Darknight(71)

Her eyes widened. Sydney had a pretty good idea of the market value of things, and I could practically see her adding up the numbers in her head as she gave the belt another once-over while Anthony went with Connor into the kitchen. Another approving nod, and she mouthed keeper at me even as the guys came into the living room with the wine and some glasses.

Anthony had brought a bottle from the tasting room where he worked, and so the conversation just sort of naturally drifted to wine and winemaking and all the opportunities opening up in the Verde Valley. Things were booming, according to him, and he was hoping to hit the ground running once he was done with getting his viticulture certification in June.

“Well,” Connor said easily, swirling the wine in his glass in a contemplative way, “if you hear about any good opportunities for investment — land opening up, someone with some vines who wants to sell their property — let me know. Maybe we could work something out. I don’t know much about wine growing, but I always thought it would be an interesting business to be in. And if I had an expert running things….”

Anthony didn’t need any more of an opening than that. “I’ll definitely keep my eyes open. More property changes hands than you might think. People dream about owning a vineyard but don’t realize how much work it actually takes. But if you’re serious — ”

“I am,” Connor said.

I raised an eyebrow at him, and he just gave me a half-smile. This was the first I’d heard of any ambitions in that direction. Then again, Connor did like and appreciate wine, and knew a good deal about it. And Goddess knows that he didn’t seem to be lacking for cash. Maybe he thought that now the Verde Valley wasn’t completely off-limits to him, he could pursue something he hadn’t had a chance to before. I certainly wasn’t going to protest. Owning a winery sounded like a pretty great idea to me.

Besides, any indication of long-range planning for the future meant there was hope, that maybe we’d find a way through our current mess and have an actual life together.

Sydney had been uncharacteristically quiet during most of this conversation, but after we were done with the wine and were bundling up to head out to dinner, she whispered, “What, is Connor rich, too?”

I nodded, winding a scarf around my throat.

“Some people have all the luck,” she muttered, and finished buttoning up her coat.

If you only knew, I thought. Not that I didn’t love being with Connor. I did — I loved both him and being with him, which was not always easy to pull off, no matter what the books and movies might have to say on the subject. But I wouldn’t wish our particular baggage on anyone, let alone my best friend. I’d rather Connor were poor and curse-free than rolling in cash. From what I could tell, their wealth hadn’t made the Wilcoxes particularly happy.

I pushed those thoughts out of my mind, though, as we headed outside and over to the next street where the restaurant was located. The sidewalks were already crowded with people, making the icy night feel warmer than it really should. It had warmed up for a day or two, just enough to melt a lot of the snow down in the city proper, but temperatures still dropped into the single digits overnight.

The restaurant was packed, but since we had reservations, we only had to wait about five minutes for a table to be ready. I looked around as we were seated, but I didn’t see anyone I recognized from the Wilcox holiday potluck. Not that that meant much; about the only two I could probably pick out of a lineup were Lucas and Marie, and while Lucas had seemed like the cheery sort who might brave downtown Flagstaff on New Year’s, I couldn’t say the same thing for Marie. Maybe the Wilcoxes had a New Year’s get-together of their own. If they did, I wasn’t sorry to be missing it.

After that, though, I tried not to think about Connor’s family, or what they might be doing at this particular moment. It was enough to peruse the menu, to discuss the options — the restaurant offered Spanish food, but with some southwestern touches — and talk about places we’d eaten and the sort of things we liked. Sedona was actually common ground for all four of us, since we’d all been there at various times, and we made a pact to meet there in the near future and brave the lines at Elote.

Dinner took a while because the restaurant was so crowded. It was almost ten by the time we headed back out, and it seemed as if even more people were flocking to the downtown area.

“They do realize we have almost two hours to go until midnight, right?” I inquired plaintively after someone almost ran over my foot with a stroller. Who the heck brings a stroller to a New Year’s Eve celebration anyway?