Happy Hour (8 page)

“Feel about it?” Danielle laughed. “I think it’s fabulous.” She swallowed
another sip of wine. “Wait a minute, you all thought this would drive me batty
again? No seriously, this is the best news I could get. When I heard, all I
could think about was a fifty-year-old Al having to change more diapers, being
woken up in the middle of the night, and then going through all the toddler
stages again.
Times three
.” She held up three fingers and grinned. “It’s
perfect revenge for me. I only have two years until Cassie leaves the roost and
then I can travel, go back to school if I want to, and really grow my winery.
Al is starting over at fifty. He has all of these babies to deal with and
raise. I mean, what if she leaves his aging ass? He’ll have to pay Stacey up
the ying-yang.”

Jamie could see her point but also couldn’t help feeling sorry for
another baby whose dad wouldn’t exactly be father of the year. Not the way Nate
was.

“What about the girls? Does Shannon know? Or Cassie?” Kat asked, referring
to Danielle’s sixteen- and twenty-one year old daughters.

“Cassie knows and she’s not saying much, but that’s no shocker. These
days she doesn’t say much anyway. I think this will probably affect her harder
than Shannon. You know, Cassie has always been daddy’s little girl and the
competition has stiffened with Stacey and then the twins and now a new baby. If
this new baby is a boy, that will only make things worse for her. Al always
wanted a son more than he wanted his daughters.”

“Funny enough though, she always defends him because he gives her
whatever the hell she wants. She’s learned how to work him and he gives in to
her. I am always telling him that spoiling her with clothes, money, and a car
isn’t the way to raise a happy, self-sufficient child. She hates me right now,
because I told her that she had to get a job this summer.” Danielle popped a
strawberry in her mouth, washing it down with a sip of wine. “I know it might
sound mean or wrong, but I can’t help hoping that Al’s new family at least brings
Cassie back to me.”

“What do you mean?” Alyssa asked. “She’s your daughter. She may be acting
like a teenager, but I think her actions are normal. I didn’t like my mom all
that much at sixteen either.”

Danielle nodded. “The problem is that everything her dad does is
wonderful. That’s only because of the money and gifts. I know that I shouldn’t
take it personally, but it’s hard not to. Everything I do is wrong in her eyes.
Every time she speaks to me it’s in this adversarial tone, like I’m to blame
for all the wrongs in her life and in her world. As if I’m to blame for the
divorce! In her eyes, I might even be the one to blame for Stacey and the twins
and now the new kid. The other day she suggested that I needed new clothes and
a makeover. She even muttered something about how her father might have stayed
if I’d worn better clothes!”

“She did not!” Jamie said.

Danielle shrugged. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to do it all over
again, but tell you what, I do miss the days when I was on a pedestal. This too
shall pass right? And Shannon will be home next month. I never went through any
of this with her. Maybe she can talk some sense into her sister. What about you
all? What’s going on in your worlds for the last couple of weeks? I feel like
I’ve been out of touch working in the lab and getting ready for harvest.”

“I found out my mother is coming to visit for the summer.” Kat lifted her
glass up to toast. “Woo-hoo, doesn’t that sound like a reason to celebrate?”

“From everything you’ve told us, it sounds like a reason to drink,”
Alyssa replied, and refilled Kat’s almost empty glass.

“Venus is coming?” Jamie asked.

“Yes. Birkenstocks and Ram Das aplenty. She suggested I get a wheat grass
juicer and told me where I can order the freshest, most chlorophylled wheat
grass. She hinted that I may possibly want to start growing it myself.”

“Oh, no.” Jamie picked up a piece of cheese.

“Oh, yeah. And I’m making you all go to Bikram yoga with us. It’s only
about a hundred and five degrees in the room, and they say you usually stop
puking after the first few sessions if you drink lots of water. My mother will
tell you it’s so powerfully Zen.”

“Sounds like a blast. She’s coming for the entire summer?” Danielle
asked.

“We’re still negotiating the terms,” Kat replied. “That’s my big news,
and of course, Perry has another new girlfriend. This one is even old enough to
buy alcohol. The boys say she’s twenty-two, and she is not a stripper but a
receptionist in a hair salon.” She touched the ends of her shoulder length,
chestnut colored hair. “The best part is that the Sperm Donor told me that she
was a doctor. When I met her, I actually asked her where her medical practice
was located.”

