“There’s this sparkle in your eye. That’s all,” Kat replied.
“He was my first.”
“Your first?” Jamie asked.
“Yes. You know. Sex.”
“Oh. Oh. Interesting.” Jamie heaped another pile of pasta onto her plate.
“This is more than interesting. This is juicy. Do tell. Is he good-looking?” Alyssa asked.
Danielle smiled and closed her eyes for a second. “Yes, he’s attractive.” She nodded. “Very. He is really handsome.”
“You got the butterflies, didn’t you?” Kat asked.
Danielle bit her lip and nodded. “I did. I do right now talking about him.”
Jamie clapped her hands, Kat laughed, and Alyssa pointed at her and said, “You go girl.”
“It’s kind of strange.” Danielle twirled her pasta around with her fork.
“No, it’s good,” Kat said. “Really, really good for you.”
“Speaking of good-looking men, you’re taking Maddie to riding lessons, aren’t you?” Danielle looked at Jamie.
She nodded.
“Well?” Danielle motioned her to continue. “Have you met Tyler?”
She nodded again.
“Look at her.” Kat pointed at her. “Cat got your tongue?”
“Yes, he is a nice-looking young man.”
“That’s all she’s going to give us? ‘Yes he’s nice-looking. Notice I left out the ‘young’ word. Jamie, you aren’t no grandma,” Alyssa said.
“Hey,” Danielle piped in. “Ouch. Nana-to-be here.”
“Yeah well, you don’t count. You’re like the freak of nature who found the fountain of youth,” Kat commented.
“Whatever. You don’t have to tiptoe around it,” Danielle replied. “Back to Jamie and the cowboy. I think there is more to it than our blonde bombshell does tell. Dish, Blondie.”
Jamie giggled.
“She’s giggling,” Alyssa said. “Oh my God. She’s giggling.”
“I rode his horse.”
“What? You rode his horse? Is that a euphemism for something?” Danielle teased.
“Not even. He talked me into riding his horse while Maddie had a lesson and I had fun. I liked it. And I volunteered for the Horsemanship for Handicapped program that he runs on Saturdays. Then I rode his horse again. He’s giving me riding lessons once a week.”
“Do I smell romance in the air?” Danielle asked. “A little passion? A little heat? Some lust.” She rubbed her hands together.
“No. Please. I rode his horse. Twice. That was it. That’s all there is to it.”
“Maybe ride him,” Kat said.
“Kat!” They all looked at her.
Jamie frowned. “You are all so impossible. Ride him. Jeez.” She shook her head and swallowed the rest of her wine, and then she couldn’t help herself but started giggling again.
“You should think about it, at least. I mean if just thinking about doing it with him, and we know you are thinking about doing it with him, makes you giggle like a girl, hmmm…what it might be like. You know you’re thinking about it.” Kat sliced into the peach pie she’d baked that morning. “Dessert? Coffee? Think about it, J. You deserve some fun.”
“Leave me alone and give me some of that pie,” Jamie replied.
They all opted for the pie and some decaf. Picking up their plates they followed Kat into the kitchen. “I think we’re quite a crew. Look at us. I’m getting another child, Danielle is dating her daughter’s OB-GYN—”
“Hey, I am not. I explained already.”
“Uh-huh, and he was the one who got you naked at sixteen. Very tantalizing and now Jamie is riding horses and lusting after the cowboy.”
“Kat.” Jamie rolled her eyes and rinsed her plate.
“Sorry. I’ll stop.” She smiled wickedly. “For now. What about you, Alyssa? And don’t tell us there’s nothing to report. I know you have a life. We’re your friends. Spill the beans. Give us the goods. Tell all time. You must have a secret lover or you robbed a bank. Something.”
“I do have something.” Everyone looked thoughtfully at her, all stopping whatever they were busily doing in the kitchen. She sighed and didn’t believe she’d said it until she saw the looks on her friends’ faces. “I have a child. A son. He’s eighteen. His name is Ian.”
***
WINE LOVER’S MAGAZINE
When Life gets Crazy….
