Page 1 of The Cask

Prologue

“You didn’t hear me, did you?” Lauren asked as she stood frozen in my doorway.

I glanced at her in the mirror as I reapplied my lipstick. “I did.”

“I’m sorry you heard me yelling. I didn’t mean to disrespect your house…especially today,” my oldest granddaughter apologized walking into my bedroom. She sat on the edge of my bed and watched me as I blotted the red color against my napkin. “What is wrong with me? I’m twenty-five years old and I’m sneaking into your sewing room, cussing my boyfriend out and crying hysterically like I’m some high schooler. I’m sorry, Grandma. I shouldn’t have brought this drama to your house.”

I turned around and looked at her in the sequined cocktail dress. She reminded me of myself at that age. From her temper to her style, she was the reincarnation of my youth.

I lightly cleared my throat. “It didn’t sound good,” I acknowledged, walking over and taking a seat next to her.

“It wasn’t.” She shook her head. “I just wanted Mike to feel as badly as he made me feel. So, I started flirting with his best friend, Bobby. I started talking to him more, hanging with him when he’d come over, inviting him to parties. I would send sexy messages and give him suggestive looks. I wasn’t planning on sleeping with him or anything. Bobby is a flirt anyway, so I didn’t think he’d take me seriously. I just wanted Mike to be jealous. And now…” She dropped her head into her hands. “I can’t believe the things you heard me say.”

“Don’t worry about that,” I told her, patting her back softly. “And don’t cry.”

“I’m not going to cry.” She sat up and sighed. “I just…”—she made a face— “I don’t want this to change your opinion of me.”

“It doesn’t change my opinion of you,” I assured her.

She leaped to her feet. “How could it not? You heard what I did. You heard what I said!” She covered her face. “You always say I’m so much like you. I’m sure you’re distancing yourself from that statement right about now.”

“Lauren, sit down.”

“I’m serious!” She plopped down next to me with a contrite look on her face. “I’ve always prided myself on being like you, but what I did was wrong on so many levels.”

A smile played on my lips. “You’re still my Lauren.”

“I lied, cheated, and manipulated my boyfriend and his friend. I ruined their friendship. I ruined my own relationship. That makes me a horrible person.”

I was quiet for a moment. “You can do a horrible thing and not be a horrible person.”

She took a shaky breath. “Grandma, I saw that he was texting his ex-girlfriend and instead of confronting him about it, I spent the last two months slowly getting him back. I’m a monster. I should’ve handled it better. I should’ve handled it like you would’ve handled it. I should’ve called him out like you always do.”

“I didn’t always handle things the way I should’ve,” I told her. “Communication, great communication, takes practice. I wasn’t always so good at it.”

“Well, I bet you didn’t slowly try to sabotage someone. I hatched a revenge plot like some movie villain.” She frowned. “I’m a villain. I’m a villain and I’m keeping you away from your own party.”

“They’ll be fine for a few more minutes.” Clasping my hands in my lap, I gave my granddaughter a thoughtful look. “Let me tell you a story about a villain.”

Chapter One

“Look at this shit,” I grumbled as I stood at the window of my stylish bistro and wine bar. I folded my arms over my chest. I didn’t take kindly to someone trying to steal my shine.

There was a sports bar at the end of my block and a lounge across from them, so the fact that another bar/lounge was opening wasn’t the problem. But watching the scene unfold before me made it clear that Luxe was the problem.

You have got to be kidding me,I thought as my blood began to boil.

It wasn’t just because the signage never indicated what type of establishment it was going to be. It wasn’t because they caused a power outage that caused me to lose a night of business. And it wasn’t even because their construction trucks made parking difficult for all of us on the block all summer. But collectively, all of that together made Luxe feel more like an intrusion to the neighborhood rather than an addition.

I glanced over my shoulder at my manager who was just finishing organizing the featured wines of the weekend. Keeping my tone measured, I asked, “Did you see this?”

“Luxe?” she guessed, as she wrote something down and then joined me at the window. “Of all the places in Richmond, why would they set up across the street from us?”

“This whole time I thought they were turning that vacancy into an office space.”

“Or a spa. Luxe sounds like the name of a spa, right?”

I nodded, staring at the sandwich board sign being set up at the door directly across the street. I watched as the well-dressed man admired his work. “Have you ever seen him before?”

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