One night she’d entered the kitchen of the main house and found the vineyard’s chef short-handed. Her offer to help had been gratefully accepted and Serena discovered she had both a love and an aptitude for cooking. The next day, the master vintner, Ian Sinclair, who was said to be secretly involved with Laura, the chef, offered her a hybrid position, spending part of her day working in the vines and the other part working with Laura.
By the end of the harvest season, Serena knew it was time to move on. Earthly Spirits had offered her a respite and some clarity about what she wanted to do with her life—nothing corporate and something creative. Hoping to find a way to combine her love of cooking with her passion for graphic design, she’d applied to and been accepted by the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon.
“Serena, won’t you please stay on?” Ian asked.
“No, but thank you for everything, Ian. I feel so lucky to have landed here. You people have been like a family to me when I needed one the most. But it’s time for me to move on,” she answered.
“Do you know what you’re going to do?”
“Yes, I start classes on Monday at the Oregon Culinary Institute. Thanks to Laura, they waived some of the requirements for me to enter.”
Ian turned and looked at Laura. “So, this is your fault.”
Laura grinned. “I’m afraid so. I offered her a paid internship, but she turned me down.”
“It’s not that I’m not grateful for everything…”
“But this isn’t home. I understand,” said Laura graciously. “I get it. I had a great position in Galveston but always knew it wasn’t home. Sometimes, we just have to listen to that internal compass when it tells us that it’s time to move on.”
“Thank you for understanding. I feel like when I came here I had been battered and bruised and might never want to fly again. All of you have helped me to find myself and given me a desire to spread my wings. Earthly Spirits will always hold a special place in my heart, but I just feel a need to move on. I need to explore my journey as a chef and see if I can’t combine it with my graphic design business.”
“I do understand,” said Ian. “Jameson and I walked away from our old life with a handful of people and founded Earthly Spirits. I hope you find what you’re looking for and that happiness, and not some job, is your end goal. Please know you’ll always have a place here. We’d welcome you back with open arms.”
Jameson was Ian’s younger brother. As affable as he could seem to the rest of the world, Jameson Sinclair ruled the vineyard with an iron hand. There was a velvet glove all right, but his word was law, even though some of the women at the vineyard seemed to take fiendish delight in bedeviling him.
Earthly Spirits was an interesting place to work. The brothers Sinclair had a far more intimate relationship with their employees than any place she’d ever been employed and, for the most part, it worked. Many of the couples at the vineyard were clearly involved in D/s relationships, and she’d learned more about that lifestyle than she ever thought she’d wanted to know.
At first, she’d been put off, but had eventually come to accept it, and had later become intrigued. Now, she wondered if a dominant partner might not be right up her alley… but she had a lot of things to accomplish before she ever considered that.
“Are you sure we can’t change your mind?” asked Laura. “You’ll be missed.”
“Laura’s right,” said Ian. “Your talent was wasted picking grapes. We could create a hybrid position, splitting your time between working in the office and cooking up here with Laura. I know Leo would love to have your help with designing marketing campaigns. We could even ensure you had time to work on your book covers.”
One of the first indications she’d had that she was finding her way back to herself was when she shared her book covers with her co-workers. They were all incredibly supportive and urged her not to give them up. Serena genuinely liked her employers and would miss them, her co-workers, and the beautiful vineyard on which she’d lived, worked and grown.
“No but thank you again. You have given me far more than you will ever know.”
She put the last of her things into her beat-up Volkswagen Cabriolet convertible and with a final wave started the engine, put it in gear, and drove north to her new life.
After completing the intensive thirty-four-week training and three-hundred-and-sixty-hour externship, Serena received her degree and was back on the road again. She’d loved every minute of the school itself, but her externship at one of the city’s top restaurants had proven that fine dining was not for her in the long term.
While reading the news online, she’d seen a small ad for a diner in Looking Glass Falls, Idaho. Not expecting much, Serena had called on a whim and introduced herself to Wes, the owner of the Trail Diner. He’d been hoping to find someone with both the brains and passion for the business as well as the food, someone who could buy him out when he was ready to retire, and she’d been looking for a fresh start and to make something her own. It seemed a bit too good to be true, but still she’d accepted his offer immediately.
On a hot, late summer day, she rolled into town. Her drive in had reminded her how beautiful the panhandle of Idaho was. Quickly enough, Wes—and the whole town really—welcomed her with open arms. For a while, she rented a beautiful river-side cottage that belonged to FBI Special Agent Trey Mitchell.
Serena still recalled her conversation with Wes when she decided she wanted to start designing romance covers on the side again.
“Hey, Wes? Can I talk to you?”
“Sure thing, kiddo. What’s up?”
“You remember I told you I used to work for a law firm in Seattle?”
He nodded. “Yeah and some uptight lawyer got a stick up his butt and got you fired for doing your artwork.”
“Well, it was and is pretty steamy stuff…”
“Who cares? I looked up some of the books you did covers for online and, while I’m no judge, I thought they were great. You finally going to start doing that again?” When she nodded, he said, “Good for you.”
“I thought I could save whatever I make and when you get ready to retire, I’ll have a good down payment.”
“You do what makes you happy, kiddo. I knew from the second week you were here, I’d either sell to you or close it down. You’ve been a godsend to me and don’t think I haven’t noticed how many folks stop in from out of town.”
“I like feeding people. I like being part of the community. I’ve come to love Looking Glass Falls.”
“And it loves you right back. Man, I don’t know what those firefighters who took on that wildfire would have done if you hadn’t gone out to cook for them…”
“They’d have made do, but it was nice to feel like I contributed.” She couldn’t help the proud smile that lit her face.
“I thought for a while I might lose you to that one fellow. He seemed kind of sweet on you.”
Serena could feel a blush creep up her cheeks. “He wanted a far more serious relationship than I was ready for, and he wanted me to move with him. Looking Glass Falls has become my home.”