SWEET SATURDAY SAMPLE: BREAD, WINE, & THOU -- JUNE 8

Welcome to Sweet Saturday Samples, where we share the goodies we’ve created, and sample goodies from the others in the group.

Martha and Maeve continue their Wine Country adventures with this excerpt:

 

A few hours later, we ambled slowly around the circumference of the resort.  The “walking trails” had been described in the earlier meetings, and they were even drawn on the maps we were given.  The trails wended their way alongside a creek at one point.

 
I was still waiting for Maeve to divulge her new idea, but she looked mysteriously mum.

 
Finally I couldn’t stand it anymore.  “Come on, Maeve,” I begged.  “Tell me what we’re doing….are we really just walking around for no reason at all?”

 
She just flashed her Cheshire cat grin and shook her head.  But before I could pursue this line of questioning, I saw them…Up ahead, just standing there near an outdoor table.  When they turned toward us, they wore big smiles on their faces.

 
“Hey, ladies,” Greg greeted us, his smile magnetically drawing us toward him.

 
Jason held a large picnic basket, which he placed emphatically on the table.  “Shall we begin?”

 

 

But without waiting, he started unpacking it, showing a bottle of very nice wine, some cheese, some bread…

 
“The two of you will provide the ‘thou,’ I guess,” Jason laughed.

 
That’s when I realized that somehow Maeve and Greg had manufactured this event before he and Jason had gone back to their group.

 

 

I was feeling relaxed and happy for the second time that day.  No matter what, if anything, might develop between us on this trip, it was definitely more fun to share the moments with accommodating men.  Maybe especially if nothing ever developed.  Just moments in time.

 
Looking back, hours later, I couldn’t really recall what we’d talked about.  Maybe those were the kinds of conversations that later would feel like treasured moments.

 
I do remember that Greg told us a little bit about his ‘business,’ and we laughed uproariously.

 
“Seriously?”  Maeve leaned in, staring at him curiously.  “You own one of those vineyards, yet you simply described yourself as a ‘businessman’?  I guess that’s kind of an understatement in these parts.  Maybe you were worried that we’d be fawnin’ all over you.”

 
“No, not really.  I just thought it would seem so commonplace in these parts…”  He shrugged.

 
“How did you happen into that particular adventure?”  Maeve asked, sounding as though she really wanted to know.

 
He described how he had started working for one of the wineries when he graduated from the university in Davis, California, and filled in the details of the path toward buying his first small vineyard.

 
He and Maeve suddenly looked cozy as they talked, and I glanced over at Jason, who had been mysteriously quiet throughout.  “So, how do you two know each other?”

 
“We attended the same high school, actually,” he revealed.  “I went to Cal Poly, though, while he went to Davis.  We saw each other at reunions, etc., and met for family gatherings.  He’s my cousin.  So we’re kind of bound to see each other once in awhile.”

 
I thought that this last tidbit seemed strangely out of place in the conversation.  Shouldn’t he have led with that one?  I studied him, wondering what secrets lay beneath that calm exterior.
We didn’t learn much more during our picnic, but afterwards, we headed back to the resort office.  We stood there talking for a bit, and then said our good-byes.

 
I wondered if we’d see them again during the week.