Rose's Vintage by Kayte Nunn

Author:Kayte Nunn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Schwartz Publishing Pty. Ltd

CHAPTER 22

The phone rang in the hallway and Rose raced out of the kitchen to get to it. There was a pause on the line, and then she heard an English accent.

‘Hello. May I speak to Mark Cameron, please?’

‘I’m sorry, this is the house. He’s at the winery right now. Do you have the number there?’

‘Oh right-o, I thought that was where I’d rung.’

There was a click: the woman calling had hung up abruptly.

She looked up to see Astrid and Luisa coming down the stairs.

‘Who was that?’ asked Astrid.

‘Don’t know. She was English and I could have sworn I’d heard that voice before, but I can’t place it. She sounded a bit like my mum. Actually, for a minute I thought it was her. She was looking for Mark.’

Luisa piped up. ‘Mum?’

‘No, not your mummy, darling. I was talking about my mummy.’

‘You don’t have a mummy, do you?’

‘Actually I do, sweetheart, but she lives a long way away, just like your mummy.’

‘Oh.’ Apparently satisfied with this explanation, Luisa trotted out of the kitchen, dragging her bunny by its floppy ears as she went.

Rose finished off the preparations for dinner, making a salsa verde with herbs from Kalkari’s garden, which had miraculously sprung back to life after the winter cold. She scattered crumble mixture over sliced apples and cinnamon, set it aside on the counter, and then headed over to the winery.

The phone call had reminded her that she needed to speak to her brother. Henry had been away for a few weeks, so she’d managed to stall him, saying she needed more time to find out what was really going on. With every day that passed – with her unlikely but growing friendship with Violet Trevelyn, and then the feelings that had been stirred up by her late-night, alcohol-fuelled kiss with Mark – Rose felt herself being drawn in to the valley, becoming knit into the fabric of the place. She woke every morning with anticipation of what the day might bring, and went about her chores with a spring in her step. The idea of betraying the people to whom she was becoming so close was an unpleasant one and the subterfuge was starting to make her feel very uneasy.

‘Hey there, Rose. How’s it going, love?’ Dan was in the office, sitting at the computer. ‘How’s everything at the house?’

‘The kids are doing okay, I think. Luisa’s being a bit tricky and Leo was pretty upset at his mum leaving again, but I think things will settle down soon.’

‘And how are you?’ Dan’s gaze penetrated a bit too deeply for Rose’s liking. She felt like he could see right through to the turmoil inside her. Either that or he was starting to be suspicious. He certainly didn’t miss much.

‘Oh, you know, keeping busy. I miss Ferment though, despite all the hard work.’

‘Yeah, well, he did spit the dummy on that one, hey? But just between you and me and the wine,’ Dan angled his head to where the dozens of oak barriques lay on their sides in serried rows, ‘I’ve been working on the boss.

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