Chapter 1
one
. . .
piper
One last check. The notecards are in a stack by my laptop. I grab the cord connected to my laptop and follow it to the projection screen. One of these days I’m going to talk Mom and Dad into getting something that can connect with bluetooth. If not, one of us will trip…and it’ll likely be me.
I take a deep breath and let it out. I’ve got this.
As soon as I’m done with this presentation, everyone will see the direction we need to go with our marketing.
If we want to stay ahead of the other wine brands out there, we need to up our game.
Would it be nice to not have to do all this work?
Yes. It’s just not going to take us where I know my brother wants the company to go, even if he won’t admit it.
We’ve always been a small winery. The local bar and some stores carry our wines, but we need to get outside of Texas and scale up to a national level. I’m hoping my ideas will pique their interest.
“You’re here early.” Pierce, my oldest brother, comes into the room and takes a seat at the table. “We usually have to call you a million times to get you here thirty minutes late.”
I hold my hand out to him. “I’m not letting you ruin my good mood. I needed to make sure my presentation is ready to go for the weekly meeting.”
“I didn’t know this was on the agenda today.” He looks at his phone and scrolls down the screen. “There’s nothing there.”
“Because you’ve deleted it every time I’ve added it to the document.
” Even though he’s doing some things differently than Dad and Grandpa, he refuses to move in a direction that could lead to great returns.
“Today, I’m not giving you that chance. And I want to go first. I don’t want everyone to get bogged down from other things on your list and not listen to what I have to say. ”
He lifts his hand to his chin and taps it. The look is giving villain vibes and I’m not sure he realizes it. “Fine. You can do your presentation when everyone else gets here.”
It’s a minor victory, but I’ll take it for what it is.
I only hope they’ll actually listen to what I have to say.
Beau gave me a pep talk last night when I ran it by him.
At least I have one person in my corner.
It’s too bad he doesn’t work at the winery.
I wonder if Paula would have my back. I’m almost certain she would.
She’s all about bucking the expectations our family had.
All I’m asking for is to be heard. That small act in itself would show me they value my opinion. Nobody ever takes me seriously since I’m the baby of the family. They know what’s best because they have more experience. Or, that’s what they think, anyway.
The rest of my siblings file into the meeting room and take their seats. Well, except Paula. She works at the local flower shop and only steps in with special events. I wish she were here right now. I could actually use her input for some of what I want to do.
Finally, Mom and Dad enter the room. Nerves zing through my entire body. They have to give me a chance, right? I guess there’s only one way to find out.
“Piper has something she’d like to show us before we get started.” Pierce announces to the room and leans on the table.
Did he have to make it sound like I’m a school kid giving a presentation?
I swear he can be such an ass sometimes.
He expects all of us to give him respect as the eldest brother, but doesn’t return the sentiment unless he has to.
Now, I really wish Paula was here. She’s the only person who ever stands up to him.
The rest of my siblings roll over whenever he says something.
I won’t let his choice of words get to me, though. All that matters is showing my family my ideas. He’s not the only one who gets to make decisions.
“There are a few things I think we could improve on when it comes to marketing Starlit Fields and our brand.” I open my laptop and start the presentation.
“We’re a small, family-owned winery and I think it’s something we need to lean into. We also need to up our social media presence.”
My dad opens his mouth, and Pierce is already shaking his head. I don’t know why because neither of them have to do a thing.
“That is something I’ll handle. But we need to let possible customers know we exist outside of Texas. Running ads on billboards and word of mouth are great. But we’ll never be a household name the way Pierce wants us to be unless we meet customers where they are, and that is in online spaces.”
I flip through the next few slides showing them all the statistics of various sites and how many people scroll through them on a daily basis.
“We can always run ads on these sites, but I think if we take it a step further and show them what it’s like to own a small business, we’ll appeal to more people.
They want to know the behind the scenes, and the people who are behind the product they love to consume.
And, I’m the perfect person to lead this up. ”
It’s not a lie. The amount of hours I spend on socials every day probably isn’t good. But I’ve seen the way other small companies are showing up for their customer base, and if we don’t step it up…our wines will never be the ones people grab first when there are a ton of different choices.
The room is silent. I glance around the table at each of my siblings, but they quickly look down. Suddenly their phones are more important. Except for Pierce. His attention hasn’t left me once. The scrutiny is overwhelming, and I shift my attention to Dad.
His focus in on the last slide of the presentation I gave moments ago. I worry he isn’t going to say anything, but finally, he does.
