“I’m fine with that.” He started walking back toward the house. “Let’s go down and talk to Toni.”
Henry tried to interrupt Nico. “I’m not joking, Nic. She’s stressed as hell and she doesn’t need another—”
“It’s not up to you, Henry. You’re gonna ask her what she wants to do because she’s a grown-ass adult, and if she doesn’t want to do it, she’ll tell you. But if you try to hide it from her, it won’t work because I’ll tell her myself.”
Henry was still angry, but Megan could tell he knew Nico was right. She nudged Henry’s shoulder while they walked. “Tell her. She’s got enough on her plate, and she’s going to tell him no. I’ll call our friend Val and see if she can come help. I’m sure this is the last thing Toni wants to be dealing with.”
“What?” Toni waddled from the kitchen to the snug living room. “Of course I’ll help. You’re not going to get very far questioning people without me.”
Toni’s empathy worked in two directions. While she could feel people’s emotions, she could also force people to feel hers. Which meant that, with close enough contact, she could make a suspect become very… agreeable about talking.
Basically, she could make most people spill their guts like they were on truth serum.
“Are you sure?” Megan asked. “Henry said you’ve been having a hard time with your filters lately.”
Toni shot Henry a dirty look. “I told you—”
“You think I’m just going to sit back and watch you drive yourself to mental exhaustion?” Henry stood and paced across the small living room. “I’m not a demanding person—you know I’m not—but I do not want you doing this.”
Megan saw Toni open her mouth and braced herself for an acid-tipped response.
But Toni surprised her when she closed her mouth, took a deep breath, and calmly asked, “What are you worried about?”
“Your stress levels,” he said. “You’re not sleeping well because you’re having a hard time getting comfortable, and you’re wearing yourself out. You can’t keep going on a few hours of sleep every night. It’s not healthy.”
Nico had been tight-lipped since they arrived. He sat in the corner and watched Toni intently, but he didn’t say a word.
“Okay,” Toni said. “That’s fair. What if I stop going into the garage and just help Megan and Katherine with this?”
Henry appeared to be thinking. He crossed his arms and frowned, tapping his thumb rapidly on his bicep. “No more garage?”
“I mean, I might peek in a couple of times a week to make sure Glenn doesn’t need help with anything but… mostly yes.”
“Will you call your dad in to help Glenn?”
Toni’s eyebrows went up. “Do you want Glenn to quit before I go on maternity leave? Trust me, the guys have this. I’ll check in with Glenn to make sure no one is dropping the ball, but other than that, I’ll take it easy around the house.”
Nico sat up. “But I thought—”
“And I’ll help Megan and Katherine a little,” Toni said. “That will keep me from going crazy until the tiny monster gets here. It’s not like I can go off on any wild adventures on my own. I can’t even drive a car.”
“Okay.” Henry seemed to weigh his objections. “So you’re not going into the garage every day, and if you help Katherine and Megan, they’ll be driving so you won’t be anywhere on your own?”
“Exactly,” Toni said. “This will be less intense than being at the garage. Trust me.”
Henry still looked suspicious, but Megan could tell he’d been outmaneuvered.
“Fine,” he said. “I’m going to get these steaks ready for the grill.”
Nico glanced at Megan as he rose. “I’ll help.”
Megan scooted closer to Toni. “Okay” —she kept her voice low— “didn’t you tell me and Katherine on Friday that you were thinking of quitting the garage this week anyway?”
“Yes. Except now it appears as if I did that as a reasonable compromise. Score, right?” Toni held her knuckles out for Megan to bump with her own. “Win-win.”
“I’m worried about you,” Megan said. “Is Henry right? You’re only getting a few hours of sleep a night? No wonder your filters are shot.”
“I know, but I don’t think working on this is going to be that hard. How many people have the facilities to keep those vines healthy and happy? We’ll have this figured out in a couple of days. I’m not concerned.”
“But are your filters really shot?”
She scrunched her nose. “They’re not great, and I don’t know why. I think maybe it has something to do with the tiny monster. It’s like she crossed my wires.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Megan couldn’t help but notice the female pronouns. Simply a slip or a feeling from the baby? “Maybe Katherine and I—”
“Should not treat me like an invalid? Didn’t some English queen go into battle pregnant or some shit? I’m not fragile. I can handle this.” She glanced at the kitchen. “Besides, I can tell by the look on his face, Henry’s heartbroken about these vines. I’ve heard him talk about his grandmother’s Poulsard vines. They’re kind of a big deal, and not just to him. It’s a whole family-history thing. And it might be really important for the vineyard.”
“I got that feeling too. This is way more than just a successful experiment to both of them.”
“A new varietal grown in Moonstone Cove would be a big deal,” Toni said. “A very big deal.”
Megan stuck out her hand. “Then let’s figure out who the thief is.”
Toni shook it. “Let’s.”
Chapter 6
Nico drove Megan back to her car after they left Toni and Henry’s house.
“They seem good, yeah?” He glanced at her in the darkness. “With the baby and everything?”
“Toni and Henry?” She nodded. “Yeah, they’re good.”
“I never thought Toni would have kids, you know?”
“I don’t think she thought she would either.”
“But she seems happy.”
Megan nodded. “She is.”
“My mom is all worried about her. Says that she and Henry are going to have a harder time starting a good marriage with a brand-new baby they hadn’t planned on.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “I think Toni and Henry were a thing long before any of us knew. I don’t think they’ll have an issue. But I guess I do appreciate your mom being concerned.”
“It’s her niece.” Nico steered the truck toward the top of the hill. “And you know our family. It’s all…”
“Nosy.”
“Very.”
Megan smiled. “I can appreciate that. My family back in Georgia is the same. Maybe not quite as big as y’all’s, but twice as nosy to make up for it.”
Nico smirked.