2 Crushed (3 page)

“Uncle Handel, do you want to see
my space station?”

“Sure.” He followed Davy down the
hallway.

Alone, Margaret couldn’t keep her
thoughts from Agosto, and the reason for his return to California. Davy. Her
son would not be a pawn in the hands of that bastard. She wouldn’t allow it.
Handel promised, and she knew his word was as solid as Gibraltar. So what
wasn’t he telling her?

Davy’s laughter echoed through the
house and she smiled, listening. He was her world; why she got up in the
morning. She couldn’t lose him. She turned back to the stove and flipped the
burgers, her hands shaking with the effort.

“Are you all right?” Handel
appeared in the doorway alone.

“What do you think? I’ve been
waiting all day for you to call.” She hated the antagonistic sound of her
voice, but it’s what she felt. Waiting was not one of her strong points.

“Sorry. I wanted to talk to you in
person.” He slumped onto a stool at the counter, but remained silent.

She wiped her hands on the
dishtowel. “So how was he?” she asked in a quiet voice.

“Same obnoxious little… Davy! I
thought you were going to work on your space station for a while, buddy.”

Davy stood at Handel’s elbow. “I’m
tired of that. I wanted to talk to you.” His expression was openly curious as
though he knew he’d come in at an interesting moment. “Who are you talking
about?” he asked.

“Nobody,” Margaret said too quickly
to be convincing. He was an intelligent boy and more observant than she often
gave him credit for.
 
Deflecting the
question would probably make him more interested in the answer. But right now
she couldn’t deal with the questions that would be sure to follow. Instead she
turned away, pretending dinner preparations had her full attention. “Are you
hungry? The burgers are almost ready. Set the table for me, kiddo.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Billie led and he followed. Just
like when they were kids. Through the neighbor’s hedge or cross-country to
California, she was always one step ahead. He trailed her now through the door
of the winery and down a sun-brightened hallway. She stopped at an open office
door and stepped inside, pulling him along with a tug on his jacket sleeve. A
youngish woman occupied the desk, glasses pushed up on her forehead, squinting
at a computer screen. Her hair was redder than his own, a flaming bob atop
petite features.

“Morning, Sally. This is my
brother, Adam. He’s going to check out the books for me. Could you give him
access to the computer and whatever he needs? I’ve got to talk to Mario, but
I’ll be right back.” She winked in his direction and hurried out the door.

Sally cleared her throat, eyes wide
with interest. “So you’re Adam,” she drawled in a teasing tone, as though she’d
heard more about him than he’d wish to share.

Had Billie brought up the time his
junior high girl friend mowed him down with her bicycle after he broke up with
her? Or that he got pummeled with tomatoes during his performance of Hamlet in
the school play? “Yep, that’s me.”

She stood up and thrust out a hand.
“Welcome to Fredrickson’s. I suppose I can count on you not to cook the books
or try to murder your sister.”

He shrugged. “I promise not to cook
the books, but I can only give you a definite maybe on the murder thing. One
day at a time.”

She grinned. “Good enough for me.”

“So where do you want me?”

The office had two terminals set
up, one on Sally’s desk, the other on a card table in the corner of the room.
She dipped her head toward the latter. A metal folding chair awaited him. He
could already imagine his rear end going numb.

“Don’t look so glum, little
brother,” Billie said as she breezed back in. “It’s only temporary. You can
have the extra office down the hall as soon as the computer tech gets the
wiring set up. He’ll be here tomorrow.”

Adam pulled out the chair and sat.
The screen was black. “Got a password for this thing?”

“FredricksonWinery,” Billie and
Sally said, nearly in unison.

He raised his eyebrows. “Original.
No one would ever think of that.”

“Don’t be so sarcastic. You
probably couldn’t come up with anything better. Besides, why would anyone want
to break into our computer system?” Billie said, pulling out a file drawer and
rifling through a folder.

“I don’t know. Why would some crazy
accountant woman try to kill you? Strange things happen in your vicinity.”

A giggle escaped Sally’s lips and
Billie glared. “Don’t encourage him.”

The phone rang. Sally picked it up.
“Yep. She’s right here,” she said after a minute and held out the phone. “It’s
for you, boss.”

Billie took the phone out into the
hall. Her voice was muffled but she sounded disappointed. Sally shuffled past
him to get a cup of water from the cooler by the door.

“Hear anything interesting?” he
asked.

“She’s talking to Handel,” she
said, before realizing he was teasing her. She gave him a wry smile. “Sorry.
Bad habit. But how else am I supposed to know what’s going on around here?”

