“No problem,” he said. “Happy to help.”
Elliot smiled at him and then looked at Margot.
“See? Aren’t I good at hiring? On top of everything else, he’s good with his hands.”
Margot bit her lip, hard.
“Um, you had a question for me, Elliot? Let’s head back into my office.” She walked toward the door to the back. “Thanks again, Luke.”
“No problem.” He grinned at her, and she looked away. Were her cheeks a little flushed?
“Hi!” Luke heard and turned toward the front door, and saw a couple standing there. “We have an appointment at eleven?”
He smiled and beckoned them inside.
“Welcome to Noble Family Vineyards. I’m Luke.”
The first appointment of the day went great—two older couples, obviously relaxed and happy. The men didn’t pay that much attention to him, and the women beamed at him. They didn’t ask many questions and then surprised him by buying two cases of wine between them. Okay, at least his first solo appointment was a success.
At ten minutes to noon, while the eleven o’clock appointment was still relaxing and drinking the last of their wine, the front door opened.
“Hi. We have a noon appointment, but we’re early,” one of the three Black women at the door said. “Is that okay?”
Luke looked down at the reservation list and smiled at them.
“No problem. Monroe, party of three? I’ll get you set up over at this nook in the corner, if that works for the three of you?”
“This definitely works for us,” the shortest of the three said when they followed him over to the corner. “But only two of us will be tasting today. Is that all right?” She nodded at her friends. “I’m sure these two will more than make up for me, though.”
The other two erupted in laughter as they all sat down.
“Look, you were the one who decided to do a spa getaway in Wine Country when you were four months pregnant, okay?” the third one said. “We’re just trying to be polite and keep the wine away from you.”
“Mmm, polite,” the pregnant one said. “That’s not a word I usually use to describe you, Maddie.”
Luke smiled at the three of them. He could already tell they’d be a fun group.
“Let me get you your first glasses of wine,” he said. He nodded at the pregnant one. “And some sparkling water?”
She grinned at him.
“Please. Thank you.”
By the time he got them set up with wine and snacks and water, the other noon appointment had arrived. And as soon as they walked in, Luke knew these people were exactly whom he’d been dreading.
Two white couples, male-female pairs, all of whom looked to be around his age or a little older. He could tell a show-off from a mile away—probably because he’d been one for a while there, until the even bigger show-offs he’d worked with had made him see the error of his ways. One of these guys was definitely here to show the world, and especially the people he was with, just how much he knew about wine. Great.
“Welcome to Noble Family Vineyards,” Luke said. “Do you have a reservation?”
He hoped the answer would be no, that they weren’t the Christopher, party of four, on the schedule, and he could turn them away. But he knew he wouldn’t be so lucky.
“Christopher, party of four,” the show-off said. Luke almost felt bad about mentally labeling him the show-off until his next words. “You must be Elliot Noble, the winemaker.”
Luke could feel the frozen smile on his face.
“Nope, I’m not that fortunate,” he said. “I’m Luke Williams, I just work here.”
“Oh.” He looked taken aback that there were apparently two Black men in Wine Country. “Well, is Elliot here to talk to us? And can we sit at those couches in the corner?” He gestured to the corner where the three Black women were sitting.
“Oh, unfortunately, there’s a party already sitting there,” Luke said to him in an even voice, like maybe the three women laughing and talking ten feet away from them were invisible to this dude in some way. “I’ll see if Mr. Noble is available. Why don’t you all sit down here, and I’ll get you your first glasses of wine?”
He’d noticed both Taylor and Margot do this, refer to Elliot as “Mr. Noble” around annoying guests who asked to talk to him in that demanding way, like they were summoning him to an audience. To normal guests, they just called him Elliot. No matter what, though, it was rare for Elliot to drop into the tasting room to talk to people—he was usually too busy working.