Sideways Read Free Page A

critical, Miles.”
    “Someone’s got to have standards around here.”
    She laughed and we touched glasses. “Where’s Jack?”
    “Should be here any minute.” I reflexively checked my watch. An hour had disappeared like the flare of a match.
Have to slow down
, I cautioned myself.
    “Are you leaving from here?” Dani asked. Her voice sounded a little like it was trying to reach me from underwater.
    “Yeah. I’m getting an early start.” I raised my glass to the impending trip, the promising news from my agent, and the feeling of warmth that had by now blanketed me. “I’m taking a week off and doing nothing but tasting wines and breathing fresh air.”
    “Sounds like fun. Wish I could come.”
    “When are you and Roger getting married?” I asked, referring to her handsome investment banker fiancé.
    “This December.”
    “Really? That’s great.” I tried to offer my congratulations with conviction, but even I could faintly make out a tinge of disappointment in my voice. Maybe I was infatuated with Dani because the only times I ever interacted with her were when I had a wine buzz going, but even on paper she was something special: wine lover, athlete, gourmet cook; what more could a guy want?
    “Yeah,” she was saying, her words coming back into my consciousness, “we’re going to take the plunge.” Without looking, she reached around for more of the Rochioli and topped both of us off, eliciting a snort of disdain from the beleaguered rep. We ignored her and carried on.
    “Like this Pinot, Dani?”
    “Mm hm.” Dani made a face that underscored her pleasure. Her attention was drawn over my shoulder again. “Some woman keeps looking over here.”
    “Really?” I didn’t bother to look. “Probably because she thinks I’m with you, her interest has rekindled.” I stole a quick glance at the blonde Carl was chatting up. “Carl’ll try to seduce her with his ’97 Caymus Special Selection. If
premiers crus
Bordeaux.”
    Dani threw back her head of short auburn hair and laughed hard. “So, what’s happening with your novel?”
    “Thirty-five rejections and counting. They just keep pouring in.”
    “No,” Dani empathized.
    “But thirty-six might be the charm. Just spoke to my agent. Editor at some small publishing house expressed serious interest. He’s passing it upstairs to the buttonpushers as we drink.”
    “I want to read it,” Dani insisted, a weekly refrain she never followed up on.
    “She’s got a good feeling this time,” I said.
    Dani bent closer to me until our faces were almost touching. Her breath smelled piquantly of wine and stinky French cheeses. I misinterpreted her gesture and turned my mouth toward hers for the kiss that I delusively thought she was offering.
    “He’s going for the kill,” she whispered instead, thwarting me mid-kiss.
    I threw a backward glance and glimpsed Jerry the dentist brushing the dark-headed woman’s hair back off her forehead and gazing into her eyes in a way that could only be described as adoringly. Next to them, roly-poly Carl appeared to be making headway with her blond cohort. I flashed to a vision of a frolicking foursome, whisked off to Carl’s nearby condo to partake of his small, but wellstocked, cellar. As if it hadn’t been clear already, now it was a fait accompli that I was out of the picture. No doubt Jerry had already informed his mark that I was a chronically unemployed writer, which was usually about all it took to get desirable women to steer clear of me at all
    I turned back to Dani, shaking my head scornfully. “Amount of wine those guys have been drinking, I doubt either of them could get an erection.”
    Dani poured off more of the Rochioli, filling our small tasting glasses to the rim, before the others could get their mitts on it. As the tastings drew to a close, and the bottles grew depleted, selfishness became the common mantra of the afternoon.
    “I’m happy for you and Roger,” I heard myself say. “But