Cut to the Chaise Read online

  Nikki had brought balloons with her and they floated to the ceiling. Lady and Patches met up with Blitz, her parents’ white Malamute, and barked at the balloons. Everyone crowded around Caprice.

  She was surprised to see so many people had fit in the kitchen. Besides Nana and her mom and dad, Bella, Joe, and their children, Vince and Roz, Nikki and Brett, Uncle Dom and her neighbor Dulcina, Ace Richland, a rock star who had become Caprice’s friend, his daughter Trista, and his ex-wife Marsha were among those congratulating her. A few of her high school classmates were there too. She’d been involved on the reunion committee with them.

  She was absolutely overwhelmed, even more so when they all began bringing dishes into the dining room and setting them on the table.

  Grant added Caprice’s casserole to the mix.

  She turned to him. “Did you know about this?”

  “Of course. I was supposed to get you here at four o’clock on the dot.”

  Caprice spotted Isaac Hobbs, the owner of Older and Better, Kismet’s antique shop. Tall and husky and in his early 60s, his thinning hair was almost completely gray. He was hanging back in the kitchen along with Suzanne Dumas, who was the owner of Secrets of the Past, Caprice’s favorite dress shop . . . next to Roz’s All About You, of course. Petite Greta Hansen, manager of Perky Paws, Kismet’s all-around pet supply store, waved at Caprice as she pulled a pitcher of iced tea from the refrigerator and brought it to the table. Soon they were all enjoying the food, sitting around the large dining room table on chairs at its perimeter and even in the living room.

  Conversation was lively—about the wedding, about the reception, about the garden society and church, and anything else that had to do with Kismet. Caprice paid particular attention to Roz and Vince, and they seemed to be fine. That was a relief. Roz must have accepted the fact that Michelle Dodd was in Vince’s past, and he hadn’t thought that history was important enough to tell her.

  “We have a whole table full of presents for you,” Nana said as she patted Caprice’s shoulder. “They’re all in the library. Why don’t you go sit on the sofa in the living room and we’ll bring them to you.”

  “You want me to open them now?”

  “Sure, we do,” Caprice’s dad said. “Then everyone can see the joy on your face when you open their present.”

  That made sense, Caprice thought, although present-opening could get boring for the guests.

  “We’ll just keep passing around the chocolate cake and the cannoli,” her mother assured her. “And your dad will pour more coffee. If anyone wants wine, we have that too. We’ll have a fine time counting all your toasters.”

  Everybody laughed.

  Caprice made a point of thanking each one for coming before she settled in the living room.

  Grant told her, “I’ll help with the presents.”

  She found herself sitting on the sofa with Greta on one side and Isaac Hobbs on her other side.

  Isaac gave her arm a nudge. “I noticed the wine came from Adams County Winery instead of Rambling Vines. Any reason?”

  Caprice gave a little shrug. Isaac often teased her. “Dad’s more familiar with Adams County Winery wines. I imagine that’s why.”

  “I know your brother thinks he’s a wine connoisseur but I enjoy my wines too.”

  “More than coffee?” Whenever she stopped at Isaac’s and he wasn’t busy, they had coffee together, and he had a treat for Lady. The coffee often tasted like sludge, but it was the companionship that was important.

  “Definitely more than coffee. I’ve been thinking about getting one of those machines that makes one cup at a time,” he offered.

  That would definitely be an improvement because his coffeepot wouldn’t sit all day heating coffee residue.

  “Actually, I heard that Rambling Vines didn’t enter the Farm Show wine competition this year,” Isaac revealed. Then he went on, “I also heard they didn’t do workshops or have a booth at the Pittsburgh Wine Conference either.”

  “Maybe they’re concentrating on national competitions,” Caprice offered.

  Greta, overhearing their conversation, said, “No, I don’t think so.”

  “No nationals either?” Caprice asked her.

  “Rumor has it the winery couldn’t meet payroll demands. My sister worked for them in the distribution department and they cut her job about three months ago. She said they were going to cut two more assistant positions.”

