Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,61
over. And for some reason, I have this ridiculous confidence that everything is going to work out. Fate just had something completely unexpected set up for me, and I’m determined that it’s going to be great.”
“So you’re saying that fate has something equally unexpected for me, and I just need to go with it?”
“What’s not to go with?” Megan spread her arms. “You’re living in your own home that you bought and are fixing up. You’re taking a day off from the business you’ve dedicated your life to for over twenty years. And you know you can do that because you’re a kick-ass businesswoman who knows how to delegate. You’re going to have a baby.” Megan smiled. “How ridiculously beautiful and crazy is that? A baby. And you have this wonderful man who loves you and wants it all. You. The baby. The life in the country. The whole plate.”
Toni rubbed her temple. “Why am I overthinking this? Why can’t I just be happy?”
“Because you’re a problem solver and you’re always on the lookout for a new thing you need to solve. And do not worry, my friend, there will be things to solve. But for now, with all the craziness going on in your family and in town, just chill and enjoy this part.” Megan sat back, kicked her feet up on the porch railing, and sipped her coffee. “Henry loves you and you love him and y’all are going to have a baby. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.”
“Okay.”
Megan nodded. “Okay.” She glanced at Toni’s hands. “I’d maybe think twice about taking up boxing though.”
“You’re telling me.”
Megan and Toni decided to walk up to the winery after they’d had their morning coffee. They’d never really made it all the way up the trail on the day they found Whit Fairfield’s body, but Toni was determined not to let the memory of that day stain the beautiful scenery around her house.
“I know nothing about wine,” Megan said. “Other than that I like it. How do you learn what good wine is? To be honest, I go by the label and the price tag. I’ve got no idea how to pick.”
“My dad always had a really simple way to tell if something was a good wine.”
“Oh?”
“Do you like it?”
Megan laughed.
“I’m serious.” Toni stopped to pick a bunch of dark purple grapes from the cabernet vines that butted up to the path. “Do you like it? Then it’s a good wine. What’s a good wine anyway, right? I mean, you can say something is more complex or better blended or what have you, but at the end of the day, if you like it…”
“It’s a good wine. I’ll go with that.” Megan reached over and picked a grape, popped it in her mouth, and made a face. “It’s so seedy.”
“Yep. Thick skin too.” She ate one, sucked out the juice, then spit the seeds and the skin into the dirt. “Still sweet though.”
“Yep.”
The day was warming up. Though it was fall and the leaves were starting to turn, the sun was getting higher and the fog from the ocean had burned off the top of the hills. As they walked up to Nico’s winery, Toni heard footsteps behind her.
She stopped and turned.
“What is it?” Megan asked.
Toni shook her head. “I thought I heard someone.”
They turned and started walking again, past the turn of the creek where Fairfield’s body was found. Past the rocky hill where an old oak towered over a broken-down tractor. They walked over the hill and down into a small hollow where a flock of wild turkeys took flight, surprised by their arrival.
“Wow! Does anyone hunt them?” Megan watched the group of birds take flight over the creek.
“Nico and the guys try, but the turkeys always seem to disappear as soon as the season starts.”
“They’re no dummies.”
In the distance, past the vines and across a dip in the terrain, another flock took to the air, drawing Toni’s attention.
Footsteps and startled birds weren’t just her imagination.
Megan kept her voice low. “Is someone following us?”
“I think so.”
“We keep going?”
“No choice.”
Toni and Megan kept walking through the vines and toward Nico’s place. As they drew closer, they could hear voices in the distance. A harvesting crew was singing along with the radio. The footsteps behind them got louder.
Megan and Toni started walking faster.
“You hear it too?”
“Yeah.”
Just as Toni was about to break into a run, someone popped up from between the rows. Toni turned, shoved Megan behind her,