Tease (Cloverleigh Farms #8)(73)

“Not enough,” I said quietly.

For once, Millie had no rebuttal.

My phone buzzed on the table, and I looked at it. “Jesus Christ, this woman is so annoying!”

“Carla again?”

“No, fucking Mimi Pepper-Peabody. She keeps wanting to meet up with me.” I read the text. “Now she’s making threats. This one says ‘If I don’t hear from you within twenty-four hours, you won’t have a chance to tell me your side of the story.’”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“I have no idea. I’m fucking exhausted.” Setting my phone down, I rubbed my face with both hands. “But I have to go to work.”

“Me too. I’m sorry—I feel like I wasn’t much help.” She walked me to the door. “Want to hang out tomorrow?”

“Maybe. I’ll text you.” I gave her a hug, and she didn’t let go right away.

“I wish you would have told me about that night,” she said, her voice cracking. “I feel awful you went through that alone.”

“It’s okay.”

“Are you going to tell Dad?”

“No.” I let her go and stood back. “Dad does not need to hear it at this point. He was hard enough on himself, and I don’t want him feeling guilty about this. He’s happy.”

“He is happy. Thank goodness for Frannie.” She laughed a little. “It’s funny to me—Frannie was younger than we are now when she married Dad. Didn’t she seem so old?”

I had to smile. “Yes. I’d never seen two old people act so stupid. Especially Dad.”

“Think they would have gotten together if we hadn’t told him what was what?”

I shrugged. “Probably. It would have taken longer, since Dad was so stubborn, but they were obviously in love.”

She poked my shoulder. “So you’re saying love finds a way?”

“It’s different for us.” I frowned. “We’re not Dad and Frannie.”

“What’s so different?”

“We’re just—” I struggled for an answer, then I heard Hutton’s voice in my head. “We were born under different stars.”





Twenty minutes later, I arrived at Etoile. After pulling myself together in the parking lot, I went in the kitchen door.

Gianni glanced at me as I passed by his office. “Oh, hey. Someone’s waiting to see you.”

“What? Where?”

“I think she’s in the tasting room now, but she walked right into the kitchen a little bit ago.”

I rolled my eyes. “Tall blonde?”

“Yeah. I told her she couldn’t wait back here.” He grinned. “Sent her Ellie’s way.”

“Sorry about that. I’ll deal with her.” I checked the clock. “Should only take a few minutes.”

“Go ahead.”

Annoyed, I hurried through the empty restaurant, across the lobby, and down the steps to the winery. Inside the tasting room, I spotted Mimi at the near end of the bar checking her phone. Her back was to me, but I’d recognize that sleek golden blowout anywhere. Frowning, I touched my new bangs.

“Hey,” I said, approaching her from behind. “You’re looking for me?”

She turned on her stool and gave me a fake smile. “There you are.”

I held out my arms. “Here I am.”

She studied me critically. “Did you get your bangs cut again? You really should fire that stylist.”

“What do you want, Mimi? I have to get to work.”

“You know,” she said, folding her arms. “I was wondering why you’d still work as a cook since getting engaged to a billionaire.”

“I like my job,” I said stiffly.

She laughed. “That’s good, because now that I know the whole thing was a scam and you’re not really engaged to a billionaire at all, you’ll probably be working it for a while.”





EIGHTEEN





HUTTON





“So how’s it going?” my sister asked as she cleaned up the post-breakfast kitchen mess. “I haven’t even seen you since you got back from New York. You ignore me now that you have a fiancée.”

“Sorry.” I was sitting at her kitchen table watching the kids play in the yard through the window.

“Looks like you guys had fun. I saw some pictures.”

I folded my arms over my chest. “We had fun. Despite the people who felt it necessary to intrude on our privacy and take photos.”

“The ones I saw were good.” She collected some more dirty plates from the table. “I mean, you knew people were going to be interested. The love lives of celebrities sell.”

“But it’s fucking annoying. I don’t want to be a celebrity. And Felicity didn’t ask for that kind of attention.”

Allie shrugged. “No, but it sort of comes with the territory. She knows who you are.”

She did. She knew me better than anyone. Why was I mad at her for it?

“Quite a ring you gave her.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you guys settled on a date yet?”