Chapter 30

The next morning, Grace and I hired a car to take us out to Napa. When we pulled into the farm, I was amazed at all the work being done. The first phase of condos were all dried in and the design was a French Chateau. It looked amazing. The fields were set up and row after row of grapes were in place. I was surprised to see Milo, Kari and Jules all there. Kari saw me get out of the car and ran over and jumped into my arms. I smiled and gave her a hug.

By the time that I set her down, the others had joined us. I shook some hand and Kari said, “Bull, things are going very well out here. The soil is perfect for the grapes according to Jules. The transplanting of the old rootstock went very well. They have the trellis system in place. It’s all coming together well.”

“I love the design of the condos and the vineyard is far beyond what I expected.”

Jules said, “This is going to be a great vineyard. We found many old growth vines in Chile and paid almost nothing to dig them up and replant them here. I was planning to sell young wine for the next few years to other vineyards to blend but we could have our own brand up and running soon. The chateau looks amazing and so massive. I spoke to Amy and Fredrick. They said that the price is big but will be small compared to what they will sell the units for.”

“I didn’t mean to surprise you. We are just out on our regular tour around the country visiting properties.”

Kari said, “I have a surprise for you. I hope that you love it.”

“Do I need to close my eyes?”

“No, it isn’t here but I’ll show it to you later.”

“Okay. Who’s going to show me around here?”

Just then Qi walked out of the office and when Grace saw her, she ran over to say hello. They were hugging when Milo said, “I have a golf cart. We can ride and I’ll show you around.”

Milo and I spent a couple hours driving around. He talked about the different varietals of grapes being planted. He showed me the caves being built to store and age wine. He showed me the other building on the property and what they would be used for. He said, “The harvest season is small and with as many acres as we have, we had to set everything up to be done in great volumes. We have automated as much of the process as we could without hurting the quality. We also designed everything so the guest could watch but not get in the way.”

“It all looks great. Shouldn’t you be in school?”

“Kari and I both talked to the dean of our school and he gave us a work study program for our last semester. We keep journals, and write reports on what we do. He was so impressed that he flew out to visit us a couple weeks ago. We’ve been taking a lot of pictures that track the progress.”

“Those should do well in the educational process for the guests. Maybe you should look into getting a movie crew out here to record some of the work in progress?”

“That may be a good idea.”

“What’s Kari’s surprise? I didn’t see a ring on her finger.”

“Bull, Kari and I are very open and honest with each other. She even told me about a boat trip she made from Bermuda to New York. I have offered the ring but she said that she’s fine with us just being together for now. I treat her like my wife without a ceremony, ring or piece of paper.”

I just nodded my understanding and accepted that he wasn’t going to ruin Kari’s surprise. I got to see it later when we all went downtown and stopped in front of an old brick warehouse right on the river. She waved her arm like Vana White on the wheel of fortune and said, “I bought this place a couple months ago and had it totally renovated. We just opened last week. You own 25%. I’ve rented out the ground floor to a variety of shops and restaurants. The top floor will be a boutique hotel like we have on South Beach.”

Stepping back and looking at what she’d done I said, “I’m proud to be a part of this. It looks amazing.”

Kari’s smile was ear to ear as she was happy to gain my approval. She said, “The restaurant, ‘Lick’, here at the end with the big patio overlooking the river is one that we own. Not just a part but all of it. Flynn came out and helped us but promised to keep our secret.”

“Lick? Where did you come up with that name?”

“Flynn said that you named your restaurants after pioneers. If we focused on Napa then we would be naming it after someone’s vineyard and didn’t think that would be a good idea. During the gold rush in San Francisco, James Lick was a huge investor in the city and helped it get built into what it is today. There are statues of him around the city.”

“I like the name but right now, I’m hungry so let’s go and see how you did.”

The food was tapa style which gave less food per plate but the bill ended up being higher as people ordered more things to try and share. The different tastes paired well with different wines and there were many different bottles and wine by the glass to choose from. We all shared the different dishes and some I really enjoyed. Jules was our wine guide as we tasted many different wines.

It was interesting to taste different years of the same wine and the same year with the wine from American Oak barrels or French Oak Barrels. Very subtle differences. Even different parts of the valley and the soil could change the taste of the wine. I learned a lot and enjoyed being with all the people at the table.

As we were leaving there was a scream and Qi, Grace and I all ran towards the sound. There was an ally where we found a girl pushing a guy away from her. Grace launched herself at the man as Qi stopped to see if there were any other threats. The man was soon in a heap on the ground and begging for her to stop her kicking him. He groaned heavily as she kicked him in the nuts and then turned to check on the girl.

I felt kind of useless but was there in case there was any help needed. Grace started to lead the girl away and I wasn’t sure if I should call the police or just keep Grace and everyone else out of the police reports. The girl looked to be in one piece and we walked away, leaving the man to get out of the situation that he put himself in.

Kari, Qi, and Grace, took her into the restaurant and had her sit down and checked to see if she was alright. Kari called over to the bartender to bring them a bag of ice. I didn’t want to get in the way so I sat with Milo and we talked about what else was new. He talked about the vineyard but also investing in downtown with the warehouse renovation and how Kari was interested in some of the other buildings in town.

It was almost ten minutes later when Kari came over to where we were sitting. She seemed upset. She said, “I sometimes feel like a kid but when I talk to girls like that, I feel like an older adult. She’s 21 and went out to get drunk and find a guy to have fun with. He lied and told her that he was going to take her home. Then he had her give him a blow job out in the alley before he zipped up and told her that he was in town with a couple guys and unless she wanted to service him and his three friends in the room she would have to find her own ride home.”

“So he took advantage of her but didn’t rape her or attempt to?”

“No, she just got lied to, and was mad.”

I just shook my head and looked at Kari. Do we need to do anything else or are you ready to go?”

“Give me a couple minutes and let me find out.”

I rolled my eyes at Milo and he just smiled and said, “Women.”

Kari waved us over and she said, “Bull, this is Angela. She still lives at home with her parents. When she met the guy and thought she would be spending the night with him, she told her mom that she’d be staying with one of her girlfriends. Now she either doesn’t have a place to stay or will have to go home and wake up her parents.”

Shrugging my shoulders, I asked, “And this is my problem? I don’t think that she wants to stay in my hotel room.”

The bartender was a cute blonde and she said, “She can stay with me for the night but I live about 45 minutes away and don’t plan to come back before my shift tomorrow at 4:00.”

Kari said, “We have the suites upstairs. They are ready to be used. We just don’t have the hotel open yet.”

Milo joked, “Orgy upstairs?”

Both Kari and Qi gave him a look but Angela said, “That sounds good to me.”

Everyone turned to look at her. She said, “I was planning to have sex tonight and have been horney all week. If you want to, I’m up for it.”

The blonde bartender said, “I have a change of clothes or two in the car and wouldn’t mind staying here for the night.”