Happy Hour (26 page)

“Easier said than done. I, for one, don’t feel like hanging from the
chandeliers while Snoop Dogg is playing from one room, and Papa Roach from the
other. And as far as Amber goes, I think she needs a little security right now.
I’m not going to lock our door because she may need us.”

“I think she’s a buffer between you and Christian because you don’t want
to deal with how angry you are at him for not stepping up and being the dad to
the boys that you wanted. So now you’re going to be the mother to Amber that
her mother hasn’t been to her, so you can one-up your husband.”

“And I think you’re full of shit. You and all your theories. Just because
you ran off and went all Hare Krishna on us, certainly doesn’t qualify you as
having a degree in psychiatry. Maybe you should analyze yourself, Mom, and all
the ashes you left in your wake when you decided to go and
find
yourself.”

Venus sat back and smiled. “I will think about that. Thank you for
pointing that out.”

“Oh Mother!”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You should consider a lock on that door and start having more sex. Look
at your friend. She’s happy as a clam. She must be getting it a lot, and
recently too, I’d say. Maybe three or four times this week, right?” Venus
leaned her elbows on the table. “Which is it, love. The magic number. Three or
four?” She looked directly at Jamie who turned bright red.

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Of course you. Not my daughter. From what I can tell you
appear to have harnessed your inner sex goddess and you’ve done it quite well,
I might add.”

“I, I…” Jamie couldn’t say anything. Everyone was staring at her.

“Jamie? Is there something you want to share with the rest of us?”
Danielle asked, a smile spreading across her face.

Jamie put her face in her palms. “Oh, God,” she groaned. Looking up, she
nodded and said, “Yes, okay, yes. It’s true. I am having sex everywhere and all
the time.”

There was a collective gasp.

“For how long?” Kat asked.

“With who?” Alyssa asked.

“I think I can guess,” Danielle said. “It’s with Tyler Meeks.”

“The cowboy?” Alyssa asked.

Kat nodded. “The
younger
cowboy.”

Jamie closed her eyes and leaned back in the chair, allowing everyone to
toss out their questions. She opened her eyes and slammed her hands down on the
table. “Yes, yes, yes. Okay. It’s with Tyler. And it’s the best damn sex I’ve
ever had. We did it in his office the other day and then in every room in his
house and even in the hay barn, and I love it. I really love it, but I am so
damn miserable I don’t know what to do.”

“What?” Venus asked. “I’d say you’re doing it. Don’t do anything else,
but it.”

Kat shot her a look. “Pipe down and listen for once. Otherwise you can
walk home. I don’t want another word out of you tonight.”

Venus frowned, dejection all over her face, but she kept quiet.

“Details,” Danielle said. “We want details.”

Jamie told them about the fall off the horse and what had ensued directly
after in Tyler’s office.

“You little hooker, you,” Danielle said. “Huh. I love it. Cool. Okay so
that was the first time. The sex guru here says there’s been at least three or
four times this week.”

Jamie felt the heat rise to her cheeks. “More like seven or eight. I am a
little hooker, aren’t I?”

“Girl! Oh yeah you are,” Alyssa squealed. They all laughed.

“When did you find time for all that?” Kat asked.

“She made time,” Venus cut in. “It was important.”

Kat shot her another dirty look.

“The night after the first time, he invited me to his place and…”

“What’s his place like?” Kat asked.

“It’s nice. It’s clean and lots of Western art and all rugged-like with
leather sofas and chairs. And he can cook, too. I mean it all smelled great,
but we didn’t exactly eat dinner.”

“Who gives a shit what his place is like! What’s he like?” Danielle
slurred.

Jamie knew she had to be bright red by now. “He’s wonderful,” she whispered.
“Oh my God, he’s amazing. I think I’ve lost my mind.”

“This is great,” Kat said. “Good for you.”

“No. Not really.” They all looked at Jamie, waiting for her to continue.
“It’s these nightmares I’m having. One minute I’m in bed with Tyler, the next I’ve
lost Dorothy again. In the worst one, I lost Dorothy because I was busy, you
know, being with Tyler and Nate came home and caught me in bed with the cowboy.
Horrible! It’s Nate. I feel like I’m cheating on him.” Jamie took a long drink
from her wine.

