“Since you just got here, you probably haven’t had a chance to see the winery. Would you want to go on a tour of the vineyard?”
Nina’s eyes lit up. “Now? I just got here. I’m not sure. London, would that be ok with you?”
I had to bite my lip to stop myself from giggling. “Yes, if you have the time, Austin, that would be really sweet.”
“Sure. Yeah. Come on. Let’s take some cookies for the road.” He piled a few on a paper plate and ushered Nina out of the door. I waved good-bye to my over-the-top-conniving friend.
Beau leaned against the counter. “I didn’t know Nina was coming up.”
“Me either. It just kind of happened.” I walked toward him and reached around him for a cookie, making sure my arm grazed his body in the process. I tore off a gooey bite and deliberately held the morsel in front of my lips.
Beau’s gaze was hungry. “Didn’t you want to take me on a tour too?” He cast his eyes to the floor.
“Aren’t you in the middle of a movie?” I savored the chocolate and the moment in my mouth.
“I’ve seen it before. Never been to a winery, though.”
I smiled. These chocolate chip cookies were amazing. “Ok, I could probably show you around. Let’s go.”
There were so many different parts that made the winery function: the vines and grapes, the distillery, the tasting room, and the main office. My mother spent all of her spare time in the office—we would keep the tour away from the number crunching expo.
It was late afternoon—my favorite time of the day to walk through the vineyard.
“How many acres do your parents have?” Beau was walking next to me down a gravel path, his hands stuck in his front pockets.
“It’s almost a hundred. Ninety-six to be exact.”
“Wow. That’s a lot of grapes.”
“Yes, but it’s not all grapes. It includes the house and the office and all of the other buildings used to make the wine.” We had wandered close to the creek that ran along the edge of the property.
“It’s like its own little city. I never thought about wine like this before.” He glanced at the vines running near our path. “To think it starts here on that nubby branch and ends up all the way in a big barrel on tap at the wine bar.”
I stopped at the edge of the water. The stream bubbled over the rocks and flowed into the woods. I pulled my backpack off my shoulder and sat on the cool ground.
“Since we didn’t get to have our wine tasting last night, I brought a few samples.” I pulled out our glasses and the bottles I had opened last night.
Beau took a glass from me and began pouring from the Pinot Noir bottle.
“So, my father always instructs the tasting seminars, and his wine mantra is ‘swirl, sip, savor.’”
Beau repeated, “Swirl, sip, savor. I think I can do that.”
I watched as he rotated the glass in a circle and the red wine sloshed around the sides. He took a sip. “Mmm. Pretty good. Not that I know anything at all about wine. But it’s good.”
I smiled. “My father would take the compliment.” I swirled my glass before sipping. I felt the warmth spread through my limbs. I edged closer to Beau.
“Ok, so you have to tell me. I know my roommates gave you a hard time about your name, but seriously, why are all of the James kids named after cities?”
I blushed. “It’s kind of embarrassing. Really embarrassing.”
“What is it?”
“Before my parents were upstanding members of the community, they used to travel a lot. They weren’t very conventional—at all. I would say they were kind of like hippies or something.”
“So they liked unique names?”