Page 165 of Taken Away

It no longer felt haunted by death.

It felt full of unfinished love.

THIRTY-FIVE

Blackwood Estate Winery

Aubrey

By the next morning, the whole estate looked different.

The vineyards out the office window were the same neat, sloping rows.

But something in Aubrey had shifted.

Last night, Bennett McCrae had found her in the wreckage and simply held on until she stopped fighting the grief.

Now the same view felt less like a crime scene and more like a question.

Was she staying?

Aubrey was halfway through payroll reports when a knock sounded against the open office door.

“Busy?”

She looked up.

Chloe stood in the doorway holding a coffee and trying not to smile.

That was never a good sign.

“What?”

Chloe folded her arms.

“Question.”

Aubrey sighed.

“That tone means I’m not going to like it.”

“Probably not.”

“What?”

“You had thirty boxes delivered to the front porch of the Victorian.”

Aubrey blinked.

“What?”

“Thirty.”

“Thirty?”

“Maybe thirty-two.”

Aubrey dropped her pen.