She considered that for a moment. Then she pushed off the counter.
"What are you doing this afternoon?" she asked.
The change of subject came abruptly, but I let it go. If I wasn't prepared to go into detail about my difficult family relationships, I had no right to press Juliet on hers.
"I'll be walking the south vines with Ramon. There's a section that needs attention before winter. You could come if you want to."
"To look at vines?"
"To get some air. You've been cooped up in the house for days."
"Will we need to take guards with us?" Her lips pursed at the thought.
"No," I said drily. "Not when I'm with you."
Something shifted in her expression.
"All right," she said. "Let me get my boots."
She was back in five minutes wearing her cowboy boots. For a city girl, she certainly looked at home in the country. We madeour way out through the back door and down the slope toward the vines. The afternoon sun was strong on the back of our necks as we walked.
"How big is the estate?" Juliet asked.
"Just over two hundred acres. About a hundred and forty under vine."
"And Ramon manages all of it?"
"Yes, he knows every inch of the place. He was here twenty years before I bought it. He knows it better than I do, as he never tires of reminding me."
Juliet laughed at that. She had a real soft spot for the gruff foreman. "Why did the previous owner sell?"
"Retirement. He had no one to leave it to." I paused. "I was in the right place at the right time."
Juliet looked out over the rows of vines stretching down the hillside. "Lucky you," she said quietly.
When we reached the southern boundary, Ramon was crouching low between two rows, a pair of shears in his hand. He looked up when he heard us and got to his feet.
"Juliet." He nodded at her warmly. "Good to see you outside."
"I've been going stir-crazy," she said. "Is it obvious?"
He grinned. "Little bit."
He turned to me, and his face grew more serious. "It's worse than I thought down here. This whole section needs re-stringing before the first frost, and a couple of the older vines may need to come out altogether."
I crouched down to look at what he was pointing to. The wood was dry and splitting in places. I ran my hand along the length of one of the affected vines.
"When did this start?"
"I noticed it at the tail end of last season," Ramon said. "I was hoping it wouldn't spread, but it has."
Juliet crouched down beside me. She reached out and touched the bark carefully, wanting to understand the problem.
"What causes this?" she asked.
"Could be a few things," Ramon said. "Age mostly. These are some of the oldest vines on the property."
"And if they come out?"