By
Jamie Evans
Life is like a roller coaster. There are ups and downs and twists and turns. Things come at us from every corner, every direction. Just when you begin to think that life is predictable, you can be thrown a curve ball and things get crazy.
It seems in the past month, our Happy Hour discussions have tended to be about life’s never-ending rollercoaster ride. When the ride dips low and then chugs up hill, it’s not easy. It’s saying, “No,” when you want to say, “Yes,” or saying “Yes,” when maybe you should say, “No.” If you’re a woman reading this, then I’m sure you can relate. It would be nice if the coaster had one long stretch of straight ahead and at an easy pace.
Alyssa, Kat, Danielle, and I are on that coaster that does loopdy loops, dealing with family issues, from aging parents to surly teenagers, blended families and the possibilities of new families. Not to mention that romantic possibilities for at least one of us looks to be on the horizon—a certain winemaker has run into a love from the past. Who knows? Maybe there’s a future there…
One thing that I know for certain is that when life gets crazy, the best way I can think of to handle it all is by getting together with friends, sharing a bottle of Syrah, and piling high a plate of pasta with goat cheese, spinach and pancetta in a light cream sauce. It’s like stepping off the uncontrollable ride for a few hours and taking a deep breath.
Check out the pasta recipe straight from Kat’s kitchen in this month’s issue.
Cheers!
Jamie Evans
Editor-in-chief
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Alyssa
June
Alyssa steadied her hands by taking hold of the water glass in front of her. She’d arrived at the restaurant twenty minutes early. She’d gotten ready two hours early. Did she have too much makeup on? Was her dress conservative enough? Motherly? It was at least ninety degrees outside. She’d finally decided on a light teal summer dress with a scoop neck.
The restaurant she’d chosen, Hurley’s in Yountville, was neither fancy nor underrated. It was simple, elegant, and served excellent food.
When she’d told her friends about her son, she’d felt such relief.
After reading the letter, she phoned the number listed in it. When she heard the young man’s voice for the first time—her son’s—she’d instantly been awash with regret. After agreeing to meet with Ian this week, she’d gotten off the phone and closed the shop. For the rest of the day she didn’t answer the phone, afraid of who might be on the other end this time, and she worked late into the night on the painting—Protected. She had so many questions for Ian and one of them was, had he felt protected growing up? But how could she ask him that, and if he gave her an answer other than yes, how would she react to that?
Alyssa recognized him the moment he walked through the door. She gasped. He was built like her father—tall and lean—even a bit too thin. His eyes were a deep hazel color like her own, his skin darker than hers. She felt a confusing mix of excitement, relief, and joy that were combined with fear, sadness, and regret. She grabbed onto her chair to steady herself.
He walked directly over to her. “Alyssa?” His voice was deep and his handshake firm.
“Ian?”
He nodded and smiled. “Hi.”
“Hi.” There weren’t hugs and tears, but a soft hello and smile were a good start as far as she was concerned.
“How was your flight and drive? Did you have any problems?” she asked, knowing he’d driven a rental car out to the wine country. She’d suggested picking him up, a
nd had wanted to, but Ian hesitated. Alyssa decided that since this was their first meeting together, she would allow him to call all the shots.
“Good. The car is nice. It’s a hybrid Camry with a GPS system. My dad wanted to make sure I didn’t get lost. I’ve had my license over a year now, but he was carrying on at me before I left about not driving over the speed limit, and you know, come to a complete stop at the stop signs. All that.” He laughed again—a nice hardy laugh. “And he wanted to come with me. I begged him to let me go by myself. I can’t believe he actually did. It took some convincing. Flight was good. Easy, fast.”
Alyssa immediately liked this kid. The mention of his dad though, put an even deeper hole in her center. “That’s what dads do, you know. They have to watch out for you.”
“Yeah, and my dad worries a lot about me.”
The waitress came by and asked if they’d like something to drink. Ian ordered an iced tea and so did Alyssa. She watched as he sweetened it with two sugars, exactly how she took her own tea. “How long have you been looking for me?” she asked.
