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“We’ve done a lot since we took over. The last few years were rather rough, admittedly. If you see, there’s a few stakes in the soil over here.” I pointed to a place where Alex and I had begun experimenting. “I don’t know how familiar you are with these smart devices.”
“I’ve seen them before,” she said, not seeming to give away much. “Are they measuring pH or water-to dirt ratios?”
“Both,” I said. “It’s rather cool, actually. They use these tiny solar panels to power themselves and can measure a wide range of statistics in the soil and then report to us in real time. I can open up my app and check on them literally whenever I want to.”
“I would still need to run the samples to a lab,” she said, kneeling and brushing her hand through the dirt and then examining it. “App-based measurements are known to be unreliable. It is entirely possible you are working with damaged soil that will produce bad grapes within a generation or two.”
“Actually, I have a lab here,” I said. Her brow furrowed as she stood and brushed off her hand. “It’s in the dungeon if you’d like to see it. I do double checks quite often and have a regular schedule for it. It’s where I also do my experimentation for blends and where I can do manual pollination.”
She made an acknowledging sound and nodded but didn’t say anything else. I took that as a win.
“When did you begin modernizing the fields?” she asked, scribbling furiously in her notebook. She had already made two pages of notes, and I wondered just how meticulous they were.
“Before my grandparents passed, actually,” I said. “I’ve always wanted to make this vineyard my life’s work, so I began working here when I was very young. I took some time off to finish school and then came back to work here again for good. But they weren’t interested in modernizing much and didn’t really have the means to do it even if they had been. So, we kind of limped along until they passed, and Cameron and I sat down to figure out what financial room we had to update everything.”
“Well, it clearly needs more work,” she said.
I huffed a laugh at her bluntness. She wasn’t wrong, but she also wasn’t mincing words either. She was clearly much more familiar with science than she was with people. Yet, I wasn’t put off by her. I was determined to figure her out.
As we continued through the fields, she asked more pointed questions, but they were ones that made sense, and I couldn’t blame her for being a bit pessimistic about some of the progress.
We were making our way back to the front of the vineyard, having done a pretty long walk through most of the vines and with her having several pages of notes. My stomach had begun to rumble, and I realized we had been out there for at least an hour, probably closer to two. The time had flown by as I not only was excited and happy to show off the grapes and the work I had been doing, but also, I was also enamored with Danica.
She had a quirk where she would push her glasses back up her nose, even though they hadn’t really fallen, every time she said something that could be a little insulting. It was endearing, and I noticed it right away. It was as if having something physical to do distracted her from worrying about my reaction and like she thought it made her look more professional. By the time we reached the front of the vineyard, where the newer vines were and where most of the volunteers were already working, I awaited the glasses push and the wrinkle of her nose. It didn’t come though, and I was pleased at the idea that she didn’t have anything to say about the newer vines.
My stomach grumbled again, and I was pretty sure she heard it. I laughed to myself and looked at her as she brushed some dirt off the front of her blouse. She capped her pen and tucked it into her notebook.
“Sounds like it’s about lunchtime,” I joked.
“That’s fine. I think I’ve seen enough for today.” She folded the notebook under her arm and straightened up to look me in the eye. “I won’t keep you from your lunch.”
“Not keeping me at all,” I said. The thought of inviting her to join me popped in my head, but before I could even begin to think about letting the words fly from my mouth, she cut me off.
“I will be back tomorrow. I have to take a few samples, as I told you. I will need to get samples from all around the vineyard, both the newer vines and the legacy ones.”
