Dinner with M & M

“Tracy please don’t try to back out. This is Mike’s cousin and he just moved here. He needs to meet people and make friends. You don’t have to fall in love with him.”

“Meghan, I am not trying to back out. I just said I was a bit behind and I am tired. So I wont be able to stay late.” I was trying to tidy up my desk so I could leave and was not looking forward to being set up with Mike’s cousin. He was probably just as cheesy as Mike. Dinner with the M&M duo was fun but they both had way too much energy and although Meghan and I had been friends since high school, she had always had more energy than me.

“Good, because we got our latest shipment from Bright Cellars and I am dying to know what you think of the new Merlot that came.”

“Ok, that I can get enthusiastic about.” I couldn’t help but smile. “I will see you as soon as I can get out of here. Bye.”

I managed to find a parking spot on the street close to Meghan and Mike’s apartment building and hoped I hadn’t kept everyone waiting too long as I darted across the street to their building. I dialled in their suite number and waited for the usual greeting.

“You rang…” Mike drawled out in his Lurch impression. Did he ever think it was once too many?

“I made it.” I shouted as I reached for the door handle in anticipation of the buzzer.

“Great, at least your here so we can open the wine.” He said and then pressed the buzzer to release the door. Goodness, had they all been waiting just for me to open a bottle of wine?

I got to the door just as Meghan opened it and ushered me in. “It’s totally ok that your late. Mike’s cousin was held up to and wont be here for another few minutes.”

“Oh and here I was thinking it was my wine palate you were all waiting on.” I chuckle as I take off my coat and hang it on the coat hooks that resemble a tree perched in the corner. One thing I have to say about the M&M duo is they both have great taste in home decor. Just the right things in just the right spots with a style that suited them and the apartment perfectly. I always felt better when I got there and could relax and enjoy the time. I think it was more the energy and effort it took for me to get there and then to get home after that was making me not want to go at times.

“Silly Tracey, we know your not a sommelier and we don’t expect you to be. We just know you still haven’t found the mystery merlot yet and we want to help.” Meghan made air quotes with her hands when she said mystery merlot with an silly sing song sound.

I roll my eyes, knowing full well they just love to tease me about my search for a merlot that tasted like the one I had tried in California a couple of years back. I had gone to LA for a business trip and when I was having dinner with a client I had not paid attention to the name of the wine. I would have asked the waiter but something about him had made me speechless. He was handsome and charming, but it was more about the way he looked at me that made me unable to think clearly. Meghan teases me that I was under a spell and the merlot tasted so great because I was drinking a love potion. Either way it didn’t work. I never saw him again and I never tasted another merlot so good. I think I fell in love with the merlot not the waiter and certainly not the client. Global consulting sent me to many locations around the world but mostly around North America. So I had been able to search for the mystery merlot easier than a relationship. Dating took time and I just didn’t care to change my focus from work and wine to ‘the perfect guy’. Not that wine was a big priority, just that I enjoy a good wine and would love to know what that merlot was. All I could remember , other than the wonderfully dark yet fruity taste, was that it was a merlot.

The sound of the door intercom being pressed broke through the teasing jibes I was getting and Mike moved quickly to the phone on the wall. “You rang…” He drawled in his Lurch impression yet again.

“Don’t you get tired of that?” I said to Meghan as I reached for the glass of merlot she was handing me.

“No way!” She exclaimed “It is his signature thing. He is so cute when he is trying to be funny.”

“Oh you got it bad.” I reached over and patted her shoulder and tilted my head in a dramatic bob. “What’s it been now, eighteen months?”

“Twenty three actually, and we love each other.” She was lifting her chin in defiant rebuttal, “I am not just saying he’s cute, I mean it. I can’t get enough of him and wouldn’t change a thing.”

“I am only teasing.” I say with a smile and shake my head lightly. I lift the glass of wine to my nose and breath in the fragrant nectar. “Hmm smells great.”

“Well that’s promising.” Mike says as he passes behind me towards the door. “And now for the final piece of your puzzle.” He says in a sinister voice as he opens the door and we can hear the elevator doors opening. “Marky!” He yells just seconds later and steps out into the hallway with his arms spreading wide. Clearly he and his cousin are close.

“Mike, get off me!!” We hear loud and clear from the hallway. Meghan bursts out laughing and steps toward the door to see what is happening in the hallway.

“Oh Mike seriously, your going to hurt him.” She steps out into the hallway.

I remember my glass of wine and take the first sip, expecting it to be the average merlot but instead it is the burst of flavour I remember. I draw air in through my mouth over the wine and am amazed. I swallow and look at the liquid in my glass closely. Can it really be the same wine? I try another sip and roll it around in my mouth, closing my eyes. It is, it has to be. Either that or it is a very close approximation. I am standing in the kitchen with my eyes closed and probably a look of pure enjoyment on my face, when I suddenly realize I am not alone. I open my eyes to see three people standing just inside the doorway staring at me. Two of them with silly grins and wide eyes and the third also wide eyed but with his mouth open. As my grandmother would have said, he was catching flies.

I lowered my glass and gave a cheesy wide grin. Raised my free hand mid way and rolled my fingers in a wave. “Hey.”

“Well the wine is working.” Meghan said as she walked passed me into the kitchen to finish fixing dinner to take to the table.

“Tracy, this is my cousin Marcus.” Mike said as he turned and gently lifted Marcas's chin to close his mouth. “Dude, your drooling.” He then walked over to give Meghan a hand.

“Shall we eat?” Meghan said as she carried a large covered dish to the dining room past me.

“Ya, let’s ah…” I can’t remember the words, I can’t for the life of me remember what to say.

“Head for the dining room table?..” Mike chimed in as he passed me with another covered dish. He had a look on his face that told me both Marcus and I were in for a whole lot of teasing.

I looked at my wine glass and thought, “at least you didn’t tease me.” And I walked over to the table to sit down.

Marcus followed me and as he sat down he cleared his throat, “Have you ever been to the Oasis restaurant in LA?” Even as he was saying the name I knew it was him. The waiter who had served me the mystery merlot.

“Ok that is just to crazy.” I said as I looked him in the eye. “I suppose you suggested this merlot to M&M, am I right?”

“How did you know that?” Marcus said with an almost odd tilt to his head and narrowing of his eyes.

I laughed, lifted my glass to Meghan and said, “Damn your good at solving mysteries. Here’s to you two, the merlot and Marcus, the waiter.” I said as I turned and raised the glass towards Marcus.

Marcus grinned from ear to ear and raised his glass too. M&M looked at each other and burst out laughing as they raised their glasses with us.