Patrice stared at me so intensely, as if trying to figure if I could really be trusted. “This sort of thing always gets to a place where you need to pick a side.” He laughed humorlessly as he played with the stem of the wineglass. “And the side I’m on, the one you have to pick if you’re going to really make a change here—it doesn’t get a lot of wins.”

I groaned feeling that truth sink into my bones like lead.

He raised his gaze from the table up to me, his eyes less hard now. “I’m glad you’re not acting like you have an easy fix for this, or that you even have any answers. Honestly it’s a relief to hear it because at least that means that you see it for what it is. Hard work.”

“Thank you for saying that, and for understanding. I can’t imagine how frustrating this all must be for you.” This time his lips turned up and it was almost a smile.

“Frustrating is a mild way to put, but again, hearing you say that you get none of this is simple helps.”

I kind of marveled at the fact that we were able to talk like this. That he wasn’t making demands or ultimatums. Before I knew it I was blurting it out.

“Why aren’t you pissed at me right now?”

He really took his time on that and I found that I wasn’t nervous about his answer.

“If changing things was up to just you, up to any one of us, I wouldn’t be sitting here. I’d be fixing it.” He let that last part sit there between us, what else was there to say?

After a moment, he glanced around the room, his eyes landing on my enormous wine rack, which was mostly filled with bottles from my family’s vineyard. “Are you going to the Fall Wine Festival this weekend?”

I almost got whiplash from that sudden shift in conversation, but I went with it.

I’d promised my mother I’d take her for a little bit, since she felt compelled to attend any event Archer Vineyards, my family’s business, was sponsoring. She had no interest in the business, never had, and my father barely let her in on anything going on. But he did require that she make an appearance and perform her duties as the Mistress Archer, and I usually let her drag me along when I could. I sighed and looked over at Patrice, who was still waiting for my answer.

“I will probably stop by, I usually go with my mom for a little bit. Are you going?”