AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve been in France, not in the middle of the Amazon.” He looks down at my hand. “Is that a rat skull?”
I hold it up so he can see. “Bird. She loves collecting this kind of thing. I’m never sure if it means she’s going to grow up to be a vet or a serial killer.”
Nate laughs, a hint of my old friend shining through the prickly exterior he’s been sporting since he came home. “Are you going to tell her what it means?”
Checking vines for signs of damage, I follow Olive down the row. “I’m going to hope she forgets she asked.” I hesitate, but since this is the most relaxed I’ve seen him, I forge ahead with my question. “Are you ever going to let go of the chip on your shoulder? Or is a-hole Nate the only one who came home?”
Nate follows me down the row, checking each vine after me. I suppress my annoyance at the action, wanting to believe that it’s only because he hasn’t seen me working for the last few years. Even though Greg taught us both almost the same amount when we were kids. “Kel—” He sighs and I stop to face him. There’s a faraway look on his face. “It’s not just the winery.”
I’m about to ask him what he means when my phone starts buzzing in my pocket. Pulling it out, Maggie’s name flashes across the screen. Instinctively, I turn away from Nate and accept the call. “Maggie?”
“Kel?” Her voice sounds funny, like her nose is running. “I’m sorry, I…I…” She stops to sniff loudly. “I don’t…” Her broken words and another long sniff clue me in.
“Maggie? Sprinkles, what’s wrong?”
Her only answer is to burst out crying. Fuck. Damn it. The sound tears at me and in a flash, it becomes absolutely clear that I would move heaven and earth to make whatever is making her cry disappear.
“Maggie, what can I do?”
Olive is happily skipping down the row, waving at Jackie, who’s standing at the end with something in her hand. I glance back over my shoulder at Nate. He’s glaring at me, hands shoved deep in his pockets.
“Seriously?” He whispers the question, the anger and annoyance he brought home from France back in his body language. Well, fuck. How am I supposed to keep him happy and take care of whatever is upsetting Maggie?
Do I even want to try?
“I got a letter.” Maggie hiccups in my ear. “I didn’t know. How was I supposed to know?” Her shuddering breath rattles in my ear through the phone. “They sent it to my parent’s house. I didn’t know. How was I supposed to know?”
“What kind of letter? Who sent it?”
Maggie sucks in a breath. “The state tax board.”
“You got a letter from the state tax board? And?”
Nate mutters something behind me, but I ignore him, focusing on the sobs of my girlfriend. “Baby? What happened?”
“I don’t knowwwwwwwwwwww.” Her last words come out more like a wail than a statement. “I wasn’t going to call you, but Ophie’s gone and…and…and…” She stops to take another breath, dropping her voice to a whisper. “I didn’t want to ask you for help, but I need you.”
Her words flick a switch inside me. All my doubts about who takes priority in my life are gone with those three words.
Maggie and Olive.
My girls.
Everyone else be damned. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, Sprinkles. Give me five minutes to get Olive sorted and then I’ll be on my way.”
“Can you—” She swallows. “Can you bring a bottle of wine with you? I think we’re going to need it.”
I chuckle. If she’s asking me to bring wine, then maybe the situation isn’t quite as life and death as it sounds. “Absolutely. I’ll bring one of the good ones—I have a bottle of rosé in my fridge. Hold tight, okay?”
I turn around to go the short way up the hill and crash face-first into Nate’s chest. “What the fuck, man?” I move to push past him, but he sidesteps into my path.
Pissed, I shove at his shoulder, but he shoves me right back. “Dude. Move. I need to go.” I growl the words, but he doesn’t move.
“You’re leaving? You pry into my personal life, but the second your little girlfriend calls begging you for free wine and help doing her taxes, you take off?” Nate glares at me, arms crossed and legs wide.
The urge to get to Maggie tears at my gut, mixing with my anger at Nate’s attitude and belittling of the woman who sees me more clearly than he ever has. “Back off, Nate. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you’ve been freeloading off my parents and Sutton, pretending to know what you’re doing around here. You’ve been using my mom for free babysitting and letting my dad run this place into the ground while you mooch off them for free rent.”