  Well, if that was true, Michelle asking for money sooner rather than later made sense. She’d have to have a heart-to-heart with Michelle when she delivered her check tomorrow.

  Grant, Nana, and Roz all brought presents in and set them on the coffee table. Caprice began opening them, reading cards, and passing everything around. After a short while, Isaac got to his feet and said to Grant, “You sit here too. These presents are for both of you.”

  Grant did as Isaac suggested. He and Caprice opened everything from a set of cocker spaniel salt and pepper shakers to a cat-decorated sugar and creamer. There were placemats in Caprice’s favorite colors, a leather desk set for Grant’s new office after they put the addition on, a French press coffee maker along with a milk foamer to go with it, and other presents that were unusual enough that Caprice and Grant didn’t already own them. Finally, while Joe rocked Benny to sleep in the rocking chair, Bella stood by supervising while Megan and Timmy brought Caprice a large box. When Caprice checked the tag, she saw it was from her mom and Nana.

  “Do you know anything about this?” she murmured to Grant.

  “Not me,” he said. “No one told me anything. I was just supposed to get you here.”

  Bella said to Grant, “We’re going to ask you to do something unusual.”

  Uh-oh.

  “Can you go into the kitchen and stay there until Caprice opens this one? I’ll call you back in then. I promise.”

  “Why does he have to leave?” Caprice asked.

  “Not leave,” Bella assured her. “We just don’t want him to see this.”

  “Okay,” Grant said, after a hand squeeze for Caprice, and a questioning look at Bella. Caprice heard Bella murmur to him, “Some things you’re just not supposed to see until the wedding.”

  “Got it,” he said with a smile and left the room.

  Caprice’s fingers shook a little as she opened the box that was as big as a coat box. She couldn’t imagine what it was. After she tore off the silver wrap, she lifted the white lid and pushed back the tissue paper. She lifted out a beautiful finger-tip-length veil that was embroidered all around the edges.

  Nana sat forward on her chair. “That, tesorina mia, is the veil you can wear at your reception. It’s just the right length not to get in your way.”

  “It’s beautiful! Thank you.” She went and gave her mom and Nana a hug and a kiss. “I don’t know what to say.”

  Her mother explained, “You can wear the cathedral-length veil for the wedding and to make your entrance at the reception if you’d like. The shorter veil is for the reception itself so you can move around freely and have fun.”

  “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “No thanks necessary,” Nana and her mom said at the same time.

  Bella assured her, “I’ll keep the veil at my place along with the other one and your gown. Then you don’t have to worry about Grant getting a look at anything.”

  Bella helped Caprice fold the veil while her mother and Nana passed around another tray of cannoli. Once the veil was boxed, Bella took it out to her car. That’s when Roz brought Grant back in.

  “And no one’s going to tell me a thing, are they?” Grant asked.

  “Not a thing,” Ace assured him. “We’re all sworn to secrecy. Caprice won’t decorate any more houses for us if we let it slip.”

  The group laughed.

  As all of the guests stood, stretched their legs, and nibbled some more, Ace approached Caprice and Grant. His stiff, spiked brown hair was short enough that the two-carat diamond earring was
obvious. Now in his early fifties, the rock legend was making a comeback with more than his career. His green eyes sparkled. “I just want you to know I’ll make it a point to be home the weekend of your wedding,” he assured them.

  Caprice said, “I know you have commitments for your tour.”

  “I blocked out a couple of weeks in May, hoping one of them would be your wedding. My luck held because one of them is. Besides, that will give me a block of time to spend with Trista and Marsha. I understand there’s going to be construction at Caprice’s house.”

  “There is,” Grant said. “We’ll have to figure out how to make my townhouse home base until the construction is finished. We don’t want to subject the pets and ourselves to all the noise and the smells and the bedlam.”

  “That makes sense,” Ace confirmed and added, “If you get through this wedding and then the construction of an addition, and you’re still together after that, I’d say the rest of your marriage is smooth sailing.”

