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While it was early to go in, Peyton drove straight to Stave anyway. After unlocking the rear entrance and disarming the alarm, she turned up the heat on the thermostat and powered up her computer.
A few minutes later, she heard someone else come in the same door she had.
“Hey, Alex.”
Peyton’s best friend and marketing director for both the tasting room and the Westside Winery Collaborative sat in the chair next to her desk.
“How are you not cold?” she asked.
Alex wore a black, sleeveless, silk tank with jeans and four-inch-heel boots.
“Hot Hispanic blood runnin’ through these veins, girlfriend.”
“It’s forty degrees, the wind off the ocean makes it feel closer to twenty, and you’re never cold. I always am, even in summer.”
“No meat on your bones; that’s your problem.”
“You weigh less than I do.”
Peyton and Alex had been friends since they were teenagers. Her parents became friends with Alex’s when they bought a ranch and decided to turn half of it into vineyards. Alfonso Avila, Alex’s father, sold Peyton’s dad rootstock and helped him get started in the wine business.
She and Alex had been scrawny “beanpoles” when they met—tall and lanky, before both their bodies matured and filled out. Apart from their stature and thin but curvy shapes, they were total opposites. Peyton was a green-eyed blonde, and Alex had long dark brown, almost-black hair and matching eyes.
“What’s with the scowl this morning?”
“Sorry, it’s been a crappy day so far.”
Alex checked the time on her phone. “Already? Everything okay with the boys?”
“They’re fine, Auntie Alex. No, this has nothing to do with the boys.”
“What, then? Spill.”
“I ran into Brodie Butler at the market this morning.”
“Oh. Shit. I’m sorry, honey.”
“I was rude to him, and now I feel bad.”
“I didn’t realize you knew Brodie.”
“I don’t. Or I didn’t. He introduced himself.”
“It’s hard to see Kade’s family?—”
“He said he had something for me from Kade.”
“Oh. Shit,” Alex repeated.
“I left.”
Her friend nodded.
“I mean I walked right out of the market. Poor Louie probably wonders why I left a cartful of milk and OJ in aisle six.”
“Not a big deal, Peyton. Louie will understand.”
“I’ll apologize to him later, but what about Brodie? I owe him an apology too.”
