Read 2 Crushed for Free Online

placing
the paper napkin on her lap. She kept her head down, avoiding his gaze.
    Billie glanced around at their glum
faces after the waiter left. "Wow. I sure know how to shut down a party,
don't I? Don't let me ruin your Herbie burgers.” She picked up a fry and dipped
it in ketchup.
    Adam eyed his burger suspiciously.
Back home, a California burger usually had tomato, lettuce, and mayo, but this
one had sprouts poking out the sides. He took the top bun off to dissect the
innards. Besides sprouts, he found sliced green olives and some kind of unknown
sauce, two of his least favorite things. He proceeded to scrap the meat patty
with his knife.
    “Don’t like our local cuisine?”
Margaret asked from her quiet corner.
    “Not especially. I’m more of a
pizza and tacos kind of guy.” He plopped the top bun back down and picked up
the burger. “But I’ll eat most anything.”
    Billie laughed. “Yeah, sure. You’ll
eat anything Mom cooks or a fast food restaurant serves up in paper
wrappers—but anything? I don’t think so.”
    “I’m not picky. I’m discerning.” He
took a big bite to end the critique of his personal tastes.
    “So how’s Davy doing in school this
year, Margaret?” Billie asked, switching gears. “I haven’t seen him around much
lately.”
    “He puts up with it.” Margaret
smiled, her face lighting up. “Obviously he only attends class so he can play
on the soccer team. He’s bouncing that silly ball off his head every time I
turn around.”
    “Or building some crazy structure
with Legos,” Handel added. “I think he’s going to be a wine-making, soccer
playing, architect.”
    “Those are quite diverse
interests,” Adam said, and took another bite of his burger.
    “Well, some of the male species
actually use their brains as well as their brawn.”
    With his mouth full he couldn’t
very well respond, and perhaps that’s what she counted on. Billie caught his
eye and intuited a warning to tread lightly. As if he was the instigator.
    “Davy is really an apt pupil. He’s
learning winemaking faster than I thought possible. Sometimes I feel like he’s
teaching me rather than the other way round,” Billie said.
    Margaret nervously played with the
napkin in her lap again. “That’s probably because he’s been around the winery
his whole life. I worked there too when I was growing up. You learn a lot just
from observing, you know.”
    Why did talk of the winery make her
nervous? Adam watched her between bites, trying not to look as though he was
staring. Was she still traumatized by her father’s return and the revelations
that led to his subsequent arrest? He couldn’t imagine learning that his father
was a child molester. He decided to cut her a little slack. She was human after
all, even if she did look like a goddess.
    Adam took another bite of burger.
He’d scraped off most of the strange ingredients and it was actually pretty
good now. He dipped a fry in ketchup and poked it in his mouth too. He glanced
out the window at clear blue skies. “Doesn’t it ever rain around here? It was
pouring when I left Minneapolis yesterday. Not that I miss it, but it looks kind
of dry here.”
    Margaret sent him a scathing glare
that may have meant she thought his question was totally stupid or she just
didn’t like the sound of his voice. “Rain we can do without. It would damage
the wine berry crop during Crush. One bad season and a winegrower…” She
stopped.
    “Could be out of business,” Billie
finished, her voice soft with worry.
    “I thought rain was good for
crops.”
    “Not when they’re ripe. It can
cause them to rot.”
    They finished eating while making
small talk, bordering on tiny talk. When the waiter cleared the dishes and
brought the check, everyone was eager to go. There wasn’t a mad rush to the
door, but it was a definite beeline. Adam refrained from speaking, afraid he’d
just say the wrong thing again and set Ms. Ice Queen off on a rant. He didn’t
know