Where are we going, Mom?” Maddy asked. “I’m starving.” She was starting to get a little annoyed. It was already nine thirty, and for the last ten minutes, she, Brian, and her parents had been weaving their way through the grapevines, up and down different rows, as if they were hunting something. Maddy’s full skirt brushed her ankles as she walked. The full moon cast a ghostly white light over the field, and an abundance of stars were flung across the inky black sky.
Was this some sort of pre-dinner scavenger hunt her parents had cooked up? She could hear Brian’s footsteps behind her. Up ahead, the adults reached the end of a row and turned right, disappearing.
“Oh, here you are! We were lost. I forgot where you…” The rest of her mother’s words were lost in an indistinct mumble.
What the hell was going on? Maddy walked faster and finally broke into a trot. She turned down the row her parents were in and skidded to a halt so fast that Brian, close behind her, almost sent her sprawling into the dirt.
There, in the middle of the grapevines, was the most beautiful feast she had ever seen, spread on a simple white cloth. Bunches of lavender, grasses, and daisies stood in big pottery pitchers down the center of the long table. Candles in clear glass holders were scattered between the flowers, spreading a warm yellow glow over everything.
Vineyard tomatoes and thick white slices of fresh mozzarella with basil stood at one end. A bowl heaped with arugula, endive, and radicchio was liberally sprinkled with—Maddy laughed—blue cheese crumbles. Crowded near the salad was a platter of cold salmon with dill, drizzled with a silky cream sauce. A gorgeous chocolate torte stood next to a white bowl of glowing raspberry sauce. David stood next to Fred, leaning his palms on the end of the table. Maddy’s eyes met his, and he grinned. “The torte is coffee-chocolate,” he said.
“Wow!” Maddy exclaimed. “This is so gorgeous! Look at all of this!” Everyone was grinning. “Whose idea was this?” She looked questioningly at her mother. Mom was smiling and shaking her head.
“It wasn’t me, honey.”
Maddy looked around. “It wasn’t you?” David’s grin broadened as he saw the realization dawn on her face. Maddy looked at him, amazed. “You? I can’t believe you’d—” She caught herself and quickly tore her eyes away from his.
He looked down and brushed an invisible crumb from the table. “It’s nothing—just some stuff I put together this afternoon.” His voice was low, but the pleasure in it was unmistakable.
“Arrmmhh.” Brian cleared his throat.
“Oh, I’m sorry. David, this is Brian, my…boyfriend.” She wondered if the tiny pause had been apparent to anyone else. The two boys eyed each other—one very tall and lean, clean-shaven, with curly light brown hair, the other dark-haired and blue-eyed, a three-day scruff on his chin.
David jerked his head once. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Brian stuck his hands in his pockets. David reached out and plucked a piece of yarn off Maddy’s shoulder. He held it out. “This fell off your crown,” he said solemnly.
“Oh! Thanks.” She took the yarn. “It sheds sometimes.”
“I noticed,” he replied with a funny look on his face.
“Well, okay!” Maddy’s father said heartily, looking from Brian’s furrowed brow to David’s bland expression with the air of a hockey referee trying to head off a brawl on the ice. “Let’s eat.”
The food was incredible. Maddy couldn’t stop eating. Her mom insisted David tell her the recipe for the cream sauce, and he laughed and shook his head, saying that Mondavi chefs would hunt him down if he let that gem get out. Maddy looked around the table at everyone’s faces, illuminated by the soft candlelight, the wind blowing up the rows and occasionally lifting one end of the tablecloth. This had to be one of her best birthdays yet.
“Well, honey, this is the first birthday here at the vineyard,” Maddy’s father said, glancing around the table and smiling.
“Stop, Dad, I can hear the violins starting,” Maddy teased.
Suddenly, there was a thud next to her. Maddy looked over to find Brian lying on the ground, flat on his back, lying on top of the wooden chair he had been sitting on. A chair leg was lying in the dirt a few feet away.
