming.” 

Despite the several shades of red hue that her face had taken on, Camille gamely opened the crew cab’s back door and climbed into the truck.  Once they were on the road the truck was filled with awkward silence.  Willy couldn’t have her planned conversation with Lee.  Instead she kept replaying what she could’ve, would’ve or should’ve said in her head.  Camille pouted in the back seat, and Lee just turned up the radio. 

“Are we going to be stopping for lunch?”  Camille asked after about an hour of driving.

“Yes, Lee, let’s leave the horses to cook in a metal box in the ninety degree heat while we feed our faces.”

Lee threw her a glare that she ignored.  Camille stammered an apology.  Lee tried to placate everyone. 

“Don’t worry, Camille.  We’ll stop for lunch on the way back after we drop the horses off.”

Fortunately the remainder of the drive passed quickly.  Lee pulled the rig into a long driveway with wooden fences along both sides of the road.  Horses grazed or lazed in the shade of lean to buildings.  The driveway split into two and Lee took the turn towards the large metal barns in the distance.

When Lee parked the truck, he invited Camille to go along with him as he searched for the barn manager.  Willy didn’t try to hide her smile as they walked away.  Lee probably thought that if he left Camille in her presence some sort of evil would befall the woman.

Willy waited with the truck and trailer.  While she waited she opened the windows of the trailer so the mares could hang their heads out for some fresh air.  She stretched out on the bumper of the horse trailer and let the warm June sun pour down on her. 

Camille and Lee came back a short while later and Lee told her that he just needed to wait on the stallion manager and sign some papers.  While they waited, one of the stallion handlers led a prancing chestnut to the breeding barn.  The horse obviously knew his job as he scented the air and gave out a challenging whinny.  Camille oohed and aahed over the horse and began to ask Lee questions.  Willy found great amusement in watching Lee attempt to avoid any graphic details.  His handsome face took on an embarrassed flush that amused Willy even more. 

 

 

Lee felt like he couldn’t get out of here fast enough.  The last thing he wanted to do was explain the equine equivalent of the birds and the bees to Camille while Willy looked smugly on.  He was thankful when the two managers finally connected and he was able to sign the paperwork and unload the mares.  When the mares were safely secured in a separate paddock he encouraged the women to hurry back to the truck. 

He offered a late lunch at a local winery as incentive.  Camille seemed excited at the prospect, but Lee saw Willy bite the edge of her lip nervously.  Lee had been to the winery several times so he knew what to expect. From Willy’s expression he doubted she had ever been there.  He suspected she was apprehensive about drinking wine, which she professed not to like, as well as spending time with him and Camille.  He wished he could reassure her, but he didn’t think she’d appreciate him drawing any attention to her insecurities. He would never have selected the winery if he thought she wouldn’t like it.

The third generation vineyard wasn’t busy at this time of day, and Lee eased the big rig into a couple parking spots without any guilt.  They climbed from the truck and started for the building.  As they walked to the stairway leading to the building that housed the front of the winery, Camille took Lee’s arm leaving Willy as an awkward third wheel.

Fueled by his conversation with his father and Camille’s apparent desire to exclude Willy, Lee made a quick movement that linked his arm with Willy’s arm.  She looked down in surprise at their linked arms and then back up at him.  He felt her start to pull away so he pulled her arm tight up against his side telling her silently that he wanted her to stay connected to him.  She gave him a weak smile that told him she really didn’t understand but she didn’t pull away.  She fell into step beside him, and the three of them walked arm and arm up the stairs.

The reception was lovely; the views were spectacular, and the staff extremely pleasant.    The vineyard served a lovely collection of food and wines and specialized in daily tastings pairing the two together.  Lee found the place exactly as it had been the previous time he’s been there.  A selection of wines and food were laid out before them. 

They’d been enjoying the food for some time when Camille selected a piece of cheese and tried to hand feed it to him.  He assumed she was going for a romantic attempt, but the whole hand feeding romance thing was a pet peeve of his.  For as long as he could remember he’d been fully capable of feeding himself, and he intended to keep it that way. He pulled back.   

When she persisted, he took her hand and pushed it away.  She looked stricken and tried to cover it with a laugh at the same time popping the cheese into her own mouth.  Lee felt horrible.  He should’ve just eaten it rather than cause a scene.  He glanced at Willy.  She’d turned away from them to stare out the big floor to ceiling windows at the vineyards beyond.  She didn’t make a sound but from the way her shoulders shook he suspected she found humor in his put down of Camille.   

“Lee, can we bring Papa G some wine?”

