Finding Love In Wine Country: Love and Travel Book Series

By Genie Hermoso

Jean's husband leaves her for a younger woman. Not only that, he leaves her for a stripper! Jean is humiliated and depressed that her 15-year marriage has ended.

One day, she receives an e-mail reminder of her Napa Valley 15th-year wedding anniversary trip. A trip that she had booked prior to her divorce. She hesitates to go on the trip but her son, Arnold, convinces her to pack her bags and go on this vacation.

While on the airplane she sits beside a hot stranger, Greg, who seems very interested in her. However, she finds him annoying and tells him a lie-- that she is a widow and still grieving the loss of her husband. She thought he would never see her again, but lo and behold, he is on the same Napa Valley trip. Jean finds herself getting attracted to Greg. Can she keep on lying to him? Will Jean allow herself to fall in love again? Will she find her happily ever after? And will she find love in wine country?

Join Jean in this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy as she: learns the art of not overdrinking wine, rides a rogue horse, goes on a wobbly bike ride, solves a murder mystery and goes on a dangerous hot air balloon ride and so much more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Genie Hermoso
• Release date: Sep 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393088707

Genie Hermoso

Genie Hermoso loves to write romantic comedies, romance and sweet romance. She loves to travel and she has two Yorkies, Bacon and Skye. She is a physical therapist by day and a writer,blogger, vlogger, podcaster by night. She loves superhero movies, blockbusters  romantic comedies and science fiction. Her favorite movie is Back to the Future.   

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Georgia suffers a series of heartbreaks. Her live-in-boyfriend of 10 years dumps her, then her beloved grandfather dies then she loses her job. She falls into a deep depression and goes to therapy. She gets an emotional support dog to help her cope. In therapy, her psychotherapist hypnotizes her so she would be more adventurous and daring. Suddenly, she starts joining Krav Maga, Salsa Dancing, and much more. She turned into a man magnet all of a sudden and turns into Miss Popular. One of the most daring things she has done is to get drunk at a bar and spend the night with a total stranger. Will this one-night stand lead to something more? What are Georgia's options as her world opens up for her? One thing is for sure, her emotional support dog is her priority. Her Mr. Right has to love dogs.

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Table of Contents

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The Napa Trip

Day 1: Castle Tour

Day 2 Wine Train

Day 3 Bike Riding Wine Tour

Day 4 Horseback Riding and Mad Mud Spa

Day 5 Hot Air Balloon Day

Day 6 Downtown Shopping

Back to Jersey

Epilogue

An Excerpt from Bullied Inc.

Also by Genie Hermoso

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Napa Trip

FROM: INTIMATE COUPLE’S Napa Valley Wine Tours  

To: Jean Wyatt 

CC: John Wyatt 

From: Intimate Couple’s Napa Valley Wine Tours  

Subject: An E-mail Reminder for Mr. And Mrs. Wyatt’s Trip to Wine Country   

Greetings! 

This is an e-mail reminder of your six- day Intimate Couple’s Wine Tour for Napa Valley from August 15-20 

You signed up for the following: 

Wine and Cheese Tasting Tour, Hot Air Balloon Ride, Horseback Riding, Bike Ride, Napa Train Ride, Murder Mystery Train Ride and Couple’s Mudslide Spa. 

If you have questions, call us at 1-800-LUVWINE 

You reserved a shuttle pick up for 10 AM on August 15, Saturday at the Sacramento Airport. Please call us if there are any changes. 

Thank you for choosing Intimate Couple’s Napa Valley Wine Tours 

Shoot! I can’t believe that it I forgot about the Napa trip. Is it too late to cancel it now? Oh God darn it, that trip cost us thousands of dollars. John charged it on our joint credit card! I can’t believe he did this to me! Not only did he leave me for a younger woman, he left me with debt! Darn it!

My phone rang, and it’s my son, Arnold on the phone. He was facetiming me.

Hey mom! What’s up? Why did you send me a frantic text message again? Arnold looked worried.

