Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132834 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Mrs. Bailey let out a grunt and turned her back on Finn, eyes glittering as they landed on me. “He was in here again, rearranging my spices. He threw half of them away! More than half. And look at that!” She threw her arm up at an empty space on a shelf above her head. I raised my eyebrows and waited.
“My shortening,” she wailed. “He threw out my shortening! How am I supposed to work like this?”
I turned to Finn, who glared at Mrs. Bailey, completely unrepentant. He shrugged. I resisted the urge to punch him. I hated that shrug.
“Please tell me, Finn, why did you throw away Mrs. Bailey’s supplies?” I marshaled every ounce of professional restraint I had. Finn had always gotten under my skin, but I had a job to do, and I wasn’t going to let Finn Sawyer get in my way.
“Her spices were shit. Old, stale, and half of them were fake. Cheap discount store stuff. She should have more pride than to cook with that crap. And I’m not getting into the shortening. This isn’t the fifties. I know we’re in the South, but we have access to local grass-fed butter. What the fuck are you doing with shortening in our kitchen?”
“Watch your language,” I cut out, one eye on Mrs. Bailey and her round, flushed, furious face. Finn and I towered over Mrs. Bailey, but what she lacked in height, she made up in width. In the few months I’d known her, she was a calm presence in the kitchen. Capable, organized, and a decent cook. She was kind to the staff and never missed a day of work. A delight to manage. Never late, never gave me a hint of trouble. And now she was going to quit.
I could see it coming, in the rising red in her face, the huffs of indignation. Attacking her shortening was one step too far. Mrs. Bailey was going to blow. I made a last-ditch effort to derail her.
“I’ll have him banned from the kitchens. From the whole lower level. I’ll personally replace everything he threw away.”
Her dark eyebrows drew together. “You already banned him from the kitchens. Didn’t keep him out. I don’t have to put up with this. His insults. His interference. The sabotage.”
“Please, Mrs. Bailey, just let me work this out. I know we can—”
The shake of her head sent dread spiraling through my stomach. No. She couldn’t. She couldn’t leave me with him. We all knew what would happen if Finn ran off another cook.
With genuine pity in her eyes, she said it. “I’m sorry, Savannah. You’re a good girl, but I can’t do it anymore. I quit. You can mail me my check.” Her hands went behind her back to undo the strings on her apron.
“Please, Mrs. Bailey—” I begged. It was no good. Shoving the apron at me, she fled.
I whirled to face Finn. “You’re going to pay for this.” Without waiting for his response, I stormed out. I’d been dreading this day since the first cook had quit.
Finn followed behind. “You going to tattle on me?”
I didn’t respond. We both knew exactly where I was going. To the only person who could make Finn pay. The only problem was that the punishment would be just as miserable for me as it would for Finn.
When Prentice Sawyer died, I’d been at a low point. A few years before, life had been perfect. I had a great career. A wonderful husband. A beautiful baby boy. Faster than I would have thought possible, I lost my husband, then my career. Nicky and I ended up back in Sawyers Bend, sharing the tiny spare room in my mother’s cottage while I waited tables and wondered what the hell had happened to my life.
Then Prentice died, and Griffen came back to Sawyers Bend. The day he showed up at my mother’s cottage looking for help, I barely recognized him. Ten years older than me, he’d been a stranger when we’d lived under the same roof. I was twelve the day Prentice exiled him, but I’d always remembered him as kind. Nothing like his father.
So much had changed, but not that. Where Prentice had been cold and cruel, Griffen was warm and kind. When he offered me the housekeeper position at Heartstone Manor, I’d jumped at it. While I was torn on the subject of the Sawyers, I’d always loved Heartstone Manor. No one, except my mother, knew the Manor like I did. I’d spent most of my life there, going mostly unnoticed as I explored and discovered Heartstone’s secrets.
For reasons no one understood, Prentice had let the house go in the years before his murder. The day Griffen hired me, I’d walked into a disaster. Dust, cobwebs, half the rooms were empty, and the rest hadn’t been cleaned in far too long. I’d had two days to prepare the place for the entire Sawyer clan to move in. It seemed like an impossible task.