Lee glanced at Willy in surprise. They’d taken the family tasting table and the wine flowed as did the delicious food. Knowing he had to drive, Lee had sipped wine and eaten more.  Willy had only tasted wine once or twice and thought she’d disliked it.  Now with the right pairings she drank more than she ate as she became enchanted with the different flavors.

Eager to give her something to make her happy he readily agreed.  “Sure. Which flavors?”

“This Strawberry Fusion is terrific! But the Red A*s Rhubarb…with this cheese! It’s amazing! I like the Pink Slip bottle, but we HAVE to get him some of the Phatt Hog!”

He didn’t want to damper her enthusiasm by telling her that his dad probably couldn’t mix much of the wine with his medication.  Given time she’d probably come to that conclusion herself, but she’d been too excited to think about it at that moment.  Her excitement made him smile and want to indulge her. When they left he carried a box filled with an assortment of bottles of wine for his father.    

She talked a mile a minute on the way out, dancing around him as she exclaimed over this or that.  She looked positively enchanting.  He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at her. Her cheeks were pink tinged and her eyes glowed. She had switched from discussing the wine to discussing plants. She wanted to plant her own little mini-vineyard and wanted to know where they could make one. Lee tried to tell her a lot went into making wine, but she was so excited about it that he thought if it was in his power to give it to her that he would.

Camille on the other hand looked upset. She’d been flirtatious and enjoyed herself until he’d offended her by refusing to be hand fed.  He realized this probably hadn’t been her top day here. She astounded him by being the first to the truck.  While he’d been enthralled by watching and listening to Willy, Camille must’ve sprinted to the truck with her petite little legs. 

Lee stowed the bottled wine in a safe place in the back seat of the truck and purposely ignored the power struggle going on for who got the passenger’s seat. In the end, Camille won out and Willy, still too excited to complain, moved around to the driver’s side of the truck.

He thought she intended to climb into the back seat on his side of the truck, but her intentions changed when she almost collided with him.  He laughed lightly until she stepped in close to him.  She reached under his arms and stepped forward until she crushed her body up close to him.  She hugged him tightly. 

“Thank you for inviting me.  I’m sorry I’ve been so horrible to you lately.”

Lee wrapped his arms around her and held him to her.  He rocked them from foot to foot, trying desperately to keep it light and not concentrate on her body pressed intimately against his.  He loosened his hold, and she released him and stepped away.  He held open the door for her and she stepped into the back seat.  After he got in and started the engine he glanced in the rearview mirror several minutes later to find her stretched out on the back seat and sound asleep.  A smile still played across her lips. 

Seeing his expression, Camille followed his gaze to Willy sleeping in the backseat. “She is such a child!”

Lee’s smile broadened.  He didn’t think having a fresh perspective on things was bad.  “Yes, she is.”

Willy woke up when Lee shut off the motor after parking the truck.  She looked disorientated for a moment.  Then she righted herself, sitting up and adjusting her clothes before she climbed out of the truck.  Lee retrieved the box of wine and walked beside the women as they went into the big house.  A glance at Willy told him she was still smiling.

            When they entered the house they found Leland and Clint sitting at the dinner table.  An empty chair and full dinner plate meant that Maria had dashed into the kitchen at their appearance.  When Maria returned carrying extra plates, Lee waved her away.

            “Sorry Maria.  We already ate dinner.”

            Maria scolded him for not calling, but she smiled while doing it.  “You save me less dishes this way,” she teased as she stepped back into the kitchen to drop the plates back into their china cabinet.

 “We brought you a gift,” Camille spoke to Leland before Willy or Lee could say anything.

Lee’s eyes flew to Willy.  She’d been moving forward to give his dad a customary kiss, but she faltered at Camille’s statement. The smile on her face shattered.  Then she seemed to gather herself.  She caught Leland’s shoulder, kissed his cheek, and stepped back with her magnificent smile back into place.  Her smile looked forced and her eyes had a gleam of moisture that he saw her blink away. 

“Silly girl, Willy.  You can’t even hold a little wine.”  Camille taunted her, her voice cheery but her eyes as hard as the diamonds on her wrist. 

 “I’m fine,” Willy snarled at the smaller woman. 

Yes, Papa G, we brought you a gift.  Actually, Lee paid for it, so I guess the gift is technically his.”  Willy’s comment stole Camille’s thunder. 

Lee’s stomach twisted. He just knew he was going to develop an ulcer keeping the two women apart.  Lee wondered if his dad notice the hostility between the women, but the older man appeared not to even notice.  Instead, his dad expressed interest in the afternoon and the choices of wine they’d picked out to try.