On the phone screen, Arnold was looking and looking more like me. When he was younger, he had my ex-husband’s profile but it changed as he got older. He used to have lighter hair. He had my brown hair and brown eyes. In a way, I was glad, he looked like me. I just didn’t want to be constantly reminded of my ex-husband, John, every time I see my son’s face.

John, my ex, cheated on me and every time I remembered what he did, it just made me feel like crying. I removed all pictures of him in my home. I didn’t want to be reminded of him at all. Arnold was my saving grace. He saved me from sinking deeper and deeper into depression. Our roles became reversed and he was the one taking care of me. He called me to check up on me frequently despite his busy schedule with work and school. He was preparing for school in a few weeks but he would drop everything just to make sure I was okay.

I don’t know honey. I just found out I’ve paid for an anniversary trip. It will happen in 6 days. It’s too late to ask for a refund right now and the flight had already been booked and all. I can’t believe that I’m paying for something this expensive and I’m not going! I whined to my twenty-year-old son. 

Then go. Go on, that trip. You deserve it! You paid for it!

What? But I’m not ready. I mean, I’ve filed for leave several months ago, but I’m not ready to have fun. Besides, it’s a couple’s tour. I would look foolish if I went on that trip with other couples, and I’m the only one who has no partner.

Well, if it makes you uncomfortable, you can always lie. You can say that dad died. I mean, technically, he’s dead to you, Arnold laughed. 

I wondered where my son got that weird sense of humor. He definitely did not get it from me. Arnold is right, though. I mean, John is dead to me. Since he moved out, divorced me and left me for a young stripper, I have killed him in various ways in my mind. I have murdered him with an ax, buried him in the desert, drugged him, chopped him up into tiny bits, tortured him, electrocuted him. It helped that I was watching the movie Misery when I was thinking about the creative ways to kill him. I should also use a flamethrower like Ripley. Unfortunately, I’m too much of a procrastinator to act on my murderous thoughts. 

Mom, are you thinking about Dad again? Arnold asked. 

How did you know? 

Well, you blank out when we talk to each other. I can tell you’re thinking about him.

It’s a terrible habit, I know. I should find better things to do, I replied. 

Such as going on that trip to Napa. You’ve planned it forever. You’ve paid for it. Also, you deserve a vacation after all the stress dad has put you through.

You know what? You’re right, son. I should just throw caution to the wind and just go for it. I mean, we were already planning on going. I’m going on that trip, even if it’s the last thing I do.

Don’t be too grim though. You really deserve a vacation. Think of this as your emancipation from dad. You have your freedom back. Also, I heard Napa has a lot of tourists waiting to have fun. Who knows, you might find a guy there. The younger the better, Arnold said encouragingly. 

Son, I don’t think I can do that.

You have my blessing mom. Just don’t date someone younger than me, he laughed. 

Great advice!

I hung up the phone, and I rummaged through my wardrobe. I’m sure I can still fit into my nice summer clothes and dresses. Somehow, focusing on which clothes to pack was therapeutic and would allow me to forget about my ex. I had been divorced for a year, but I had been married to John for 15 years. It’s hard not to think about someone who has been part of your life that long. But at least for 6 days, I will distract myself with a lot of wine and cheese. I might even get drunk, roll down the hill and die. That’s the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is that I will have fun. The word FUN sent chills down my spine. 

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15.

I decided to just have one carry-on luggage. I crammed all of my clothes in one small luggage that I knew was compact enough to fit in the overhead bin. I packed mostly dresses with two pants and two blouses, which I intended to wear for the horseback riding. I also packed a bathing suit for spa day, which would involve taking a dip in a hot tub. 

On the day of the trip, I ordered an UBER because it was more convenient than ordering one of those antiquated taxis. My home was just 30 minutes away from the Newark Airport, so the bill would not be that high. I was contemplating going in an Uber carpool, but then I wanted to limit my exposure and interaction with humans to the barest minimum since it was three o’clock on a Saturday morning.  Most likely, if I had carpooled, we would pick up a drunk passenger. Half of my brain was still asleep, so I didn’t even want to think, plus I didn’t get my caffeine fix yet. How I wished they had invented a coffee IV drip. I would be the first one to try it out.  

