Page 77 of Moonshine and Magnolias
She settled her body back on the sofa and stared at the rows and columns of numbers. They didn’t match up now any more than they did when she had uncovered the discrepancies. If she couldn’t figure it out this time, she was calling an accountant.
Eulalee came back into the library and handed Wendy the phone. Her plaid pocketbook hung in the crook of her elbow. “I’m going to the market, sweetie. Need anything?”
“No, thanks,” Rob answered. “Everything I need is right here.”
“Oh, you.” Her aunt shooed her hand at him, but Wendy blinked. Was he talking about her?
“Was there something wrong with our air conditioner?” Wendy asked. “I hadn’t noticed anything.”
“No, just needed to schedule some regular maintenance. I’ll see you in an hour or so.” The older woman left the room with a wave.
Wendy stared at the number pad of the receiver. All it would take was one call to disprove the insane thoughts swirling through her mind.
“Too soon?” Rob asked. He made the question casual, almost insignificant, but his eyes burned with an intensity he couldn’t hide. She was everything he needed. An answering flame took over her heart.
“No.” The words came out deep and husky. “Not too soon. Not too soon at all.”
“Good.” The heat in his voice caressed her from across the room, and he turned back to his papers.
She gulped in a lungful of air. She had admitted feelings, and the walls hadn’t exploded. The peaches hadn’t rotted. The electricity hadn’t turn off.
And the phone remained in her hand.
It took her a minute to remember how to bring up its call history. Once she did, she scrolled through the list until she found the two successive incoming calls from that day.
From identical numbers.
She called it back, not surprised when someone answered with “Belle’s Medicinal Brewery.”
“Hey, it’s Wendy.” She made her voice casual. Something in her tone caused Rob to look at her again. “Is Brandi around?”
“No, not yet,” the woman said. “She should be here any moment.”
Rob sat next to her and she clutched his hand. “Listen, I’m trying to find you guys and I keep getting lost.”
“You are? Okay.” The woman gave her directions to a parcel of land that bordered the grounds of Fountenoy Hall. It had belonged to the Claytons before it was sold in the mid 1930s. “Shall I tell her you’re on your way?”
“No, that’s fine. I’ll just see her when I get there.” She hung up the phone and blew out a breath. “I don’t believe this.”
“Are we taking a field trip?” Rob asked.
“Yes. Yes, we are.” She needed to know what was going on.
Twenty minutes later, near Scarlett Springs and its crystal clear water, Rob drove under the low-hanging limbs of ash and live oak trees and onto an unmarked road. If the woman hadn’t given her the exact mileage, they would have driven right by it.
He wound through the untamed landscape of wild vines and canopies of branches until he came to a clearing sporting hard-packed dirt parking lot with a golf cart and about five other cars. He took a space in front of a large open shed. A few other buildings sat behind it.
Wendy stared at the people bustling about the structure, maneuvering around monstrous silver vats and ducking under pipes.
“What do you want to do?” Rob asked.
“Damned if I know.” She opened the car door and was immediately hit with the reeking odor of fermented fruit and a hint of unbaked bread. Rob followed suit and together they approached the shed.
The employees all wore green shirts with the emblem of a peach. Some readthe gauges on the containers and recorded the information on tablets. Others rolled kegs across the floor to join the ones already stacked against a wall. No one acknowledged them beyond a passing nod before resuming their work. A ginger cat crouched at the entrance, eyeing them with suspicion as they passed.
She reached for Rob’s hand when she spotted Brandi’s long blond hair poking through the back of a baseball cap. Her cousin stood outside with a small group of people, talking and pointing. Wendy tightened her grip when she saw crates of pale-orange glass bottles. The color of Fountenoy Hall liquor.
Brandi had been lying this whole time. About her responsibilities. About why she was never around the Hall. About her own future plans.
