The Chateau Meroux

I am just leaving Ice Cream Palace.

You'd better hurry up, 'cause I'm getting ready to crack the first bottle.

What are you doing?

Well, I'm just hanging up these amazing flyers that my best friend made me.

I should be getting good at it by now.

I mean, this is business number what?

I have no idea. I can't count past 10 without my shoes off.

Why are you starting without me?

I thought we were having a fun girls' night.

I figured that we'd pop in

some "Sex and the City" DVDs when you get home

and we can throw olives at the screen

every time one of the girls gets screwed over by some douchebag.

Okay, so I'm guessing you're still not over Sean, huh?

It's my own fault, you know? I should have never let you set me up

with one of your lowlife friends, let alone one with a six-pack.

Okay, be nice. I just maxed out my credit cards buying you Chunky Monkey.

I think this is my first client. I'll see you at home.

Hello.

Yes, this is Wendy.

Yes, he's my father.

A heart attack.

Wow.

And you haven't seen him or spoken to him in a long time, right?

Huh-uh, not since I was 12.

He cheated on your mom, didn't he?

Yeah, she was never the same.

I mean, he always used to send

Christmas cards and birthday cards

and my mom would just send them back.

Well, at least he sent cards.

I mean, some dads don't even do that.

Yeah, but sending cards...

not really a way to have a relationship with your daughter.

Now I have all these papers to sign.

I don't even know why I'm crying.

Look, we'll make a girls' weekend out of it.

I'll pack up all the junk food we have in the house

and we'll get you nice and drunk before you sign anything.

Sounds great.

Oh man, you're gonna kill me.

I left all the Chunky Monkey in the street.

We'll get some more.

# Come on, come on #

# Hide and seek and find me #

# Come on, come on #

# Fast-forward, rewind me #

# Come on, come on #

# Before I'm gone gone gone #

# Go on, go on #

# Take a picture of me #

# Go on, go on... #

So I have an insensitive question to ask.

Hmm?

Do you think you're gonna get anything out of all this?

You know, I don't know. From what I remember,

my dad was not so good with money.

Sounds like the apple didn't fall far from that tree.

Hey, I pay my rent on time.

Since when?

Okay, maybe I need to have

the occasional odd job to get me through until I find something...

Wait, occasional? Let's not rewrite history here, okay?

Since I've known you, you've sold organic coffee,

painted landscapes, told fortunes,

and my personal favorite... juggled fire in the Castro district.

Hey, do you know how hard it was to catch those batons?

You singed off both of your eyebrows.

Look, my point is

you learned how to catch them

and then you moved on to something else.

I'm barely in the second phase of the grieving process

and you're already barking at me.

I think we're close.

We just made a wrong turn somewhere around that pizza stain,

which puts us

one fingernail away.

Okey-doke.

You are not still mad.

You called me financially irresponsible.

Okay, fine.

I promise under the penalty of perjury

to never give Wendy Rollins monetary advice

unless it is expressly asked for.

Thank you.

Now go get us some trash mags and I'll fill up your tank with gas.

Deal.

Oh, you stupid

devil-worshipping machine.

I'll give you one last chance.

Why?

You would not be beeping if I had a hammer right now.

I swear to God, I would smash you into a million pieces.

Ugh.

What did you just do?

Looked like you were having some serious trouble.

I would have figured something out.

Maybe try some panhandling up at the interstate?

Hey, don't knock panhandlers. They make more than minimum wage

and they don't pay taxes.

Well, sorry if I offended you. I was just trying to help.

I see you're making friends.

Hi, I'm Jennifer.

Chris. Nice to meet you.

He just bought us a tank of gas.

Oh, was your credit card declined again?

I'm now officially mortified.

Well, at the risk of causing you any more embarrassment,

I'd better go. I didn't get your name.

You know, we're just passing through.

And I don't really give my name to strangers.

Okay, well, you two have a good day.

- You, too. - Bye.

- Ow. - What is wrong with you?

- That really hurt. - Never give your name to strangers?

- Really? - What, you've never heard that before?

Um, when I was five.

He was nice and cute.

I don't care. I'm not gonna give my name to some gas jockey.

Did you see his car?

That boy does not pump gas.

Seriously, you need to drop it.

No, not until you admit

you were stupid for not getting his number.

Don't give me that look. I could stand here all day.

Fine.

- I was stupid. - Yeah, you were.

You're pushing it.

Oh, my gosh.

Whoa. Why didn't you tell me you were rich?

I had no idea.

Well, just remember I'm your best friend and I love you dearly.

I'm sorry, I've forgotten your name.

- I'm Roy Hutchinson. - Hi.

You must be Wendy.

Yes. This is Jennifer.

- She's my entourage. - Charmed.

Let me first offer my condolences.

So what do you think?

It's amazing.

This is not how I remember it at all.

Your father was very clear, Wendy.

He's left you everything...

the chateau, the winery... everything here that you can see.

I don't know what to say.

I mean, my father and I hadn't spoken in years.

Well, he spoke about you constantly.

Jerry especially loved the story about Wendy

running around the vineyards, eating grapes and then throwing them up.

Yeah.

Let's go inside, shall we?

In accordance with your father's wishes,

he was cremated.

He asked that his ashes be scattered in the vineyard.

Before you sign anything,

I thought you should know a little bit about the chateau.

The premium label is the Chateau Meroux merlot.

It's a bit pricey, but consistently wins gold medals.

- That's cool. - Yeah.

Due to the recession, however,

sales are less than a quarter of what they should be.

The chateau has been surviving drawing on your father's

- million-dollar line of credit. - A million-dollar line of credit?

Well, it's almost as good as a black card.

I don't know anything about wine.

Your father didn't know anything about wine either

when he first started.

Your head winemaker Francois...

he is a pro. He's the key to the merlot's success.

The only question is, do you want to go in the wine business?

I don't even know how to balance a checkbook.

How am I supposed to turn a winery around?

If you'd prefer, we could put the chateau on the market.

But given the state of the debts, you'd barely break even.

Okay.

The keys.

And the company credit cards.

I know this is a lot to digest.

Take some time to think it over.

I need to know by Monday.

- Did he say Monday? - Today is Friday.

Okay.

Could you...?

Wait, I'm... I'm all over it.

Who the hell is that?

I have no idea.

Hey. Hey.

- Jennifer. - I'm not gonna throw hard.

What the...?

What did you do that for?

You, out of the pool.

- What are you doing? - I'll handle this.

I've dealt with vagrant freeloaders all my life. You've met my brothers.

- Hi. - Hi.

- I'm Wendy. - And the ball thrower is?

Jennifer. What are you doing in my friend's pool?

Your pool?

- Are you Jerry's daughter? - Yes, she is.

Oh, great meeting you.

- I'm Romario. - Of course you are.