“Not long. My dad actually found you some time ago, I guess. He thought maybe I’d want to meet you someday. My parents always told me I was adopted. Actually I come from a really big family. There are seven of us and five of us are adopted. You could say we’re the original Brangelina family. Except none of us look like Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt.” He laughed again.
Alyssa liked the fact that the kid had a sense of humor. “That must be kind of neat. A big family.” It made Alyssa happy to know that he’d been raised in a large family. She had a half brother from her dad’s first marriage, but they’d never been close and he was about twelve years older than she was, so she never spent much time with him growing up. He lived in Michigan now and they saw each other on occasional family gatherings. He’d never known about her pregnancy. Actually none of her family had. Her mom and dad were in Tuscany that year with her grandparents while she was at college. They’d never understood why she’d switched schools the following year, but she’d convinced them it was because she thought she could do better at NYU and wanted to go into journalism. “How do you like it, being in such a large family?”
He smiled again, warm and goofy and youthful. “You know, it’s got some good things about it and some not so good. We don’t have a mansion, so we fight a lot over bathrooms and food and you name it, but there is a lot of love. After my mom died, it was good that we all had each other.”
Alyssa nearly choked on her tea. “Your mother passed away?”
His eyes watered and it was obvious he was fighting the emotion. “Almost four years ago. Drunk driver.”
“That’s awful. I’m so sorry, Ian.” Alyssa brought her hand up to her mouth.
“Thank you. It was awful, but Mom was a very special lady and, even though we miss her, she’d be really mad at us if we sat around sulking about her.”
The revelation that Ian’s mother had been killed placed even more guilt on Alyssa. In some round about way she felt responsible for the pain that he had suffered when he’d lost his mother.
The waitress came by again and asked them if they were ready to order. Neither had even opened the menu. They briefly scanned it and both opted for the Kobe beef cheeseburgers. When the waitress left, Alyssa asked, “And how does your dad feel about you meeting me?”
He twirled his straw in his glass, and took a minute before answering. “He wanted me to. He said that I needed to. I had to. Like I said, he had already located you through public records.”
She waited for him to elaborate, but when he didn’t, she replied. “Good. It sounds like you get a lot of support. That’s really good.” Ian came across as an honest, gentle kid. Alyssa couldn’t help but immediately like him and she couldn’t help wanting to take him in her arms when he’d told her about his mother’s death. She wanted to tell him that she wished she’d been there when he was one, two, three, twelve—all of it. But it was so very obvious to her that his parents had done a wonderful job raising him and at least one of Alyssa’s questions had been answered: she knew that her son had felt protected growing up. The heavy weight she’d carried around for all of that time finally began to ease. Even breathing felt lighter.
“I’m glad you decided to find me.” The waitress placed their burgers in front of them. “Well, you came all of this way. I am sure you have a lot of questions for me.”
He set down his burger. “I do, but I’m not even sure what they are right now. I mean, I had some in my head while getting here and then you know, now I meet you, and it’s kind of changed, and I’m not sure what to ask.”
“What changed? I’m not sure that I understand.”
He took a drink from his tea and cocked his head to the side, with his palm resting on his chin. “This is gonna sound weird but, even though I wanted to meet you, I also really wanted to not like you.” He sighed. “I’m sorry if I’m blunt, but my mom always told me to be honest. She kind of put the fear of God in all of us. And now I kinda feel like she’s always watching me, keeping me straight.” He laughed.
“As they say, honesty is the best policy.”
“I don’t know if you can understand, but I thought if I met you and didn’t like you, then it would be this huge validation for my parents, especially my mom. I don’t how to describe this and the only thing I can think of, which isn’t right at all, is that it’s almost like cheating. By meeting you and liking you and finding out that you’re not some horrible lady, I feel like I’m cheating on my mom.” He cast his eyes away from her.
“That makes a lot of sense. But I don’t think liking me invalidates who your parents are to you and what your mom means to you. She sounds like a wonderful woman. Like she was an amazing mother.”
