Page 21 of Gone With the Wine

“I don’t need a stuffed bear.”

I reach out for the bear. I have a weakness for pandas. I stroke my fingers over the soft fur and admire the black rings around his eyes.

“Why did you play?”

“To win.”

Our eyes meet.

Okay. I understand that.

He has a competitive streak. He wants to be the best. So do I.

Huh.

“I used to have a panda almost like this when I was a little girl. I named him Dumpling.” I make a face. “Did you know that pandas spend twelve hours a day eating?”

“No. I did not know that.”

“Twelve hours of eating. What a great life that would be.”

His lips twitch.

“Is that you, Bianca Martinelli?”

I turn and see my eleventh-grade teacher, Mrs. Gerstenmayer. Oh my God. I can’t find words for a few seconds as I stare at her. “Um, yes!” I plaster on a big smile. “Hi, Mrs. Gerstenmayer.”

“You’re back! I’m so sorry about your grandmother.”

“Oh, thank you. We all miss her.”

“The entire county misses her. When will her memorial be held?”

“We’re planning it for after harvest.”

“Ah.” She nods. “Argentina! Is that where you still are?”

“Yep.” I smile again. “I’m here to help Rosa and Allegra. You probably heard that Nonna left her winery to us.” Except Allegra’s not even bothering to show up.

“Rumor is that you’re going to sell it to Geno.”

My eyes pop open wide. “What!”

She nods, lips pursed. “That’s what I heard. Oh hello, Ana. Millie. How are you?”

We make some small talk that thankfully doesn’t involve me, and then Mrs. Gerstenmayer moves on.

I slump against Ana. “Why did we have to run into her?” I mumble.

Ana chuckles. “It had to happen sooner or later.”

“Who is that?” Jansen asks.

“Eleventh grade English teacher.” I avoid his eyes. “There was this one night I was hanging out with a bunch of seniors and we maybe drank some beer and smoked a little weed and decided to steal some golf carts from the high school football team and I may have lost control of mine and drove it into her storage shed.”

His eyes widen. He rolls his lips inward. “I see.”

“I had to spend the first part of my summer vacation rebuilding it.” I wince. “Nonna was not happy about that.” It did get me some attention, but I discovered that I didn’t like being in trouble and went back to my nerdy, invisible ways after that.

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