COCO KNOCKED ON the screen door leading into the kitchen and a plump woman with a shock of wavy white hair appeared at the door. “You must be Rian’s friend, come in, come in,” Adeline said, ushering CoCo into the kitchen. Immediately, CoCo was assaulted by the most heavenly smell and her mouth actually watered.
“Smells incredible in here,” she said, glancing around looking for the source. “Rian said you enjoyed baking. If whatever you’re making is as good as those scones, you’ve made a friend for life.” She held her hand out with a smile. “I’m CoCo Abelli. So nice to meet you.”
The older woman wiped her hands on her faded Thomas Kinkade printed apron and a bright smile wreathed her face. “What a beautiful name. CoCo Abelli, it really rolls off the tongue like an exotic dessert. I’m Adeline Verley, pleased to meet you, sugar. And to answer your question, I’m making fresh applesauce. I don’t care for that store-bought stuff. You never know what they’re putting in there and with all the reports about everything giving you cancer, you can’t be too careful. The truth is, my dear friend Cora, God rest her soul, died from cancer and if I can do something to make a difference in someone’s life, which means whipping up a batch of homemade applesauce for Warren because he loves it so much, I’ll do it in a heartbeat.” She winked. “And it makes the kitchen smell so yummy, doesn’t it?”
“Very,” she agreed. “So you and Mr. Bradford...”
Adeline waved away CoCo’s unsure question, saying, “Oh, honey, if Rian thinks enough of you to bring you here, then I insist that we not stand on ceremony. Warren wouldn’t hear of it. And yes, Warren and I are going steady, if you can call it that anymore.” She bent to whisper conspiratorially, “Actually, we’re plain living in sin but at our age, I figure we better take what we can get while the getting is good, right?”
CoCo laughed at the older woman’s delightful candor and realized she already liked Adeline immensely. In fact, she reminded her of Miss Plix, her most beloved nanny, always ready with a smile to lend a hand to whoever needed it. Sadly, Miss Plix had died when CoCo was twelve from an undiagnosed heart condition. The one saving grace was that Miss Plix had died in her sleep. “I think it’s wonderful that you’re grabbing on to happiness wherever you can. Life moves pretty quickly, right?”
“Darn right it does. Now, what can I do for you?”
“Well, Rian sent me to find lunch fixings. He said you might be able to help me put something together. We’re going to ride out and check the south gate for Warren. Rian said it’d be a good idea to bring along lunch. Is that okay?”
“Oh, honey, that’s fine by me. Better than fine, actually. I worry when Warren takes it on himself to go to the far edges of the property. He hates cell phones and refuses to carry one so I never know if he’s going to be all right. At our age, we can’t be too careful but the old coot acts as if he’s still sixteen.”
Even though she was chastising his stubborn nature, the words were said with such warmth and open adoration that CoCo smiled. How lucky for Warren that he’d found a woman who seemed equally as wonderful as the first love of his life. “We’re happy to help. Is there anything else that needs to be done?” she asked. “I can wash dishes if you need.”
“No worries, sugar. I like doing dishes. Helps me think. You’re helping me plenty by going with Rian to check on that south gate. Warren worries about everything and refuses to hire out for a darn thing. Until Kane and Laci built their house here on the property, Warren was doing everything himself and it was plumb wearing him out.”
CoCo knew her father was equally stubborn about his business. He allowed very few people to have a hand in the design of the new lines, preferring to oversee every detail, almost obsessively, until they went into mass production. Even then, he insisted on touring the factories to ensure that a quality product was being churned out.
“So you and Cora Bradford were friends before she died?”
“Thick as thieves,” Adeline answered with a firm nod. “She was the finest woman alive. Heart bigger than most and with a talent in the kitchen that could rival any fancy chef. She was just good at making anything she tried her hand at if it were something you put in your mouth. She always won the pie contests.” She sighed with the memory. “The world lost a good one, for sure. I miss her something fierce but it’s nothing compared to how Warren misses her.”
“Yes, but he has you now, right?”
“Oh, honey, I’ll never replace Cora and I’m okay with that. I’m just blessed to have what time I got with him.”
CoCo was floored by how humble and genuinely good-hearted the woman was. It made her wish Miss Plix was still around because she had a feeling if her nanny had lived, CoCo’s life would’ve been a lot different. For one, she wouldn’t have supported the way CoCo had learned to manipulate her parents for her own gain. Suddenly ashamed, she said, “He’s lucky to have you.” She went to the sink and began to wash her hands, saying, “Okay, so what can I do to help? I can make sandwiches if you point me in the right direction.”
“All righty! Sounds like a plan. There’s some fresh roast beef and cheese in the fridge. I’ll start chopping the lettuce and tomatoes. Oh, and I just picked up some of that fancy focaccia bread that will taste real yummy with that roast beef.”
Within a half hour, CoCo and Adeline had fixed up a decent picnic lunch and stuffed it into a soft cooler that could be secured onto the saddle. “You have fun and enjoy yourself. It’s going to be a fine day for a picnic,” Adeline said, shooing her off. “I’ll see you back at supper. Steaks and potatoes are on the menu tonight.”
CoCo nodded and grabbed the cooler, heading out toward the barn, where Rian was supposed to be saddling the horses. She’d always loved her horses but it’d been so long since she’d actually made the time to go riding. It was amazing how less important things somehow took precedence in your life when you weren’t paying attention. She entered the barn and inhaled the scent of horses and hay, a smell that’d always been so comforting to her. She found Rian with two horses, saddled and ready.
“You can have Amelia, and I’ll take Dancer. They’re both good, steady horses with good legs.”
“Thanks,” she said, handing him the picnic cooler. After they’d led their horses out of the barn, they hoisted themselves into the saddles.
