Between the Vines (24 page)

Edward had no sooner waved Noelene off and brought in the cellar door ‘Open' sign than a sleek black car pulled into the parking area. He glanced towards the road. Noelene was definitely out of sight. He didn't want her all-seeing eyes to witness this meeting.

A man got out of the car. Edward smiled and held out his hand.

“Hello, Angus.”

“Edward. I was surprised to get your call. Last we spoke you weren't going to sell the cabernet.”

“It's still up for discussion. I thought you might like the opportunity to have a look at the grapes on the vine. Take some back for testing
if you like.”

Angus Archer studied him closely. “It would be a coup for our winery to add a first-class Coonawarra cab sauv to our list.”

Even though the heat was leaving the day Edward could feel perspiration trickle down his back. “With this burst of warm weather we've had it looks like it will be ready to pick soon.”

“I've got machinery on standby.”

Edward paused. Peter had been planning to hand-pick these grapes. He'd said they deserved the best care. Still, it didn't matter to Edward what Angus did with them as long as he put his money where his mouth was.

“Come and have a look.” Edward began walking towards the vineyard beside the cellar door. Angus fell into step beside him. “At this stage I'd like us to keep this between ourselves. My brother has enough on his plate. I don't want to worry him with this at the moment.”

“As long as you're sure. I'm committed to buying a Coonawarra cab sauv. Yours is the pick of what I've been offered but if you're not going to sell I need to know.”

Edward felt a twinge of guilt but he ignored it. “You decide what you think it's worth to you and make me an offer.”

They walked along the fence to the opening. Edward looked back towards the road. He hoped Antoine would be able to keep Peter away from home for a while longer yet.

Taylor watched Pete walk out across the board perched over the top of a tank of red mush. He carried something that resembled a giant potato masher.

“This is the best of our shiraz.” He waved one arm at the liquid below his feet. “In a few years it will be in bottles and selling well.”

“Like the one I sold for all that money?”

“No. That was our reserve cab sauv. We haven't picked those grapes yet but I'm hopeful it will make our top-of-the-range wine when we do.”

Taylor heard the pride in his voice. She felt a little envious that he could grow a bunch of grapes and turn them into a wine so special people would pay a lot of money for it.

“All you have to do is push the grapes from the top to the bottom.”

Taylor paid attention. He leaned over and pushed the masher through the mush. Then he dragged it up, took a small step along the plank and repeated the action.

“Do you want to give it a go?” He turned the full force of his clear blue eyes on her.

Taylor glanced down. His look made her weak at the knees and this was not the time. Especially since the plank she had to balance on didn't look very wide. It was stained with the same deep red colour as the grapes underneath it. She stepped up and edged her way to where Pete still watched her. She took the handle from him and focused on the job at hand. She pushed down. The masher slid through the liquid. She gasped as she tried to pull it back up.

“That's the hard part.” Pete grinned at her.

“Looks like I won't be needing to find a gym.” Taylor breathed in
and pulled harder. The masher released from the liquid and she wobbled backwards.

“Take it easy.” Pete's strong hands steadied her.

Taylor peered down at the dark red liquid, thick with grapes. “How deep is this?”

“Over your head. I don't recommend falling in. Hold the plunger a bit lower.” He put his hands over hers as she slid them down the pole. “Now push down steadily.”

They leaned together. She relished the strength of his body pressed against hers and the earthy scent of him.

“And then slowly up.”

The plunger came to the surface with less force than her first attempt.

She steadied herself as Pete took his hands from hers.

“You right?”

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

“Have another go.”

Taylor pushed the plunger through the liquid again. This time she planted her feet and eased it back to the surface.

“That's it,” Pete said. “This has to be done several times a day.”

“You're kidding.” Taylor thought she was fit but she could already feel the strain in her upper arms.

Pete chuckled. His eyes sparkled. All too aware she was in close proximity to his strong arms and hunky chest, she forced herself to turn away. She gripped the plunger tightly and slowly pushed down. Pete remained at her side. She could feel him watching her.

She'd hardly seen him since their afternoon at the beach last Sunday. She still made an evening meal each day but Antoine had been the only one to share her table. Ed and Pete called at different times and took their food with them. Taylor found herself watching the clock at night wondering when Pete would arrive and then feeling vaguely disappointed when he thanked her for the meal and left. She didn't feel the same about Ed. In fact she felt nothing. She couldn't believe she'd fallen for him.

Cass had been right. Taylor had got up the courage to call her last night. She'd apologised and filled her friend in. It was a relief to be on good terms again. Cass had sent a text after she'd returned home from her weekend visit but last night was the first time they'd spoken since then. Taylor missed Cass but nothing else about Adelaide.

“You seem to have the rhythm of it.” Pete's voice cut through her thoughts.

Once again she raised the plunger carefully. “I think so.”

“Happy for me to leave you to it?”

“Yes. As long as you're happy I'm doing it right.”

“As you've said before, it's not rocket science but it has to be done. All three tanks.”

Taylor looked across at the other two. Her arms were going to have to strengthen up if she was going to do this every day. “I'll be fine,” she said.

“I'll see you later.” The board wobbled a little beneath her as he made his way off.

“Don't fall in,” he added with a grin and left her to it.

Taylor wondered if he was speaking from experience. She gripped the handle of the plunger tightly and shifted her feet. The action made her teeter forward. She steadied herself and gazed down at the chunky liquid below. Falling in was not an option.

She edged along the plank, took a deep breath and pushed the plunger down again. The dark liquid swirled below her. There was something almost therapeutic about the activity. She got into a rhythm, lift and plunge, lift and plunge. By the time she'd done all three tanks her legs and arms felt like jelly and she'd worked up a sweat. She climbed down from the last tank and went in search of her water bottle.

