Page 19 of The Fall Affair

“What about warming up leftovers?”

“I have an oven for that.”

“But that takes so long.”

“What? Ten minutes?” I chuckled. “Sit. I make you a new cup.”

After I brewed her a fresh espresso, I went upstairs and grabbed a lightweight linen button-up from my closet.

“Here. Put this on to protect your arms.”

“Okay.” She set her caffé down. “By the way, now I know why you don’t need a microwave to warm up your coffee. It’s too small and too delicious to not finish right away.”

I smiled and gestured to the door. “We must get started.”

“What are we doing?”

“We’re picking grapes.”

“Oh, fun. What do we use to pick them?”

“Our hands.”

She stopped short. “Our hands? But that field is huge.”

“We’re not doing it alone. I have a team that comes in at seven. I like to start when da sun comes up. It is quiet and the most beautiful time of the day in the vines.”

“I’m more of a sleep-past-the-sunrise-and-work-late type of girl.”

I grabbed a baseball cap from the hook as we passed through the entryway and slipped it onto her head. “You need this, too.” I whistled for Lupo, who followed me outside with his tail wagging.

Allegra pushed her hair behind her ears and straightened the cap, while I tried not to notice how cute it looked on her. This woman was way too high-maintenance for me, though I might’ve forgotten that yet again as she walked in front of me to the field with those mile-long legs.

“Rule number one.” I stopped at a row of vines and handed her a pair of clippers before squatting down next to a heavy leaf canopy. “Don’t make the plant pissed off.”

“How would I piss off a plant?”

“By hacking at it.” I picked up the woody vine. “We hold la vite gently, no yanking, and snip.”

She smirked. “I’m not so good at gentle.”

Something in me stirred. I cleared my throat and ignored it. “Rule number two. Pick only da good stuff. We’re harvesting for our reserve blend, so we only want the most special grapes. No rotten or moldy clusters and no sunburned or shriveled fruit.”

“Picky I’m good at.”

“Yes.” I smiled. “I imagine so.”

I gave her a few more instructions and then held out a vine. “You wanta clip just above da cluster. Here.”

She snipped, and a big smile spread across her face. “I did it.”

“Meraviglioso.” Wonderful. I lifted the basket to receive the bunch. “Now, do that a thousand more times. I’ll be across the row if you need anything.”

I headed over to get started, facing east like I did in the mornings so I could watch the sun come up. Allegra had been facing the vine, but I noticed her look up at the view a few times, and a little while later she was turned in the same direction as me. It made me smile.

We picked in silence for most of the morning, even when the workers joined us at seven. Allegra had been across from me when we started, but now she was four rows away because I was much faster than her. But I always knew where she was. Every so often, I collected her full basket and exchanged it for an empty one.

On my way back from dropping off the last one, I passed Tomasso, one of my seasonal pickers. He was nineteen and not the best-looking guy in a room, yet somehow, he was always the one who got the girl. He sported a shit-eating grin, had piercing blue eyes, and the confidence of a much older man who had never heard the word no. He smirked at me.