Page 106 of While You Were Trending

“No.”

“Mr. Luckwood didn’t leave one?”

“No. But I think he farted. He left a fart. Does that count?”

“No, anyone’s welcome to leave farts. Did you or Aunt Pip tell anyone we needed money?”

She wrinkles her nose. “Why do you need money? My daddy has a credit card. And Aunt Pip has pretty necklaces.”

“Would Simon Luckwood or his billionaire friend leave us with a note asking to have a wine named after them?” Dori asks.

Mabel’s frowning. “It doesn’t feel right.”

“Neither does getting an envelope of cash,” Olivia murmurs.

“Maybe it was Mike,” Cricket says.

Ginny shakes her head. “If Mike wanted to contribute, he’d do it outright. He wouldn’t be cryptic.”

Everyone except for Ginny looks at me.

I hold my hands up. “Not me.”

“Wasn’t it?” Mabel asks.

“It wasn’t him,” Ginny says to the wood floor. “He’d break out in hives at the idea of leaving cash unguarded in an empty room. No interest or dividends in cash.”

She’s not wrong, and I hate the warmth in my chest at how well she knows me too.

Mabel looks at me again, then back to Ginny, then back to me. “What were you doing in there?”

“I told him about the wine out there,” Cricket says. “My fault.”

“Guilty,” I say. “I was looking for the wine stash. Heard it was fantastic.”

“Would your mother—” Samantha starts, but Ginny’s already shaking her head.

“She’d want instant credit,” Ginny says. “No games.”

“How are we supposed to name a wine after someone when we don’t know who it is?” Olivia’s looking at the note now too.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Dori says. “We call it Secret Donor.”

“Not dirty enough,” Olivia says. “Our wine’s gonna havedildoin the title.”

“Anonymous Partner,” Cricket says. “That feels kinda sexy.”

Heath growls.

She grins at him. “I meantfinancialpartner. Not…any other kind of…partner.”

“Is it real money?” Olivia asks.

“He says it is.” Heath hooks a thumb toward me.

“Spent a day at the mint,” I offer, repeating what I told Ginny and Heath in the other building. “I have one of those markers to test it.”

Mabel shakes her head. “No need. I’ll take it to the bank. Tell your producer that she’s not getting her money back, and this isn’t going on camera.”