The air was warm inside the shed. She stepped out, closed the door behind her and stood in the shade where a slight breeze cooled her. Across the vineyard she could see the cellar door. There were a few cars there. It was Friday so Noelene probably had
a steady stream of customers. Taylor already had a vegetable lasagne made for tonight's dinner. She wasn't in a rush to head back to the empty quarters.

She decided to walk down to the cellar door. She could help Noelene with the cleaning if nothing else. When she got there the older woman was saying goodbye to a group of people and only one couple remained. Taylor said hello and went into the back room to wash glasses. Noelene's day had been busy judging by the number that had to be done.

She'd just picked up the tea towel to polish the first rackful when Noelene stuck her head around the door.

“You don't have to do that. You'll put me out of a job.”

Taylor smiled. “I like to keep busy. There will be more customers I'm sure.”

“They've had you plunging, have they?”

“How did you know?”

Noelene pointed at her t-shirt. “I hope that's not your best shirt and jeans.”

Taylor looked down. She was splattered with streaks of red. She hadn't noticed. Thank goodness she hadn't gone out to serve customers.

“I've been plunging some shiraz.”

“Everyone gets a go at that at some time, except Felicity. Wouldn't want madam to break a fingernail.” She winked at Taylor and ducked back into the front room at the sound of the cellar door opening.

Taylor smiled to herself at the mental picture of Frosty Felicity teetering along the board in her high heels and falling in to the thick red mixture. There was something about the young office manager. Taylor plunged her hands into the frothy hot water and rubbed at a glass, imagining it was Felicity's face.

In no time at all Noelene was back. “Freeloaders,” she said. “Not really interested in buying. Just wanting free samples. Still have to be polite to them. You never know where it may lead.” She began to
wipe as Taylor washed. “Did you enjoy your trip to Robe last Sunday?”

“Yes. It was a beautiful day and such a nice town. I've never been there before.”

“I'm glad Pete went with you. He always loved the beach as a boy. His mother used to take them quite often. Since she died he hardly goes anymore.”

“I like the beach too. My parents live fairly close to the water in Adelaide so we went as kids. They're not home much to enjoy it anymore.”

“What do they do?”

“They're doctors. They do a lot of overseas aid work. I don't see them much these days.”

“You must miss them?”

Taylor thought about that. “I used to but now it's just the way we are.”

“Bit like me and my hubby, Frank. He's a truck driver. If he's home too long we get in each other's way. Goodness knows what we'll do when he retires. I'll have to keep working for the boys until I drop off the perch.”

“You obviously enjoy working here.”

“I love it. Frank and I only had the one child.” Noelene's face stiffened. “A daughter. She was born with multiple disabilities and only lived a few years.”

“That must have been hard.”

Taylor pulled the plug from the sink and Noelene took the cloth and wiped everything down.

“It almost seems a different life now.” She looked at Taylor. “Edward and Peter are like surrogate sons to me. Neil and Pearl were good friends. They're not here anymore and I feel they'd like someone watching over their boys. Even though they're men I like to keep in touch. Working for them makes that easy.”

Once more the cellar door squeaked.

“I'm sorry it didn't work out with you and Edward.”

Taylor remained silent. She hadn't said anything to anyone about breaking up with Ed but the word had got around. Felicity was being more smug than usual.

Noelene patted Taylor's arm. “You're his type but not his type. I love him to bits but you can do better.” Noelene winked then turned and disappeared into the front room.

Taylor listened as the older woman greeted the next lot of customers, not sure what she'd been trying to say exactly. She'd been almost motherly. It made Taylor think of her own parents. Cass had been right about that too. Taylor rarely had decent conversations with her mother anymore. Skype didn't lend itself to pouring out your heart. Chats and parental advice were few and far between these days. She hadn't checked her email for a while either. She had a sudden urge to have some kind of contact. Her parents should be back from whatever remote part of Cambodia they'd been to by now and she still had Ed's laptop.

She let herself out the back door and walked along the track that ran past Pete's special cabernet grapes. The leaves on the vines were no longer the bright green they'd been when she'd first arrived. Now the green was fading and being replaced with yellow and orange and even deep red. Autumn was changing the colours.

About halfway along the carefully groomed rows she stopped. At the other end of the row, on the road side of the fence, two men were leaning into the vineyard peering at the vines. One of them was tall and wide. The sun reflected off his bald head. As she watched, another car came slowly along the road and pulled up beside them. They turned and got back into their car. They looked to have a brief conversation with the old guy who leaned out of the second car's driver-side window before both vehicles moved on. The black car went back towards the highway and the other, a faded green colour, continued on up the dirt road past the winery.

Taylor wondered what that was about. Still, there were people and machines everywhere you went at the moment. Vintage was in full swing, perhaps they were something to do with picking these
grapes. Funny thing was the two men in the black car both wore suits. It was probably nothing but she thought she'd mention it to Pete when she saw him next.

As she drew level with the winery she saw Felicity coming out from between the rows of wine tanks. She didn't notice Taylor or if she did she ignored her and headed back towards the office. Taylor smirked. Felicity almost hobbled along in her high heels on the rocky ground, such impractical shoes for working in this environment. Although if she spent most of her time in the office there was no need for practical footwear there, Taylor supposed. She rolled her shoulders and felt the ache down her arms. First things first. She was going to stand under the shower to ease her tired muscles then check her emails.

“What do you think, Howard?” Pete watched as the old man chewed the grapes.

Howard crunched some more, the saggy skin around his jaw jiggling up and down, then he swallowed. “I'd be picking them soon. Earlier than we thought. A few more days maybe.”

“I'll have to line up my pickers.”