Page 142 of Before We Say Goodbye
“One minute, please.”
At the bar, he grabbed a bottle of brandy, then set it all down on the table.
“Don’t you dare,” his lovely, patient, and charming wife warned.
Brooks and Michael stared at him in bewilderment.
Otis poured a proper amount of brandy over the ice, then took the one-hundred-point wine and turned it upside down, dumping it over his mixture. After a good stir, he poured a serving into an empty glass. “You see that. It’s perfect sangria wine. We don’t even need sugar!”
He looked up at Bec, Mike, and Brooks. “I give this one hundred and seven points.”
“You’re really five years old still.”
“Always will be, my dear. Now let’s get back to the 2009, our magnum opus. Or should I say, magnum Otis.”
The eye rolls weren’t enough to dent his pride.
After Brooks and Mike had left, Rebecca and Otis were finishing up the dishes when Otis pulled her toward him. “I’m happy, Bec.”
“I can see that. You finally got your vintage, didn’t you?”
“I guess so.” He kissed her softly, touched her stomach with his finger. “I’m craving you right now.”
“It’s always that way when you like your wine,” she whispered.
“Let’s not beat Otis up tonight. I’m on top of the world.”
“Oh, are you? Then I wouldn’t dare do anything to knock you down.”
She kissedhimthis time. “Can we take this to the bedroom, or are we doing it in the kitchen again?”
“I’ll take it wherever you want it.”
The sky dumped snow the next day. Otis and Brooks were racking wines. It was about two when they broke for lunch. Otis glanced at his phone and saw that Rebecca had texted.
The lean-to fell onto one of the sheep, bad break, bone popping out. Michael and I are driving him to the vet.
Otis dialed her back.
No answer.
He called again.
No answer.
He texted:Please don’t drive. Let me handle it.
He tried several more times, then raced down to the house. They’d already left. He saw the tire marks in the snow, and a lump formed in his throat.
It wasn’t safe out there. He fished his phone out of his pocket and tried her one more time.
Chapter 31 (Interlude)
After We Said Goodbye
Red Mountain, Washington State
April 2011
