Page 39 of The Love Bus

DANGEROUSLY DRINKABLE

“W ow, I didn’t think you’d come.”

Tay’s tone wasn’t accusatory. Just shocked.

I gave her a small shrug because I didn’t want it to be a big deal. “Had a second wind.”

The bus buzzed with chatter. Everyone was a little more dressed up than usual—lipstick, flowy tops, freshly pressed capris—and the air held a whiff of perfume that reminded me of my mom.

Babs was sitting with Mrs. Grady again, a bright green scarf tied around her riotous gray curls, and let out a little cheer. “I knew you’d rally!”

But when my eyes landed on the seats across the aisle—the ones Noah had shared with me the day before—they were both empty.

The only other vacant spots were Roger and Helen’s.

Did my grin maybe fall just a little?

Maybe.

If Noah was late, he was really late. Because I’d almost been late. And Tay’s schedule didn’t leave much room for error.

“You look so pretty tonight!” Marla smiled from her spot beside her sister.

“Thanks,” I murmured, sliding into the window seat and placing my bag on the floor. I stupidly left the other seat open.

For Noah.

You know, in case.

“Helen texted me this afternoon,” Josie said. “Roger’s doing fine but she’s terribly disappointed to have to miss the rest of the trip, so I promised we’d post lots of pictures in the group.”

“Is everybody ready for a little wine tasting tonight?” Tay’s voice rang out over her microphone.

The bus door hissed closed.

The engine roared to life.

I instinctively raised my hand to say something—what, I wasn’t sure—but then let it drop.

“Isn’t Noah coming?” Babs asked, saving me from having to.

Bless her.

Mrs. Grady looked up from rummaging through her handbag. “He said he needed to make a few phone calls tonight.”

She didn’t look at me when she said it.

Then, as if she were commenting on the weather, she added, “I think he’s been talking with his wife again.”

My head snapped toward her so fast I nearly gave myself whiplash.

“I thought he was divorced,” Babs said, her voice a shade too bright to be casual.

Mrs. Grady hesitated just long enough to make it feel intentional.

Then her expression turned…wistful. “Courtney still works at my real estate office, so they’ve stayed in touch.

She’s just the prettiest little thing and such a sweetheart.

” She held up her fingers, crossed. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but Noah’s making some changes in his life.

I think they can still find their way back to each other. ”

Wait what?

I must have imagined that look he’d give me earlier.

Had I imagined that energy, too?

Babs shifted in her seat across the aisle, her mouth tightening. Her glance flicked toward me briefly, and then back to Mrs. Grady.

“What happened, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Mrs. Grady leaned in, lowering her voice.

“They met in med school—both so smart, so like-minded. He proposed between internships. Oh, their wedding was lovely, like something you’d see in a magazine.

After graduation, they agreed one doctor in the family was enough.

Courtney stayed home at first, made sure Noah had the perfect place to come home to. ”

My throat tightened.

“She made a huge sacrifice,” she went on. “When residency took up most of Noah’s time, she came to work for me. He worked such long hours. Trauma. The worst kinds of people and cases. The honeymoon ended too soon, that’s for sure.”

Her mouth pulled tight. “We’d hoped he’d get matched with dermatology or plastic surgery—something more manageable. In the end, he said he felt…called.” She gave a small sigh. “I think I spent more evenings with Courtney than Noah did.”

“And now?” Babs asked softly.

Mrs. Grady hesitated—just a beat too long. “Well. He’s reassessing things.”

That pause said more than anything else had.

And just like that, the giddy warmth I’d been carrying all afternoon thinned to something brittle.

Tay’s voice crackled through the speaker, bright and breezy. “Up ahead and to the right, you’ll notice the Grand Mesa. It’s the largest flat-topped mountain in the world. Spans over five hundred square miles and tops out above eleven thousand feet.”

Trying to pretend I hadn’t duped myself again, I leaned forward, squinting at the flat blue mountain in the distance.

I was just going to have to go back to thinking of him as a casual friend again. I wish that were as easy as it sounded.

I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on how nice he smelled. Or how his eyes could look right through me, but in a good way.

Or about the way he’d stayed with me most of last night…or that for some reason, I’d trusted him completely.

Nope. Not dwelling on any of that.

So, here I was. Window seat. Slightly overdressed. Trying not to be crushed by the absence of a man when I really shouldn’t be.

