From Napa Valley to Lodi was a little over an hour and a half. Now that I’d been going back and forth so often, even though it was about the same distance as Seoul to Cheonan, it didn’t feel like much of a burden. The straight-line distance from my house to school was over fifty kilometers too, so it was only a little farther than going to school, you could say.
Humming to myself, driving while thinking about this and that, I found myself in Lodi before I knew it.
“You’re here?”
Since I always contacted her in advance before coming, she had been waiting at the farm office around the time I was due to arrive, and when she saw my car, she ran out. Then she noticed the small paper bag in my hand and pointed at it.
“What’s that?”
“Huh? I brought this for you.”
Chloe’s mouth stretched into a grin as she asked with narrowed, expectant eyes.
“What is iiit?”
“I went to the department store with my parents and bought a scarf.”
She snatched the bag I handed her, immediately tore open the box inside the paper bag, and pulled out a silk scarf in a soft ivory shade. When the scarf caught the sunlight, the silk shimmered like ripples on water. Chloe must have liked it a lot, because her eyes turned into hearts, and she immediately wrapped it around her head like a kerchief. She put it on all by herself without even a mirror, then went back to the car to adjust the shape before looking at me and striking a pose.
“How is it? Am I pretty?”
“Yeah, it looks nice.”
“Ugh... Look properly.”
“It really does look nice. You look like a model in a magazine.”
I wasn’t just saying it. She really did look like a model posing for some magazine. Probably because she was so pretty and had such good proportions to begin with.
At my words, she twisted her body bashfully and smiled, then asked.
“But why did you buy this?”
“I told you, I went to the department store with my parents and...”
In that instant, Chloe’s eyebrows slanted into a deep frown.
“...Why are you explaining it like you were shopping and bought fruit because it was on sale?”
Sensing that I’d made some kind of mistake, I quickly racked my brain.
“When I thought about it, I figured that if you wore something like a scarf on your head when you came out to the farm, it would really suit you. Wearing a hat all the time isn’t great for your hair either. And when the weather’s cool, it’s nice to wrap around your neck.”
Pouting, she planted one hand on her hip and slowly sidled closer. With her face looking thoroughly angry, I found myself taking little steps backward.
“Is that all?”
“No, well... another reason...”
At that moment, as she came closer, her foot stepped on the top of mine. Seeing me flustered, Chloe grinned, took my face in both hands, and then, for a moment—just briefly—our lips touched.
The wind passed by, faintly carrying the scent of pear blossoms.
In that instant, every sound stopped.
The birdsong, the distant sound of tractors...
All I could hear was my pounding heart.
Then Chloe, her face flushed bright red, took a step back and said,
“Why did you buy it?”
“...Because I wanted to. I thought you’d like it.”
Smiling bashfully, Chloe threw her arms around me.
“Thank you.”
“...It’s nothing much...”
“But are all Korean guys like this?”
“...Like what?”
“Mm... never mind.”
I hadn’t realized it before, but holding Chloe gave me a warm feeling, along with a sense of comfort. Maybe marrying Chloe wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Buy me something delicious.”
“Actually, on the way here, I found a decent place nearby.”
“Not nearby... I want to go for a drive, so let’s go somewhere a little farther. How about Benicia? The restaurants there have a nice atmosphere. We can eat while looking out at the sea with some wine. If we leave now, it’ll take about an hour. Since lunch will be late, there probably won’t be a wait either.”
“Uh... Didn’t I say I’d help you with farm work?”
Chloe suddenly pulled away from me and put on a dissatisfied expression.
“I’ve been farming hard, okay? Can’t we set the mood a little today?”
“...We can. Honestly, farming every day does get tiring. You need to air things out once in a while.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Let’s go.”
“Uh, okay...”
Half-dazed, I took her and got back in the car. The difference from when I came was that Chloe was sitting beside me, and another thing slightly different from usual was that her hand was resting over my right hand.
---
The next day, at the Silveroak Hills Winery office.
On the old oak table, the contracts, a laptop, and water glasses set out according to the number of people were neatly arranged.
Ben Lowell straightened his clean black suit and said,
“Well then, everyone, please take a seat. Since you should already remember meeting once before, I suppose I don’t need to introduce you?”
Elowen Pike nodded silently. Since he already knew that today’s transaction partner was Redwood Winery, he didn’t look particularly surprised. Rather, once he learned it was Redwood, his question as to why the other party hadn’t tried to beat down the price so harshly was also answered.
Located right next door, it was the perfect farm for expansion, and he must have realized that if he tried too hard to force the price down, the deal could fall through. Even so, Elowen wasn’t especially angry. No, he felt relieved.
Because right now, the only thing in his head was quickly settling his debts, selling the wine, and starting over in Sonoma.
Beside him sat his partner Tom, and across from them sat me, my father, and Ben.
When a file folder was placed in front of each person, a brief silence fell. For a moment, a strange atmosphere settled in, but soon Ben opened his laptop and spoke.
“First, I’ll confirm the basic terms of this contract once again. The assets Redwood Winery is acquiring include the thirty-two acres of land, the main winery building, fermentation tanks, cooling lines, barrel room, and the entire irrigation system. However, the barrels and bottled wine inventory are excluded.”
Elowen nodded.
“We’ve already confirmed that. Only the wine currently fermenting in the tanks is included in the acquisition, correct?”
“That’s right. It’s recorded as Work in Progress, approximately fifty thousand liters.”
