When she pulled behind the barn, she could see dozens of workers hanging out along the edge of the field. Though all the wine grapes were cut by hand, the tractor pulled the bins through the rows. No tractor meant way more walking, a much slower harvest, and very pissed-off employees.
“What’s up?”
Nico was standing next to the small tractor with a grimace on his face, looking completely stressed out. “I have no idea. Henry and Danny are in Paso Robles to pick up some valves and they’re on the way back now, but everyone is waiting. I don’t have time for this. It was working fine yesterday.”
Oh good. Henry was gone.
Nico gestured to the trailer stacked with empty crates. “And we’ve got to get the rest of the pinot today or I’m fucked. The temperatures are going to spike tomorrow.”
“Hey.” She tried to use her superpowers for good by putting her hand on Nico’s forearm and giving it a little squeeze. “Relax. I’m sure it’s fixable.”
Nico immediately chilled out. Toni could feel his stress leave him and soak into her. It didn’t do much for the queasy stomach she’d been battling all morning, but there was considerably less tension floating around her.
“Thank you for coming up,” he said. “You know I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t an emergency.”
“Okay, keys out?” She walked over and stepped up on the running board. As soon as she flipped up the seat, she spotted the problem.
“Okay, well, if you knew a fraction as much about engines as you do about grapevines, you’d be able to figure it out. Someone cut the line on your primary safety switch.”
“The what? Someone messed with a switch?” Nico craned his head. “How do you know?”
She pointed to the cut wires. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious. They put that in there so if the driver falls off, the tractor shuts off. Without a working safety switch there, the engine could be perfect and the tractor still won’t start. I don’t know of any way to bypass it.”
Nico’s face turned red. “Could it be an accident?”
“I mean…” She shrugged. “It looks cut to me. The wires are pretty clean. You’re gonna need to get someone out here to rewire it if Danny can’t do it.” Henry was the winemaker, but Danny Barba was his foreman on the farm and kept all the equipment working. “I’m gonna say at least a couple of hours.”
“Shit!” Nico slammed his hand on the top of the tractor, and Toni heard something fall from the tractor with a thunk.
She hopped down and stared at what had fallen in the dirt. “Oh my God.”
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand. The queasy stomach she’d been battling all morning roared up with a vengeance. Toni ran for the edge of the field and puked into the grass.
“Toni?” Nico ran to her, but she shook her head and waved him back. “What the hell?”
“Finger.” She cleared her throat and tried not to retch again. “Nico, look.”
“What are you…? Oh fuck.”
That was two fucks in one day. Yep, her Aunt Marta was going to be hearing about that one.
But then again, what else were you supposed to say when a bloody human finger fell out of your broken tractor?
Chapter 2
Detective Drew Bisset stood over the lone finger sitting in the dirt, watching with a frown while one of his officers documented the scene with a camera. He was a handsome man with dark brown skin, dark hair and beard, and a medium build, who carried himself with confident ease.
Drew was the head detective at the Moonstone Cove Police Department. He’d moved to town around five years ago, so people still considered him a newcomer, but he was well liked. Toni had met him the year before when her cousin Max had joined the police department, and she had a lot of respect for the man’s straightforward personality.
Toni had gotten to know Drew better when she, Katherine, and Megan were trying to figure out what had caused the near-shooting that triggered their powers. A mystery that involved one student had grown to be a conspiracy that involved students at the university, a hijacked psychological study, a shady professor, and a grad student with secret empathic abilities like Toni’s.
Not that Drew knew about that last part.
He was frowning at the finger. “And you said it fell out of the tractor?”
Toni nodded and avoided looking at the bloody digit. “According to Nico, the tractor was working fine yesterday, no weird sounds or anything, so I flipped up the seat to see if there was something interfering with the safety switch.”
“And the wires were cut?” He scribbled something in a small notebook.
“Yeah. I flipped up the seat and saw the wires there. They didn’t look worn down or anything, like they were rubbing up on anything—nothing like that—the ends were cut clean.”
Drew looked up at the tractor, then back to the finger. “Could someone have been trying to mess with the tractor and gotten their finger cut off? Lost it in the engine or something?”
Toni shook her head. “I guess anything is possible, but you’d have to be pretty inept to lose a finger cutting a couple of wires. They’re not exactly hard to find.”
Drew crouched down. “The edges of this are pretty rough. It doesn’t look like a clean cut. Almost like it was torn off. And it looks like it’s been exposed for a while.”
Toni shuddered. Accidents on the farm or at the garage were not unheard of, and they were one of the reasons she didn’t wear jewelry, not even tiny earrings. Still, she had no idea how a finger could be torn off while cutting two exposed wires.
“If I’d been checking a belt or something, I could kind of see it but…” She shrugged and tried to calm her stomach, but she wanted to puke again. “Honestly, I have no idea. You’re gonna have to examine the engine, I think. See if there’re any traces of blood in it. Maybe the safety switch isn’t the only thing that was tampered with.”
Nico let out a low groan, and Drew looked up.
Toni tried to send out good vibes, but it was a lot harder to change the temperature of someone’s emotions when she wasn’t in direct contact.
