Free 3 Savor by Barbara Ellen Brink Page A

Billie watched from a distance, arms crossed, a small smile on her
face.
    Margaret and Sally broke away from
the mob and joined her. They were both starry eyed and pink-cheeked from their
enthusiastic support of her brother. She saw Adam look up over the heads of his
admirers and catch her eye. She grinned and blew him a kiss.
    “Whew!” Sally fanned her hand in
front of her face. “My oh my,” she said in a terrible southern belle accent,
“that boy can sing. He sent my blood pressure skyrocketing.”
    “Hey!” Margaret said, “That’s my
man you’re talking about. Don’t get any ideas.”
    “That’s my brother you’re both
drooling over and it’s making me a little nauseous,” Billie said, but she
couldn’t hide how proud she was. Too bad Sabrina couldn’t have been here to see
him perform. She would have loved it.
    “I better get in there and make
sure the boys are keeping up with the customers,” Sally said. “This is a great
crowd for a Saturday.”
    Billie waited until she was gone
before confronting Margaret with her suspicions. “So which one of you canceled
Jimmy’s Jazz Crew? You, Adam, or Sally? And how did you manage to get all these
people here,” she asked, waving a hand to encompass the grounds.
    Margaret pulled out her cell phone.
“Adam and I sent out an invitation. He’s been amassing a lot of local followers
on his Facebook and Twitter pages,” she said, and laughed. “I can’t believe it
worked! Look at all these people!” She grabbed Billie’s arms and pulled her
into a hug.
    “Thank you,” Billie said in her
ear. “I owe you both.”
    Margaret pulled back with a smile.
“You don’t owe us anything, Billie. That’s the beauty of family.”
    Adam finally managed to break away
from his fans and join them. He threw his arms around them both and squeezed.
“Group hug!”
    “Hey lady!”
    Billie turned around at the loud
voice behind them. A young Hispanic man stood a few yards away, arms crossed,
regarding them coolly from behind red shades. His sleeveless shirt revealed
arms heavy in ink and muscle.
    “Are you talking to me?” she asked,
raising her brows.
    “You the wine chick?”
    Adam stepped forward. “Can we help
you?” he asked, protectively putting his six-foot-two frame between her and the
stranger.
    The man smirked and shook his head.
“Naw. I don’t need no help. I come to give help. Maybe you need a strong
Mexican worker to replant those smashed flowerbeds for you,” he offered. His
grin revealed a diamond inset in his front tooth. It caught the light and
sparkled in odd contrast to the skull and crossbones tattoo on his neck.
    Adam glanced back at Billie.
“Something going on here I should know about?”
    “We had vandals last night,” she
said, moving around Adam and confronting the young man face to face, despite
the creeping fear that inched up her spine. “What do you know about that?” she
asked him.
    He gave a slight shrug and pushed
his shades up on the top of his head. His dark gaze swept boldly over her body
before finally meeting her eyes. “Somebody must not like you very much, chica.
Why else would they run over your pretty flowers?”
    “I’d like to know the answer to
that myself,” she said. “Perhaps you could enlighten me.”
    He laughed. “No. I don’t know
nothin’.” He turned as if to leave and then looked back. “But if I were you, I
would stay indoors where it’s safe. Can’t be too careful these days.”
    “Hey!” Adam called after him. “Was
that a threat?” He started to follow, but Billie grasped his arm and stopped
him.
    “Let him go,” she said.
    They watched the man move through
the parked cars until he opened the door of a black SUV and climbed in on the
passenger side. The truck backed out and drove away, tinted windows reflecting
the winery back at them.
    “What kind of truck is that?” she
asked, squinting.
    “I think it’s a Lexus. Why?”
    “Because someone in a black SUV
drove in here