Silenced By Syrah (7 page)

And, Andrés. Was she falling in love with him? Oh God. Could you fall in love or be in love with one man and still lust after another? Sure you could. What was the saying—you can look at the menu, you just can’t order? Hmmm. Her stomach fell as the questions within deepened. But could a woman love two men at once? Maybe. No. No. She didn’t think so. Not in her case, anyway.

She took the dirty dishes into the kitchen, Ollie at her heels hoping she’d drop a scrap from dinner. There was nothing left to drop. It had all been so delicious. Andrés could cook, and he was fun, and sweet, and handsome—all of those things. But was he just too much of a good thing, or was he the
good thing
she really wanted? She set the dishes into the sink and turned on her stereo. Bono belted out a line from “Tryin’ to Throw Your Arms around the World” about a woman needing a man like a fish needs a bicycle.

Ten minutes later, her head spinning from wine and too many unanswered questions, she got into her favorite jammies—men’s boxers and an oversized T-shirt—and plopped down on her couch, still listening to U2. Her feet propped up on her distressed wooden coffee table, a pillow underneath them, Ollie resting his head in her lap, surely wishing he were small enough to climb into it. He always tried and she always had to explain to the giant oaf that it was impossible. He’d have to be content with a headrest.

She closed her eyes and let her tired body and mind drift to sleep. She didn’t know how long she’d been like that when Ollie’s incessant barking woke her, along with a loud knock at the door. She got up, rubbed her eyes, and with Ollie pacing at the front door, she peered out. Seeing who it was, she opened the door. There stood Janie—Georges’ Janie—rolling suitcase at her side. She was a mess, her face tear-stained and smeared with mascara, her eyes puffy and swollen. She didn’t look a lot like the golden girl she’d been earlier that day. “Janie?”

She let out a sob. “I’m sorry. I know it’s late, but I couldn’t reach Trevor. His cell must be dead and I know he had to go to a study group tonight for his final on Monday. He doesn’t even know about today. I was with the police until an hour ago, and then I didn’t know where to go. I don’t want to be in my room. I’m scared and I’m . . . Oh God, I don’t know what to do!”

“Come on. Sit down. You’re welcome here.”

“Thank you.” Janie pulled her suitcase in. “I just . . . I don’t know what to do. I know she’s going to try and frame me. I know it, but I can’t tell the police.”

“What? Wait a minute. Who’s going to try and frame you, Janie?”

“His ex-wife. Georges’ ex. Bernadette. She will. You watch. I know she had this done, and it’s so insane because she thinks Georges and I were sleeping together. Can you believe that? God, she has no clue. I wasn’t sleeping with Georges. That’s sick. But no one knows. I mean, I just found out two days ago, but I never even thought of Georges that way, or any way other than as my boss and a good friend and now I know why.”

Nikki shook her head, rubbed her tired eyes, and held up her hand. Was she dreaming? “Stop. Okay? Take a breath. You’re confusing me, Janie. Why would his ex-wife frame you? And what are you talking about? What did you just find out?”

Janie sniffled and ran her fingers through her long blonde strands. “Georges. Bernadette thinks we were screwing around.” She made a disgusted face. “But I knew. I knew he didn’t think of me like that. You know? And, he was so cool about me and Trevor. I knew about the honeymoon and the wedding he wanted to give us. And, I know why. Nikki, you can’t tell anyone this. I’m so scared of what the police will think or do. But I have to tell someone and I can’t even tell my husband. Not until I see him. I was waiting until he came out here on Monday. He’ll totally freak.”

“Okay. I promise. What is it?”
Nikki
was about to
freak
herself on the hysterical young woman.

Janie wiped away her tears and closed her eyes. When she opened them she blurted out, “Georges was my dad.”

Ceviche and Thai Chicken Wraps
with Orogeny Pinot Noir

On a warm summer night with the one you love, or at least think you do—remember the song, “Love the One You’re With”—break out a nice bottle of Orogeny Pinot Noir, whip up some Thai chicken wraps, and have a bowl of ceviche. It makes an excellent summer dinner and the wine melds well with the variety of flavors. Orogeny Pinot Noir is a gem of a wine. It has a nice blend of floral flavors, plums, cherries, vanilla, and spice, which works well with the spice added in these two recipes. The finish on the wine is full and clean.

Ceviche is fish pickled in lime juice. There are many ways of making it; some let the fish marinate in the lime juice before adding the other ingredients, some marinate the lot together. Fresh yellowtail and tuna are both delicious prepared this way, and sole, sea bass, and red snapper are other common choices. You can also use shrimp or scallops.

 

 

Cut fish into approximately 10-15mm cubes. Slice the onions into rings; chop the tomatoes, chilies, and cilantro as finely as possible. Squeeze the limes. Mix together, season with salt and pepper to taste, and let stand for at least an hour at room temperature, turning frequently to ensure that the fish is evenly treated by the lime juice, which “cooks” or pickles it. Refrigerate until ready to serve. It will keep overnight with no problem, though 24 hours is probably the limit. Pour off any excess lime juice before serving with tortillas or tostadas, on salty biscuits, in tacos, or with avocados. Enjoy.

 

 

CHICKEN FILLING

 

Heat a grill pan over high heat. Toss chicken with soy sauce, oil, and grill seasoning and grill 6 minutes on each side.

 

VEGETABLE FILLING

Combine cucumber, sprouts, carrots, scallions, basil, mint, and sesame seeds with a generous sprinkle of sugar and vinegar. Season salad with salt, to taste.

 

SPICY PEANUT SAUCE

 

Whisk peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, and cayenne together. Stream in vegetable oil, continuing to whisk till thoroughly combined.

 

Slice cooked chicken on an angle. Toss with veggies and herbs.

