Alexa gave a faint grimace. “From my mom. Next up: I get home, drink half a bottle of gin, and then throw a shoe at you.”
“Good thing I’m a badass motherducker.”
When Alexa snorted Coke out of her nose—the drink, not the drug—Nolan offered a handkerchief.
“Asshole.”
“I love seeing all these new facets of you.”
Alexa finished wiping her face as Antonella Cranston glided to a serene halt beside them.
“Is everything okay here?” She asked out of custom rather than concern because she didn’t wait for an answer. “Are you one of the girls from the program? How nice of Nolan to bring you tonight.”
“What program?” Alexa asked.
“The high school internship program? We have Becky and Madison here with us at the farm this year—Madison will be competing later.”
Damn, this was awkward. “Alexa is my girlfriend.”
“Really?” Antonella’s ears turned pink. “I mean, please accept my apologies for assuming…”
“Oh, no offence taken,” Alexa said sweetly. “I’m actually only two years younger than Nolan, but I guess some of us age better than others.”
Ouch. Plus she was four years younger and lying as smoothly as ever. At least she hadn’t corrected him on the “girlfriend” part. Since the night in the mine, she’d kept her distance, and a small part of him regretted putting the ball in her court, but the bigger part of him feared that if he pushed her, she’d run for good. Hadn’t she said it was tempting? Until recently, he hadn’t understood how truly damaged Alexa Stone was, probably because she hadn’t fucking told him, and she had every reason to avoid men for the rest of her life.
But she’d stayed. She’d stayed without Chase, who clearly operated as a human security blanket, and now Nolan would have to step into that role. He didn’t hate the idea. In Blackstone House, he’d been a part of Alexa’s support system, and hanging out with her was never boring.
She looped her arm through Antonella’s. “You must show me your lovely garden. And I hear Marielle Marten helped with the decor in your home? Is she coming tonight? I thought we’d see her here.”
“Isn’t she over at Nolan’s place? She sent her apologies at the last minute and said she’d be working on the guest cottages this evening.”
“No, she isn’t there. Maybe barrel racing isn’t her thing?”
“She did accept the invitation initially.”
“Then maybe she was looking for an excuse not to come?”
“I suppose she might have been unsure what to wear,” Antonella said, frowning.
Alexa cast a puzzled look. “Oh?”
“At our last get-together, she was a little, uh, overdressed.”
“Overdressed? Like it was a pool party and she came in a pantsuit?”
Antonella cut a sideways glance at Nolan. “More of a casual cookout, and she came dressed as a saloon girl.”
“Yikes.”
“Indeed.” They stepped onto the wide expanse of terrace, where the 4-H club had set up a table with flyers next to the koi pond. “The planting here was inspired by a rock garden Everett’s father saw in Tokyo. Some of the fish are thirty years old.”
“Wow, older than me.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.” Antonella quickly changed the subject. “Nolan, have you been having trouble with those Hayes boys again? I thought I saw them up on the hill the day before yesterday, and I heard you put in security cameras.”
“Who told you that?” Alexa asked before Nolan could get a word in. “Marielle?”
“No, I think it was Roy. Do you know Roy? He’s here today.”
