The Villa

night?"
    "Tomorrow?"
    "Dinner." Margaret kept her voice casual. "There's a lot regarding the Italian operation I'd like to discuss with you. I'm hoping you can educate me a bit, pump up my weak areas. There are some aspects I'm cloudy on, and I think talking to an expert vintner who has English as his primary language would really help."
    "Sure." He was much more interested in Maddy's wine at the moment, and moved behind the bar to get a glass.
    "Seven? I've got a lovely Merlot I brought back with me."
    "Great." The liquid Ty poured into the glass would never be a lovely anything.
    "See you then. Nice to have met you, Maddy."
    "Okay." She gave a quick snort when Margaret went out. "You're such a dork."
    "Excuse me?"
    "She was hitting on you and you're, like, oblivious."
    "She wasn't hitting on me and you're not supposed to talk that way."
    "Was too." Maddy slid onto a stool at the bar. "Women know these things."
    "Maybe, but you don't qualify as a woman."
    "I've had my period."
    He'd started to drink, had to set the glass back down as he winced. "Please."
    "It's a biological function. And when a female is physically able to conceive, she is, physically, a woman."
    "Fine. Great." It wasn't a debate he wanted to enter into. "Shut up." He let the wine, such as it was, lie on his tongue. It was unsophisticated to say the least, highly acidic and oversweet thanks to the sugar she must have added.
    Still, she'd succeeded in making wine in a kitchen bowl. Bad wine, but that wasn't the point.
    "Did you drink any of this?"
    "Maybe." She set the second jar on the counter. "Here's the miracle wine. No additives. I read about how sometimes they add ox blood for color and body. I didn't know where to get any. Besides, it sounds disgusting."
    "We don't approve of that kind of practice. A little calcium carbonate would deacidify it some, but we'll just let it stand on its own. Altogether, it's not a complete failure as a jug wine. You pulled it off, kid. Nice going."
    A brave man, he poured a swallow of the miracle wine, examined, nosed, sipped. "Interesting. Cloudy, immature and biting, but it's wine."
    "Will you read my report and check my charts when I'm done?"
    "Sure."
    "Good." She fluttered her lashes. "I'll fix you dinner."
    God, she tickled him. "Smart-ass."
    "At last," David said as he came in. "Someone who agrees with me." He walked over, hooked an arm around his daughter's neck. "Five minutes, remember?"
    "We got distracted. Ty said I could come to the tasting."
    "Maddy—"
    "Please. He's going to put my wine in."
    David glanced over. "You're a brave man, MacMillan."
    "You never spent an evening chugging any Run, Walk and Fall Down?"
    With a grin, David covered Maddy's ears. "Once or twice, and fortunately I lived to regret it. Your wine club might object to the addition."
    "Yeah." The thought of that tickled Ty, too. "It'll broaden their outlook."
    "Or poison them."
    "Please, Dad. It's for science."
    "That's what you said about the rotten eggs you kept in your bedroom. We didn't really leave New York for professional reasons," he said to Ty. "The new tenants are probably still fumigating. Okay, but you turn into a pumpkin at ten. Let's go. Theo's in the van. He's driving us back."
    "We'll all die," Maddy said solemnly.
    "Scram. I'll be right out."
    He plucked her off the stool, gave her a light whack on the butt to send her along.
    "I just wanted to say I appreciate your letting her hang around."
    "She doesn't get in the way."
    "Sure she does."
    Tyler set the glasses in the sink under the bar. "Okay, she does. But I don't mind."
    "If I thought you did, I'd've herded her off. I also realize you're more comfortable with her than you are with me. I get in your way, and you do mind."
    "I don't need a supervisor."
    "No, you don't. But the company needed, and needs, fresh blood. An outsider. Someone who can look at the big picture from all angles and suggest a different way when it's viable."
    "You got suggestions for me, Cutter?"
    "The first might be taking the chip from your shoulder and the stick from your ass, then we can build a campfire with them and have a couple of beers."
    Tyler said nothing for a moment as he tried to judge if he was amused or annoyed. "Add yours and we could have a hell of a blaze."
    "There's an idea. I'll bring Maddy back around later. I'll come back at ten to pick her up."
    "I can drop her home, save you a trip."
    "Appreciate it." David headed toward the door, paused. "Listen, would you let me