“Nuh-uh. No, you didn’t,” Alyssa said.

Kat shrugged. “I couldn’t help it. Poor thing says to me that it’s not a
practice but a salon.”

“What did the Sperm Donor do?” Jamie asked.

“Turned bright red, looked at me like I was pure evil, and grabbed Barbie
by the arm while he yelled for the boys to hurry up.”

“Priceless.” Jamie walked over to the opposite counter and grabbed a
bottle of Pinot Noir from the Oregon coast to open.

“Now we know Danielle’s and my latest turmoil, how about you two?” Kat
asked. “Alyssa? What’s up?”

Alyssa shook her head and smiled, setting her glass onto the counter.
“Nothing. I don’t have anything at all really going on.”

The other women didn’t know Alyssa the way that Jamie did. The introvert
of the group, Alyssa seemed to always tread lightly with them. Even after a
couple of years of knowing her, Jamie still felt like she’d only scratched the
surface. They always included her. They cared about her. Alyssa knew it too,
but evident through sorrow tinged laughter and soft speech, something held on
tightly to Alyssa. Jamie guessed it to be pretty damn heavy for her to keep her
guard up all the time. Jamie, for one, didn’t believe her when she said that
nothing was going on.

“Nothing at all?” Danielle asked, eyebrows raised. “No man, or men, or
any art sales? How is the painting going?”

Alyssa shifted in the barstool. “Okay, yeah, you know, I’m working on a
new oil.”

Jamie clapped her hands. “Stop being so humble. Tell us about it.”

“It’s another one of the little boy pieces.”

“In the series?” Danielle asked.

“Yes.”

Alyssa had painted two paintings so far of a small African American boy.
In the first he looked to be about a year old crawling through a field of
grapevines, his skin lighter than the soil on the ground, his eyes happy, a
sweet toothless smile on his face. The grapes around him were golden-hued, and
Alyssa captured an innocence and beauty with the sunlight raining down on the
baby and the grapes. In the next painting she’d done, the child looked about
three, but it was clearly the same child. Anyone who saw the paintings
recognized that. This one showed the toddler on his toes, reaching up to pick a
purple grape.

“What’s this one like?” Jamie asked.

“You’ll have to wait. When I’m finished, you all need to come by and see
it. I think it’s my favorite,” she replied.

“Do you know the child that you paint?” Danielle asked.

Alyssa took a sip of wine and shook her head. “He’s a part of my
imagination.”

“You know what I think?” Kat said. “I think Alyssa wants a baby.”

“Ha! No way. I’m not the marrying, family type. I’m not.”

They all eyed her, and Jamie wondered if her other two friends had the
same thought…
Was she trying to convince herself or them?

“You may be the smartest of us all. You know what? I’ve always been
really interested in drawing. I’m not great at it, but I like it. I was
thinking about dropping in on one of your art classes,” Danielle said. “I’m on
the Harvest Festival committee and I have an idea in mind for the poster. I
might actually try and do the artwork myself.

“I’m starting a new class in two weeks on Wednesdays from six to eight.
I’ll give you a discount. I know the owner.” Alyssa chuckled.

“I would love that. Maybe we can grab a bite after.”

“Oh, do that. Come by our restaurant. I work Wednesdays and Christian has
come up with this terrific new menu. Everything is fresh, organic, super good.”
Kat clucked her tongue.

“It’s a plan. What about you, J? Can you meet us?” Alyssa asked.

“I wish I could. But not with Dorothy and Maddie. I can’t go.”

“Can’t Nora come by?”

“No. She won’t do extra nights. I’ve asked.” Jamie didn’t want her
friends to know about her difficult financial situation.

“Bummer,” Kat said.

“I know. Sorry.” She popped a grape into her mouth. “You know, Danielle,
I can relate a bit to your woes with the bastard buying off Cassie.”

“How so?”

“Maddie’s aunt and uncle dropped her off right before you all arrived and
of course, they’ve trumped me again.”

“What did they do?” Danielle asked.

“Horses. Susan has gotten back into horses and offered Maddie riding
lessons.”

They all stared at Jamie. She nodded. “Yep.”

“Without asking you?” Alyssa asked.

“Uh-huh.”

“Wait a minute. They live in the city. Where’s the horse?”

“Correction. They live in Marin County. My guess is that the horse is at
some pretty posh place. I can’t compete with that.”

