Making Magic (22 page)

This was why she and Greg had been no more than business acquaintances. He would say strange things like that when they were out together. Cold, thoughtless, almost asocial things, and then be oblivious to how others reacted to it.

There was a protracted moment of silence and Thea realized that Grace and Nick were both staring at her, waiting for some kind of explanation.

“Greg came down to see where the Woodruff family got its start,” she said.

“Not really,” he demurred. “I followed Thea down here. I wanted to see if she was okay.”

“Thea’s great,” Thea said, smiling. She’d been ignoring all of her cell phone calls and texts. She should have answered Greg’s, if only to keep him away.

“I can see that,” Greg said, smiling as well. “And I have to admit, I did want to see where our CEO was born.” He motioned to the farm and the house. “This wasn’t quite what I expected.”

“He wasn’t born here,” Thea said. “Pops razed that place a few years back. This is brand new.”

Thea didn’t care what Greg thought and as far as she was concerned, that was as good a reason as any to have flattened the old house.

“Although the foundation of the original house is under here somewhere,” Nick said.

Greg looked around. “It looks older than that.”

“Pops did that on purpose. It is a green house, built with a lot of reclaimed wood and natural materials that came from right here on the mountain.” Thea explained. “He wanted the farm to be an example of sustainable building practices and self-sufficiency.”

“What about power?”

“Solar,” said Nick. “It’s an amazing place. You should have Thea take you on a tour.”

“Greg probably has to catch a plane.”

“Actually, my travel plans are open-ended,” Greg said.

Damn
.

“Where are you staying—” Grace hesitated when she saw Thea make a throat-cutting motion, “—tonight?”

Thea frowned at Grace then flipped to a smile when Greg turned to look at her.

“I’m sure I’ll find something in town,” he said.

Grace and Nick both looked at Thea again.

She worried that Greg might hear her grinding her teeth. “Because of the festival, everything is booked for miles. And the cabins here are always booked solid. People bring campers and RVs into town on festival weekend. Some even camp out in tents.”

Stopping short of offering him a place to stay, she hoped that he would take the hint and leave.

“Really?” Greg looked from Thea to Nick to Grace and back again.

Grace widened her eyes at Thea.

“I’m…sure we can find a bed around here somewhere for you,” Thea finally said. “For tonight.”

“Great,” Greg said, smiling. “I’d like to see more of the place.”

Mild-mannered Greg Whitehead was not someone she would suspect of being a serial killer or stalker, but she had left Philadelphia to escape from Hartford and everything it represented. She had never expected Greg to even think of following her, especially since her father might be a bit upset about her sudden departure. But at least his presence would inhibit any conversation about gifts or caves or the Mother.

“Where should we start, the bee hives, the goat pen, the chicken house?” Thea said.

“Bees?” he said with a hint of alarm. Watching Greg’s smile waver made her feel a little bit better.

“Bees it is!” She jumped up. When she put Bailey down, the dog promptly turned around and growled at Greg.

Thea kept Greg busy for quite a while. Between the apiary, the greenhouses, the gardens, the orchard, the goat pen and the chicken house, there was a lot to see and explain. He had a number of questions about Woodruff Herbs that she told him he would have to ask Grace. He seemed particularly interested in the testing that they did. But that made sense, considering so much of their work at Hartford had revolved around whether the drugs had been tested correctly and thoroughly—and legally.

Finally, they headed for the solar barn.

“That’s a lot of solar panels,” Greg remarked, looking at the array on the roof of the building.

“Self-sufficiency was Pops’s mantra, as you can probably tell.” Thea led him down the gravel drive to the garage entrance.

“That’s new,” she said, peering through a glass pane. Since the last time she had been at the farm, part of the storage and rec area in the garage had been converted over to a mini-gym with all kinds of exercise equipment. Nick’s, most likely. And there was new farm equipment in the garage area. She smiled. Evidently the former federal agent was really a farmer at heart. And the farm did look great, even better than before, if that was possible.

“So, not to pry or anything,” Greg said. “But the rumor is that you and your father had an argument.”

“Not really. I just finally realized that corporate law wasn’t my cup of tea. Dad was lucky I hung in with the case, and with him, as long as I did.” All true.

Greg looked betrayed. “But I thought you enjoyed corporate law. You certainly worked long hours on that case.”

“When I make a commitment, I see it through.” Thea smiled. “I made a promise to finish that case and I did.” Even though it had made no real difference.

His mouth opened, then shut. She could almost see
Clueless
tattooed across his forehead. “But you didn’t say anything.”

“I believe in keeping my personal life and my business life separate,” she said. “As do you, if I recall correctly.”

He blinked. “I was kind of surprised that you came down here. I had the impression that you and your dad were not on the best terms with his side of the family.”

Thea turned to face him, perhaps a bit more confrontationally than she’d intended. “And how exactly did you find out that I came here?”

Greg stepped back. “I didn’t really know. No one knew where you’d gone and you wouldn’t answer your phone.” He shrugged. “It was the only address on record for you, besides your father’s and your apartment in Philly.”

Thea raised her eyebrows. “You accessed my personnel records?”

“I have some friends in HR.”

“Right. All that Whitehead charm at work.” She kept herself from frowning at him. “Quite a long way to come just to see if I’m okay.”

Greg smiled. “I actually came to collect on all those rain checks. But you didn’t answer my question. I didn’t think you were on good terms with this side of the family.”

“And that was best for all concerned,” she said.

“So you… Then you lied.”

“Not really,” she said.

“What would you call it?”

