Barrel nodded and quickly went to the kitchen. He made a quick check of the items in the oven, then immediately went to the pantry to look for the wine. They usually had at best a few bottles at any given time. Barrel glanced to the top shelf and quickly realized he wasn't sure what she liked. Red? White? Would it matter? Did Agatha follow [i]any[/i] of the long and complex dinner rules that the vampires allegedly did? He heard horror stories from Lock about how particular they were about using the right fork and which wine went with which food. Would Agatha notice or care? Normally, the trio just picked a bottle to share with a meal if they felt like having wine that night, and that was it.

Barrel decided to go with that tried and true method.

Using another trick he learned from Sally, he wrapped the wine bottle in a wet cloth and put it in the freezer to quickly chill it, then went to actually serve the first part of the meal. He dished out two small plates of stuffed toadstools and brought them back to Agatha.

"Wine's gonna be a moment," he said. "I, uh, forgot to prep it."

Barrel looked at the plate in front of her, and again wondered how to do this. Should he move it, or just set the appetizer plate on top? He suddenly wished he paid more attention when Lock gave him a rundown of dinner etiquette.

[I]Just do something[/i], he told himself. [I]You've got a chance of getting this right.[/i]

He set his own plate down temporarily and moved Agatha's dinner plate so he could place the toadstools before her. He then quickly excused himself to get the bread, and to buy himself a moment to regain his bearings. This shouldn't be this stressful! Just serve dinner and apologize. By the time Barrel returned and took his own place at the table, he was more composed, and had more of a plan.

Toadstools, wine, scampi, dessert. Intersperse with conversation. Apologize at some point. Just keep it simple.