“I don’t know, Piper.” Dad sets his elbows on the table. “All of this seems like a lot of work. Most of us don’t want to have a presence online.”
When he says that, I know he means him and Mom. They like to scroll to find animal memes, but they rarely post anything. Not that I blame them. They prefer the simpler life.
“Not everyone has to be the face of Starlit Fields. I can do most of it without even showing people what we look like, but I think it’s best if we have at least one person the viewers get to know. I’m okay with that being me.”
It’s probably best that it’s me anyway. I’m the bubbliest person in the family, aside from Parker. Actually, he would be a good fit as well. Maybe I can talk him into it if the rest of the family agrees to my plans.
There’s no reason to say no. They won’t have any extra work. It all falls on me. That has to account for something, right?
Pierce glances around the room, and I hold my breath.
Dad has put most of the decision making on him since he’ll be the boss soon.
He has to see that this is a good direction to take the winery.
Especially since he’s all about growth. Though, I think he’s hoping for it on a smaller scale. I’m thinking big picture.
“I appreciate the effort, Piper. I really do.” He pauses and meets my eyes before continuing. “But I don’t think right now is the time for it. We have to gear up for the busy season in Asheville.”
“Seriously.” I can’t help the outburst. I make eye contact with each of my siblings before turning my focus on my big brother.
“You were just talking about growing and trying new things on the family vacation. That’s what I’m trying to do.
We’re never going to be a household name if we don’t take some risks.
It’s not like I’m asking for money to do it.
The only thing I need is time, and I have plenty of that. ”
“You already manage the social media page, and it does fine.”
“But it could be so much better than still images of our wines against a backdrop with information that can be found on the bottle. Please, just give this a chance.”
“I’m sorry, Piper. Now isn’t the time.”
Nor will it ever be if it’s up to him. I close my laptop and turn off the screen before taking my seat at the table.
What I really want to do is storm out. But I’m an adult.
If I did that, they’d still see me as the baby of the family making a scene to get my way.
I refuse to give Pierce the satisfaction.
I pull out my phone and open up the document he sends us every week for this meeting. One of these days he’s going to realize I’m right.
All he’s doing is rehashing things we talk about every week. I tune him out and brainstorm ways I can convince him to let me do what I need to. Finally, he stands and concludes the meeting.
Parker comes up to me after everyone else has left the room. “For what it’s worth, I think your ideas are amazing. Pierce is letting his ego make his decisions.”
“Yeah, he is.” I shove my laptop into my bag. “But you could have had my back. Nobody ever listens to me, but with a little support from a couple of you, he probably would have said yes.”
Parker laughs and leans against the wall. “You know damn well he wouldn’t have budged. He’s a lot like dad and stuck in his ways.”
“You talk about him like he’s an old man.”
“Compared to the rest of us, he is. Maybe we should set him up on a date. That might mellow him out some.”
“Oh my God, I wouldn’t wish a night of boring torture on anyone. I think that might fall under cruel and unusual punishment.” I sling my bag over my shoulder and head toward the door. “I’m going to lunch.”
“Want company?”
Do I? Not really. If he had spoken up for me after my presentation, maybe. Right now, I need to be alone.
“No. I’ll bring something back for you, though.”
“Cool.” He must have noticed my mood. He wraps me in a hug. “Next time I’ll say something.”
“Thanks.”
Little does he know it’s probably too little too late. Pierce won’t give me another chance to ambush them. It’s probably best if I let things settle for a bit anyway. I’ll get another chance…eventually.
As soon as I open the door, heat blasts me. As much as I love summer, it’d be great if it wasn’t a million degrees at any given point in the day. I get in my car and roll the windows down before turning it on and blasting the air conditioner.
It’ll take a few minutes to cool down, but it gives me time to get my shit together.
If I walk into Out of the Ashes in my current mood, there’s no doubt the bartender, Eric, will try to pry information out of me.
He’s like an emotion detector and is determined to get to the bottom of whatever is ailing someone at the moment.
Too bad the only person who can cheer me up works an hour away. He needs a job in town so we can do lunch dates together. It would give me some reprieve when my family is doing everything in their power to squash my dreams.
But, no. Beau has to work for some fancy marketing firm. Doesn’t he know best friends are supposed to be available whenever there’s a problem. I can’t do that with him so far away.
I pick up my phone to send him a text and put it down immediately. He doesn’t need to worry about me while he’s at work. He’ll get all my frustrations soon enough.