“Nate is gone, sweetie,” Danielle said.

“I know that! Don’t you think I know that?” Jamie snapped at her.
“Everyday I wake up and I think maybe it’s all been this horrible nightmare and
then I roll over and the man I planned to spend the rest of my life with is not
there. I know better than anyone else that he’s gone, but I don’t want him to
be gone. I want him here where he belongs. Where I can hold him and make love
to him, not Tyler. I want Nate here to kiss Maddie good night and tell her
bedtime stories. I want him here to help me make decisions about Dorothy and to
tell me what to do while I’m financially going down the drain. Don’t you think
I don’t know that he isn’t here? But he’s here.” She pointed to her heart. “I’m
sorry, I am so sorry.” She looked down, shaking her head. “I feel so, so
guilty.”

Danielle finally spoke. “Of course Nate is in your heart, and feeling
guilty is understandable. You’re not the kind of woman who goes to bed with any
man. You know we were all teasing you, honey. You are not a little hooker. Not
at all. We were funning.”

“But I don’t love Tyler.” She sniffled. Alyssa handed her a tissue and
she blew her nose.

“I don’t think you have to love him,” Alyssa said.

“Think about this for a minute.” Kat set down the bottle of wine. “What
if the tables were turned? What if you were the one who had passed away?”

Jamie looked up at her, mascara smearing on her face. Danielle wiped it
away with her fingertips.

Kat nodded. “Yes. Say it was you and you’re living on the other side.
Heaven or whatever you want to call it.”

“Nirvana,” Venus piped in.

“Whatever. There you are with your pretty angel wings.” This got a smile
from Jamie. “You’re dancing around and things are pretty good in this new
place, except for one thing. Every time you check in on Nate, he’s miserable.
He can’t let you go. All he does is think about you. He cries himself to sleep,
he wakes up needing you. He pretends that everything is fine. He takes care of
Maddie and his mom, and for their sake pretends that everything is fine. But he
is not fine. He is
miserable.
”

“It would be awful for me.”

“Even with your angel wings in your happy heaven, it would be awful for
you to see the man you loved so bound up in the past that he could no longer
live in the present. And say, he meets someone. A nice lady who treats him
well, and who really likes him. Someone who could probably take good care of
him and Maddie. And he likes her and they get together and their sex is
fantastic and a little bit of Nate starts to let go of a little bit of Jamie.
Wouldn’t you want him to continue having the happiest, most positive human
experiences he could? That’s what he would want for you. Don’t you owe it to
yourself, to Maddie, to Dorothy and especially to Nate?”

Jamie stared at Kat.

“I know I am supposed to be quiet,” Venus said with tears in her eyes,
“but, bravo! Bravo! Oh, my girl, you
do
get it. You really do.”

Jamie stood up, walked over to Kat, and leaned over her to hug her. Kat
stood and hugged her back. “Thank you,” Jamie said.

“It’s okay to live and love again. It really is,” Kat said.

Jamie pulled away, wiped her face, and looked at her friends. “I think I
needed that.” She drank a little wine and then asked, “Now who wants to hear
about the hot sex?”

Everyone laughed and Venus popped open a bottle of champagne. “You can
count me in.”

***

Wine Lover’s Magazine

Summer Love

By

Jamie Evans

Living in Napa Valley during the summer is HOT. I’m not only talking
about the weather. The wine country is full of new loves and old loves, as
tourists flock here to our quaint valley to wine taste and experience the
allure and romance that Napa is known for.

Summer loving has become a popular topic for my friends and me lately.
What exactly is love? How do you fall in love and then keep it? Everyone has a
different idea on how that’s done. Some think sex is the answer, others believe
it is all about communication and family bonds. We haven’t come up with any
solid answers, but the conversations have sure been fun!

