A few whoops and claps greeted the announcement.
As we moved away from Sunset Vineyards and headed toward Grado Valley, I remembered the last time I’d been on this cruise, before Rae’s father and his partner took over.
“In the good old days, the boat captain pointed out the wineries, selling them to its customers. In exchange, we’d always ask customers if they’d been on the cruise. If not, we recommended it.”
She sighed looking toward Grado’s estate.
“Rae?”
“Yes Marco?”
Even though she said it with an edge, I loved the way my name drawled out from her lips.
“Clearly you’re different than your dad. I came at you hard that first day because of the way his partner froze us out,” I nearly said ‘froze Grado out.’ And even though we were on the end with no one seeming to pay attention to our conversation, I wanted to be careful. “I’m sorry about that.”
She didn’t answer. We’d had this conversation before, but I assumed that’s why she had her guard up today. “That is why you’re angry with me?”
“I’m not angry,” she said, sipping the first of her wines. I did the same.
“Ok, frosty then.”
She rolled her eyes and took another sip.
“Do you deny it?” I asked.
“No.”
“So tell me why if it’s not because of that first day?”
Holy shit, who was this person talking? I sounded almost desperate. Time to rein it in. Tearing my gaze away, I focused on the wine instead. I had to admit, even though it no longer stopped at other wineries like in the good old days, the boat was exquisite, top of its class. Their wine had always been good, so together, it wasn’t an awful experience being out on the lake at sunset.
Especially with her.
“What if we start from scratch?”
I finished wine number one and looked at my chart trying to decide which to taste next. “I’m listening.”
Rae stuck out her hand. “Hi. I’m Rae. You are?”
I took it. Held it. Fought really fucking hard not to caress her palm with my thumb. “Marco. Nice to meet you.”
Unclasping hands, she peered down to her sheet. “Well Marco, what should we try next?”
“I was thinking the pinot gris.”
“Let’s do it.”
We both took a sip.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“It’s good. Refreshing with a nice soft finish.”
“We give the grapes a cold soak before processing.”
“Ahh, nice. Helps to extract the flavor.”
“Exactly.”