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I couldn’t let go of my Wolverine keys just yet. I made four trips to get the petrol can and the tools before locking up.
We needed a camera out here. The only security is the padlock on the shed’s roller doors.
A car horn blasted in the distance. I walked the long way around the cellar door and found Amanda driving in.
My heart finally slowed to normal.
“Am I glad to see you.” I pulled her into a hug as she exited her car.
“Woah, you okay?”
“Just caught Brayden stealing petrol and the whippersnapper, a chainsaw and our hedging tool from the shed.”
“What?”
“I was just lucky. Caught him as I was about to lock up for the day.” I shook myself. “I just don’t know what it is about him, but there was this moment, you know? Where you realise no one is around, and he’s huge and has power tools, and I have a set of keys.”
“Shit. Come here.”
Amanda wrapped me up in her arms again, squeezing tight.
“Fired him on the spot. He tried to deny it and then—” I couldn’t admit to my best friend that he thought my dad considered him a better worker at the vineyard than her. “And then he sprayed gravel everywhere.”
“Wow, such a tough guy,” Amanda drawled. “We need wine and stat.”
We moved into the vineyard office, and I asked Amanda to inundate me with wedding dresses and bridesmaid dress ideas. It was purely a distraction, and the whirlwind of colour and styles worked.
Brayden’s brazen act and the long day slowly seeped from my shoulders, and I sipped my wine.
“Now. This.” Amanda waved at Dad’s filing system on his desk. “This is a mess. A big hot mess.” She rubbed her hands. Did she just say that with a tone of glee?
“Ah, yeah. Dad’s been the one managing finances, and I started on our business activity statement this week and it’s awful. I have no idea what he’s been doing.”
Amanda cracked her knuckles. “You need a system. A digital accounting system.”
I sighed. “I’ve been trying for years to get Dad to go digital.”
“I’m surprised he hasn’t. Or at least, his accountant hasn’t made him.”
“Our accountant is one of his Rotary buddies.”
“I could have all of this digitised in a week, even less, around my client commitments. Wedding prep is under control at present.”
I sucked on my lips, desperate to stop the tears.
“Oh, god, Rosie. What’s wrong? Is it Richard again?”
“No, no. I should’ve told you how bad it is here ages ago, but I was … afraid? Ashamed? Both? I don’t know. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit things were serious.”
Amanda pulled me in for a hug. “I know I promised dirty pictures of ourselves, but maybe we need to do some sorting and filing instead. Will that help you?”
“Yeah.”
Amanda leapt into action. Just tell her now I kissed her little brother. Confess it all.
“Did you hear the goss about Tom?”
I jumped, scattering a pile of receipts. My neck and face flushed red. “I … I’m so sor—”