Drew said, “Sorry, Mr. Dusi, but there’s no way that this tractor is going to work today.”
Nico ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Can I at least get my crew going?”
Drew frowned. “Is there a reason you need to rush them out of here?”
“The pinot grapes,” Nico said. “We have to get them today. I’m gonna make some calls about a tractor.” He stalked off toward the barn.
“Pinot grapes?” Drew looked at Toni. “These grapes gonna go bad in a day?”
“It’s the sugar,” Toni said. “The daytime temperatures are supposed to head way up tomorrow, and he’s afraid the sugar levels will spike with the heat, which would throw off the fermentation and change the character of the wine.” Toni glanced at Nico, who was on the near side of the barn, looking like he was about to deck Henry. Or Danny. Or both.
How about that? Henry was here.
Focus on the bloody finger, Toni.
Toni looked away. “That’s his winemaker, Henry Durand, and his foreman, Danny Barba. Henry’s the one who kind of determines what the sugar levels should be. Then Nic’s gotta get the grapes in so they can start the crush.”
Drew pursed his lips, glanced at the men, and nodded. “Okay, I’ll make sure the officer gets all the employees’ names and numbers and we can follow up later. Go tell your cousin he can get his guys working.”
“Thanks.” She glanced at Drew, then back at the finger. Then at Drew again. “One thing.”
“Yeah?” Drew pulled out his phone.
“Can I take off too?” She was dying to get out of there. Not only was the temperature starting to climb, she could see Henry walking toward the workers.
Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Of all the days, not this one.
“Yeah.” Drew waved at her. “Take off. I got your number.”
“Okay.” She hightailed it toward her car but wasn’t fast enough.
“Toni!”
She turned just as she reached her car. Knowing Henry, if she tried to take off, he’d just sit on her hood or something.
Toni looked up. “Hey.”
Henry Durand was the size of a smallish tree. He had narrow hips and a lean torso. He’d told her once he used to mountain climb, and she could see it in the lanky lines of his body. He was about as opposite from her short curvy frame as was physically possible.
And he was cute. So damn cute she had to steel herself every time they interacted.
“Hey, Henry.” She wiped her expression clean. “What’s up?”
“You didn’t answer my call this morning.”
“Nope. I was busy.”
He bit his lower lip. “Everything okay?”
That is such a loaded question I don’t even have an idea of how to answer it. “Fine. Just have a lot going on. And I need to get back to the garage, so—”
“Do you need any more help with the cabinets in the laundry room?” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been meaning to ask.”
“No.” She swallowed the maniacal laugh that threatened to erupt. “I’ve got it.”
The first time she’d met Henry, she’d felt the sparks between them, but Henry was an “aw, shucks” clean-cut farm boy from Washington State, and he was about ten years younger than Toni.
Or so she thought. She honestly had no idea, and she was too afraid to ask.
“Just…” His cheeks turned a little red. “If you need any help, I’m happy to lend a hand.”
Oh, he’d lent her a hand all right. The first time she’d accepted his help, they’d gotten the entire fireplace surround cleaned and the woodwork sanded down before they’d ended up naked on a drop cloth in the freshly painted bedroom.
Toni had been scrubbing drops of Coastal Plain green off her backside for an hour the next morning.
The second time, he’d helped lay tile in the new shower.
The third time it had been refinishing the floors.
Every time Henry lent a hand with the house, he lent something else as well. Which was a lot of fun and a complete disaster waiting to happen, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.
Worse, ever since the incident at the gym, she could feel Henry’s emotions. The man had none of the mental shields she’d learned to distinguish on people. Nearly everyone she’d met, from her mother to Detective Drew Bisset, had some kind of shield. Her mother’s was whisper-thin, but it was there. Drew’s were thick as stone walls, and she was pretty sure she’d never be able to influence him.
Henry? He had none. None! The man wore his heart on his sleeve, and she could feel his affection bouncing around her as enthusiastically as the floppy-eared rescue dog he’d adopted.
Toni quickly slid on her sunglasses. “I’m good, Henry, but thanks. Appreciate the offer.” She opened her car door and got inside. “I need to get to work.”
“Have a great day.” He patted the side of her car. “Be safe, Toni.”
You darling, innocent man. “Thanks. Hope all the grapes get in.”
His smile was a little crooked. “If I have to harvest all night, we will get those pinot grapes in the barn.”
Henry was an incredibly hard worker, and Nico—the cousin with three sisters—treated the younger man like a long-lost brother. The winemaker had grown up at a vineyard in Washington, but as one of six kids, he’d taken off to make his own fortune in the world.
He’d actually said that. “Make his own fortune in the world.” Who said things like that?
Henry, of course. And Regency romance heroes maybe? Missionaries? Earnest Canadian Mounties?
As her grandma would say, “Six of one, half dozen of the other, Antonia.”
Toni carefully backed out of the parking spot by the barn before she pulled forward and headed down the paved driveway that led to the highway. She didn’t look back. She couldn’t afford any more distractions.
But all the way back to town, Henry kept circling her thoughts.
Drip.
Drip.
Drop.
