The Height Of Happiness

Chapter 4

            With little sleep under her belt, the day went by in a flash. Under the warm autumn sun, Serena gave her speech to a crowd of a few hundred people. On a stage set up outside her beloved events barn, it seemed to her that every able-bodied individual in the county had come to her event. Not only did those people arrive, but they dragged along every member of their family and all their friends to come see the great winery getting all the buzz.

After all, the tourism from her winery did allegedly encourage a new grocery store and the town’s first chain coffee shop to arrive in the last two years. Serena took this turnout as a way of finally being thanked for her hard work, other than just buying her family’s products at the artisan and grocery stores in town.

As the events commenced, they let kids take turns stomping the grapes in the massive wooden vats. Staff members wiped down feet before event attendees took their turn squashing fruit between their toes in old-school wine-making fun. Even adults joined in on the affair, holding up smaller children as they stomped around. Based on the expression on people’s faces, Serena wondered why they hadn’t done this sooner.

It was giving her great publicity. She was trending locally online, which was a strange feeling for her. A handful of newspaper reporters and a local evening news crew were there to cover the action. The region’s newspaper wanted an interview with Serena, but they were only able to stop her when she sat down to take a turn on the hay ride. As the tractor pulled them through the vines, around the petting zoo, and up past the orchard, Serena gave quotes on her appreciation for community and her hopes for the following year.

“I may have cause to plant some pumpkins next year!” Serena said light-heartedly, and the crowd around her cheered at the idea.

Even a little girl sitting next to her shouted out, “I’d get my mom to buy all our pumpkins here!”

The little doll charmed all the adults on board, and the journalist even put her on record for the article. He took her name and age, and snapped a photo of her with Serena. It could have easily been the highlight of the day, but as Serena helped her guests off the trailer full of straw Serena could see the people she was avoiding.

Edward waved from the hot chocolate booth, but Serena gave only a curt nod back. She couldn’t face him, not yet. Her stomach growling, Serena disappeared into the inn to have a bite to eat in the quiet of the kitchen. Even though it was bustling and the line cooks were calling back and forth, Serena felt at peace knowing none of them were in need of her attention.

“Serena!”

She was wrong.

When the door flung open, Serena was relieved to see it was only Cassie.

“How are you? I went on the wine tour your science guys are giving. They’re very good! I never knew half of the stuff they talked about.”

“Thanks, Cassie.”

Sitting next to her on a stool in the corner, Cassie looked at her long-time friend. She could see past the stress of the day that something else was wrong. Unable to keep anything from Cassie for long, Serena accepted defeat quickly. She explained what had happened in a quick summary, and Cassie leaned her head against the wall as she took it in.

“You’re kidding me, right?” she finally asked.

“No!” Serena said as she buried her face in her hands. “I was so egotistical in that moment. I swear, it was like a monster came out of me!”

“Well, they did sound like jerks.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to be one.”

Cassie nodded, “True, but I think they’ll forgive you.”

“I don’t want their forgiveness.”

“I just mean that I think both Edward and this Patrick guy will agree that your reaction wasn’t unwarranted. If anything, they should apologize for their dumb comments. You know, it’s crap like that mess they said that makes me wish I was a lesbian.”

“But you’re not.”

“No,” Cassie sighed.

“And neither am I.”

“Yeah,” she concurred.

Serena smiled, “Otherwise, we could just have married each other and adopted a bunch of kids by now.”

They both laughed, and Serena leaned against her friend. A line cook came over with a grilled cheese sandwich and a glass of water for Serena, and pulling it apart she offered half of it to Cassie.

*****

            The whole day Serena fought hard to avoid the two men. Her talk with Cassie in the kitchen didn’t actually diminish her feelings. It just made Serena realize that confronting the problem was likely inevitable, which made her stubbornly fight against that end result even more.

            After her dramatics with Edward the night before, Serena felt a twinge of regret at being so harsh with him. It had only been her pride that had been damaged. Overall, they were being delightful and engaging guests at the tours and events. Serena even saw Edward helping at the children’s games when the instructing staff needed a spare hand later that afternoon. The moment had been poignant and sweet to see from a safe distance, but Serena had too much to do to stop for schmaltzy greeting card moments.

            Finally at the last big cocktail party in the barn as the family-friendly movie night began on the lawn, Serena found that those two couldn’t be avoided. There were only about fifty people at this last intimate party. Other special guests had gone off to their rooms for the night or had decided to wander elsewhere. Many of the people dining on her dessert bar and dessert wine pairings were sponsors of the events who were there on a complimentary basis. They would be going home late to their families across the county, or spending the night here at a deeply discounted rate.

            Edward Summerfields and his associates on the other hand were her highest paying guests for the night, and so when he walked up to her at the chocolate fountain Serena couldn’t brush him off.