Ben turned the page and quietly read on.
“The existing secured loan is to be fully repaid by the seller, and any remaining taxes or unpaid property taxes will also be handled entirely at the seller’s expense. The buyer has no relation to those debts.”
My father nodded.
“Good. It seems all the uncertain parts have been settled.”
After checking the contract once more, Elowen said,
“I heard it was 6.5 million dollars, paid entirely in cash. Is that correct?”
Ben answered.
“That’s correct. The buyer has confirmed that the remaining balance will be wired within two days after signing the contract. In accordance with Article 4, Clause 1 of the contract, upon signing, the buyer will immediately take practical possession of the property, and the transfer of legal ownership will be completed within forty-eight hours after the funds are transferred. You understand?”
Elowen, who was selling the farm, felt both relieved, as if a long-standing weight had been lifted, and at the same time as if he had committed some sin. He felt sorry toward his father, who had passed the farm down to him.
So he only nodded with a dark expression, and Tom, watching him with pity, patted his shoulder.
Then Elowen signed the contract first, followed by Tom, and then Dad picked up the pen. As Dad wrote the date beside his signature, I saw his fingertips trembling slightly. It seemed he was deeply moved by the fact that he was acquiring an additional thirty-two-acre farm.
With Redwood’s fifteen acres, Ironwood Cellars’ thirty acres, and Silveroak’s fifty acres, we had become wealthy estate owners of a total of ninety-five acres.
In fact, the average size of a farm in the United States is about 445 acres. In the Midwest, where they grow corn or wheat, a hundred acres is small enough that a few passes with a tractor would take care of it, and it’s hard to make a living on that alone, so many people even work a second job.
But if you have close to a hundred acres in Napa Valley, the story is very different. Napa Valley is famous for its expensive land, and the average vineyard size here is about twenty to forty acres.
If you own a hundred acres in Napa Valley, the land value alone basically amounts to tens of billions of won, and the annual wine sales are enormous as well, enough for that alone to earn you recognition as a local notable or a successful businessman.
Ben organized the final page and said quietly,
“The contract has officially been concluded. For both sides, this is now the beginning. I wish both of your businesses every success in the future.”
Elowen stood up and offered his hand to Dad.
“It’s done. It was a good deal.”
“For us as well.”
After the transaction was finished and we came out, I said to Dad, who looked somewhat dazed,
“It doesn’t really feel real, does it? You too, right, Dad?”
“Yeah. When the money was in the bank account, it was just numbers... It felt like looking at an account with a lot of digits in it, but now that we’ve actually acquired a farm, this vast vineyard is all ours. It feels like something I only imagined has become reality. I guess this is why people buy houses when they make money. Seeing something with your own eyes feels very different from just having numbers printed on a screen.”
“I feel the same way. When I made money by making wine... I felt good, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly moving, you know? But every time we acquire a winery, I’m always moved. It was like that when we acquired Ironwood Cellars, and it was like that when we acquired the remaining Silveroak property after the fire before... I think there’s an emotion there that can’t be put into words. Like just looking at it fills my heart?”
After saying it, I felt like I had definitely heard that line somewhere before. And when Armando’s face suddenly flashed through my mind, I gently closed my eyes.
“Ah... I take it back.”
“Hm?”
“Let’s go quickly.”
Shaking off the emotion that had filled my chest, I hurriedly left Silveroak and returned to Redwood.
“The acquisition contract went well?”
When I arrived at the aging room, Warren was holding a wineglass and savoring it deeply.
“Yes... But lately, it feels like you’re coming to work just to drink wine.”
“Drinking wine is my job.”
“That’s true, but...”
“You’d already checked the condition of all the grapes on the farm, hadn’t you? Even the harvest schedule was all neatly done without me having to say a word.”
“That’s right. It’s my job.”
By harvest schedule, it wasn’t as though the exact date for picking the grapes had already been set. It was closer to deciding roughly which days we would check the timing for harvest.
“So the only job left for me is drinking wine...”
“Yes... If there’s nothing special, I’ll be heading out.”
“You really are busy. Where are you off to now?”
“The pear farm.”
“You went yesterday, didn’t you?”
“......”
Embarrassed, I slightly averted my gaze and said,
“I didn’t get to look at it properly yesterday... so I’m going to check it today.”
“Hmmm?”
“Things just sort of happened...”
One corner of Warren’s mouth rose abnormally high.
“Fine, I was on a date, so I didn’t get to check it properly.”
“Oh-ho, so you do other things besides farming too? How human of you.”
“What do you think I am, a robot?”
“I thought so. I wondered if Asians couldn’t even date, but I guess that wasn’t the case.”
I was dumbfounded. I’d even been married before my regression, and now I was being treated like this...
“That’s not it.”
I was about to leave when—
“Hey, then...”
“Yes?”
“Let me come along too. To that pear farm, I mean.”
For a moment, I almost asked, “Why would you go there?” but thinking about it again, I figured he might be curious about other crops too.
“Sure.”
At my words, Warren sprang to his feet, smiling as he gathered his clothes. As he followed behind me, I casually asked,
“Since you’re coming anyway, if you have time today and tomorrow, do you want to look at the other farms too?”
“Where?”
“There are cherries, and rice...”
“Rice?”
“Yes. There’s also a brewery there.”
“A brewery?”
“We’re just looking, so don’t read too much into it.”
I waved my hand dismissively and started walking.