Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,16
man.”
Toni put a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.
“I will.”
“Serves you right,” Frank yelled.
“Frankie!” Toni’s mom called again. “Come inside and talk to your father.”
The “oohs” and laughter rose from the lawn as Frank Dusi grabbed his beer and walked inside without a word.
“You know he probably wants to talk about the farm,” Nico said. “Your dad doesn’t care that Frank called me a dickhead.”
“Probably because you kind of are.”
“Harsh.” Nico elbowed her. “See if I send Henry over to help with your vines again next weekend.”
Don’t be suspicious. Don’t be suspicious. “Please, you know he’s obsessed with my vines. You can’t keep him away.” Shit, was that suspicious?
Nico cast her a glance. “He’s obsessed with something, all right.”
She kept her voice low. “If you say anything about that man to my sisters—”
“Relax, I don’t want to torment the poor guy. I’m sure you do that enough, extinguishing all hope in his little crush.”
Little crush? Oh, that was great. “So as I was saying about Marissa and your nemesis—”
“Oh yes, can we get back to literally my least favorite subject in the world?” Nico grumbled. “Please, can we?”
“I’m just saying that if they have something going on, maybe she’ll finally sign the divorce papers. It’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” he said. “But I’m not holding out much hope. He’s probably just messing with her to needle me.”
“You think he hates you that much?”
“I think he hates that people see me as a real winemaker and him as an out-of-town wannabe.” Nico threw his head back and finished his glass. “Trust me, if Whit Fairfield could get rid of me by snapping his fingers, he’d do it in a heartbeat, and it wouldn’t be because of my ex-wife.”
Chapter 6
“So what do you know about Whit Fairfield?” Drew Bisset didn’t wait for her to close the door to her office before he began questioning her.
Toni blinked and kicked the door shut. “You came to my place of business to ask about Whit Fairfield?”
“Did you think I just wanted to hang out?”
“I thought we bonded last spring, Drew.”
Drew let out a clipped laugh. “Sure we did.”
“Why are you asking me?”
He’d interrupted Toni when she was working on a new project, which was kind of annoying, but it also gave her an excuse to retreat into her office and recharge because she was feeling the urge to crawl under her desk and sleep as soon as the clock hit two o’clock these days.
Because you’re pregnant, dumbass.
She ignored her own mental chiding because she was also firmly in denial.
Drew sat in the chair on the far side of Toni’s desk and slouched down. “I’m asking you because you know nearly everyone in town in a way that I don’t, you’re incredibly perceptive, and you and your friends tracked down a serial offender last spring.”
Toni spoke carefully. “Those are all sort-of-true things.”
“And I trust your read on people.”
Silently, Toni said, Since I can tell when anyone is lying and can usually tell what their motivation is, that’s a smart move, Detective.
Out loud she said, “I mean… I know what I know. Don’t you have a read on people too?”
He frowned and folded his hands, resting his chin on his fingers. “I got a read on your cousin. I got a read on this Fairfield guy. The problem is, there’s a whole other layer I know I’m not seeing.” He pointed at Toni. “And I think you might be able to shed some light on it for me.”
“You know there are rumors that Fairfield’s seeing Nico’s ex, right?”
He waved a careless hand. “I heard, but from what I can tell, that’s good riddance on your cousin’s part, right?”
“Yeah. Marissa’s the one who filed for divorce, but now she won’t sign. Nico pretty much hates her guts, but he’d be thrilled if she got a serious boyfriend because she might actually sign the divorce papers then.”
“Sad.” He shook his head. “That’s a sad situation for both of them.”
“Yeah, it is.” Toni sighed. She could feel that the sentiment from Detective Bisset was sincere. “No one in our family celebrated when she left him even though most of us don’t like Marissa much.”
“So the read I get from over at the Fairfield place is that the employees like their boss, he pays them well, and that Fairfield isn’t all that bad, he just comes across as kind of an asshole at first. Also, they all think your cousin is arrogant, stubborn,