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River's stepdad waits at the top of the stairs, dressed in khakis and a canary yellow golf shirt. He holds a glass of red wine as he smiles at us.
"Welcome to the Castle Vineyard. I just got done taking a tour of the golf course that's on the property next door." He looks at Sarah. "We might just have to move in here, honey."
I'm so used to seeing Sam scowling at River that his good mood takes me by surprise.
"That's nice, dear." Sarah glances behind us to where River is standing. "Maybe you could practice your swing with River later."
Sam doesn't skip a beat. "I'll take any reason to get out there again. I tell you what, that's a thinking man's heaven."
River's lips twitch but he doesn't say anything. He just bows his head.
Great. First he drags me here without a simple heads up. And now he's going to make me do all the heavy lifting of socializing with his mom.
River is a dead man once I get him alone.
I glance at Sarah. "Do you have a suggestion for where you would like to start the tour?"
She links her arm with mine and bumps my hip with hers. "You bet I do. First things first. Let's go to the tasting room, get a glass of wine, and then have a little tasting menu from the chef."
A real smile blooms on my face. Okay, this isn’t SO bad. But I’m still gonna kick River’s ass when we get home.
"A tasting menu?" I ask.
She pulls me toward a large set of oak doors.
"It is technically a bride and groom's tasting. But I’m not about to let you have all the fun by yourself! We’ll pick the hors d'oeuvres and they’ll serve a sampler of what might be served for a dinner service. And then every kind of cake and dessert option that you've ever thought of. Trust me, it's the best part of wedding planning."
We walk into the tasting room. One wall is a bar, set up with a number of oak casks and countless bottles of wine stacked on thin wire shelves. The other side of the room has a window that looks off into the woods. There are tables made of old wine casks dappling the floor of the tasting room. I settle into a seat across from River, trying to keep my attention on Sarah as she seats herself and chats about the possibilities for throwing parties at the castle.
I’m mostly trying to focus on his mom instead of blowing up at River.
Sam and Sarah carry most of the conversation as we are served wine and an appetizer sampler. I lean over to catch the waiter's attention.
"Can I please have a glass of ice water?"
He bows and fetches it for me without complaint. Sarah pauses as she's about to take a sip of red wine.
"Everything to your liking, Pearl? You can ask for a different type of wine if you don't like red, you know."
I flush and shake my head. "I have a little bit of a headache," I lie. "I don't think that adding red wine to that is a good mix."
"Ah." She smiles, but I can see that she's just a bit crestfallen. "I see."
"These crab dumplings are nice," River says, pulling the conversation away from me. "But I don't like the little pancakes with caviar."
"I love 'em," comments Sam. "I don't care for the pate crostini, though. Too rich for me."
I sip my water and try the burrata, a smooth white lump of cheese with grilled grapes and basil leaves. It's quite nice; all of the food is excellent.
But by the time the dessert course arrives, I can't have more than a couple nibbles of the huge slices of red velvet and traditional vanilla cakes. There are easily twenty thousand calories on the table: key lime pie, berry galette, bananas foster, apple crumble with cinnamon streusel. Usually I would be at least tempted to sample a few more.
But I push my plate away early, my stomach feeling as though it has been wrung out. I listen to River talking to his parents for a little while before I eventually get up.
"I'm going to head outside. I need some air," I say, fanning myself.
River shoots to his feet. "Let me walk you around. We were going to tour the event space outside next anyway."
"I'd love some company.” I turn to Sam and Sarah. “But please, feel free to try all the desserts. I want a full report when I get back."
