“I had a thing for her brother Albert.” Jan laughed as she dipped a spoon into the fruit salad bowl. “This looks great, Brynna.”
“Thanks.” Brynna reached for the topping plate.
“How about I say a blessing first?” Mike said quietly. Both Brynna and Jan looked at him in surprise, but Jan agreed that was a nice idea.
“Dear mighty lord of the universe,” Mike began in a deep voice, “we thank you for all your good blessings. We thank you for the summer sunshine and tall pine trees and the big, blue ocean. We thank you for our safe trip on the road and our nice campsites. We thank you for our newfound friends and a good campfire tonight. We pray your blessings on this fine meal and on the hands that prepared it. Amen.”
As they began to eat, Brynna felt bad for the way she’d misjudged Motorcycle Mike earlier. It seemed he was a genuinely nice guy who took his faith seriously. Besides the relief that Jan wouldn’t need to defend them with her little hatchet, it was refreshing to meet a man who wasn’t a jerk.
Chapter 11
Leroy had barely lit a fire in the big stone fireplace when Gina came padding down the stairs. Past eleven and she wasn’t asleep? Without looking her way, he stashed the envelope of Brynna memorabilia beneath a throw on the ottoman. Hopefully she was headed to the kitchen for a late-night snack.
But no such luck. In her plaid pajama shorts and a raggedy T-shirt, Gina peered down at him with a curious expression. “What’s up?” In one hand she had her e-Pad and in the other her cell phone. “Mind if I join you?”
“You’re welcome to, but I don’t know about your electronic friends there.” He frowned at her gadgets.
“Oh, Dad.” She rolled her eyes as she flopped down on the worn leather sofa right next to him. “A summer fire?”
“The house felt a little chilly.” He glanced nervously at the throw concealing the envelope. “So, what brings you down here this late?”
“Well, I heard you thumping around and thought you might be interested to see the website. I was just doing some final tweaks, and I’d like to launch it.” She smiled. “With your approval.”
“Right now?”
“Come on, Dad.” She held up her pad. “Just take a peek.”
He nodded reluctantly, waiting as she turned her e-Pad on then handed it to him. Navigating him through the site, she explained how she’d arranged it and why she’d kept it simple. Although he wanted to keep this short, he was impressed with how good everything looked. “And you removed those old pictures of me—like I asked?” That had been one of his conditions. He hadn’t liked seeing himself plastered all over the website. Especially since the photos had been taken years ago.
“Yeah, yeah. But you better let me take some new ones soon. The website should have at least a couple of you. After all, you’re the star.”
“Sorrentino’s is afamilybusiness,” he reminded her.
“I know, I know.” She yawned. “Just tell me whether or not you approve. It’s late, but I really want to launch this tonight.”
“What’s the rush?”
“For starters, it’s tourist season. Then there’s the anniversary celebration and our new tasting room to promote. Seriously, we should’ve had this site up ages ago.”
He quickly skimmed through the “Our History” section, looking at old photos of their ancestors. “Well, it really looks great, Gina. Nice work.”
“And check this out.” She reached over to click something. “We’ll even have an online store. I already talked to Garth about it.”
“A store?”
“Yeah. It won’t go live yet, but hopefully in a week or so.”
“And who’s going to manage that?”
“Garth and our new office manager and me. We can handle it, Dad. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Uh-huh.” He paused to admire the lighting of an interesting photo taken in the barrel room as Gina grabbed the throw from the ottoman, causing his hidden envelope and its contents to tumble to the floor.
“Aha!” Gina scrambled to pick it all up. “So this is what youwere really up to ... going down memory lane by the romantic firelight. Wow, this girl must’ve really meant something to you.”
“I was planning to burn the whole thing,” he growled.
“Burn all of it?” She looked horrified, clutching the envelope to her chest. “After you saved this for so long? Why would you burn it now?”