“It doesn’t look that big. Are you sure?” Denise called out, daring to question our faithful guide.

Tay let out a good-natured laugh. “I know, right? It’s deceiving from this distance—but yep, I’m sure. Once you get closer, you realize it’s absolutely massive. Think of it like a table: really wide and really flat. You’re just seeing the edge from here.”

She paused for effect, then added, “It’s home to more than three hundred alpine lakes, and fun fact—most of Grand Junction’s drinking water actually comes from up there. So, if you’ve had a glass of water today…hopefully, you’ve had more than one…” Tay took a moment to pin her gaze on me.

I rolled my eyes, but then held my water bottle up as proof that I’d learned my lesson.

“Very good.” Tay nodded in approval before picking up her spiel. “Anyway, chances are that your water has flowed down from the Grand Mesa. One of Colorado’s best-kept secrets.”

“Like the monument!” Marla offered.

“Like the monument,” Tay agreed. “And nestled just below it,” she added, “is the town of Palisade. Known for its peaches, which unfortunately aren’t quite in season.

But over the past few decades, they’ve been cultivating their vineyards, and now this region boasts some of the best small-batch wine in the state. Lucky for us.”

“Cheers!” Eddie called out.

Despite Mrs. Grady’s little announcement, I couldn’t help chuckling.

These people were growing on me.

So were the mountains. And the desert.

Just like he had.

But I wasn’t going to let that be a problem.

I wasn’t here to find more problems. I was here to…

What had Ashley said? To heal. Yeah. That was what I was doing. Healing.

The bus chugged along the last few miles into Palisade on a narrow road as we passed rows of grapevines and orchard trees heavy with spring promise. Everything here felt rich and green and alive—worlds away from the sand and heat of yesterday.

It should have lifted my spirits.

But I was all too aware of the empty seat beside me.

As Noah’s mom, Mrs. Grady would know about his personal life, wouldn’t she? But something didn’t feel right. He had flirted with me, right?

Still, flirting was just flirting.

I suppose I needed to learn how to be single again.

Not in the “download five dating apps and dive in” kind of way, but more like knowing the difference between flirting for flirting’s sake and flirting because there was something there…maybe?

When the bus eased into a gravel lot, coming to a stop in front of a building that looked like a restored barn, I was determined to not let my disappointment ruin this outing. This trip might’ve started as my mom’s idea, but fudge it —this was my vacation now.

I grabbed my purse and joined the shuffle toward the front, slipping in behind Mrs. Grady and offering a smile when she glanced back at me. It might not have reached my eyes, but it counted.

Outside, I blinked in the sunlight, stepping aside to where Denise was spinning in slow, uncertain circles, mumbling about “panorama mode,” which was apparently going to include images of her shoes.

Joey had stepped down from the driver’s seat and was stretching at the base of the bus stairs when Ed patted his shoulder. “No wine for you, young man,” Ed teased, and at this point, I was pretty sure we were all onto him.

“Hey, I’m totally legal!” Joey grinned, brushing it off. After all, he’d gotten us this far.

Behind me, Josie gasped. “I’m live again. No, nope. This is the search bar. Why does Facebook move everything every five minutes?”

“No, you’re definitely live.” Marla shook her head but then squinted at the screen. “I think.”

By the time we stepped into the tasting room, the cool, humid air felt like walking into heaven, or at least a really well-stocked wine fridge.

The space was bright and welcoming, with long wooden counters and tall shelves lined with the vineyard’s featured wines, but also kitschy, fun stuff like aprons that read Sip Happens and I Make Pour Decisions , stemless glasses etched with Wine Not?

, and one T-shirt near the register that featured a grape cluster wearing sunglasses with the caption: Feelin’ Grape.

Babs picked up a magnet that said, Save Water, Drink Wine, and held it out to me with a grin.

“I don’t think Tay would approve, do you?

” She didn’t wait for me to answer, but dissolved into giggles, and surprising myself, I did too…

until a man standing behind the counter commanded our attention from the front of the room.

“Welcome, everyone,” he announced, loudly enough to be heard over the small crowd’s cheerful chatter.

He asked a few warm-up questions—where folks were visiting from, who’d done a tasting before—and then jumped into his pitch.

“You’re all in for a treat this evening. Everything we produce here at the Frasier Family Vineyards is locally produced, with most of our fruit grown just a few miles from where you’re standing.”