“But do you like it?”
“I love it!” she shouted, and although she was mildly abashed by her outburst, she caught his widening smile. “But this is insane, you realize that, right?”
Raffi huffed. “Just accept it, please. It’ll make this all less awkward. I didn’t mean the dress to be a huge thing, just a nice gesture. A please-forgive-me type of gesture.”
She started laughing. “Okay, Raffi, yes, all right? I forgive you. Wholeheartedly. You’ve more than made up for it.”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
Ani tucked the dress back into the box. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this now? I can’t just tote it around Napa in the back seat of your convertible. I sure as hell am not leaving it in my car. Civics are the most likely car to get broken into. I learned that the hard way.”
“Sucks,” he replied with actual sympathy in his eyes. “Leave it in my trunk, then.”
“Okay, yes,” she said, and handed over the two dresses to Raffi, who nestled them safely away.
Ani shook herself. “What were we doing today, again? I have no clue.”
This time Raffi laughed. “Well, sweetheart, we’re going to see about some fountains.”
Ani had been on her way to the passenger-side door when she froze.Sweetheart. Oh, she loved that. The word sent shivers through her body. Fancy gifts, pet names. Raffi was pulling out all the stops, and Ani was going to have a hell of a hard time trying not to fall hard and fast for him.
She didn’t understand why he was bothering withher, though. Why her? She was just…Ani. Even her name wasplain. She wasn’t particularly pretty (“Bug eyes, bug eyes,” she heard the chant of her middle-school bully) or smart or accomplished. In fact, in everything she was sort of a B+, which also, not coincidentally, matched her 3.3 GPA in both high school and college. Raffi could haveanyone, yet he seemed to be pursuing her. Was it just because she had turned him down? But surely others before her had turned him down. He wasn’t everyone’s type just because he was handsome. She wondered if this was the same type of game he’d pulled on Lala, her sister’s friend. Or if this was something different. She wished she could just ask him.
She willed herself to keep moving. And reply, she had to reply. “Right, fountains.”
Raffi slid into the driver’s seat. “You were telling me that my vision for a Trevi-like fountain was ill informed and a huge liability and would mess with the overall vibe. So we’re going to DePietro Winery to see who’s right.”
Ani moved to open her door and stepped in. “Thank you for the recap. Helpful.” The sage leather of the seats hugged her. The weather was nice today—finally not cold and no chill in the air—so a convertible ride through Napa sounded like a good idea.With a Balmain dress in the trunk!
Raffi started up the car, which she now saw was a Jaguar, and for which the buttons, dials, and lack of any music technology prior to 1970 indicated that it was actually an old car. Interesting. She’d have pegged him for a BMW M series type of guy, not a vintage Jaguar. Then again, she was discovering more and more that all her preconceived notions about Raffi Garabedian were, in fact, wrong.
Raffi revved the engine, which was quite loud at first, more than a modern car, and they drove off. Raffi appeared light, happy; even without the obviously large smile, she could feel positive energy emanating from him.
“How’d your VIP event go?” Ani asked, thinking this might be the reason.
“Eh, fine. Probably not as well as it should have gone.”
“Sorry to hear it.” So, not that.
Raffi tapped on the steering wheel with some urgency. “Honestly, I hope this whole Kami renovation makes a difference, because no one seems to have heard of or care about Ô, no matter what I do.”
Ani put her arm up on the bare windowsill, enjoying the breeze tickling her arm. “Have you booked any weddings besides this one?”
“Weddings? God no. People barely come for tastings.”
That gave her an idea. “Wait, let me see something.”
Ani pulled out her phone, searched two of the major wedding venue databases, and found nothing about Ô.
Ani waved her phone at Raffi, although he was driving. “Well, no wonder. Your winery isn’t getting booked because it’s not in any of the big wedding venue registries.”
“I hadn’t even thought of— Can you, I don’t know, message me their links?”
“I can do you one better. I can add Ô for you.”
“You don’t have to—”
“No, it’s no problem. And that’s just one thing.” She found herself sitting up straighter, facing him to talk, filled with a sudden effervescence. “You need a full page of your websitethat showcases your venue for weddings, with the information potential couples would need to entice them to send an inquiry. Not too much, not too little. Oh, definitely add the architect’s renderings of the new space; people will eat that up and start booking after October.” As the wind whipped through her hair and the golden hills of Napa rolled by, Ani’s face lit up with yet another idea. “Ooooh, add a wait list. That’ll really get people salivating.”