In this month’s issue, take time to read over our Summer Loving
section, find romance in your home, add some spice to your sex life, and, as
always, have a good bottle of wine with you while  falling in love and staying
in love. This month’s wine pairing and recipe comes from my kitchen and it’s
one of my favorite summer meals; Salmon in Miso Sauce with a refreshing glass
of Viognier.

Danielle had done it to herself again. Taken on more than she could chew.
Why had she agreed to help organize the Harvest Festival? Her official role was
to put the media and marketing together between the wineries and the consumers
who would be paying top dollar to come and taste the finest Napa and Sonoma had
to offer. It entailed talking with each winery owner or their winemaker and organizing
their marketing pieces. She would then condense down the information to a
paragraph for each one, and put them together in magazine format. She also had
to hire someone to do the graphics. This would be no cheap endeavor. Her budget
for it was three grand, not a big budget considering the expectations involved
so each winery would have to pitch in. She looked at the list of her contacts,
she spotted the one name she knew would be there but had hoped wouldn’t—Al
Bastillia. Of course The Bastard would be entering Bastillia wines. Their wines
had been in the festival for the past twelve years. Why would this one be any
different? One could hope though, right?

Danielle traced the outline of the design of her Deésse label. The artist
had done a splendid job. The label showed the profile of a beautiful woman, her
naked backside exposed, long red hair flowing over her shoulders, and a strip
of gold coming up from the bottom of the label and encircling the Goddess. It
hadn’t been cheap, but it was a work of art. Danielle loved the concept of the
Goddess idea so she’d penciled out an idea and then taken it to an experienced
artist. She would have asked Alyssa to do the artwork, but between flying back
and forth to Los Angeles to see her son, Alyssa was already bogged down.

In some ways, having to do so much herself was working out well. During
the day, Danielle was able to busy herself with the festival and keep her mind
off of her own difficult issues. But at night, there was nothing she could do
but think about those issues.

Cassie was still out of the house and she missed her terribly, but knew
that her daughter needed to get the message loud and clear that Danielle was
done taking her crap. Did that make her a cop-out or a bad parent because she’d
sent Cassie over to Al’s so he could deal with her?

The other situation keeping her up at night, and keeping her on the verge
of a migraine, was that she longed to support Shannon and understand her
better. She wanted to reestablish the connection that they once had—that
incredible bond that she missed so much. She still had not been able to tell
her friends about the baby’s condition. It was all a bit too much to deal with.
Telling them would make it fact and Danielle didn’t know if she was ready to
accept any of this situation for the reality that it was.

She took a stroll through the small winery warehouse. French Oak and
steel barrels were stacked on one side of a long row and the other side
contained boxes of her first vintage that was already packed and ready to go.
She smiled and said hello to a handful of employees working there. They were a
good group who respected and cared for her as she did for them. Most of them
left Bastillia after the divorce and came to work for her.

The warehouse smelled of must, oak, and fruit—smells she’d never tire of.
They were of the earth. Harvest would begin next month and Danielle would be
right in the midst of the workers. It was an exciting, if exhausting, event.

She walked outside and headed over to the main building where daily wine
tastings were offered. She’d just opened up this area and, because her place
was off the beaten path and because one had to pass Bastillia to get here, many
tourists didn’t make that extra mile to her place. Compared to Al’s Disneyland
of wineries, hers was small potatoes. But! But she’d still
won
the best
crops and she would use that to her advantage. Better believe it. Once
oenophiles started tasting the wine, Deésse wines would no longer be small
potatoes.

Danielle stopped and admired the small but elegant building before
reaching it. It had an Old World, Tuscan feel to it and replicated her home on
top of the hill. She recognized a car pulling up and smiled. Mark.

He got out of the Audi with a picnic basket and Danielle couldn’t help
feel the smile on her face spreading. The man was full of surprises. She’d been
distant when she had first heard the baby had Down Syndrome, but Mark he’d
called daily. Somehow he managed to be supportive without being pushy and she’d
grown to rely on his calls. Then one day last week he hadn’t called and
Danielle missed him, wondering if she’d finally pushed him away. It turned out
that he’d had a difficult delivery and was in the hospital all day and had gone
to bed there, exhausted. He’d sent her roses the next day.