found it far more satisfying to get royally pissed off and
went after The Bastard with guns loaded and blazing. Three years ago, Danielle
exemplified a woman scorned, and her anger fueled her desire to make fine
wines. Now she planned to enter the Harvest Wine Festival in October. A gold
medal would put a smile on her face and show her ex exactly who she was— a
winemaker extraordinaire . Jamie knew that Danielle was headed for greatness
and had no qualms about putting the as-yet unknown winemaker in her article.
Danielle turned Jamie on to Kat. Kat and her husband Christian ran an
incredible restaurant in wine country, Christian’s. They also owned the popular
Sphinx in San Francisco. Christian’s genius with turning ordinary food into
delicacies, combined with Kat’s extensive knowledge of wine, made them the
perfect pair and Christian’s was a major success.
Jamie hadn’t been into Christian’s herself; money woes kept her within a
tight budget these days and when a little extra did turn up, she spent it on
her daughter Maddie or her mother-in-law Dorothy. After Nate’s death, Dorothy
declined rapidly and now suffered from, at best guess, dementia. Jamie was
determined to provide Dorothy with the best care she could.
Nate’s brother, David, insisted on putting her in a home, but Nate and
Jamie promised to take care of her as she aged. She knew that the last thing in
the world Dorothy wanted was to live out her last years in a retirement home.
Jamie called up Kat and, after some convincing, she’d finally agreed to
do the photo shoot and article. Danielle had mentioned that Kat worked an
extremely busy schedule with the restaurant only being open for a year, and
that she could also be a bit standoffish. However, after talking with her on
the phone for almost thirty minutes, Jamie found that she warmed right up and a
kinship developed quickly between the two.
Then there was Alyssa. It turned out to be just one of those things where
you meet someone and there is an instantaneous connection, almost as if you’ve
known each other from another life. Jamie met her while window-shopping in St.
Helena on a lazy Sunday afternoon with Maddie. They’d wandered into Alyssa’s
gallery. She immediately started talking to Maddie, and Jamie always a sucker
for anyone who was nice to her kid knew she could become friends with Alyssa.
The two women wound up talking about art and it hit Jamie that she would be the
perfect addition to the article.
Alyssa’s artwork captivated the connoisseur and average tourist, but she
was humble about her work and, in Jamie’s opinion, didn’t charge enough for it.
Alyssa was Miss America pretty, with mocha skin and delicate features. Her warm
brown eyes invited you in, but there was also a tinge of sadness in them,
something Jamie could certainly relate to. Alyssa turned out to be the hard one
to convince, but Jamie promised her that what she did with her vineyard
paintings for the community and for women in general was important and needed
to be featured in the article. Alyssa finally agreed. Granted, Jamie had done
most of her convincing over dinner and wine with the group, but that night also
cemented a friendship among the women.
At first the four of them would all meet sporadically for dinner, an
occasional movie, a card game. But then they thought, why not get together
regularly? The response and success of Jamie’s original article about these
women bumped up the magazine’s numbers with the female population. Women were
reading Wine Lover’s along with their usual women’s magazines. At
least they were in their part of the world. An idea came to Jamie and she
suggested that their get-togethers should be over wine, where they could talk
about the wines that they were drinking, and what they would pair them with.
The other three loved the idea—any excuse for friendship, food and wine sounded
good to them.
Their time spent with each other consisted of a bit of gossip,
went after The Bastard with guns loaded and blazing. Three years ago, Danielle
exemplified a woman scorned, and her anger fueled her desire to make fine
wines. Now she planned to enter the Harvest Wine Festival in October. A gold
medal would put a smile on her face and show her ex exactly who she was— a
winemaker extraordinaire . Jamie knew that Danielle was headed for greatness
and had no qualms about putting the as-yet unknown winemaker in her article.
Danielle turned Jamie on to Kat. Kat and her husband Christian ran an
incredible restaurant in wine country, Christian’s. They also owned the popular
Sphinx in San Francisco. Christian’s genius with turning ordinary food into
delicacies, combined with Kat’s extensive knowledge of wine, made them the
perfect pair and Christian’s was a major success.
Jamie hadn’t been into Christian’s herself; money woes kept her within a
tight budget these days and when a little extra did turn up, she spent it on
her daughter Maddie or her mother-in-law Dorothy. After Nate’s death, Dorothy
declined rapidly and now suffered from, at best guess, dementia. Jamie was
determined to provide Dorothy with the best care she could.
Nate’s brother, David, insisted on putting her in a home, but Nate and
Jamie promised to take care of her as she aged. She knew that the last thing in
the world Dorothy wanted was to live out her last years in a retirement home.
Jamie called up Kat and, after some convincing, she’d finally agreed to
do the photo shoot and article. Danielle had mentioned that Kat worked an
extremely busy schedule with the restaurant only being open for a year, and
that she could also be a bit standoffish. However, after talking with her on
the phone for almost thirty minutes, Jamie found that she warmed right up and a
kinship developed quickly between the two.
Then there was Alyssa. It turned out to be just one of those things where
you meet someone and there is an instantaneous connection, almost as if you’ve
known each other from another life. Jamie met her while window-shopping in St.
Helena on a lazy Sunday afternoon with Maddie. They’d wandered into Alyssa’s
gallery. She immediately started talking to Maddie, and Jamie always a sucker
for anyone who was nice to her kid knew she could become friends with Alyssa.
The two women wound up talking about art and it hit Jamie that she would be the
perfect addition to the article.
Alyssa’s artwork captivated the connoisseur and average tourist, but she
was humble about her work and, in Jamie’s opinion, didn’t charge enough for it.
Alyssa was Miss America pretty, with mocha skin and delicate features. Her warm
brown eyes invited you in, but there was also a tinge of sadness in them,
something Jamie could certainly relate to. Alyssa turned out to be the hard one
to convince, but Jamie promised her that what she did with her vineyard
paintings for the community and for women in general was important and needed
to be featured in the article. Alyssa finally agreed. Granted, Jamie had done
most of her convincing over dinner and wine with the group, but that night also
cemented a friendship among the women.
At first the four of them would all meet sporadically for dinner, an
occasional movie, a card game. But then they thought, why not get together
regularly? The response and success of Jamie’s original article about these
women bumped up the magazine’s numbers with the female population. Women were
reading Wine Lover’s along with their usual women’s magazines. At
least they were in their part of the world. An idea came to Jamie and she
suggested that their get-togethers should be over wine, where they could talk
about the wines that they were drinking, and what they would pair them with.
The other three loved the idea—any excuse for friendship, food and wine sounded
good to them.
Their time spent with each other consisted of a bit of gossip,
Similar Books