CoCo glanced over at Rian and her breath caught. Why did he get sexier by the minute? There was something about the way he sat on a horse that squeezed every last bit of air from her lungs and made her stomach muscles tremble. He flashed her a smile, seeming to appreciate the way she didn’t need any help, and then made a clicking noise, leading the horse out into the pasture. She did the same and they rode side by side, enjoying the cool breeze and the warm sun.
If she’d ever experienced a perfect moment in her life, this would be in the top five—and she didn’t want it to end.
* * *
“AS KIDS, KANE AND I used to race each other across this field,” he shared with a grin. “I was always a better rider than Kane, although the horse you’re riding, Amelia, dumped me on my ass a fair number of times. She gets skittish when she’s irritated.”
“Oh, sure, give me the antsy horse,” CoCo teased. “It’s good for you that I can handle a skittish horse. My favorite horse back in Italy was a black Thoroughbred named Gypsy. She was very spirited and wouldn’t let anyone else ride her but me. My dad wanted to sell her but I wouldn’t let him. He was afraid that she was going to throw me and I’d break my neck but she and I had an understanding. Not that she didn’t give it her best shot in the beginning. But I proved my worth and I earned the distinction of being her only rider.”
“Do you still have her?”
She shook her head. “No. She got colic and we had to put her down. We tried everything but she just kept getting sicker and sicker. Finally, it was more of a mercy to put her down gently than to let her continue suffering. I never really found another horse like her. Maybe that’s why I stopped riding seriously.”
“It’s hard to lose an animal like that. They find their way into our hearts and stay there.”
She agreed, though she’d never realized before that moment that Gypsy’s death had likely had something to do with the reason she’d found other pursuits. “Well, I was fifteen and I’d just started to realize the benefits of being an heiress,” she admitted. “That was right about the time I talked my dad into letting me go to high school in LA. And coming home to Italy for summer and winter breaks.”
“You attended LA schools?”
“Sort of. I was mostly homeschooled here in the States, and then I had a tutor back in Italy so I didn’t become an ‘uneducated American girl’ as my father put it.”
“Harsh.”
“Yeah, my dad was pretty opinionated when it came to my education. Unlike my mom, who was more interested in how being homeschooled would affect my social life.”
“Your mom homeschooled you?”
“God, no. She hired a teacher to come to the house.”
“So what’s your relationship with your mom like?”
CoCo shrugged with a sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t really have a relationship with her. She’s too busy with her new husband to think of me. Azalea has always been a social butterfly according to my dad. That’s what broke them up. He was always too busy to take her out and she felt neglected, I guess. Sometimes I think my dad wishes he’d made more of an effort but I want to tell him that he wasn’t missing out on anything. My mom is inherently selfish and only thinks of herself.”
“Does she know what’s going on with you right now?”
“No, and I didn’t see the point in telling her. She’s much happier when I don’t bother her with my life.”
Rian wondered what his own mother would’ve been like. Would she have been better than his father? He tended to give her a pass because she’d died but who knows, maybe she would’ve been just as bad. “I’m sorry,” he said, sharing a look with CoCo.
“It’s okay. I no longer care about that stuff.”
“I don’t think we ever stop caring,” he said quietly. He must’ve struck a nerve because she didn’t offer a flip response, just accepted his comment. “You know, Warren used to tell us that how we deal with the hand we’re dealt is the measure of our character. It would’ve been easy to use our dad’s shitty example as an excuse to act up but we tried to be better than people expected of us. I know that Warren is a big part of that but my brother was determined to get out of this town and make something of himself. Warren must’ve seen that in him and decided to act on it. Thank God he did. He changed our lives and that’s why we’d do anything for him.”
“That’s beautiful that you feel something so deep for him. I love my father like that. I’d do anything for him.”
“So why’d you leave Italy to be with your mom, whom you don’t really have a connection with?”
She sighed. “I was a young kid, dazzled by the LA lifestyle. Stupid, I know. But I was fifteen and easily impressed.”
Rian knew he had to tread carefully for the next comment he was about to make but he felt it needed to be said. “Are you still easily impressed? I mean, when I first met you, you didn’t come off as particularly deep. Now, granted, I didn’t really know you, but your reputation... I don’t know, seems to me that you came from different roots, and your foundation was a lot stronger than most.”
Instead of getting angry, she appeared reflective. “True. Honestly, I don’t know what happened. I got blinded by the glitz and glamour. I know it’s stupid but the fast-paced lifestyle is addictive. I like having fun and when you throw a party and everyone is there, it feels as if you’re loved and admired by everyone, even though deep down I think I knew that it wasn’t real.”
It was the most profound statement she’d made since he’d met her and he was rocked by how smart she truly was. He understood the need to fill an emotional hole with anything just to make the ache stop but he also knew that eventually nothing worked because he’d gotten to that place himself. If he were being honest, he kept his social circles superficial because he didn’t want to find himself overly attached.
He risked a quick glance at CoCo, loving how the light brightened her complexion and put roses in her cheeks. Her hair, loose and free, blew in the subtle breeze and he was struck anew by how beautiful she was. She was the kind of woman model scouts snapped up because she had the face and body to make millions. And she was here with him. “Some things are real,” he told her. “The love you feel for your father is genuine and he’s lucky to have a daughter like you.”
She cast a sweet, appreciative smile his way and he nearly fell from his horse. The emotion swelling in his chest was so powerful, it almost choked his airway. He wanted to sidle up to her and plant a kiss on those sensual lips but Kane’s voice echoed in his mind, Keep your hands off the client, and he deliberately turned his gaze away, needing to stay focused on what was truly important.
CoCo was a temporary player in this game. His job was to keep her alive.
Yeah, so try to remember that.