“Twoey?”

“Nickname. Long story.” He chuckled to himself.

Jules guessed she wasn’t going to hear it, so she went with the sabbatical. “So, how long were you away?”

“It was a couple of months—California, Oregon, Washington.”

“Oh, I love that part of the country. What time of year were you there?”

“Your autumn.”

“So, picking season, then.” He smiled. “Couldn’t stay away from the grapes?” she teased.

“Something like that—a working holiday.” They had slowed down, and Matt was searching for a parking spot, which was looking less and less likely. It seemed that everyone in Melbourne had left the markets and was now at the beach.

She kept an eye out as Matt continued. “Twoey and I had worked our asses off, see, and there’s so much more to it than the wine—the finances, the tax laws, marketing. All that started to get in the way of why I’d gone into it in the first place.”

Jules found herself nodding in agreement. She was due for a bit of a shakeup in her career.

“So, as I said, I took myself off to America, teed up stints at some wineries, and got mucky.” The word didn’t translate, and he must have seen that on her face.

“I got my hands dirty. I picked grapes, I sorted the berries from the stems, I worked beside the vintners, doing whatever they asked. A lot of it was menial to start with but once they realised I knew my stuff, we’d get stuck in, you know? Figuring out how to make the best wine from those grapes.”

“That sounds awesome.”

“It was. It reenergised me to come home and throw myself back into it. A bit like what you were saying before—a renewed perspective.” They shared a smile across the car. “Here we are.” She’d been so caught up in his story, she hadn’t even realised they’d pulled over.

Matt performed a perfect parallel park and as soon as they got out, Jules headed straight for the water, slipping off her sandals and stepping onto the sand. She took in a huge lungful of the briny air as she approached the gently lapping waves, and Matt came and stood beside her.

“What do you think?”

She grinned at him. “I can see what you mean about the beach thing,” she conceded, “but otherwise, I love it. Doesn’t it smell amazing?” She took another deep breath. “Hey, yesterday when I was walking along the marina in Docklands, I noticed it smelled really briny there too, but that’s a river, yeah?”

“It is, but it’s tidal. There’s backwash from the bay, so there’s usually a layer of saltwater on the top. That’s why it’s kinda murky too. It’s constantly churning up the silt on the bottom. Not the prettiest river, the Yarra.”

“I don’t know. I love the way the city is built around it. I mean all those bridges. I think it’s really pretty.” Matt looked at her in a way that made her wonder what he was thinking.