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“He can stay out here if you want.” His smile made her feel like he’d read her mind about feeling more secure. “When you leave, just shut him in the screen porch at the back of the house. It’s unlocked, and he has a water dish and a bed out there, so he’ll be fine until I get home. Just point the way and he’ll go. He likes you.”
“Doyoulike me enough to go whereIpoint?” She pointed at the door. She kept her smile firmly in place and finally gestured with a brushing motion. “Seriously...go.”
She got to work as soon as he left, knowing she’dfinallybe able to sleep once she got it done. Her stomach grumbled. She should have eaten before she drove straight here from the college, but she wanted to finish this. She was getting too old to pull all-nighters like she did last night.
She downloaded the software program onto his computer, then plugged in the thumb drive to upload the records she’d been typing at home for the past week. The first spreadsheet began filling with data—numbers, dates, accounts. It was a scrolling, mesmerizing screen of tiny figures.
Whoa.She couldn’t afford to fall asleep here in the shop. But maybe if she just put her head down on her arms for a minute to rest her eyes and avoid looking at the data tick, tick, ticking up across the screen...
CHAPTER FIVE
ZAYNEPULLEDHIStruck up to the Purple Shamrock and headed inside the local hangout. Bridget O’Hearn ran the family business with her Irish husband, Finn. Her last name had been McKinnon back in high school when she and Zayne became friends. An only child, Bridget had been a bit of an outcast, too, despite all her McKinnon cousins. She’d resented the family pub back then for taking all of her dad’s time. She and Zayne had bonded over the chips they carried on their teenage shoulders, hanging out together to make fun of the kids who made fun ofthemfor being different. When her dad died a few years ago, she’d come back to save the business with hopes of selling it, but she’d ended up falling in love—with the pubandwith Finn O’Hearn.
“Hey, Zayne.” Bridget slid a glass of ginger ale his way. “You’re usually a lunch guy.”
He took a sip of soda. “I was hungry, thirsty and lazy, so I figured I’d grab something here on my way home. I had a client appointment tonight up in Geneva. Could be a big job.”
“Technically the kitchen closed ten minutes ago, but I’ll make you a burger and fries. Seems like you’re getting a lot of big jobs lately.” She headed toward the kitchen. “I don’t know how you keep up with it all.”
He didn’t. At least not very well. Someone slid onto the bar stool next to his. It was Bridget’s grandmother Maura McKinnon. Maura was one of several women in town who’d done their best to help his family when he was a kid, dropping off food, toys and clothes. At the time, Zayne had resented the charity. He didn’t want anyone’s hand-me-downs or handouts. But honestly? He’d have barely eaten or been warm without those boxes that showed up on the steps of the trailer.
“I hear you’re getting some help with that,” she said, eyeing him with curiosity.
“Help from who?” His was a one-man shop.
“Tani told me Andrea Wentworth is setting up some kind of ordering and billing system.”
“Oh, that.” He shifted in his seat. He hadn’t been comfortable leaving her there alone earlier. There’d been a tightness around her eyes he didn’t like. A shadow behind her determined smile as she insisted he go. He frowned. He wasn’t used to some of the feelings she brought out in him. Like...caring. He shrugged a shoulder, not wanting to reveal this unfamiliar sensation. “She offered, and it’s not costing me anything, so I figured why not?”
Maura tipped her head to the side, sending her short white hair swinging.
“I thought it was costing you a corn maze.”
“I never committed to that.” His answer was swift, and a little harder than he’d intended. He cleared his throat. “I mean...the deal was she’d try to organize my process, and I’dthinkabout the maze. But you know me and crowds, Maura. One of the reasons I bought the place was the location.” The old farm was high on the hill overlooking Seneca Lake and Rendezvous Falls. If more than two cars drove by in a day, it was a lot. “She wants to bringbusloadsof people up there.”
“For three days, Zayne. Surely you could grin and bear it for three days.” Maura smiled and patted his hand. “Or at least bear it. Andrea needs this.”
“People keep saying that.” Zayne nodded his thanks to Bridget when she delivered a mouthwatering plate of food. She leaned against the bar to listen. “I know she wants what she wants, but Jesus...it’s just a corn maze for some local fair. And frankly...” He looked at Bridget, who remembered high school just as well as he did. “I’m trying to figure out why I owe Andrea Wentworthanything. You know how she treated me in school.”
“Zayne Rutledge, how old are you?” Maura asked, a surprising sharpness to her voice. He talked around a bite of his burger.
“Thirty-seven.”
“And you’re still holding grudges from high school?” She pulled her hand back. “I thought you and your brother wanted people to get over the wholeRutledge boysthing, but you seem to be hanging on to it.”
“I am not!” He winced. He sounded like a child. “I’m just saying Andrea wasn’t the nicest person then.” She seemed much nicer now, but she’d broken his heart once. “And besides, it’s just acorn maze! Why is the town so obsessed with this thing?”
“The festival is important because—”
He interrupted Maura as gently as he could. “I know, I know. It brings in money and the foundation helps vineyards and people love it.”
“That’s all true, but it’s personal this year for Andrea.”
Bridget nodded in agreement. “When Marion Hall had to step down from the chairmanship, Marissa Wentworthfoughtthe idea of Andrea taking over. You remember how coldhearted the woman always was.”
“That’s pretty low. I thought Andrea was her most precious possession.” That was why he and Andrea had to keep their friendship secret as kids—her mother was so overprotective.
Bridget rolled her eyes. “She always was, and still is, obsessed withherself. When Andrea had Hudson without a husband, Marissa took it as a great personal insult toher. She’s given Andrea a hell of a time.”
