And he was cute. So damn cute she had to steel herself every time they interacted.
“Hey, Henry.” She wiped her expression clean. “What’s up?”
“You didn’t answer my call this morning.”
“Nope. I was busy.”
He bit his lower lip. “Everything okay?”
That is such a loaded question I don’t even have an idea of how to answer it. “Fine. Just have a lot going on. And I need to get back to the garage, so—”
“Do you need any more help with the cabinets in the laundry room?” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been meaning to ask.”
“No.” She swallowed the maniacal laugh that threatened to erupt. “I’ve got it.”
The first time she’d met Henry, she’d felt the sparks between them, but Henry was an “aw, shucks” clean-cut farm boy from Washington State, and he was about ten years younger than Toni.
Or so she thought. She honestly had no idea, and she was too afraid to ask.
“Just…” His cheeks turned a little red. “If you need any help, I’m happy to lend a hand.”
Oh, he’d lent her a hand all right. The first time she’d accepted his help, they’d gotten the entire fireplace surround cleaned and the woodwork sanded down before they’d ended up naked on a drop cloth in the freshly painted bedroom.
Toni had been scrubbing drops of Coastal Plain green off her backside for an hour the next morning.
The second time, he’d helped lay tile in the new shower.
The third time it had been refinishing the floors.
Every time Henry lent a hand with the house, he lent something else as well. Which was a lot of fun and a complete disaster waiting to happen, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.
Worse, ever since the incident at the gym, she could feel Henry’s emotions. The man had none of the mental shields she’d learned to distinguish on people. Nearly everyone she’d met, from her mother to Detective Drew Bisset, had some kind of shield. Her mother’s was whisper-thin, but it was there. Drew’s were thick as stone walls, and she was pretty sure she’d never be able to influence him.
Henry? He had none. None! The man wore his heart on his sleeve, and she could feel his affection bouncing around her as enthusiastically as the floppy-eared rescue dog he’d adopted.
Toni quickly slid on her sunglasses. “I’m good, Henry, but thanks. Appreciate the offer.” She opened her car door and got inside. “I need to get to work.”
“Have a great day.” He patted the side of her car. “Be safe, Toni.”
You darling, innocent man. “Thanks. Hope all the grapes get in.”
His smile was a little crooked. “If I have to harvest all night, we will get those pinot grapes in the barn.”
Henry was an incredibly hard worker, and Nico—the cousin with three sisters—treated the younger man like a long-lost brother. The winemaker had grown up at a vineyard in Washington, but as one of six kids, he’d taken off to make his own fortune in the world.
He’d actually said that. “Make his own fortune in the world.” Who said things like that?
Henry, of course. And Regency romance heroes maybe? Missionaries? Earnest Canadian Mounties?
As her grandma would say, “Six of one, half dozen of the other, Antonia.”
Toni carefully backed out of the parking spot by the barn before she pulled forward and headed down the paved driveway that led to the highway. She didn’t look back. She couldn’t afford any more distractions.
But all the way back to town, Henry kept circling her thoughts.
Drip.
Drip.
Drop.
Katherine Bassi set an open bottle of red wine on the table along with three glasses. Toni looked away from the crashing waves of Moonstone Cove and stared at the wineglasses.
Shit.
She stood and walked toward the house. “I think I need some water actually. I was so busy today. If I have wine, it’ll go straight to my head.”
Megan lifted an eyebrow. “Your dad at the garage today? You look stressed.”
If anyone knew stress, it was Megan Carpenter. The woman had uprooted her life, left her event-planning business in Atlanta, and moved with her husband and three children to the Central Coast, only to find out that her husband had started fooling around with a woman half his age behind her back. She’d kicked him to the curb and was in the process of a messy divorce, all while trying to start a new business and deal with three kids.
Toni couldn’t even imagine that kind of stress.
Just her and the cat. Cats. Not that Enzo was high-maintenance.
“You know, it was a lot of little things.” Toni opened the door. “But let me get some water first.”
She walked into Katherine’s house to see Baxter, husband extraordinaire and math professor, making a cheese-and-fruit plate to take out to them.
“Thank you,” Toni said. “Can I get that?”
Baxter lifted the tray and held it close. “Did you think I was sharing?”
Toni grinned. “My mistake.”
“You know how I love pears.” Baxter smiled and handed her the tray. “If you can get this, I’ll slice the baguette from the market.”
“I know I’m probably too old to be adopted, but I would pick you for a big brother over my own any day.” Toni reached for a tall glass and filled it with water from the fridge.
“Family friction?” Baxter asked. He had a charming accent that was half Hong Kong and half London. “I’ll let my brother know that we have an honorary sister. He’ll be thrilled; we always wanted one.”
Toni snagged a pear and bit into it. “I just think I have too much family, you know? It would be one thing if they’d spread out a bit, but they all stayed here.”
Baxter motioned to the large windows looking over the ocean. “Can you blame them?”
“Not really.” Moonstone Cove was nestled in a curve of the Central California coast, smack between the coastal range and the Pacific Ocean. The weather was mild, the breeze was cool, and there were far more sunny days than overcast.
Baxter and Katherine taught at the local state university that specialized in marine biology and had a thriving agricultural and viticultural school. Nearly all of Toni’s family—brothers, sisters, and cousins—worked locally, and many hadn’t even left town for college.
“There’s just so many of them,” Toni said. “And they all have opinions. About everything.”
“I heard a writer once compare family to an octopus,” Baxter mused.
“That’s not… inaccurate,” Toni said. “Some days it’s a thin line between hugging and strangulation.”
“Indeed.” He finished cutting the baguette into thin slices. “Let’s see if food makes a difference, shall we?” He patted her shoulder and motioned her out the doors. “Or do you want to stay in here and hide from the perceptive ones?”
“Tempting, but they’d find me.” Toni popped a slice of pear in her mouth and grabbed her tall glass of water. “I better face the music.”
Baxter ushered her out to the back deck and set down the basket of bread while Toni scooted the wine bottle out of the way and set down the tray of snacks. Baxter gave Katherine a kiss on the cheek and then promptly decamped to the study to leave the women to their own devices.