path with the oak-covered hill rising along the left and the creek and rows of cabernet vines running along their right.
Nico reached out and pinched off a bunch of dark purple grapes and tossed them in his mouth. “We’re close on these. End of next week, I think.”
Henry reached over and grabbed a handful for himself. “Yeah. End of next week or beginning of the week after.”
“Depends on the weather.”
They walked in silence, and Toni tried to imagine what they might find.
Would the caves be as neat as what they’d seen on the plans? Would they be like her house? Basically sturdy but in need of some TLC?
“If these wine caves are nice,” Nico said, “then I may be looking to move my entire tasting room facility down the hill.”
“And out of the barn?” Toni grinned. “It’s like you’re listening to your mom or something.”
“Ha ha.”
Megan said, “Putting the tasting room closer to the creek and the caves makes sense though. You’re pretty far back from the main road where you are. You’d snag a lot more of the traffic off the main road with good signage and a nice building.”
“As much as I object to people in general,” Toni said, “I can’t argue with Megan’s logic.”
Trina, Megan’s oldest daughter, was a year out of high school and already attending Central Coast State. She sidled up to Nico and said, “You should listen to my mom. She’s really good at advertising and marketing.”
Nico looked amused. “Is she now?”
“Oh yeah. When we lived in Atlanta, having her working for you was a really big deal. She even worked with film studios and stuff.”
Toni tried hard to control her smile. Was Megan’s oldest daughter selling Nico on her mom?
“I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Nico, to his credit, knew not to dismiss teenage girls. “What kind of brand development experience does she have on her résumé?”
“I don’t know exactly what you mean by that, but there was a real big rum company that had a relaunch of their product in Atlanta, and she did the whole thing. Her team designed the labels. They planned the party. They got celebrities and everything there. It was totally in the newspaper.”
“Trina!” Megan called from the front where she was walking next to Baxter. “What are you talking about?”
“Nothing!” Trina winked at Nico and kept her voice low. “Just saying. Her business is gonna take off in a matter of months. You don’t want to sleep on that if you know what’s good for you.”
The corner of Nico’s mouth turned up, showing off the dimple that had charmed half of Moonstone Cove. “Thanks for the tip.”
Henry grabbed Toni’s hand and swung his shovel over his shoulder. “It’s a good idea, but we need to make sure the structure is sound.”
“Such a realist.” Toni squeezed his hand. “I appreciate that.”
Finding the entrance to a cave wasn’t nearly as easy as Toni had thought it would be. After all, it was a door. Into the ground. But what she realized after three hours of searching was that as large as doors were, they were not larger than hills.
It wasn’t until Adam, Megan’s son, was randomly swinging a pick into a pile of rocks that they found a clue.
The thunk rang loud across the late morning air.
“Mom!”
Everyone stopped searching in the brush and ran over to the sixteen-year-old boy.
“Look!” He pointed at the pile of rocks and swung the pick again.
Thunk.
“That’s wood.”
Nico and Henry bent down to roll away the stones covering the wooden structure, only to find a sturdy set of doors with two horseshoes bent into handles.
“Okay, let’s pop ’em up.”
Nico and Henry both pulled up and out, exposing not a set of stairs but a storage area with many of the same tools they were already carrying.
“This isn’t a portal.” Katherine started scanning the brush. “But I bet it’s close.”
“Why else would you keep supplies here?” Toni asked.
They focused their attention on the area directly to the right and left of the wooden storage area, and within minutes they’d found the entrance, stacked with rocks, draped with old vines that fell down the hill, and with a menacing tangle of barbed wire mixed in with the brush.
Henry took a pickax and pulled the barbed wire away; then Nico and Megan pushed the rocks to the side.
“You’re strong.” Nico grinned at Megan. “You must work out.”
Megan’s smile was bright. “As often as possible.” She was also a telekinetic who could use her ability to enhance her