Summer Vineyard

☙ 02 | tulips

[GIF: Scott Tyler]

        I WAS SURPRISED to hear a name that I was so unfamiliar with. I thought that dad would leave an important job to someone who had worked here long enough - someone who I also knew. It turned out that wasn't the case, and Scott had noticed the confused look on my face.

        "You don't know Myles Lowell?"

        I shook my head. "No, I've never heard of him."

        "You must have," Scott said with a frown, looking as confused as I.

        "Not at all," I replied. Considering how my contact with dad faded away day by day, resulting in us calling each other once a month, it was understandable how I wouldn't have known or heard of Myles Lowell.

It had only struck me now how much things had changed around here. Maybe the vineyard has not changed much in appearance, but how things run around here definitely did.

        "He's taking care of the vineyard while your father's away," Scott explained.

        Scott had told me that the boss, Myles Lowell, mostly spends his time at the plantation and the winery, helping out with the processes and the staffs, while dad stayed at home, signed the important contracts and attended meetings. I remembered that back then, when I was here, dad was doing what Tyler told me has been taken over by Myles Lowell.

        To think that I had lost my chance to observe dad and see what he love to do cause regret to well up in me. I could still recall vividly how I used to follow dad to the plantation everyday to observe him, but I always got sidetracked and ended up wandering around on my own. My sister, on the other hand, was more serious about actually learning from dad. She had always been interested in grapes, wine, and the outdoors.

        "Should we head out to the garden?" Scott asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. He gestured to the wooden back door. There was a coir doormat in front, with a pair of gardener boots leaning against the wall to the left. Judging by the size of the boots, I guessed it must belong to dad.

        "Does the boss take care of the garden too?" I asked as I stepped into the back garden. Scott held the door open and followed behind me.

        I stopped in my tracks and gasped at the vibrant colours that greeted me in every direction: white, pink, green, yellow, red, purple and orange. There were leaves of varying shades and sizes, and flowers of different species. I could see berries and currents planted in a neat row to one side, and rhubarbs on the ground. On the other side of the garden, were flowers: daisies, tulips, peonies, roses and lilies, with an outdoor table and four chairs in that corner. At the back of the garden, right in front of the wooden fence, herbs and chillies were grown in organised areas.

         It was beautiful and I was breathless.

        "It's amazing, isn't it?" Scott asked and I nodded, scanning the garden once again. He then walked passed me, deeper into the garden and threw himself on one of the chairs. "The boss doesn't do anything with the garden much, but Mr. Herbert and Kim spends a lot of time here."

        Standing here in the middle of the garden, I could see the plantation that Ruth and I had seen before when we first arrived. With the ethereal atmosphere of the garden and the view of the vineyard at the other side of the fence, the place was almost otherworldly.