by Violet Duke
He rinsed his hands and headed out to the front to investigate, surprised at who he saw standing there on the other side of the glass.
“Hey, Derek. Come on in.” Luke unlocked the door quickly. “Chocolate emergency?”
Derek grinned and shook his hand. “More like an emergency proposition.”
“I’m intrigued. Have a seat.” Luke pointed to the nearest table. “Want some coffee?”
The silent shuffling of papers made him look back over at Derek. Seeing Dani’s brother, one of the most easygoing people on the planet, looking so nervous made him forget the coffee pot altogether.
“You okay, man?” Luke sat down beside him, worried.
After a deep breath, a very serious, very formal Derek slid a portfolio across the table and stated, “Luke, I’d like us to go into business together.”
Luke did a double take. Puzzled, but pleasantly so, he looked down at the elegantly scripted folio cover. “Desert Confections Chocolates and Wines?” His gaze snapped back to Derek’s. “You want to open your craft winery with my chocolate shop instead of the brewpub?”
“Ah, so Dani finally told you. Good. Then I can skip the forgive-my-sister part and get right to my spiel.” The fun-loving Derek was back, visibly teeming with excitement and a very Dobson-esque confidence as he explained, “Turning Desert Confections into a chocolate shop and winery would be the perfect pairing—product-wise, business-wise, and location-wise.”
Derek looked around the shop excitedly. “Harold told me about the cellar downstairs that you don’t use. It’s a spectacular space for a winery; I could do every step of the vinting process down there. In fact, aside from a tiny amount of space for supplies, you’d hardly notice our presence in the kitchen.” He walked quickly over to the walls on the west end of the shop. “As for the shop itself, if we line this bare wall with bottle display shelves and shift everything over a little, it wouldn’t take very much room to showcase the wines. And since you only use display tables for your boxed chocolates, it wouldn’t impede on your space at all.”
“Stop talking like you’d be in the way, Derek. If we do this, we’ll split the space. The bottles don’t have to be isolated to the shelves; we can pair it with the chocolates in our displays around the shop and put it in combined gift baskets too.” Now equally excited, Luke flipped open Derek’s detailed prospectus. It was outstanding. “Geez, you’re just like your sister.”
“Only when it comes to wine. Check out the computer-generated sketches, the last page specifically.” Derek’s voice was brimming with barely contained glee. “I got this idea while we were up on the roof planning Dani’s birthday party.” Pointing out features on the illustrated page, Derek described what he envisioned for the roof deck. “If we go with a garden setup with vine-covered pergolas to protect the entire area from the elements, we could put comfy patio oasis seating and turn the deck into a trendy little tasting area for customers to hang out. We’ll get even more bang for our buck if we arrange everything so it’s designed with weddings and parties in mind as well. That way, we can rent it out as an event venue with a gazebo corner that can also double as a party/wedding planning café that houses all the food and drinks.” He looked at Luke hesitantly. “What do you think about serving food up there regularly?”
“I think that’ll finally make good use of our chef’s kitchen.” A wry grin stretched across his face. “And it’ll definitely draw in more customers. Great idea, man.”
Derek exhaled in relief. “I’ve already asked Javier to help me think of dishes to pair with chocolate and wine for a small menu. It would be classy but easy things—finger sandwiches, appetizers, desserts—things he could train a part-timer to put together without any fuss.”
Luke skimmed over the plans for the cellar layout and frowned. “Wait, where are you planning on doing the wine bottling if not in the cellar?”
“There’s not enough room for it down there. One option is to bottle by hand. Quite a few small wineries do. But I was thinking, since I am partial owner of Ocotillos, bottling in the brewery might be a possibility. I haven’t discussed any of this with Dani, but I think she’d go for it. We could easily clear some space to put in a small bottling unit or even do a minor expansion if business picks up enough for us to need bigger bottling and labeling equipment.”
After surveying a few of the other proposal pages, Luke closed the folio. “I’m sold. I mean, I have to discuss it with Quinn, but seeing as how she loved that wine you made her last week—” He blinked, and then understanding—and admiration—hit him. He’d wondered why Derek had dropped off that bottle specifically for Quinn.
