Page 30 of No Rhyme or Riesling

“Huh?” Adam looked down and saw the raspberry scone he'd pulled from the case even as he remembered her ordering the muffin instead.Shit. “I'm so sorry. I'll be right back.” He rushed off to correct the order, blurting out another apology before moving on to the next thing.

But the next hour was more of the same. Adam put dark roast beans in the decaf machine. Then he set down a latte when he went to go answer the phone, completely forgetting about the drink until a customer demanded to know what was taking so long. He started to ring up one customer, then paused to grab an empty cup and write the customer's name on it, then punched in the items all over again and didn't realize it until the customer raged about the doubled price.

Morgan jumped in and took over, gently sending Adam away to go wipe down the tables. Adam fought back fresh tears as he worked. He was so useless! Always getting in the way or making things harder on the people around him.

He was in the back room, returning the cleaning supplies, when he heard his phone beep.Shit!He'd forgotten to put his phone on silent. Adam pulled it out and quickly lowered the volume until it was set to vibrate, then saw a new text from John.

Adam winced, hesitating before he opened it.

John: Breathe, baby. It's going to be okay.

Adam frowned, then looked up as Morgan walked in.

“John?” Morgan asked.

“Yeah…”

Morgan wrung his hands. “I texted him. Told him you were having a rough morning.”

Adam squeezed his eyes shut as more tears threatened. “I'm so sorry,” he choked out. “And I'm sorry about yesterday and I totally understand if you don't want me singing at the wedding because I'm a fucking hot mess and–”

“Hey,” Morgan murmured. “No!” He pulled Adam into his arms, hugging him tight. “Of course I still want you to sing. I mean…” Morgan stepped back, holding Adam at arm's length. “Unless you'd rather be there as a guest, which is fine! You're my friend, first and foremost. You don't have to be there, working, if you don't want–”

“I want!” Adam said, looking at Morgan with wide eyes as he nodded emphatically. “Really? You still want me to sing?”

“Really,” Morgan insisted. “And…” Morgan bit his lip. “I was also hoping you might want to be my best man?”

Adam gasped. “Oh my god,” he gushed, feeling tears of gratitude sting the backs of his eyes. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” Morgan smiled at him. “Just…maybe a limit on the drinks?”

Adam choked out another sob as a wave of relief washed through him, making him dizzy. He nodded emphatically as he hugged Morgan back, then straightened up, dried his face, and promised to do better.

He hoped he could hold to that promise, because even with that bit of good news, the urge to drown himself in the haze of alcohol was still painfully tempting.

Chapter 11

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JOHN

JOHN SANK into his chair and put his head down on his desk, letting out a heavy sigh. It felt like the first time he'd been still for three days. Between work that had piled up during Wine Fest and Ward being distracted all the time, John felt run off his feet, trying to accomplish anything.

He hadn't even been able to drive out to the riesling fields and enjoy the calming view. John had been needed everywhere else. There were hundreds of acres of grapes to monitor, not to mention keeping tabs on the barrels and tanks and other equipment, as well as coordinating with people. John had to be constantly looking forward, planning for harvest and bottling and distribution. He needed to be on his game. To consistently put out the best product he possibly could, since so many livelihoods depended on that.

Despite a tough economy, nobody at the vineyard had been let go, and that all boiled down to the entire operation remaining profitable. It was frustrating how few people understood that concept. People who had never run a business were especially guilty of condemning profit. Granted, John had never owned a business himself, but he'd been at Vista Robles long enough tohave worked closely with upper management and to have seen the books.

The years without pinot noir grapes had been rough. The vineyard had barely broken even, which had meant no money to put back into upgrading or even just repairing old tools and equipment, let alone accommodating their staffing needs.

Of course, it hadn't helped that the old boss was more of a people person than a businessman. John had respected the hell out of him since the man had always treated his people well, but things had definitely improved all around when Everett took over. The former big-city CEO had cleaned up the vineyard's finances, eliminating unnecessary expenses and injecting capital into all the right places, where the money would show the best return. It meant the vineyard was stronger than ever, but it was up to all of them to help keep it that way. Every single one of them had to maintain their high standards and work ethics, contributing to the overall functionality of the place. Doing so was job security. Pure and simple.

And, for John, it also meant not letting Everett down. He couldn't fail another person whom he respected. His heart simply couldn't take it.

But right then, all he wanted to do was stop everything so he could have a chance to think about Adam. About what he was going to do to take care of the boy, to help him through his grief and guilt. Not to mention dealing with his own. But those problems had to keep being pushed to the back of his mind. People often said that focusing on another issue allowed one's brain to work on the first problem in the background, but it hadn't happened for him so far. He felt no closer to a solution now than he had three days ago. More than anything, he wanted it solved and done with. Behind them for good.

John breathed a humorless laugh. Actually, what he really wanted to do was go home, take a long, hot shower, pour himselfa glass of wine, and kick his feet up on the coffee table with his guitar in his lap. That sounded just about perfect. Second only to getting Adam into bed. But since the latter wasn't going to happen that night, he'd gladly take the former.

Except he still had work to do. He knew he wouldn't be able to go home and relax unless he got a few more things knocked off his list.

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