Toni sighed. “Does this mean Nico’s going to be accused of murder again? Because I’m getting so tired of that.”
“It’s possible that it all happened at the same time the vines were stolen, in which case, he has an alibi,” Megan said. “Drew didn’t mention anything about Nico being a suspect.” The entire rest of your family, however…
“Katherine, can you draw the face?” Toni asked. “Maybe get an idea of who this person is. If someone killed them, it was probably because they know who took Henry and Nico’s vines.”
“Vines are worth killing over?” Katherine said.
Toni said, “Didn’t some mom in Texas kill a teenage girl to get her kid on the cheerleading squad? Something like that?”
“I don’t understand humans.” Katherine frowned. “At all.”
Chapter 11
Two days after Drew’s visit, Megan was sitting in her office, fielding calls from the Harrington bride and the Harrington mother, both of whom were trying to convince Megan that the other one didn’t have the final say on the table arrangements.
“Ashley, I know this is your wedding,” Megan was saying. “But I also know your parents are the ones who actually hired me. Do you think this is something the two of you could work out today? It’s not very effective to have me as your go-between. Your rehearsal is tomorrow, and I’m sure you don’t want this tension hanging over you and your mother when the day comes.”
“I just do not understand why they think all their business friends need to be right in the front instead of our actual friends!”
As long as she could get most of the Harrington guests near the wine cellar to buy extra bottles, Megan couldn’t care less where they sat, but she got both Ashley’s and her mother’s positions.
“Listen—for you, it’s your wedding. For them, it’s a huge celebration of your family, your father’s business, your mother’s charity connections. It’s not all about them, of course, but it is somewhat about them. They’re proud of you; it’s natural to want to show off.”
Framing it that way seemed to mollify Ashley.
“I guess.” She sighed.
“Listen, why don’t I call your mother and work out a compromise where the right side of the banquet space will be your friends and family, and the left side will be your parents’ friends?” The left side was also the one closest to the wine cellar and the store.
Not that she was only thinking about marketing.
“That sounds perfect.” And Ashley sounded near tears. “Are you sure you want to take on my mother?”
She saw Nico lingering in her half-open doorway and waved him in.
“Oh honey, don’t you worry about me.” Megan made a note on her calendar to call Mrs. Harrington and opened the seating chart to tinker with it as Nico sat in the chair across from her. “I’ve been charming mamas into doing things my way since I was old enough to talk. Now that I know that you’re willing to compromise, you leave it to me and try to get some sleep before the big day. You don’t want your makeup artist to have extra work because you’ve put on dark circles, am I right?”
“Thank you, Megan!”
“I’ll send you a text when I have it all worked out,” she said. “I’m already moving things around.” She took the phone from her ear and continued to shuffle the names around the tables. She’d already marked them with different colors for the bride, groom, and parents. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Nico stretched out his legs, brushing her feet with his ankles under her desk.
Megan froze and glanced up.
“Sorry,” he said. “I forget how small your office is.”
“I am going double-time to fix this and then call Judy Harrington to convince her that this is the best setup for seating, so I don’t have a ton of time. What’s up?”
“That wedding is this weekend?”
“Yes.” She kept shifting names that were nearly as familiar to her as her own Thanksgiving table. “Your cousin is going to this wedding.”
“Frank?” Nico nodded. “Yeah, he and Harrington did some business together a while back. Land development of some kind.”
“So they’re friendly?”
“About as friendly as you can get with someone who tried to stab your cousin in the back on another deal. It’s a wary partnership from what Frank says.”
Keeping her mind on the idea Drew had presented, Megan asked, “So I know you and Frank are close. Did he know about the Poulsard grapes?”
“Frank?” Nico shook his head. “I probably could have used his greenhouses if I wanted to, and I might if we get everything back and then go into major production. But I didn’t talk to him about it before.” He frowned, then looked out the window.
“So no one from your family knew about it except Henry?”
“I mean… my dad and my uncle knew. I send them quarterly reports for the estate, and I had to account for the extra pay I was sending Henry’s way for all the extra work the past couple of years.”
“Oh.” Well… shit. That changed everything. “So your dad and your uncle knew about the vines? It wasn’t just you and Henry?”
“Yeah, but my dad and uncle aren’t going to say jack shit about our stuff. They trust me on knowing what to do with the wine, so no one outside the family would have any reason to know what we were doing.”
But what if someone other than Nico’s father and uncle got curious? What if someone in the Dusi clan decided that the decision to diversify into new varietals wasn’t a decision Nico should be making for the family winery?
She glanced up at Nico. “Hey! I was thinking I might bring the girls to Sunday dinner this weekend if that’s okay. Adam has been hanging out a lot, but the girls haven’t said hello to everyone in a while.”
“Yeah.” Nico smiled. “That would be great.”
She made it home that night after multiple back-and-forth conversations with the mother of the bride. God help her if she ever was so much of a bridezilla over either of her daughters’ weddings.
Adam was in the kitchen, heating a pot of ramen on the stove.
“Hey!” She walked over and slid an arm around his waist, hugging him from the side, which was about all she could manage to get from him most days. “How are you? How was your day at school?”
Adam gave her a quick squeeze and then shrugged her off. “Okay.”
Moody. So moody.
“You didn’t have basketball practice tonight?”
“Short one. We have a game tomorrow.”
“Right.” She nodded. “So I was thinking I’d take you and the girls up to the Dusis’ for Sunday dinner this week. What do you think?”
Adam shrugged. “Sure. I’ll be there anyway with the guys.”
“You know Nico’s boy, Ethan, right?”
“Of course. He’s on the JV team but he’s good, so they pull him up for varsity sometimes. He practices with us.”
“Right.” She nodded. “And the other Dusi cousins?”