“Nothing dramatic. He wanted to move to Colorado, but I didn’t want to relocate.”
“And the two-year guy?”
“Broke up with me.”
“What the hell’s wrong with him?”
She smiled. “Thanks for the indignant act on my behalf.”
“I’m not acting. Really, what was wrong with him?”
Rae looked me in the eye. “He got scared. Wasn’t ready for the next step. Some guys just don’t want to get married.”
Gulp.
“And you do?” I asked.
“It’s not my ultimate life goal, but I would like kids someday. I’m not getting any younger.”
And there we had it. Two opposite ends of the spectrum when it came to dating. Toss into the ring the fact that Rae’s business competed with mine, and she was pretty much off limits.
“So I was thinking about a horizontal tasting.”
I nearly spit out my wine. If only Rae realized how often I thought of the same, but it had nothing to do with trying different wines from a single vintage.
“Were you now?”
She gave me a look at the obvious suggestion in my tone, but Rae didn’t scold me for it either.
“A cruise that stops at various wineries where customers try wines from the same vintage. We try to pull wines from the same year, but if that doesn’t work, maybe work a year out. On board, the wine education would focus on explaining why each winery might perform a bit differently under the same conditions. We could stop at maybe two or three wineries with docks and each one could delve deeper into the particular winemaking style from that particular vintage. What do you think?”
“Would Grado be involved in this... horizontal tasting?”
She didn’t hesitate. “Would it want to be?”
“Yes. I would.” I cleared my throat. “I mean, Grado would.”
Now would be the time for Rae to tell me I’d crossed the line. That my innuendos weren’t welcome. Or at least frown at me, give me a stern look. Something, anything, to dissuade me.
Clearly, I needed to be dissuaded. Nothing about Rae and I would work.
Except maybe that tasting I was now envisioning.
“Marco.”
“Yes, Rae?”
“I’m talking business here. You’re being a very bad boy.”
Her tone was teasing, so I took her ball and ran with it. “I’ll admit it. I am.”
“You know what happens to bad boys don’t you?”
My heart nearly stopped. I was too surprised to figure out an answer. Rae peered at me from over her glass. “They get a spanking.”
FOURTEEN
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