She waved her hand. “Being pragmatic. What would
you
call it? I needed a job. My Dad had one, but it came with strings. One of them involved staying away from my family. I don’t have that job any longer. No more strings.”

“And you weren’t honest with anyone about those strings.”

Thea thought she’d left stealth mode behind in Philly only to have Philly follow her here. “That was part of that separate personal life I mentioned.”

Greg’s eye did its little tic. “The other rumor is that you hit your dad up for a huge bonus if the settlement came in lower than expected, then handed in your walking papers once you got it.” Greg studied her face. “That doesn’t sound like the Althea I know.”

Because you don’t know the real Thea at all.
“A lawyer with impressive negotiating skills. Imagine that.”

Thea had her jaw clenched so hard it hurt. The look on his face told her that he was still oblivious.

“But your father is CEO and Hartford is your mother—”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“But—”

“We’ll take a quick tour of the house and I can show you your room for the night.” She headed for the house.

Greg sighed. “You are an absolute puzzle to me, Althea.”

“I know.” She unclenched her jaw enough to force a smile. “Isn’t it fun?”

Jake’s jaw clenched as he swung into the drive in front of the Woodruff house and saw the black SUV snugged up against the little red BMW. They were practically spooning.

That was just
wrong
.

But it appeared the Philadelphia lawyer had finagled a dinner invite and, Jake would bet, a room for the night as well. He climbed out of the truck and almost slammed the door. Then he remembered the reason he had come up the mountain and reached back in for the strap.

He should’ve been down at the shop making sure everything was set for tomorrow’s performance. Instead, here he was acting like some jealous teenager checking up on his girl.

Bailey’s fuzzy white head popped up over the edge of the screen door and she barked a greeting.

“Better than a doorbell,” he said as he reached the door.

She barked in response, her tail wagging furiously.

“Anybody home, besides my little friend here?” he yelled.

“Come on in!” came a chorus of voices from the kitchen.

He walked into to the house and, when he leaned down to greet her, Bailey leaped up at him. He caught her easily.

“Whoa, girl. You’ve got to learn how to play hard to get. You’ll give a guy the wrong idea.” He laughed as he walked through the great room and into the kitchen with her in his arms.

Grace, Nick, Thea and their visitor were having an informal meal down in what Grace called the keeping room.

“Bailey! Bad girl!” Thea came over with arms outstretched and a big smile. “She seems to like you, Sheriff Moser.” She gave him a wink.

“All the ladies do,” he said.

“It’s your
eau de Beefcake
.” Thea quipped. “Irresistible. To what do we owe the pleasure?”

Damn, she looked good. There was no way this Greg guy made her glow like that.

“I forgot to give you something.” Jake held out the leather shoulder strap. “For the dulcitar.”

She put down the squirming dog and took it from him. “Really? This comes with it?”

“We were running a special. Buy a dulcitar, get a free strap,” he said.

She smiled. “That’s wonderful! Aaron will really enjoy this.”

“Aaron?” he asked.

Thea laid the strap on the breakfast bar. “Down at Dreaming in Clay? Aaron Croate?”

“Oh, yeah.” He nodded. Jake remembered Aaron as the object of a big scare during his very first year in office. Aaron had been five years old and just disappeared one night. They had almost dragged the river before they found him again, safe and sound. “Good idea. He’ll like that.”

“Have you eaten?” Thea asked. “We have these fabulous grilled mushroom sandwiches and sweet potato fries.” She walked down to retrieve her glass. “And this great wine that helps mushrooms almost taste like steak, according to Greg.” She made a face that only Jake could see and took a long swig of the wine. She was probably on her second glass.

Jake relaxed, but only a little.

“Please join us,” Grace said from where she half-sat, half-reclined on the couch. “We have plenty. Alas, I have resolved to eat all my meals on this couch until the baby is born. Luckily everyone seems to want to join me.”

Jake thought Grace looked really good for someone who was pregnant enough to start exerting gravity on nearby objects.

“Well I—”

“Please?” Thea batted her eyelashes at him dramatically.

“S-sure.” He managed not to laugh. Barely.

Thank you
, she mouthed silently at him.

He raised his eyebrows at her and she stuck her tongue out at him. What was she up to? Was he saving her from an awkward evening with Greg?

“Get a glass of that lovely red,” she said. “Or there’s beer in the refrigerator.”

Jake opted for the wine, watching as she quickly put together a plate for him.

“You ready for the festival, Jake?” Nick asked.

“Never ready enough,” Jake quipped. “But we go on stage at one tomorrow regardless.”

“You guys will be great,” Grace said. “You were wonderful at the wedding.”

“Whose wedding, exactly?” Greg asked.

“My brother Daniel. His wedding was last night,” Thea replied. “Speaking of which, is there any leftover dessert? Besides the cannoli you promised to Jamie?”

“Tons. In the fridge in the mud room,” Grace replied. “Don’t worry. Jamie’s cannoli is safely secured for her return.”

Thea handed Jake his plate. “Dessert?”

“You pick.”

“All right then,” she said and headed for the mud room.

Jake walked down the two steps into the keeping room and settled into one of the plush chairs. “Thanks for this.” He raised the plate.

“No problem. Ouida had a class,” Grace explained.

“That woman can cook,” Jake took a bite out of the sandwich. “You guys may convert me to this whole semi-vegetarian thing,” he admitted. “This is delicious.”

“Amazing, isn’t it?” Grace said. “If you know what you’re doing, you can eat healthier and reduce your impact on the world.”