Fate Actually (Moonstone Cove #2) - Elizabeth Hunter Page 0,1
“Did you know your old man is here?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I didn’t know he’d be in so early. There’s a leak in the bathroom I have to fix. I’ll only be a few minutes late.” She heard the timer go off and quickly hit the button before she continued. “Just uh…” She glanced down and blinked. “Just keep my dad occupied for a while until I get there, okay?”
“All right.” Glenn cleared his throat. “I might have him help the new kid at the parts counter. I really don’t want him trying to change tires again.”
“I know, I know.” She swept everything on the counter to the side so she had room for the faucet parts. “Bobby tends to forget he’s not thirty-five.” Her dad might have retired, but he wasn’t very good at taking it easy.
“I’ll take care of things here.”
“Sounds good.” She stared at the glossy edge of water forming at the lip of the faucet.
Drip.
“Okay, I’ll see you when you get in.”
“Thanks, Glenn. You’re the best.”
Drip.
Toni blinked and grabbed a red rag before she started taking the faucet apart.
Drop.
She had the faucet head in her hand when her phone rang again.
“Seriously?” she grumbled. She glanced at the screen.
Henry.
Nope. Not today, Satan’s better-looking brother.
No, that wasn’t fair. Henry wasn’t Satan or even in Satan’s extended family. He was good, so ridiculously good that she didn’t know how to handle him that morning.
“Go to voice mail,” she muttered. “Take a hint.”
She pried the old washer out of the faucet and set the cracked rubber on the counter. “Out with the old, in with the new.”
It was kind of her motto for everything these days. When she bought the house, she knew it needed work. That’s why she got it for such a low price. The old stone cottage was at the base of the hill that marked the boundary of her cousin Nico’s winery and his nearest neighbor, Fairfield Wines. She was ten minutes from Moonstone Cove, fifteen minutes from the beach, and smack in the heart of Central California wine country in a seventy-year-old cottage surrounded by a stand of oaks.
It was heaven, leaky faucets and all.
She was putting the new washer in when her mother’s name flashed on her phone’s screen.
Toni groaned. “How? How do you all know the exact worst time to call?”
No matter. She hit the green button because if she didn’t, she’d regret it later. “Hey, Ma.”
“Toni, your dad says a pipe burst in the bathroom. Did you call Nathan?”
Oh, for Pete’s sake… “It’s a leaky faucet, Ma. I don’t need to call Nathan.”
“He’s your cousin; he wouldn’t charge you for going out there.”
“I’m good. I’ve already got it fixed.” She tossed the red rag on the counter and reached under the sink to turn on the water.
“I knew that house was just going to be a money pit, Antonia. A money pit.”
The house had been the old foreman’s place on the Dusi family winery, but no one had lived in it for nearly twenty years. It was taken over by spiders and mice, had a family of rabbits living in the back bedroom, and generations of cats ran wild in the old red barn. But the house was solid.
“My house is not a money pit.” In fact, she’d insisted on a very thorough inspection by someone she was not related to before she agreed on the price. “It’s just maintenance stuff. Already done.” She tossed the washer in the trash and glanced at the clock on the counter. Ten minutes. Not bad at all. “I better say goodbye. I gotta feed Shelby and head in to work.”
Other than her overfed grey shorthair, Toni lived alone and she liked it that way. The cottage was her haven. She’d scooted the bunnies out the door, called the Humane Society for most of the cats, and adopted one gnarly-looking tomcat to keep the barn free of mice and gophers.
She’d had the old man neutered, and he still hadn’t forgiven her. Enzo ran from her every time she got close. He was the fastest cat she’d ever seen, hence the name.
Her own house cat, Shelby, had barely left her sunny perch in the living room window since she’d moved in the year before. She watched the birds flitting outside but knew that Toni would never let her out.
Enzo might have evolved to evade coyotes, but Shelby would be lunch.
“I made you and your dad lunch,” Rose Dusi said quickly. “And we’re having Sunday dinner at our place,