“You can’t be driving her to riding lessons there. It’s too far and
what’s with not talking to you first?” Kat reached for the wine. “What is it
with all these people who think they have to buy a child’s love? Don’t they get
that it won’t last? It’s not for real? Yuck. That’s exactly how the Sperm Donor
works it too. It’s disgusting.”

Jamie sighed. “This thing with Maddie and them, it bugs me. It’s not like
Nate and David were super close. Sure we got together and hung out sometimes on
the holidays, birthdays, that sort of thing, but Nate had some issues about
David and his obsessive need for material things.”

“Isn’t that an attorney thing?” Kat asked. “I mean, aren’t they notorious
for always wanting more?”

Jamie frowned. “Not Nate. Sure we had nice things but my husband’s first
priority was his family. His law practice came second.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean Nate, it just slipped out.” Kat picked up her
wine glass.

“It’s fine. Nate and I always thought David married Susan for her money.
She isn’t exactly, I don’t know, down to earth. She is Ms. Upper Echelon of
society. Kind of affected, but I’m torn. I feel like David is a connection to
Nate for Maddie and she loves going with them.”

“What nine-year-old wouldn’t? If they treat her like a princess and spoil
the hell out of her, of course she wants to go with them.” Danielle shook her
head.

“I know that. I get that. What I do about it without being the bad guy is
another thing. Maybe I’m paranoid. I just can’t help but feel as if they’re
coveting my child. It’s like they want her for their own. Does that sound, I
don’t know—do you think I’m freaking out?”

Kat crossed her arms. “No. It sounds like a mother who loves her child.
I’m sorry but they sound like assholes. They don’t have kids, right?” Jamie
shook her head. “Okay, that’s their issue not yours. I agree it’s not fun to be
the bad guy, but c’mon, pony up. No pun intended, but seriously, that’s what
being a parent is all about. I say you have to put your foot down, or they’re
going to create a little monster and when they’re finished with her, you’ll
have to deal with it.”

“Kat’s right. They can’t have her all the time. She’s yours. It’s that
simple and I have a solution.” Danielle smiled smugly. “Tyler Meeks.”

“Who? What?” Jamie shoved the plate of cheese and crackers to the side.

“Tyler and his two sisters run the Napa Valley Riding Center. Place is
five minutes from here. You pass it all the time.”

Jamie nodded.

“I hear he is an awesome teacher. His oldest sister gave my girls lessons
when they were little and he was a teen at the time. I recently read in the
paper that he now runs horsemanship for the handicapped program and he’s also
giving lessons to kids. He is
really
nice to look at, too. At least he
was at seventeen. I can only imagine him ten years later.” She wiggled her
eyebrows.

“Danielle!” Jamie threw a grape at her.

“What? You don’t notice hot guys? Come on. Even the young ones are fun to
look at, and now he’s legal. Hmm, maybe I’ll go take some riding lessons from
him myself.”

“You are so bad,” Kat said.

“Yeah and you’re not?” Danielle smiled. “And don’t you look at me like
that.” She pointed at Alyssa. “I got a feeling you got more diva in you than
you let on. You all act like a bunch of old women. Get with the program. Good
wine, hot guys, and sex. That’s what I want to talk about, because God knows
I’m not having any.” She glanced at all of them. “Oh. No one else is either?
Old women. Goddamn. We need to get crazy. That’s what we all need. And you Kat,
you’re the married one, I suspect you’re at least having sex. And your husband
with that Irish lilt? The dirty talk must sound so melodic.”

   Kat picked up
another handful of grapes and pelted Danielle with them. Jamie and Alyssa
followed suit.

“Now that’s better!” Danielle said, laughing. “It’s not sex, but at least
it’s fun.” Before long they were all in a fit of laughter, tossing grapes and
acting like schoolgirls. Pure escape and total fun. And that was Sunday happy
hour.

Danielle took out the bottle of wine, now aged for a little over two
years. This could be it.
The one.
The winner
. Her first bottle of
Déesse
.
Goddess
wine. The grapes started out as Bastillia grapes
and, if Al had honored his marriage vows a few years ago, they likely would
have gone into a Bastillia wine. Doubtful though that the Bastillia wine would
have been
this
wine, because
this
wine had been hand crafted in
artisan fashion by Danielle herself.