The Villa

He looked over as Maddy came in. "Hi, kid."
    "Hey. What're those?"
    "I think they're flowers. For you."
    Her eyebrows drew together in puzzlement. "Me?"
    "I have to go. I'll just say goodbye to David and Theo." Pilar kissed Maddy lightly, absently on the cheek, and made the girl's color come up. "See you later."
    "Yeah, okay. How come they're for me?" she asked Tyler.
    "Because I hear you did good." He held them out. "You want them or not?"
    "Yeah, I want them." She took them, noted the little flutter in her belly as she sniffed. A kind of muscle reflex, she supposed it was. A nice one. "Nobody ever gave me flowers before."
    "They will. I figured I'd get you something for your brain, too, but I haven't come up with it yet. Anyway, what did you do to your hair?"
    "I cut it. So?"
    "So… just asking." He waited while she got out a vase. The new do made her look like a brainy pixie, Ty thought. Boys, he realized with a little tug of regret, were going to come sniffing at the door. "You want to hang with me today? I've got to check for mildew, then see how the work's going over at the old distillery. Start on the weeding."
    "Yeah, that'd be good."
    "Tell your dad."
     
    When she was settled in the car beside Tyler, Maddy folded her hands on her lap. "I've got two things I want to ask you."
    "Sure. Shoot."
    "If I were, like, ten years older and had actual breasts, would you go for me?"
    "Jesus, Maddy."
    "I don't have a crush on you or anything. I sort of did when we first moved here, but I got over it. You're too old for me, and I'm not ready for a serious relationship, or sex."
    "Damn right you're not."
    "But when I am ready, I want to know if a guy would go for me. Theoretically."
    Tyler ran a hand over his face. "Theoretically, and leaving out the breasts because that's not what a guy looks for, if you were ten years older, I'd've already gone for you. Okay?"
    She smiled, slipped on her sunglasses. "Okay. But that's bull about breasts. Guys say how they look for personality and intelligence. Some of them say how they're leg men or whatever. But it's the breasts."
    "And you know this because?"
    "Because it's something we have you don't."
    He opened his mouth, shut it again. This wasn't a debate he could comfortably enter into with a teenage girl. "You said you had a couple of questions."
    "Yeah, well." She shifted in her seat to face him. "The other's an idea. Vino-therapy."
    "Vino-therapy?"
    "Yeah, I read about it. Grape seed-based skin creams and stuff. I was thinking we could start a line of products."
    "We could?"
    "I need to do more research, some experimenting. But this company's doing it in France. We could corner the American market. See, red wine contains antioxidants—polyphenols, and—"
    "Maddy, I know about polyphenols."
    "Okay, okay. But see the seeds—and you ditch them during wine production—they have antioxidants. And that's really good for the skin. Plus, I'm thinking we could do an herbal deal, internal, too. A whole health and beauty line."
    Health and beauty. What next? "Look, kid, I make wine, not skin cream."
    "But you could," she insisted. "If I could have the seeds when you harvest, and a place to experiment. You said you wanted to give me something for my brain. Give me this."
    "I was thinking more like a chemistry set," he mumbled. "Let me mull on it."
    He intended to let the mulling wait until after work, but Maddy had different ideas.
    Sophia was in the vineyard, watching the cutters weed with their wedge-shaped blades. Maddy headed straight for her and started before Sophia could speak.
    "I think we should move into vino-therapy like that French company."
    "Really?" Sophia pursed her lips, a sure sign she was carefully considering. "That's interesting because I've had that idea on a back burner for a while now. I've tried the facial mask. It's marvelous."
    "We're winemakers," Ty began.
    "And will always be," Sophia agreed. "But that doesn't preclude addressing other areas. There's an enormous market for natural beauty products. I've had to table the idea because we've had a difficult year and other things demanded my attention. But maybe this is a good time to consider. Expansion rather than damage control," she mused, and was already playing on the spin. "I'll need to accumulate more data, of course."
    "I can get it," Maddy said. "I'm good at research."
    "You're hired. Once research moves toward research and development, we'll need a guinea pig."
    As one, they turned to study