Billie stepped around the corner
and held out the phone. “If it’s any of your business, I’ll be sure and let you
know.”

“If you say so.” Sally returned the
phone to her desk and leaned over Adam’s shoulder, her hands on the keyboard.
“Here. Let me get you into the books.”

Adam glanced at Billie. “If you’ve
got things to do, go ahead. Don’t feel as though you have to hang around and
take care of me.”

“Believe me, I have no such
feelings. This is the busiest time of year for the winery and I have lots to
do. Besides, you seem to be well taken care of. So, see ya!” She waved a hand
as she walked out without showing an ounce of remorse.

He straightened and nearly bumped
heads with Sally, still hovering over his left shoulder. “Sorry.”

She pressed her face close to his
ear and inhaled deeply. “Hmm, fresh Minnesota country boy. I could just eat you
up.”

He jerked back so fast the metal
chair nearly tipped over.

Sally exploded in laughter and
dropped back into her desk chair. “You should see your face! Where’s a hidden
camera when you need one?” she hooted.

“That wasn’t funny,” he mumbled,
his face hot with embarrassment. He readjusted the chair and faced the computer
screen. “What kind of a wacky place does my sister run here anyway?”

She continued to chuckle
intermittently even while she typed. “We have to do something for fun. Watching
grapes ferment is a pretty boring pastime.”

When he didn’t respond, she
expelled loudly. “All right, I’m sorry kid. I shouldn’t have teased you. But I
didn’t know Midwesterners were so touchy.”

He scraped his chair around to face
her. “We are not touchy. We are reserved,” he said in a voice typical of his
mother. “That type of behavior in the workplace may be called teasing in
California. In Minnesota they call it sexual harassment. Ask Billie. I’m sure
she dealt with cases all the time.”

“Are you going to turn me in?” Her
smile deepened.

“Don’t tempt me.”

*****

"So what's the verdict?"

Adam looked up from the screen. His
sister stood in the doorway and Sally was no where in sight. The clock on the
wall said it was well past lunch, or maybe that was his growling stomach
talking. He stood up and stretched the kinks out of his back.

"You definitely need to make
some changes around here. And soon. You can't remain solvent if you're putting
out more than you're bringing in. Cutting back on employees may be a short-term
option, but by next year if things haven't picked up..." he let the
thought hang.

Billie glanced quickly down the
hallway and stepped inside shutting the door. "Don't say that so loud. I
don't want to spook my people. I can't let anyone go. We're already down to a
skeleton crew. The grapes are ready to be harvested and the tasting room is
flooded with tourists. I can’t afford to close that down during Crush because
we really need the income, but I need everyone’s focus on bringing in our crop.
I'll think of something. I have to think of something."

"If Mom knew you were
struggling…”

"I'm not asking her for a
loan. That's out of the question. Do you know how much leverage she would have
over my life if I did?"

The look of panic on her face made
him laugh. "Don't worry. I'm not calling her. I just thought it would be
easier than going to a bank. She did make a killing last year on that Google
stock. I still can't believe I missed my chance." He shook his head.

"It takes money to make money,
and you didn't have any to begin with."

"True."

"Hungry? I'll take you out for
lunch." She swung the door back open.

"Are you sure you can afford
it?"

"No, but Handel can. He
invited us to meet him at Herbies at two."

He shut down the programs he was
working on and followed her out the door. He was disappointed that Fredrickson
Winery was floundering. He'd pinned his hopes on staying awhile, working for his
sister, maybe getting some music gigs in the city at night. He'd heard there
were lots of clubs and places for a musician to play if they had the right
stuff. He was pretty sure he did, he only needed a captive audience to prove
it.

Billie didn't talk much on the way
to the restaurant. She bit at her bottom lip and seemed engrossed in thoughts
she wasn't ready to share. He stared out the window at the vineyards they
passed and thought about what he was going to do now. He couldn't ask her to
pay him a salary if she couldn't afford the staff she already had. He'd just
have to look for a job elsewhere.

Herbies bar and grill had a replica
of Disney's lovable old VW Beetle parked in the middle of the restaurant. Some
kids had climbed in and sat grinning while their mother took their picture. A
knockoff rendition of
Rocking around the
Clock
poured out from overhead speakers, nearly drowned out by the full
lunch crowd.

Billie glanced around the
restaurant, eagerly seeking the man they were to meet. Her face lit up and she
waved. "There he is."

Adam followed her across the room,
dodging tables and waiters. He'd been the only man in his sister's life for a
long time and although she looked happier than he'd ever seen her, he felt
strangely over-protective. He hoped he wasn't turning into a male version of
his mother.