Derek gave a shrugging grin. “What can I say? I’m a businessman. I work the people as well as the problems.”
Laughing, Luke shook Derek’s hand. “Hell, if we can make this work, you’ll be a perfect fit here. You call your bank; I’ll call Quinn and Noah. I can’t say for certain, but I think Noah might actually crack a smile over this one.”
After scheduling a time for Derek to meet with Quinn later that day, Luke raced to clean up his work area, ignoring the intermittent beep coming from his cell phone the entire time. Everything could wait until after he kissed Dani awake and told her about Derek’s plans. They could celebrate the news with coffee and his new red and white chocolate—the perfect start to the rest of their lives, as far as he was concerned.
At ten to eight, Luke dashed out to his car, barely pausing to give Quinn a fast high-five hello when she came in to open up shop. His beeping phone was driving him crazy. Digging it out of his pocket to silence it, he stopped in his tracks when he saw that the persistent reminders were for a text from Dani.
>> COULD YOU MEET ME AT OCOTILLOS THIS MORNING? I NEED TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING.
Shit. The text had come in an hour ago. He didn’t even stop to lock his car back up; he just spun around and raced over to the brewpub.
Seeing another text come in mid-sprint, his heart flipped over when he read it.
>> I’M GOING TO SIT AND WAIT FOR YOU UNTIL YOU COME HERE, DAMN IT. I’LL EVEN SHUT DOWN THE BREWPUB FOR THE DAY IF I HAVE TO.
Well hell, that was about the most romantic thing that Dani could say. That brewpub hadn’t been closed since the day it opened its doors, as far as he knew.
Christ, he loved the hell out of that woman. He was so going to kiss her silly the second he saw her. Smiling now, he yanked open the back door.
And got blown ten feet back into the alleyway.
* * * * *
SON OF A BITCH! Coughing, Luke rolled to his side with a loud groan, pushing up from the dirt, wondering what the hell had just happened. It took him a second to realize he was in the lot next to Ocotillos and there was black smoke billowing out all around him. His head whipped to the brewery. Already the sound of folks on the street screaming confirmed his worst nightmare.
There’d been an explosion.
“DANI!” Luke ran at a dead sprint. Inside was a horrific scene from a movie—the corner tank wall of the brewery looked like a bomb had detonated right through it. Debris was everywhere with blackened metal shards littering the ground. Beer was still shooting from the pipes above one of the brewing tanks like a liquid firework show.
Luke screamed Dani’s name again.
His heart plunged when he saw her finally, lying in a heap next to the spot where a full tank used to stand, not just the metal remains that looked like the pit of a jagged cauldron.
A few other men raced in behind him but he got to Dani first. She was eerily still; he wasn’t even sure if she was breathing. “Dani! Oh my god. Wake up sweetheart.” He didn’t want to shake her, not knowing what her injuries were. Pulling a large metal panel off her body, he just kept talking to her, praying for her to be alive, demanding that she be okay. He stroked her char-smudged face. “Please, please. Just open your eyes for me—”
Shaking erratically now, he smoothed her hair back to check her pulse. It was faint but there. Why the hell wasn’t she waki
ng up? “Dani, honey, can you hear me?”
Strong hands tried to pull him away from her body.
He shoved them to the side and pleaded, begged for Dani to come back to him.
Soon, more people appeared and forcibly hauled him out of the way as firemen swarmed over Dani’s body to give her first aid. The voice shouting in his ear to let the firemen do their jobs washed over him, went through him numbly.
He fell to his knees helplessly as they took Dani, lifeless and limp, away on a stretcher.
LUKE SCRUBBED his face with his hands, furious that the goddamn hospital assholes still wouldn’t let him see Dani. She was his...no, not his wife, which was why they wouldn’t let him go to her yet. Only family they’d kept repeating to him. When they’d asked who he was to her, ‘boyfriend’ didn’t seem nearly strong or true enough an answer. Still covered in the blackened blast dust he’d found Dani lying in, he stared back at them, unable to speak.
