Chapter 21 #2
“The high school internship program? We have Becky and Madison here with us at the farm this year—Madison will be competing later.”
Damn, this was awkward. “Alexa is my girlfriend.”
“Really?” Antonella’s ears turned pink. “I mean, please accept my apologies for assuming…”
“Oh, no offence taken,” Alexa said sweetly. “I’m actually only two years younger than Nolan, but I guess some of us age better than others.”
Ouch. Plus she was four years younger and lying as smoothly as ever.
At least she hadn’t corrected him on the “girlfriend” part.
Since the night in the mine, she’d kept her distance, and a small part of him regretted putting the ball in her court, but the bigger part of him feared that if he pushed her, she’d run for good.
Hadn’t she said it was tempting? Until recently, he hadn’t understood how truly damaged Alexa Stone was, probably because she hadn’t fucking told him, and she had every reason to avoid men for the rest of her life.
But she’d stayed. She’d stayed without Chase, who clearly operated as a human security blanket, and now Nolan would have to step into that role. He didn’t hate the idea. In Blackstone House, he’d been a part of Alexa’s support system, and hanging out with her was never boring.
She looped her arm through Antonella’s. “You must show me your lovely garden. And I hear Marielle Marten helped with the decor in your home? Is she coming tonight? I thought we’d see her here.”
“Isn’t she over at Nolan’s place? She sent her apologies at the last minute and said she’d be working on the guest cottages this evening.”
“No, she isn’t there. Maybe barrel racing isn’t her thing?”
“She did accept the invitation initially.”
“Then maybe she was looking for an excuse not to come?”
“I suppose she might have been unsure what to wear,” Antonella said, frowning.
Alexa cast a puzzled look. “Oh?”
“At our last get-together, she was a little, uh, overdressed.”
“Overdressed? Like it was a pool party and she came in a pantsuit?”
Antonella cut a sideways glance at Nolan. “More of a casual cookout, and she came dressed as a saloon girl.”
“Yikes.”
“Indeed.” They stepped onto the wide expanse of terrace, where the 4-H club had set up a table with flyers next to the koi pond. “The planting here was inspired by a rock garden Everett’s father saw in Tokyo. Some of the fish are thirty years old.”
“Wow, older than me.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.” Antonella quickly changed the subject. “Nolan, have you been having trouble with those Hayes boys again? I thought I saw them up on the hill the day before yesterday, and I heard you put in security cameras.”
“Who told you that?” Alexa asked before Nolan could get a word in. “Marielle?”
“No, I think it was Roy. Do you know Roy? He’s here today.”
How did he find out about the cameras? The staff gossiping, most likely.
“We haven’t met yet.”
“I can introduce you later—he makes excellent wine.” Antonella rarely got flustered, but Alexa had tipped her off balance today. “Not as good as Nolan’s, obviously, but we have many wonderful vineyards here in Amador County.”
“Of course,” Alexa said agreeably. “Is Roy a close friend of yours?”
“Not really, no. More of an acquaintance. Tell me, do you ride horses yourself?”
“I’m more of a cat person.”
No, she wasn’t. In Blackstone House, Ruby had adopted a scrawny stray named Shadow, and Alexa had bought the cat a fancy electronic litter box, a scratching post, and a water fountain, and put them as far away from her basement lair as possible.
On the rare occasions the cat meandered into her room, she cursed and shooed it out again.
“Doesn’t Nolan have a dog?” Antonella asked.
Alexa laughed, but to Nolan’s ears, it sounded false. “It’s important to step out of my comfort zone occasionally. And didn’t you do the same? I hear you worked in New York for a while?”
Oh, fuck. Alexa had researched Antonella? Now she probably knew more about the woman’s life than Antonella herself did.
“Just for a few years. When I was growing up in a small town in South Carolina, I always dreamed of living in the big city, but when I got there, I couldn’t wait to move back to the country again.”
“The grass is always greener, huh? Well, maybe not here.” Alexa surveyed the yellowed pastures. “We could do with some more rain.”
There was no yellowing in the yard surrounding the house.
The Cranstons’ landscapers watered the plants and trees religiously.
Antonella gave them a tour—she always enjoyed showing off the fruits of her husband’s labour—and Alexa paid appropriate compliments while also getting in several snide digs about Marielle’s design skills.
The digs weren’t necessary—Marielle might have revealed a less-than-stellar personality, but she knew how to decorate.
Nolan bit his tongue while trying to get more information about the Hayes boys.
Alexa was laser-focused on Marielle as the culprit for the sabotage, but Nolan wasn’t so sure.
If all the “accidents” had in fact been deliberate, then the trouble had started before Alexa came back for her second visit, and what motive would Marielle have had to interfere in the wine production?
Alexa said Marielle wanted Nolan’s attention, but she’d been his main focus back then, and every time shit happened in the winery, he had to go and deal with it.
Unless she wanted him out of the house for some reason?
But why?
Right now, they had a hundred questions, but no answers.