light that she’d been trying to have fixed ended up being wires that the fire investigator said were probably chewed through by a mouse or squirrel in the wall. When the tree lights had been plugged in, she hadn’t thought twice about it, but the circuit had been overloaded and started the fire. It had spread inside the walls before consuming the entire winery.
If she’d been home, she might have been killed if she had been sleeping or overcome with smoke, although she had detectors everywhere. On the other hand, if she had been there, she might have been able to call the fire department sooner, and maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, such a complete loss.
Instead, she’d been at Reece’s, in his arms, ready to say yes to anything he asked, while her family’s legacy burned to the ground.
She had to get away from the swarm of people. The firemen were still keeping watch, even though the fire was officially out, the insurance and other investigators were there, along with some neighbors, friends … and Reece. Everyone wanted to help, but she’d insisted on being alone for just a few minutes.
She needed the peace to think about what she would say to her parents, how she could tell them what happened.
Guilt assailed her. How could she explain why she hadn’t been there? That she’d been so busy, and so distracted by thoughts of Reece, that she hadn’t thought twice about the tree lights or the electrical problem?
She groaned, standing straight, wiping the tears away. No time for this now.
She had to get the insurance settled and cancel the wedding they’d been planning—that would be another tough phone call. The couple wouldn’t likely find another venue with only weeks until the wedding, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. Abby would have to refund their deposits. That was going to hurt.
She’d see if Hannah would let her move in for a while, though it would mean driving back and forth to Ithaca daily, or maybe her insurance would pick up a room at the local inn, for a while at least.
“I thought you might be down here,” a familiar voice said behind her.
“Hannah,” she said, trying to sound normal, but her voice cracked under the weight of her exhaustion, being up all night, dealing with it all.
Hannah was across the barn, holding her arms out and Abby didn’t hesitate.
She held on to her friend, just for a minute, but it was Reece’s arms she knew she’d been seeking. Remembering how good it had been, not just the sexual part, but the way he’d held her against his hard chest later, when they’d watched the firemen work, had kept her from losing it altogether. She wanted that comfort back.
No, no, no. That was how she’d gotten into this mess, sort of.
“You okay?” Hannah asked, stepping back and smiling as two of the barn cats wound their way around her ankles.
“Yeah. I’m just so thankful the barns are far away from the house,” she said, stroking Beau’s silky nose. All of the animals were okay.
“That is a good thing,” Hannah agreed, chuckling softly as Buttercup snorted happily in response to more scratching. “Everything else can be replaced. It was a straightforward electrical fire. The insurance agent is already on it. Things can be rebuilt.”
“True, but I don’t know if that will be enough,” Abby said, too discouraged to be optimistic. “They can’t start rebuilding until after winter, which means we’re not only losing the Christmas events, but the spring wedding season and tastings as well. We lost almost all of the Riesling casks. With Reece selling, this could just be a killer blow,” Abby said tightly, her throat constricting at the thought.
“How am I going to tell Mom and Dad? I feel so much like I’ve let them down,” Abby said, sucking in more tears.
Hannah knew just what to do to drive the tears away.
“Speaking of Reece … he seemed awfully involved in helping you last night. And I couldn’t help but notice when we went inside that at first his shirt wasn’t buttoned up quite right. You know, like it had been put back together in a rush,” she said, with mischief in her tone that made Abby’s tears completely evaporate.
Abby groaned. Did everyone know where she’d been and what she was doing?
As if reading her mind, Hannah added, “He said he saw the fire from his house, got dressed and rushed down to help. Don’t worry—he didn’t give anything away, though I sure hope you’re going to share details with your very best friend in the whole wide world, right? You know, about why Reece was really getting dressed?”
Unbelievably, Abby had to laugh. Leave it to Hannah, even in the middle of utter loss. When all Abby had left was this barn and what was in it, her friend found a way to lighten the mood.
Reece had been wonderful. He hadn’t left her side until Hannah had arrived. He jumped in, talking to the firemen, police and the other people milling around, even opening up the main room of his winery for people to come in, get warm and have coffee. At some moment when she’d been talking to the fire investigator, Abby had lost track of him and assumed he had gone back home.
“Thanks, I needed that,” she said, taking a breath and feeling a bit better. “And there aren’t many details to share. Not really. I went down to Reece’s, brought some wine, hoping to talk … one thing lead to another, but before it went too far, he noticed the fire. That was pretty much it,” she said, shrugging.
“Oh, I doubt that’s it. The man’s interested—he couldn’t take his eyes off you, especially when that hunky fireman was talking to you, and standing a little too close, by the way,” Hannah said.
“You’re imagining things. Reece was just helping out. We’re old friends and we shared a moment—instigated by a bottle of wine. It’s best forgotten. I have enough to worry about now.” Abby’s attention snapped to the barn doors, where outside, she heard a woman’s voice, and then sharp, shrieking words. She couldn’t make out what was being said, but several colorful curses punctuated the diatribe.
Abby headed out of the barn to find Sandra Towers, the Christmas bride-to-be, standing in the middle of the yard in front of the blackened mess of Abby’s winery, wild-eyed and in tears. She spotted Abby then and marched across the lawn, obviously ready for a confrontation.
Great, just what she needed right now. Abby sighed. She shouldn’t bothered with having quiet time in the barn. She should have been on the phone doing damage control.
Too late, she admitted, as Sandra met her, almost standing nose-to-nose, and Abby backed up slightly.
“Sandra, I am so sorry. I was about to make phone calls—”
“I saw this on the news and couldn’t believe it. I had to see for myself. This is a nightmare! How could you let this happen?” the prospective bride yelled, clearly not thinking straight.
Abby tried to be patient. This was hard on everyone, and brides were under a lot of stress in general. Sandra wasn’t finished, obviously.
“What am I going to do? The invitations are all sent! Everything is scheduled! How are you going to fix this?” she demanded, and Abby pulled in a deep breath, closing her eyes, reaching for patience.
“Sandra, I know it’s terrible, and I wish there was better news, but I’ll definitely refund all of your down payment and try to help you find another—”
“The wedding is twenty-five days away! There is no other place,” the young woman wailed. “I know, I checked them all. We have family coming in from Europe! You had better fix this or … or … we’ll sue!”
Abby was quite sure the normally pleasant woman was just distraught, and also was sure—mostly—that she had no basis for a lawsuit whatsoever. Still, it was hard to remain calm, and she was digging her nails into her palms in her effort to do so.
Suddenly, Reece appeared, putting his large hand on her shoulder. She