Patiently, they rephrased their question, this time asking who she was to him.
“She’s the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with,” he whispered back.
The nurse looked stricken, sympathetic, but still, no one would let him through.
Minutes later, Derek ran in and shouted for someone to tell him where his sister was. He ran up to Luke and grabbed him by the shirt. “Is she okay?” he demanded.
“They won’t let me see her. Only you. Go. The doctor is right there.”
Nodding shakily, fear in his eyes, Derek rushed over to the doctor and they swept him straight into the back. Derek’s husband Jonathan stood next to Luke. Silently, they both watched Derek disappear behind the swinging doors.
Then they waited.
Quinn and Rylan arrived at the hospital soon after. Xoey and the entire bartending and wait staff came next. A little while later, all of the workers from Ocotillos joined them, along with many other concerned business owners, vendors, and friends.
The waiting room was soon packed.
And for the next two hours, they all sat there and heard nothing.
At hour three, finally, the doors opened. Luke looked up.
“She’s awake.”
He felt a wave of dizziness as blood rushed into his heart for seemingly the first time since he’d found her unconscious. Relieved cries echoed throughout the room.
Derek came straight over to him. “She’s asking for you.”
Luke rose up on legs he was amazed were still working.
He looked back and saw the friends and family that had known Dani for so much longer than he had. Suddenly, he felt gut-wrenchingly awful for them that they couldn’t go see her this instant. Just to see that she was okay. His step faltered, his emotions cementing him in place.
“Go,” said Xoey, her voice hoarse with lingering terror. “We’ll get our chance. You go now and tell her we all love her and that we’re all here. You just be there for her. For us.”
Luke nodded once and then walked the most emotional hundred yards of his life.
Oh god. His hands fisted in fury at the universe when he walked into her hospital room and saw her. His heart and soul was lying there before him on the hospital bed—bruised, battered, and broken.
“Dani.” Hot, angry tears ran down his face as he went to her side.
She cracked her eyes open. “Hi,” she said softly, her voice gritty and pained. Reaching for him with weak fingers, she laced her fingers with his.
“I thought I’d lost you.”
She tried to shake her head, but it came out as a weak head tilt. Opening her lips, she tried to speak again, but a serrated sound scraped out of her throat instead, causing her body to flinch.
“Shhh, don’t talk.” Luke swept the tear rolling down her cheek. “They said your throat is going to be pretty raw for a while.”
Her eyes snared his, and even though she didn’t—couldn’t—say it, he heard her.
“I love you too, Dani. So much.” He stroked her cheek gently, watching her eyelids flutter closed again as the pain meds overtook her. “Sleep, baby. I’ll be right here, always right here. And everyone is outside waiting too so you have to get better soon, you hear me?”
The silent room was his only reply.
* * * * *
“YOU GUYS ARE all being ridiculous. I should be able to go home already.” Dani tried to reason with everyone in her hospital room. “I’m not even that badly hurt. Sheesh, it was just a little steam explosion.”
Luke apparently didn’t think he could’ve heard a more absurd comment come out of her mouth. And he told her as much.
She rolled her eyes. “I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time when that tank over-pressurized. A freak mishap with a faulty valve—it happens. Luckily, it was Ole Betsy and she’d been empty. If it had been one of the active brew tanks or the bigger systems, then I’d see your concern. But it wasn’t.” She smothered her wince when she shrugged. “Really, I’m just glad no one got hurt.”
“Besides you!” growled Luke, looking so pained by the memory. “A damn elephant could stick its head in the hole that got blasted through the building, Dani. You got knocked out by metal debris the size of a frickin’ desk that hit you with the force of a car. It could’ve sliced you in two! You’re lucky it just put you in a coma.” He fluffed her pillow roughly. “Derek and I already talked about it; you’re staying in the hospital until they kick you out.”
Dani groused in response, but her eyes shined with love. She turned those eyes to him, and he gave her a growly kiss. They’d been doing this song and dance all week.
