What are the chances?

Good Time

Joyce got them across to the vineyard promptly, once parked they were warmly welcomed by Angela and Rose who were waiting for them at the entrance to the building. The two women-owned the vineyard and winery, they were of similar age and dressed almost identically in loose white linen trousers and floral patterned blouses, with their short wiry grey hair sitting freely at their shoulders.

"Hello, Ladies. Welcome to Per sempre nei nostri cuori." Angela's northern English accent was slightly muddled with the rhythmic expression of an Italian accent, unlike that of her business partner and friend Rose, who had firmly held onto her authentic northern twang.

"Which loosely translates to Forever in our Hearts." Rose cast an eye across the party of excited women in front of her as she smiled fondly.

"This place looks absolutely beautiful." Joyce stepped forward and extended a hand to greet the owners.

"You must be Joyce?" Angela held onto her hand as she smiled warmly.

Joyce began introducing the rest of the group who all gave a little wave in response.

"Right then, let's get you ladies checked in and we can begin your tour of the vineyard." Rose led them forward towards a large wooden cabin with huge ceiling to floor panels of glass along the entrance.

Angela went on to explain their backstory as the group signed the guest book, informing a delighted Joyce that they were originally from Lancashire but had fallen in love with Tuscany nearly 30 years ago, after a holiday with their husbands. Joyce was originally from a place called Settle which was just outside the border of Lancashire, so kept excitedly asking them if they knew certain places in hope of trying to find a connection with the two women. Eventually, they discovered they both knew the same family who owned a post office in the next village from where Joyce grew up.

After a brief health and safety talk Rose led them down to the vineyard as Angela stayed back to man the front desk.

"So after we both lost our husband's relatively closely we decided not to waste any more of the time we had left and sold up. We moved over here to see out the rest of our days." Rose inspected one of the vines as she passed, twitching her nose slightly at whatever it was that was bothering her about it.

"So is that what the name is in reference to... your husbands?" Natalia called out from the back of the line.

The corners of Roses thin lips tilted upwards as she nodded in response. "Yes, they would have laughed at us for doing this, told us we were barmy. But I guess sometimes things just feel too right to worry about the what-ifs." Rose caught Kat's eye and winked causing her to smile awkwardly in response. "Yes, I guess when we first started out we did actually bite off a lot more than we could chew, but we got through it eventually, and now we are in a nice position where we have enough of a well-oiled machine to be able to hire some people to do all the hard work for us and we can dip in and out of the nicer bits as we please." Rose continued to lead them further down the gently sloping hillside. "Ahh Matteo, there you are." Rose greeted the dark-haired man who was on his knees looking at the leaves on the vine in front of him. "Everything ok?" She quickly enquired.

Matteo got to his feet and towered above them all. "Si, Si. I don't think it's anything to worry about, this one looks a little dried but it has been warmer than normal this spring. The others look fine though." He wiped his brow with the back of his hand moving the jet black strands of hair hanging over his forehead as he did so.

"I noticed one further up. I'll get Luca to have a look when I get back to the office." Rose looked over at the vines quickly before turning her attention back to the group. "Sorry Ladies. This is Matteo, he will guide you around the vines and explain the intricacies that go into growing the perfect grape. Feel free to stretch his knowledge. I'm yet to find a question that this man does not have an answer to."