Tear off leaves of lettuce, wash and dry.

Pile chicken and veggies in lettuce wraps and drizzle liberally with spicy peanut sauce before rolling.

Chapter 6

Nikki had to sit down for this. Ollie followed suit. Janie remained standing until Nikki insisted she have a seat on the chair across from her. “Wait. Um, let me get you something to drink, okay? Water, wine—got lots of that—or, uh, tea?”

“Yes, please. Tea would be nice.” Janie sniffled and blinked her eyes several times.

Nikki went into the kitchen, put on the kettle, then thought better of it. No time to wait for hot water. This girl was in her own version of hot water. Nuke it. She put two mugs of water in the microwave and reached for a box of chamomile. Calming right? Yes. Calming was in order. Holy cow, just ten minutes ago she was sleeping off the bad effects of the day and then whammo, the day was apparently not over.

The microwave beeped. Nikki did a quick dunk of tea bags, tossed in a teaspoon of Splenda, and took her place across from Janie after handing her the warmed brew. Nikki took a sip, set her cup down, and grabbed her throw off the back of her sofa, wrapping it around herself. “Okay, now Janie, it has been a grueling day for all of us and I know you and Georges were really close, but I think you may be confused or in shock.”

“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “I’m not in shock. I swear. I know it sounds totally bizarre and it is, but it’s the truth. Georges was my dad and I only found out two days ago.”

Nikki bit her lower lip. The young woman seemed to be sober, coherent, upset—yes, but certain about what she was telling her. “Then maybe we need to go back to two days ago.”

Janie nodded, her eyes welling up again. Nikki leaned forward and patted her knee. “Have some tea. Kick your shoes off and just breathe for a minute. Here, take the blanket. You look a little cold.”

Janie cracked a weak smile as she wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. “Do you have kids?”

“No.”

“My mom used to make sure I kept warm.” Janie’s face lit up. “She always worried so much about me. She was awesome. I could talk to her about anything, you know. She was cool. She took me to my first concert when I was twelve. It was Pearl Jam. I mean, how cool is that? She was really young when she had me. But she didn’t give me up for adoption. She did it all by herself. I miss her. You remind me of her. You’d be a good mother.”

“Thanks.” Wait a minute. Hold on a minute. Nikki looked at Janie. Shit. She could actually be old enough to be Janie’s mom. Sure she probably would have been fourteen, but it was possible. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-one.”

Oooh. That hurt. That meant Nikki would have been fifteen, nearly sixteen. She shook her head, tossing the thought aside, and focused again on the matter at hand. “Why don’t we go back to two days ago, like I said?”

“We might want to go back even further,” Janie replied.

Nikki nodded, with no idea where Janie was going, but all of a sudden she knew it was going to be a really long night. Damn. Probably should have made some coffee instead of herbal tea.

Janie took a tissue from her purse and blew her nose. “You can probably guess that my mom is gone. She died last year.”

“I’m sorry.”

“She had breast cancer. She was thirty-nine. How wrong is that?”

“Very.”

“No kidding. But, um, she made me who I am. She had me at nineteen and did it on her own. She always told me that my dad was just some guy she met and hung out with for like a week or two, and you know what, I was okay with that. She said that he didn’t want a kid, and who wants a dad who doesn’t want a kid? Not me. Now I know that my dad didn’t know about me, but I’m cool with that. I’m not mad at my mom. Georges, my dad, was married to his first wife when they screwed around and Mom felt bad, and then we moved to San Diego and life was good for us. We lived at the beach and it was just me and my mom. She had cool friends and I had friends and we had a neat apartment, but after I graduated from high school she wanted to move up here.” Janie picked up her tea. With the back of her free hand she wiped her face.

“Why?” Poor kid. That’s really all she was, a poor kid. Here she’d lost the only parent she knew and now,
this . . .

“That was the weird part about it, but now I get it.”

“What is that?”

“I always liked cooking. Funny, huh? I guess it’s true that some things are inherited from your family, and I didn’t get good grades in school, but I always wanted to be a chef. My mom wanted me to come to San Fran and go to Le Cordon Bleu. We moved here and I applied. She was already sick, but she wasn’t telling me just how sick. She got me an interview with Georges, who hired me as his assistant. He didn’t know who I was then. My mom told him some line about us needing money and since they were old friends and all, but I think deep down Georges knew. I guess she didn’t tell him right away because she felt afraid or pressured. I’m not sure which or why.”

“Maybe she wanted to see if Georges was still the man she remembered, see if he was someone worthy of being your dad, before springing it on him.” Nikki sat up at the edge of the sofa. Ollie groaned beneath her as her foot brushed against him.

“I think it was something like that.”

Nikki shook her head. “Do you want something to eat?”

“No. Thank you. My stomach hurts too bad. I don’t think I could eat a thing right now.”

“Let me know.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Did your mom stay in touch with Georges over the years?”

“No. I don’t think so. I think when she moved us up here though, she planned everything out. She searched out Georges and hoped for the best so that she could die knowing that I still had a parent.”

“That must have been hard for her seeing how she raised you by herself. But I can understand her wanting to have you cement a relationship with your dad.”

“Uh-huh.” She looked away and Nikki thought she might start crying again. She was so fragile, and understandably so, but Nikki needed her to keep talking. Janie knew something about Georges’ murder, that much she was certain of.

“How long after he hired you did Georges find out the truth?”

“He told me that he found out only two weeks before my mom died. He said that she came to him and told him she was dying and that I was his child. He didn’t believe it at first and asked her why she waited so long. She told him why, and then she told him that she’d wanted the two of us to get to know each other first before letting us learn the truth. That way we wouldn’t have the pressure of knowing our tight connection.”