“She was awesome.” He lit up and for some time told her all about his mom. Louise Thomas did sound like a great woman, and Alyssa wished she’d had the privilege of knowing the lady who’d helped raise Ian.
Over the next several hours, Alyssa and Ian got to know each other a bit better. Alyssa took him to her studio. They drove over to Sonoma Square about thirty minutes away and had coffee and dessert. She learned about his four brothers and three sisters, who were all from various backgrounds and two of them were even from different countries. One brother was from Mexico and one sister from Indonesia. They truly did sound like the original Brangelina clan. He told her about his first year of college at UCLA and his interest in majoring in film. He also told her about some of his friends, some girlfriends, sports he enjoyed. All in all, Ian had a pretty normal life and Alyssa was thankful.
He also never once asked her about his biological father and what had happened. He told her that his parents had said that she’d given him up for adoption because she’d been too young and not financially equipped to raise him. Alyssa agreed that was true. This was what she’d told the adoption agency and she’d chosen not to meet Ian’s adoptive parents.
Ian followed Alyssa back to her house that evening, where she made her best fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and a fruit salad for him. He ate every bite and the hole in Alyssa’s heart began to sew itself up. “You’re staying at a hotel?” Alyssa asked.
“Yes. The Best Western. My dad made the reservation. I have to call him as soon as I get there.”
“Why don’t you stay here with me? I have room.”
He nodded. “Maybe I could. I should call my dad and see what he thinks.”
Alyssa wanted to remind him that he was almost nineteen and he didn’t need his father’s permission. Throughout the day, Ian had brought up his dad quite a bit, and Alyssa was feeling uneasy about Ian’s adoptive father and wondered if he might be more overbearing than protective. Worries resonated in the back of her mind, and she tried to ease them by reminding herself that Ian had grown up happy and healthy and that Ian’s father’s reactions to meeting her was normal. “Sure. I’ll rinse the dishes and I have some Häagen-Dazs Chunky Monkey.”
“Yeah! My favorite.
You know that Beastie Boys song?”
“’Brass Monkey’?” Alyssa said.
Then in unison they sang, “That chunky monkey.” Ian pointed at Alyssa, who cracked up.
“You like the Beasties? Cool. Know what my favorite movie is?”
“What?” she asked.
“You’ll never guess, cause it’s so random.”
“Try me,” she replied.
Ian turned around, his back to her and then flipped back toward her, chin ducked, lips puckered and eyes at half mast. She slapped her knees. “Uh-uh. No way! Zoolander!”
“You’re good.”
“What’s not to love about Ben Stiller?”
“Seriously,” he replied. “Besides Jack Black, he’s probably the funniest white guy around.”
“I think I would agree with you. Now, go call your dad and I’ll get the dishes. Afterwards, I’ll see if you can guess my favorites.”
“Deal,” Ian replied.
While in the kitchen rinsing the dishes, Alyssa could hear Ian’s voice drop as he spoke to his father. She didn’t want to eavesdrop, but sensed that something wasn’t quite right. She leaned against the wall closest to her small den where he’d gone in to make the call. “No Dad, I haven’t told her yet. No. You don’t need to fly up here. I can do this. No. She’s super nice. Yes. I like her. She’s a good lady.”
Alyssa sighed. What was it he needed to tell her? What was Ian’s dad so concerned about?
“Okay. I will. Yes. Okay, Dad. I know. I know you’re worried. I feel fine. I really do. I’m good. I’m a little tired. Yes, I’ll call you back. I love you, too.”
Alyssa hustled back into the kitchen.
Ian came in a minute later. “My dad says that if it’s okay with you, then I can stay.”
“Good it’s a done deal. Here’s your ice cream. Want some hot fudge on it? I already put it in the microwave.”
“Sure.”
She got the fudge out of the oven and poured some on their ice cream. They took their dessert and sat down on the couch in front of the TV. “Your family is good?”
“Yes.” He’d grown quiet. “Alyssa, I have to tell you something.”
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