The UBER driver was pleasant, or he probably pretended to be pleasant so he would get a 5-star rating. He had a spotless SUV, which I appreciated. He had mints and a charging station for his passengers. He was very talkative, and he told me he was from Denmark. Two minutes into the drive, he was already talking about how many kids he had, how long he had been married to his wife and where he lived. Ten minutes in, he started talking about free colleges and free healthcare. He was comparing the expensive colleges here in America, vs the free colleges in Denmark. He said he sent his kid back to Denmark to get a college degree, so in that way, his kid wouldn’t have a mountain of debt after he graduated from college. 

You’re right, it’s a good idea, I broke my rule by speaking to him. The education in America is overrated. I’m sure the education in your country is better.

I know. We get free college and free healthcare there. It’s great. But Denmark is a small country and life there is not as exciting as here in the US. That’s why we left, the Uber driver explained. 

You are right about the life in the US being exciting part. There are a lot of things that can happen to you here that won’t happen to you anywhere else in the world, I said. 

I wanted to avoid being political, but he knew exactly what I was talking about. 

America is a great country, except when it’s not that great, he sighed. 

I agree with you 100 percent, I told him, even if what he said made no sense.

I was glad that our conversation was just 30 minutes long. I had a feeling that if I extended it for another 10 minutes, he would start talking about his family tree. I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the terminal. He dropped me off near the entrance. Before he drove off, the driver mentioned to me to give him a good rating for the ride. I knew it! He was faking being nice to get a good rating. I gave him a five-star rating just for the heck of it. The guy needed to earn a living. Who was I to take that away from him? I even felt extra generous and gave him a tip. I was tempted to leave a comment such as: Talks too much! I decided against it because he knew where I lived.

I have not had taken a trip in years by myself. I remembered John used to carry my luggage for me. I didn’t have to worry about anything. It all seemed so strange to me to be doing this by myself. I have not been alone since I met John twenty years ago. We were together for twenty years. We had a son and got married after five years of being together. Twenty years is twenty years. I felt sad, but I stopped myself from overthinking. I had a vacation to look forward to.

When I arrived at the terminal, I printed out my boarding pass. The TSA line was just one escalator ride away. The line was not as long as I had feared. It was just that I felt anxious whenever I go through the TSA lines. I know I am not a criminal and I don’t carry drugs in any of my orifices, but then, I always felt like I had done something criminal when I had to go through the TSA line. I had broken no laws, but I still felt like I was guilty of something. I hated it when we were asked to remove our shoes. I mean, I was wearing sandals. What could I possibly hide in a pair of sandals that would endanger the flight? If I had worn Crocs that would be a different story. Crocs are built to have hidden compartments wherein you can stash illegal substances. 

I stepped in one of the TSA’s hi-tech CT scanners because apparently, the one-dimensional X-rays were not enough. The TSA wanted to get a three-dimensional image of my colon; just in case; I stashed something up my ass. That’s one expensive equipment to do that one task when a cavity search would do. I wouldn’t be surprised if the TSA added a random cavity search as an extra security measure. 

I can almost imagine the announcement. NEW TSA Guidelines: because of popular demand, we have added a random cavity search to our security line. If you have hemorrhoids, please provide us documentation confirming this from your physician. 

I believe there would be a lot of phone calls to their primary physician for a note confirming they have hemorrhoids. 

FLIGHT ITINERARY

Saturday, August 15 

Newark

Sacramento

7h 22m

United Airlines 

Flight1298

Boeing 737-900

5:00a

Newark, NJ

EWR Newark Liberty Intl Airport

7:10a

Denver, CO

DEN Denver Intl Airport

4h 10mBasicEconomy

Layover in Denver, CO(DEN)1 Stop -45m

Yipee, it would