Page 86 of Hats off to Love

“I reached out to LuVu Tea and pitched Stokes as their bachelor of the season. It didn’t take much convincing—after all, he is Stokes Whitlock—but I gave them a donation, and they ran with it.”

“You set him up?” My head tilts, and I scoot to the edge of my seat. Suddenly, I’m angry for him, and she can upset me more than I thought. He was so bothered by all the constant harassment and the random people; this was not a very nice thing she did to him.

“Yes, and I’m not sorry for it. I knew it would send him into a tailspin, and although I wasn’t certain how he would respond, I was hoping it would push him right in your direction. You’ve never noticed how he looks at you. It doesn’t take a genius to see that he thinks the sun rises and sets with you. He’s completely in love with you, and since that night at the party, he hasn’t just been a different person. He’s been determined, and I’ve enjoyed every second of watching him become this elevated version of himself.”

“Since the party?” The party where he kissed me senseless and changed the trajectory of my life.

“Oh, yes. It’s like a light switched on in him and he finally started making the changes that put him first. He started planning for himself, doing for himself, thinking about what makes him happy.”

She keeps going in her adoration of this new and changed Stokes, and maybe I’ve seen a little of what she is saying, but none of this changes the outcome for us.

And then my ears pick up her saying, “I am so proud of him for quitting the law firm.”

“He quit?” I almost shout. My eyes have widened, and where I felt speared in the chest before, now I feel like a cannon has rammed through me.

“He didn’t tell you?” She looks completely confused and surprised.

“No. Why wouldn’t he tell me that? I saw him almost every day.” My hands find their way under the table, and I start squeezing my fingers.

I thought we were friends, or had at least become friendly. This is such a huge piece of news, and he didn’t share it with me.

“I don’t know why. I just assumed you would have been the first person he told. Weeks ago, he came over for dinner and laid out his plan. I was completely on board with it—after all, it was his choice to go work for that firm in the first place. I’ve always wanted him at the farm to learn the ropes and take over.”

My ears start ringing.

Came over for dinner and laid out his plan.

Wasn’t that difficult to convince.

“When is he taking over?” My voice is hoarse.

“He starts this afternoon. He had a few loose ends to wrap up this morning at the firm, but he’s meeting with me later today.”

“I had no idea.” I’m realizing I might have had it all wrong. Not might—I’m certain of it. He was talking to Christopher from the firm, we went to firm events where he could have been faking it, and when they talked about me, he said he had a plan.

What is this plan?

My chest deflates.

Why didn’t I just ask him?

“But enough about Stokes.” She waves her hand in the air to wipe that conversation away. “The real reason I stopped by is I wanted to say thank you for what you did for Ace. Dr. Miller was found guilty.”

The word guilty clears the Stokes-induced fog in my head.

“He was?” I’m shocked but not at the same time.

She nods and shifts to recross her legs. “Turns out he is a very bitter man. Detectives reviewed the film from when he was on the property as well as the day we found the random girl outside Ace’s barn. Turns out that is his granddaughter. They brought her in for questioning, and the poor girl sang like a canary. Then the detective reached out to the farms on the list we provided and began additional investigations.

“Here’s what happened. The first horse you mentioned, from Sterling Bells Farm, came down with laminitis. Two days earlier, one of Dr. Miller’s staff members was out at their farm doing a routine visit. Once the horse became lame, Mr. Rupp went into a tailspin and went over the barn from one end to the other, and they discovered black walnut shavings in two of the stalls. Was it in more, maybe, but by the time they found it, not much remained because the stalls had been cleaned. However, not that much is needed. Just a small percentage of the shavings is enough and is very toxic bedding to horses. Within twenty-four to forty-eight hours, they can show signs of toxicity, and laminitis is a side effect. Of course they were told the veterinarian couldn’t determine the cause, when actually he knew and lied.”

“That is just awful.” I lean back in my seat to try to loosen some of the tension that’s built up in my shoulders. I don’t understand people who don’t have a conscience when it comes to animals and cruelty. He hurt those poor horses.

“It truly is.” She frowns. “The barn fire at Shaded Oaks was determined to be arson. Fire and arson investigators declared this pretty early on, but the evidence was kept quiet and the truth wasn’t discussed. You know how these things are—reputation is everything, and they didn’t want it getting around that it was potentially them looking for an insurance payout. Who started the fire, no one knows, but apparently Dr. Miller isn’t being very subtle in his lies at the station. His tics and tells are giving him away, even though his words aren’t.

“For the horse with laminitis from Bluegrass Fields Farm, they were told the same thing—that the cause was unknown. Turns out the horse was given large amounts of sugar through its water trough. They didn’t know this, and it wasn’t until after the horse was moved to another barn and the water trough began to dry that they saw the sugar deposits left behind. Sugar and horses is bad. They can quickly become insulin resistant, which, as you know, can lead to laminitis. Guess who was out at the farm that same week?”

“Dr. Miller.” I shake my head in disgust, and Birdie’s cheeks flush with anger. She loves horses, loves them like no one I’ve ever known. All of this must have been so hard for her considering he’s worked on her farm for so long.