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“No problem, Mara. I’m Kris Thornberg.” He smiled and held out his hand. “And my job is to introduce you to the wonderful wines we produce here.”

Mara glanced toward the bottles behind him. “I had one of your reds at Thornberg Restaurant last night.”

“Then you’ve got a head start,” Kris said. “The restaurant is another branch of the family. They keep many of our wines on the list. I even create some exclusively for them.”

“Really? I knew you shared the name, obviously, but I didn’t realize you were so tight-knit,” Mara said.

“Yes, my aunt and uncle own the restaurant and my cousins help run it,” Kris replied. “I hope you enjoyed the wine last night?”

“I did. Very much,” Mara said. “And I’m interested to see if I can find a new favorite today.”

“Now, that is a challenge,” Kris said. “So, why don’t we start since everyone is here?”

There were only six other people waiting, two couples and a pair of women who looked as though they had spent the drive there laughing.

Kris gathered them near the doors and gave them a quick introduction before leading the group outside. Mara had expected facts about grapes and soil and probably more information about wine than she would ever remember. There was some of that, but Kris also talked about the vineyard as though it were a living thing. Which sections caught the morning sun. Which varieties tolerated the colder nights better. What happened when the weather refused to cooperate with whatever plans they had made for it.

They walked between rows of vines, stopping now and then while he pointed something out. Mara listened. Really listened, not because she was being polite or because somebody beside her was interested. Because she was.

At one point, Kris asked whether anyone wanted to walk a little farther up the slope before they headed back. Mara almost turned her head to check with Scott. The movement was so automatic she caught herself halfway through it.

For years, that had been the question beneath questions like this. Did Scott want to keep going? Was he tired? Was he bored? Was she making him spend too long somewhere he hadn’t particularly wanted to visit in the first place?

There was nobody beside her now. Mara looked up the slope toward the next row of vines. “I do.”

One of the women near her smiled. “Me too.”

So they went.

The extra climb wasn’t far, but the view at the top was worth it. The vineyard spread below them in long, orderly lines, with the mountains beyond and Bear Creek somewhere out of sight in the distance. Mara stood there for a moment longer than she needed to. Nobody hurried her.

By the time they returned to the tasting room, she was warm from the walk and more relaxed than she had been when she arrived. Kris poured the first small taste and began explaining what they were trying.

Mara lifted the glass, breathed in as instructed, and took a sip. She had no idea whether she could taste half the things he said were there, but she liked it. That seemed like a good place to start.

By the third wine, Mara had stopped worrying about whether she was doing the tasting correctly. She liked one. Didn’t particularly like another. And when Kris poured a darker wine and told them it needed a moment before they decided what they thought of it, she took another sip and waited.

“I’m not sure about this one,” the woman beside her said.

“Me neither.”

“Good. I was beginning to think I was missing something.”

Mara smiled. “If you are, then I am too.”

They talked for another minute about the tour and the view from the upper vines before Kris moved them on to the final wine.

A woman came through from the back carrying a tray of clean glasses. “You’re running low,” she said to Kris as she set them beside him.

“I know. Thank you.” He glanced toward the group. “This is my wife, Cassia.”

“Hi.” Cassia smiled at them. “How was the walk?”

“Beautiful,” Mara said.

“It is up there.” Cassia looked through the windows toward the vines. “Even when you see it every day.”

Kris reached for the clean glasses, and as Cassia passed behind him, his hand brushed her back. She rested her hand against his shoulder for a second before continuing toward the other end of the room. Neither of them seemed to notice they had done it.