And she was all ready for another go.
“At least hand me my phone. If I don’t call around for bottling equipment quotes before Derek does, the stubborn ass is going to finagle a way to make it so I can’t pay a cent to help.”
A few days into her recovery, Derek and Luke finally got a chance to tell Dani their winery/chocolate shop partnership idea. She’d been so elated over the beautiful plans that she’d nearly cried. Then when the topic of using part of the brewery for bottling came up, she had cried—a bizarre byproduct of the hospital meds, she’d declared.
“Plus, there’s so much to do with the insurance,” she continued on a rolling grumble. “The tank manufacturer, the building repairs, the contingency plan during renovations,” she counted off her fingers when Luke snagged her phone and shoved it in his pocket.
“All taken care of,” interjected Xoey from the corner of the room.
Everyone in the room turned to gape at her, mostly in shock, though Dani’s shock turned quickly into a huge smile beaming with intense pride. And hope.
“Oh cut it out,” sniffed Xoey. “It’s not that big a deal. My uncle’s a contractor. As far as the other stuff, it didn’t take a brain surgeon. The numbers are right there on the bills; I just picked up a phone.” She glared at her. “Quit looking at me like that.”
“Like what?” asked Dani, innocent as can be.
Xoey’s eyes narrowed. “Like you’re going to try and extend your little stay here in the hospital. This is just temporary, you hear me? I’m not going to be your general manager.”
Dani’s hand shot to her abdomen and her groan split the air.
Everyone gasped and rushed to her bedside.
“I dunno, Xo,” she moaned on a theatric grimace of pain. “It may be a long recovery for me.” Of course, her acting had always stunk so she couldn’t keep her smile hidden for long.
Xoey glared at her something fierce. “Evil!”
Dani raised a shocked eyebrow when she saw it was Isaac holding her back from charging the hospital bed. Wait a minute. Are they holding hands? A quick blinking eye-rub confirmed that no, she hadn’t been blinded by the blast, and yes, that really was Xoey holding Isaac’s hand.
Amazing. She’d never known Xoey to actually do that. Sleep with a guy? Sure. Contemplate a long, extravagant life together? Of course—if he was worthy. Hold hands with him for no reason? Hiss, boo, holy cross.
Remembering a middle school story Xoey had once told her, Dani tilted her head and mouthed a silent question, “Romantic CD?”
Xoey flushed bright pink before replying with a quiet, “iPod playlist.”
Dani beamed.
Xoey rolled her eyes and spun on her heel to make a quick exit, practically dragging Isaac out the door. Once outside though, she stopped and stuck her head back in. “I’ll be back tomorrow. You better be walking by then!” With that, her stilettos clacked away.
After seeing the time, Javier and Sam hopped up to head on out as well, handing Dani some contraband Ocotillos food along with the many get-well cards that had begun pouring in from customers. “Business in the pub half hasn’t been affected at all, and the brew boys are working around the clock to get things functional on the brewery end,” reassured Javier.
Rylan spoke up from where he was decorating Dani’s arm cast. “Yup, and Quinn is already planning a grand re-opening hoopla.” He winked and put his arm around Quinn. “She’s really going that extra mile to convince me to sing at the concert she has planned.”
Eyes boggling with embarrassment, Quinn whacked him for that overshare.
“You guys are incredible.” Dani felt the waterworks coming on again. Seriously, what was in this hospital medication? Choked up, she gave them each a huge bear hug in thanks.
Surprisingly, she had one more visitor waiting in the hall.
Noah astonished them both by stepping in while the others were filing out. He walked right up to them with two envelopes in hand, one addressed to Luke and one to Dani. He gave Luke his first. Peering over Luke’s shoulder, she saw Luke pull out a triplicate document labeled ADDENDUM from the envelope.
“Luke, given your new business partnership with Derek, I’ve found your financial standing now to be solid enough not to require your patent collateral for the loan I gave you. We can revert it to a standard business loan. You can come by my office this week to sign those.”
