Page 66 of The Sweet Life

“Because you don’t think of this as Alice’s place. You never saw her here. I didn’t either.”

“It didn’t really feel like this was her place. I honestly didn’t understand why she’d bought the farm. But now, maybe because of the mural, I can. I wonder if my mom knew that we needed a piece of Alice here.”

Sage was talking about the farm as if they were keeping it. It’s what he wanted. He’d come to believe Alice wanted it too. The pieces had started falling into place the other day. He just hadn’t been sure Sage was ready to hear it. But maybe she was. “You remember when we were trying to figure out why Alice bought the farm, and I said she never did anything without a reason?”

She nodded, her gaze roaming his face. “You’ve figured out the reason?”

“Not completely, but we’ll talk about it later,” he said as he took in the number of cars pulling into the driveway. “Just how many people did you invite? Because that looks like way more than your immediate family.”

“I invited the Monroe family too. All of them, including Flynn’s daughters.”

“You invited Flynn?”

She winced, probably at hisare you insane?expression. “August thought it was a good idea. So did Amos. Willow’s friends, the Beaches, are coming too. More hands make lighter work or whatever the saying is.” She frowned when he started walking away. “Jake, where are you going? We’re partners,remember? You can’t leave me alone with all of them,” she called after him.

“I won’t be long.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get alcohol. And lots of it.”

Two hours later, Jake realized the alcohol had been a bad idea. He was hiding a case of wine under the sink when Flynn walked into the farmhouse, carrying several empty bottles. “If it were me, I wouldn’t be replacing these, but that’s just my opinion.”

“And one I support wholeheartedly. Thanks.” He took the bottles from Flynn. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Flynn grinned. “I have a fairly good idea what you were thinking. The problem is that the Rosetti women can handle their wine and liquor better than most people I know, including myself. My daughters and the Beaches, not so much.”

“But they sure know their body products,” Jake said, smiling at the memory of Sage’s expression when the women took over from her. She’d looked like she wanted to kiss them. “I think we have enough stock to get us through the season.”

“I wouldn’t count on it. As fast as the Beaches were making it, they were selling it. Sage just confiscated their phones. You might have ten days’ worth of product at most.” Flynn looked around the kitchen and living room and spotted Max on the couch. “Gia captured his likeness perfectly—” He swore under his breath. “Pretend you didn’t hear that.”

“Hear what?”

Flynn nodded. “You’d already guessed, didn’t you? Does Sage know?”

“Yeah, but neither of us will say anything to anyone, including Gia. We figure she has her reasons for staying anonymous.”

“She does.” He smiled, pride lighting up his eyes. “The mural is incredible, isn’t it? It looks just like Alice.”

“You knew Alice?”

“She was a friend of my dad’s. I didn’t know her well, but in the last couple of months, we’d spoken quite often. We met for dinner when I was home for Easter to discuss the project. It’s a shame she wasn’t able to see it through to fruition. It was a great idea and would have helped a lot of people.”

“What was the project?”

Flynn frowned. “She didn’t talk to you and Sage about it?”

He’d been right. Alice did have a plan that involved them and the farm. “No, but I’m guessing it involved abused women and their children.”

“It did. Alice wanted to build a shelter here on the farm. Her passion for the project was contagious.”

“She wanted you to design the house?”

He nodded. “I had planned on showing her the preliminary drawings when I came home in May, and then Willow called me about joining the search party for her. It was surreal and incredibly sad. Again, I’m very sorry for your and Sage’s loss.”

“Appreciate it. Would you mind not sharing this with Sage or Gia? I’d like to tell Sage myself.”

“I didn’t think to talk about it to anyone after Alice had passed. I figured the project ended with her.”

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