  Caprice hoped Ace was kidding. But when she snuck a look at Grant, she saw the expression on his face and knew that Ace was right. But they would get through it. She and Grant had been through tough times before. A wedding, a reception, family involved in both, and construction on her house that would change it forever wouldn’t be difficult as long as they loved each other. Right?

  Chapter Four

  In the early afternoon on Monday, after Caprice had finished with client appointments, she drove to Rambling Vines Winery with her check. She parked where she’d parked before because Michelle had told her she’d be in the winery office.

  Again, Caprice spotted the adorable dog on the porch. He was lying in a bed Michelle had obviously fixed for him there. He had a water bowl and a food bowl, and the food bowl still had kibble in it. The pooch ran over to Caprice as she climbed the steps. Holding out her hand first again, she let the Schnoodle smell it. Crouching down, she rubbed him behind both ears and he seemed to love that.

  “I don’t think you’re allowed inside, are you? Actually, I’m surprised you’re still here.” Maybe Michelle had decided to keep him. “I’m going to have to go inside without you.”

  The dog looked at her sadly as if he knew exactly what she was saying.

  “When I come back out, I’ll give you a belly rub. How’s that?”

  The Schnoodle gave a little yip. Caprice patted him a last time and then went inside.

  The tasting room was empty. She knew the offices were located down the hall. At the head of the hallway, she called, “Michelle, are you here?”

  Michelle appeared a few seconds later and beckoned to her. “Come into my office. We can talk there.”

  Once Caprice was inside the office and Michelle sat behind the desk, Caprice asked her, “So the stray is still hanging around?”

  “He’s so cute. When Travis isn’t around, I let him in here. But Travis is here today, so he has to stay out on the porch or in the screened-in room down at the house. I called all the vets and I put an ad in the community paper. No one has claimed him yet.”

  Caprice took the check out of her purse and laid it on Michelle’s desk.

  Avoiding her eyes, Michelle said, “Thank you. I really appreciate this.”

  Caprice might be mistaken but she thought Michelle almost looked ready to cry.

  “Michelle, Grant and I are worried. We’ve heard rumors about the winery. We want to make sure our wedding reception isn’t going to be ruined.”

  Michelle shook her head. “I promise you all will go well, though I do have to admit your reception might be the last one at the winery.”

  Before Caprice could follow up on that statement, a loud male voice yelled, “Michelle, come here.”

  “That’s in the winery,” Michelle muttered. Without even an “excuse me,” she took off running down the hall.

  After Caprice followed her through swinging metal doors, they could both see that Travis was the one who had yelled. He was holding a teenager by the scruff of his neck. The blond boy, who was wearing jeans, an oversized T-shirt, and scuffed up sneakers, looked to be about seventeen or eighteen. What held Caprice’s attention, as well as Travis’s and Michelle’s, was the vial the boy held in his hand.

  Travis gave the boy a little shake, and Caprice wanted to stop him from doing that. Travis’s face was red and he looked about ready to explode. “I caught him trying to dump whatever is in that vial into the vat. It would ruin the wine.”

  “I didn’t know what I was doing,” the boy said. “I thought it was a joke.”

  “A joke? It would ruin my business,” Travis shouted back angrily.

  Caprice didn’t know if she could intervene, but she had to try. “What’s your name?” she asked the boy.

  “It’s Andy. Andy Sprenkle.”

  “I don’t care what his name is,” Travis protested. “If he doesn’t start talking, I’m calling the police.”

  Michelle put her hand on her husband’s arm but he shook it off. Still, she suggested in a calm voice, “Travis, go easy. There was no harm done. Unless you want him arrested for trespassing.”

  “I want answers,” Travis insisted. “What do you mean, you thought this was a joke?”

  “I just answered a post online at a job website,” Andy maintained. “My instructions were to pick up the vial and the directions about what to do with it from a locker at the gym. The key was waiting for me at the desk. If I took a picture with my phone of pouring the vial into the vat, I’d earn five hundred dollars for doing it.”