* * *
Katherine Bassi set an open bottle of red wine on the table along with three glasses. Toni looked away from the crashing waves of Moonstone Cove and stared at the wineglasses.
Shit.
She stood and walked toward the house. “I think I need some water actually. I was so busy today. If I have wine, it’ll go straight to my head.”
Megan lifted an eyebrow. “Your dad at the garage today? You look stressed.”
If anyone knew stress, it was Megan Carpenter. The woman had uprooted her life, left her event-planning business in Atlanta, and moved with her husband and three children to the Central Coast, only to find out that her husband had started fooling around with a woman half his age behind her back. She’d kicked him to the curb and was in the process of a messy divorce, all while trying to start a new business and deal with three kids.
Toni couldn’t even imagine that kind of stress.
Just her and the cat. Cats. Not that Enzo was high-maintenance.
“You know, it was a lot of little things.” Toni opened the door. “But let me get some water first.”
She walked into Katherine’s house to see Baxter, husband extraordinaire and math professor, making a cheese-and-fruit plate to take out to them.
“Thank you,” Toni said. “Can I get that?”
Baxter lifted the tray and held it close. “Did you think I was sharing?”
Toni grinned. “My mistake.”
“You know how I love pears.” Baxter smiled and handed her the tray. “If you can get this, I’ll slice the baguette from the market.”
“I know I’m probably too old to be adopted, but I would pick you for a big brother over my own any day.” Toni reached for a tall glass and filled it with water from the fridge.
“Family friction?” Baxter asked. He had a charming accent that was half Hong Kong and half London. “I’ll let my brother know that we have an honorary sister. He’ll be thrilled; we always wanted one.”
Toni snagged a pear and bit into it. “I just think I have too much family, you know? It would be one thing if they’d spread out a bit, but they all stayed here.”
Baxter motioned to the large windows looking over the ocean. “Can you blame them?”
“Not really.” Moonstone Cove was nestled in a curve of the Central California coast, smack between the coastal range and the Pacific Ocean. The weather was mild, the breeze was cool, and there were far more sunny days than overcast.
Baxter and Katherine taught at the local state university that specialized in marine biology and had a thriving agricultural and viticultural school. Nearly all of Toni’s family—brothers, sisters, and cousins—worked locally, and many hadn’t even left town for college.
“There’s just so many of them,” Toni said. “And they all have opinions. About everything.”
“I heard a writer once compare family to an octopus,” Baxter mused.
“That’s not… inaccurate,” Toni said. “Some days it’s a thin line between hugging and strangulation.”
“Indeed.” He finished cutting the baguette into thin slices. “Let’s see if food makes a difference, shall we?” He patted her shoulder and motioned her out the doors. “Or do you want to stay in here and hide from the perceptive ones?”
“Tempting, but they’d find me.” Toni popped a slice of pear in her mouth and grabbed her tall glass of water. “I better face the music.”
Baxter ushered her out to the back deck and set down the basket of bread while Toni scooted the wine bottle out of the way and set down the tray of snacks. Baxter gave Katherine a kiss on the cheek and then promptly decamped to the study to leave the women to their own devices.
“Here.” Megan held out a glass of red wine to Toni. “For when you’re done hydrating.”
Toni hesitated a moment before she took the wine and sat next to Megan. “Thanks.”
Katherine leane
d her elbows on the table. “Out with it. I’m not an empath, but the worry is rolling off you like waves. Even I can feel it.”
“Cheers.” Megan clinked her glass with Katherine’s. “Here’s to Wine Wednesday and girlfriends. Together we can solve the mysteries of the universe.”
Toni nodded and took a long drink of water. “Okay, cool. What do you want to start with? The detached finger I found while trying to fix my cousin’s tractor this morning? Or the fact that I’m pretty sure I’m kind of pregnant?”
Chapter 3
Katherine promptly spat a mouthful of wine across the table. Megan, with her lightning-fast reflexes, diverted the wine with a swipe of her telekinesis before it could hit the cheese. It splashed next to Katherine’s chair as she sat coughing into a napkin.
“Well, at least I saved the cheese.” Megan gave her a sideways glare. “You have fun giving us a heart attack like that?”
“What was it? The severed finger or the pregnancy?”
“The pregnancy of course.” Megan rolled her eyes. “Who hasn’t seen a severed finger or two? You getting knocked up, on the other hand—”
“Please don’t say knocked up,” Toni said. “I’m not a teenager.”
“Could have fooled me, Miss I Don’t Know What Condoms Are.” Megan shook her head. “Are you sure?”
“Well, you’re the one with three kids. How positive is a week of bathroom pee tests that all say ‘pregnant’?”
“Yeah, you’re knocked up.”
“Will you not?” Toni reached for another slice of pear. Her stomach was in full revolt. She hadn’t eaten anything since lunch, and she was getting more nauseated as the day went by, not less. “I thought it was called morning sickness, not evening sickness.”
“Have some bread.” Megan handed her the basket. “It doesn’t follow the clock a lot of the time.” She sighed a little. “What were you thinking, Toni?”
Fate Actually: Moonstone Cove Book Two Page 2