Free 2 Crushed by Barbara Ellen Brink Page A

tasted the grapes. Mario spoke in rapid Spanish and Ernesto
interpreted for Billie’s sake. She nodded, clearly excited. Adam looked around
the big room. Large barrels were stacked in special racks, lying on their sides
three deep, filling the long cellar.
    Billie thanked Mario, who grunted
something in return and followed the other man back up the stairs. Adam didn’t
know if he was supposed to keep tagging along, but he preferred the cool
cellar, so he stayed behind.
    “Mario thinks we need to start
harvesting by the end of the week. Timing is everything. Are you ready to
experience Crush in the Napa Valley?” Billie asked, her voice sounding a tad
stressed.
    He ran his hand along one of the
smooth Oak barrels. “I don’t know if I’m ready, but I’ll do my best to be a
help and not a hindrance. Are you ready?”
    She bit at her bottom lip and
nodded. “I think so. Don’t have much of a choice. Ready or not, the grapes
ripen for picking, and the wine needs to be made.” She slowly inhaled and
released a breath. “I’ve decided to close the tasting room during harvest. All
the other wineries will be closed anyway, so traffic will be sparse. We’ll just
have to get by without that extra income.”
    Upstairs again, they stopped in
Billie’s office and she rifled through some paperwork on her desk. “I need to
have Sally call and make sure the new barrels will be here on time. We’re going
to try something new this year. A white table wine.”
    “Have you spoken with Margaret
yet?”
    “Not yet. I thought maybe you’d
sound her out for me. You are having dinner with her tonight, right?” She
glanced up from the papers and smiled. “I’m not sure what to think about that.
I thought she disliked you at first sight, but now you’re—what? Dating?”
    He slouched in one of the chairs
facing her desk, his hands laced behind his head. “I wouldn’t call it dating,
but she definitely digs me.”
    “Reeeallly.” She stretched the word
out in her most sarcastic tone.
    He nodded. “Yes. Really. At least
she likes me better than that slimy rich Italian that dropped by in his biggo
limo.”
    Her eyes widened. “What Italian?”
    “Some guy she really despises. You
think she took an instant dislike to me, you should have seen the look on her
face when we pulled up and he was there. She didn’t even want to talk to him.
She ordered him off her property and told him never to come back. I suppose
he’s some creep she dated or something. She didn’t say.”
    Billie set the papers back on the
desk and opened her mouth to speak, then apparently thought better of it. She
cleared her throat and picked up her cell phone to check for messages.
    “What?”
    She shook her head. “If she wanted
you to know, she would have told you.”
    “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He
leaned forward in the chair. “You know something I should know and you’re not
going to tell me? If I wait for her to open up, I’ll be a century old.”
    “He’s the one,” she said, leaning
against the edge of the desk.
    “The one?”
    “The man who broke Margaret’s heart
and changed her forever.”
    He frowned. “That’s giving a lot of
power to this guy. Margaret didn’t seem that taken with him.” He did remember
the fear in her eyes and the way she had to psych herself up before getting out
of the car and confronting him though.
    Billie nibbled at her lip for a
second. “He’s also Davy’s father.”
    The bottom suddenly dropped out of
the ride he was on.

 
    *****

 
    Handel leaned across the table,
driving his point home with expressive hand movements as though he were in
court. “You can’t trust him. You know that. Even Carl said his cousin is scum.
And you know Carl is proud of his family tree. He still blames himself for
allowing Agosto within a hundred feet of you ten years ago.”
    Margaret got up from the kitchen
chair and paced to the refrigerator and back, unable to sit still or hold her
brother’s