  Caprice noticed a thunderous look cross Travis’s face. “I know who’s behind this and I’ll kill him when I find him.”

  Andy looked downright scared now. “I didn’t mean any harm. Honest.”

  “Come outside with me,” Travis ordered the boy. “We’re going to talk and then I’ll decide if I’m calling the police.”

  Travis took the teenager out through a back entrance. Michelle and Caprice followed and peered out the door.

  “I want to make sure he’s not going to hurt him,” Michelle said.

  “If he tries to, you might have to call the police.”

  “I have my phone in my pocket,” Michelle assured her.

  Caprice checked her watch. “I’m going to have to get going. I have a video conference with a client in about twenty minutes. But is there anything you want to talk about before I go?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Do you know who might have wanted to ruin the wine? I know Travis is right about it hurting your business. If you’re already having problems, that sure wouldn’t help.”

  “I don’t know who he has in mind.”

  An instinctive feeling in Caprice’s solar plexus told her Michelle was lying. But that really wasn’t any of her business. There were obvious problems at this winery that she couldn’t solve.

  However, after she said good-bye to Michelle, gave the Schnoodle his belly rub, climbed into her Camaro and pulled out of the parking lot, she wondered just how those problems were going to affect her wedding reception.

  * * *

  Caprice traveled to Baltimore the next day to meet with a contractor about decorating his homes. On her way back, she stopped at Nana’s to pick up Lady who’d spent the day with her and her cat Valentine. After Caprice visited with Nana while stroking Valentine, a gray tabby, she gave her Nana a hug and a kiss and Lady followed her to her car.

  When she motioned Lady inside the passenger side, Caprice asked her, “How does takeout sound tonight?”

  Lady barked.

  “Exactly what I was thinking. I’ll text Grant and see if he can pick up Chinese.” They hadn’t had dinner together last night because they’d both had work to do. She’d called him, though, to tell him what had happened at the winery. He was coming over tonight so they could discuss it again and spend time together.

  Grant arrived about an hour after she got home with five cartons of Chinese, a sampling of three main dishes and two cartons of rice.

  “Y
ou’re hungry, I take it?” Caprice asked.

  He grinned that grin that made her heart flutter. “I am. But I also know how you like to taste some of each one.” After he set the food on the table, he wrapped his arm around her and gave her a long kiss. Patches had already run to Lady and they were both at the cat tree annoying Sophia who lounged halfway up.

  “We could let them play outside while we eat,” Grant suggested. “That way they can run off energy and settle down when they come in.”

  Caprice nodded as she pulled yellow and turquoise plates from the cupboard and placed them on the bright placemats on her table. While Grant let the dogs out, she scooped up utensils, positioning them at each place setting.

  After Grant returned, she asked, “Water, iced tea, or coffee?”

  “How about iced tea with the meal and coffee afterward?”

  “You were reading my mind.”

  “I’d better become an expert at that. I hear it comes in handy when you’re married.”

  His smile and the darkening of his gray eyes made her feel warm, but most of all loved.

  “How did your meeting in Baltimore go?” he asked as he pulled out a chair at the table.

  “It went well.” She poured glasses of iced tea as she went on, “I prepared my budget and a list of furniture I can either rent or buy, depending on Roland Vaughn’s plans. He told me to go ahead and purchase it. That way he can sell the homes as is. I have to refrain from being too unique. I can’t decorate them as I would stage one of my houses.”

  “You don’t think anyone would buy a house decorated in lime, fuchsia, and turquoise?”

  She’d told him about her “Bohemian Rhapsody” client. “Not for the model homes, though I hope to give each one a unique touch with either antiques that fit in or else a standout decorative wall piece. And I’m not doing taupe and gray. I talked to Nolan about that. Color is okay with him as long as I keep it muted. So I’ll probably go with tones of sage and cream, a touch of yellow and blue.”

  “Seaside colors.”

  “Possibly for one of the houses. After all, we are near the Chesapeake Bay. How was your day?” she asked as she sat across from him.