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“You didn’t bring a date?” Liam narrowed his eyes at Benji. “That’s out of character for you.”
“Eh,” Benji shrugged. “I’m between relationships right now. Keeping my options open. Role reversal, huh?” Benji elbowed Liam and I noticed a slight flush in his cheeks.
“So Macy,” Benji said, turning towards me. “You’re from Liam’s old hometown, huh?” Benji swirled the amber liquid in his glass, gazing at me over the cut crystal.
“That’s right. I wasn’t born there, but I’ve lived there for a long time now. What do you do, Benji?” I asked, moving the spotlight off myself. I wasn’t sure how much Liam wanted me to share, considering I was a waitress and a bartender. Not exactly Ivy League, Silicon Valley-level professions.
“I’m CMO atHelioSurf, my brother’s active lifestyle company.”
“Sounds interesting,” I said, taking a sip of wine and praying he’d keep talking.
“It’s alright. Not as cool as what Liam over here does.” Benji tipped his chin up at Liam.
“I write a lot of code. Not sure how exciting that is,” Liam joked.
An older man in a tuxedo walked onstage, tapping the mic. High-pitched feedback pealed through the air, grating my ears.
“Sorry about that, folks. Can we turn down the speakers?” The man squinted into the bright spotlight and someone in the back nodded, turning down the volume.
The man began again. “I’d like to welcome you all to the annual Always in Our Hearts fundraiser.” A light smattering of applause rose from the crowd and the man paused, smiling. “Everyone please find your seats and dinner will be served. Thanks again for your donations. Speeches to follow later.”
Another round of applause, then a live band started playing soft dinner music as people found their tables. Liam pulled my chair out for me, and then the men sat down, Liam to my left, Benji to his. A few other people joined us, and I smiled and nodded at the appropriate times, making small talk about Napa (which I’d never visited), the wildfires (which I’d only read about), and the benefits of social media marketing (which I only knew from the consumer side of things).
“Man, the traffic was brutal.” A tall, dark-haired man rushed up to the table, a pretty woman about Everly’s age in a black ball gown by his side. He pulled out the chair next to me for her, then collapsed into his own. “Liam, next year put in a suggestion to do this shindig in southern Cali, will you?” He picked up his water goblet, taking a long slug.
“I’m sorry, forgive my poor manners. I’m Gabe and this is Jillian.” He rose, leaning over and kissing my cheek just as Benji had. Jillian shot me a wave and a nod, smiling warmly.
“I’m Macy. Good to meet you.”
“Don’t mind him, Macy. He’s my tardy and ill-mannered older brother. He doesn’t get out much.” Benji gave me a wicked grin and Gabe rolled his eyes in his brother’s direction.
“One of us has to actually run the business. We can’t both surf all day and expect to keep pulling down paychecks.”
“Rude. I only surfed this morning. Then I crunched numbers with Jill for a solid hour before I left the office and drove here. Some of us understand traffic patterns.” Benji slugged down the rest of his whiskey on the rocks, signaling for another.
“Enough about us, tell us what’s good, Liam.” Gabe changed the topic, tipping his glass at Liam.
“Macy and I are here for the weekend. I’m still helping my uncle out with his store while he recuperates.”
“Damn. You moving down there? You’ve been gone a long time,” Benji said, drumming his fingers on the white tablecloth to the beat of the music.
Liam chuckled. “It’s only been a few weeks, Benji. A month, tops.”
“We really need an answer on this winery project, man. I keep telling my dad you’re going to lean in; he’s been up my ass about it. Apparently, all the major wineries are rolling out apps to enhance their customer experience. And you know I’m a top-level guy.”
Gabe let out a low guffaw. “That’s one word for it.”
“You know what I mean, Gabe. I’m big picture, I don’t do coding and shit like that.” He shot his brother a dirty look across the table.
A team of waiters appeared, one standing at each of our elbows, placing the plates of food down on the gold chargers at the exact same time.
“The food smells amazing!” Jillian said, effectively changing the subject from Benji’s work ethic or lack thereof.
“Enjoy,” the head waiter said, then the team made a hard pivot, all in sync, heading back towards the building.
“How’s your uncle doing, Liam?” Gabe asked, his brow knit with genuine concern. “He had a heart attack, right?”
Liam nodded, his expression serious. “Yeah. He’s going to be alright. Luckily my cousin was there when it happened and he’s a firefighter. So they were able to get him to the hospital quickly. He needs to make some serious lifestyle modifications, but it looks like he’s going to be fine. My aunt isn’t thrilled about him going back to work. Kind of leaves me in a tough position.”