Handel stood and kissed Billie then
reached past her and shook hands with Adam. "It's good to finally meet
you, Adam." He inclined his head toward the woman still seated in a corner
of the booth. "This is my sister, Margaret. I believe you've already
met."

Margaret's welcoming smile couldn't
have been colder if chipped from an iceberg. She lifted her cup of coffee and
took a sip, dismissing him as soon as she'd laid eyes on him.

Adam waited for Billie to scoot in
next to Handel before taking the remaining seat next to the Ice Queen. He
wondered if he'd come down with a case of freezer burn if he got too close. The
booth was narrow and his arm grazed hers as he settled in. She pulled back as
though he carried the plague, and slid closer toward the wall on her side.

Handel and Billie didn't seem to
notice. They were too busy looking into each other's eyes as though they'd been
apart for months rather than mere hours. He glanced away and hoped the waiter
came quickly to take their orders.

"So, you showed up yesterday
and Billie already put you to work, huh?" Handel said.

"Something like that."

Billie smiled. "Adam is a whiz
at numbers, he has an accounting degree, and he can even play a mean
guitar."

He heard a distinct sigh of boredom
from the woman beside him. He turned toward her. "So what do you do,
Margaret?" he asked. "Besides, telling men exactly
where to go
when they stop and ask
directions?"

Handel coughed and raised his glass
to his lips to cover a grin. Billie was turning a lovely shade of pink and
looked like she wanted to punch him in the arm again. Just like old times.

Margaret set her glass down but
held his gaze. "Sometimes I help them on their way."

Providentially, the waiter showed
up at that moment and encouraged everyone to order the special of the
day—the Herbie Burger. When the waiter left, Handel quickly picked up the
conversation.

"How long are you planning to
stay, Adam? We should take you out on the town some night. It's always fun to listen
to the street musicians or attend a concert in the park."

"That would be great, but I'm
not really sure what my plans are at this point."

"What do you mean—you
don't know?" Billie said, "I thought you were..."

"I changed my mind." He
shrugged. "San Francisco is calling my name. Thought I'd answer the call
and do a little walk-about."

"Figures," Margaret said,
her voice like a jab to his ribs.

Why did this woman's opinion of him
matter? He didn't know her from—Eve. When it came to men, Margaret Parker
was a cynical shrew. She thought all men were the same and he obviously just
confirmed her belief pattern.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but
Billie is struggling with the winery and I'm afraid I’d be dead weight around
here. She needs someone with expertise at running a winery, not just a number
cruncher."

"That's not true, Adam."
Billie said, leaning forward, her hands on the table. "You can help me in
many more ways than crunching numbers. You’re better at problem solving and
coming up with ideas. That's what I need right now. Someone with ideas for
change. Cause what we're doing is obviously not working. And don’t worry, I
have plenty of hard labor for you when the numbers run out."

"I thought the
Time in a Bottle
brand was selling
well," Handel said, his gaze narrowed on Billie. He covered her hand with
his. "Has something else happened since we talked?"

"No. Only the same old thing.
It took Adam pointing it out to me this morning that made me see I can't live
off of my uncle's wishful thinking, and neither can my employees. Making
Fredrickson’s profitable again may be a pipedream."

"You've got to give it time.
It can take months, even years, to get your brand out there."

"We don't have years. I'm not
sure we even have months. I haven't got enough savings to prop us up that
long."

Handel put his arm around her
shoulders and pulled her close. "You know I'll help anyway I can."

She nodded. "I know, but you
have your own practice to worry about. What I need is someone with winery
experience, fresh money-saving ideas, awesome management skills, winemaking
expertise, and a willingness to work for next to nothing."

Margaret cleared her throat, “I
have…” she started, but the waiter brought their platters and she fell silent.
Adam glanced her way. She seemed nervous, unwrapping her flatware and placing
the paper napkin on her lap. She kept her head down, avoiding his gaze.

Billie glanced around at their glum
faces after the waiter left. "Wow. I sure know how to shut down a party,
don't I? Don't let me ruin your Herbie burgers.” She picked up a fry and dipped
it in ketchup.

Adam eyed his burger suspiciously.
Back home, a California burger usually had tomato, lettuce, and mayo, but this
one had sprouts poking out the sides. He took the top bun off to dissect the
innards. Besides sprouts, he found sliced green olives and some kind of unknown
sauce, two of his least favorite things. He proceeded to scrap the meat patty
with his knife.