“Oh my God, Brian. Are you okay?” She leaned down.
“What happened?” Maddy’s mother asked with concern. Everyone was craning to look over at Brian, who had picked himself up and was now brushing the clingy dust from his blue shirt, his face red.
“I was just sitting there and the chair bottom busted through.” He picked up the chair. The woven rush seat had a giant ragged hole in it. “And a leg snapped off.” He sounded like he was mad but trying not to show it.
Maddy’s eyes widened, and involuntarily, she locked eyes with David across the table. She could tell he was thinking the same thing she was—the only difference was, he looked like he was about to start laughing hysterically. Brian caught the look and his eyes narrowed. “What’s going on?” he asked slowly.
Maddy glared at David, whose face had started to turn purple from holding in his laughter. “Nothing, I’m sorry. It’s just, one of the chairs in the shed was a casualty of a minor paint fight we might have had. We put it aside to take it up to the repair shed, but—”
“Dad must have gotten it when we were getting chairs for dinner, not realizing it was broken,” David finished. Fred nodded, looking a little sheepish.
“I grabbed one that was sitting right by the door,” he said.
“Oh, well, let’s just get that bucket over there,” Maddy’s mom jumped in. “We can turn it upside down and—”
“I’ll sit on it,” David interrupted. “Brian, take my seat.” Brian looked suspicious for a minute and then moved toward the foot of the table. David vacated his seat and settled down on the upturned metal bucket across from the birthday girl.
“Thanks.”
David shrugged. “Sure.”
Fred leaned over to Maddy’s mother. “Debbie, I wanted to tell you that I did some pricing on a new mower—they’re really exorbitant.”
“I completely forgot, Fred, I talked to a guy from the seed place and he has a mower he might be selling,” her father said.
David rolled his eyes at Maddy. “Business again?”
She smiled. “Why are they so boring?”
Then, with an innocent air, David said, “I wonder if that’s how we sounded at the furniture store?”
“David,” Maddy kicked him under the table. He widened his eyes and gave her a “Who, me?” look. Brian looked up from his fish.
“What happened at the furniture store?” he asked Maddy.
“Nothing,” she said.
“Something happened. Unless you’re into reminiscing about sofa-shopping now,” Brian insisted.
Maddy sighed and aimed another invisible kick at David’s shin. “It was just a funny misunderstanding, that’s all. We were picking out furniture for the tasting room, David and I, and the salesman called David my husband,” she explained, stifling a giggle. She looked over at Brian with an expectant smile, waiting for him to laugh at the absurdity of the situation, but his face was stony.
She hurried ahead. “So, we were just joking around and David said, ‘Oh, yeah, we hardly have any furniture,’ and the guy asked if we were newlyweds and I had to explain that I was keeping my maiden name and it was all just totally ridiculous.” David’s laughter erupted like he’d been holding his breath until now. His laugh was infectious and Maddy giggled also, remembering how earnest the salesman had been. She couldn’t help it. But Brian just sat there silently, his eyebrows knit together.
Suddenly, Maddy’s gaze locked onto David’s across the table. He smiled right into her eyes, his face open and engaging. Before Maddy could stop herself, she smiled right back at him, despite Brian sitting right next to her. Her heart started beating faster and her palms felt clammy. What was going on? Why was she having this kind of reaction? You know why, a little voice in her head piped up. You’ve known for a while now. Be quiet! she insisted. Oh, just face it, the voice went on. You want David. Oh. My. God. No! She glanced at Brian as if he could read her mind. But she didn’t need to worry—he wasn’t even looking at her. He was staring off into space, gazing over the tops of the vines.
Maddy stared down at her lap, trying to calm her racing thoughts. Her boyfriend was sitting two feet away. This is David, she reminded herself. David. Remember? Work buddy? Platonic friend? Don’t panic, she told herself. Stay calm. Brian is your boyfriend. Just focus on him and everything will be fine.