“What’s up?”
Nico was standing next to the small tractor with a grimace on his face, looking completely stressed out. “I have no idea. Henry and Danny are in Paso Robles to pick up some valves and on they’re on the way back now, but everyone is waiting. I don’t have time for this. It was working fine yesterday.”
Oh good. Henry was gone.
Nico gestured to the trailer stacked with empty crates. “And we’ve got to get the rest of the pinot today or I’m fucked. The temperatures are going to spike tomorrow.”
“Hey.” She tried to use her superpowers for good by putting her hand on Nico’s forearm and giving it a little squeeze. “Relax. I’m sure it’s fixable.”
Nico immediately chilled out. Toni could feel his stress leave him and soak into her. It didn’t do much for the upset stomach she’d been battling all morning, but there was considerably less tension floating around her.
“Thank you for coming up,” he said. “You know I wouldn’t call if it wasn’t an emergency.”
“Okay, keys out?” She walked over and stepped up on the running board. As soon as she flipped up the seat, she spotted the problem. “If you knew a fraction as much about engines as you do about grape vines, you’d be able to figure it out. Someone cut the line on your primary safety switch.”
“The what? Someone messed with a switch?” Nico craned his head. “How do you know?”
She pointed to the cut wires. “I mean, it’s pretty obvious. They put that in there so if the driver falls off the rig, the engine shuts off. Without a working safety switch there, the engine could be perfect and the tractor still won’t start. I don’t know of any way to bypass it.”
Nico’s face turned red. “Could it be an accident?”
“I mean…” She shrugged. “It looks cut to me. The wires are pretty clean. You’re gonna need to get someone out here to rewire it if Danny can’t do it.” Henry was Nico’s winemaker, but Danny Barba was his foreman on the farm and kept all the equipment working. “I’m gonna say at least a couple hours.”
“Shit!” Nico slammed his hand on the top of the tractor and Toni heard something fall from the tractor with a thunk.
She hopped down and stared at what had fallen in the grass.
“Oh my God.” She covered her mouth with the back of her hand. The queasy stomach roared up with a vengeance. Toni ran for the edge of the field and puked into the grass.
“Toni?” Nico ran to her, but she shook her head and waved him back. “What the hell?”
“Finger.” She cleared her throat and tried not to wretch again. “Nico, look.”
“What are you…? Oh fuck.”
That was two fucks in one day. Yep, her Aunt Marta was going to be hearing about that one.
But then again, what else were you supposed to say when a bloody human finger fell out of your broken tractor?
* * *
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About the Author
ELIZABETH HUNTER is a USA Today and international best-selling author of romance, contemporary fantasy, and paranormal mystery. Based in Central California, she travels extensively to write fantasy fiction exploring world mythologies, history, and the universal bonds of love, friendship, and family. She has published over thirty works of fiction and sold over a million books worldwide. She is the author of the Glimmer Lake series, Love Stories on 7th and Main, the Elemental Legacy series, the Irin Chronicles, the Cambio Springs Mysteries, and other works of fiction.
ElizabethHunterWrites.com
Also by Elizabeth Hunter
Glimmer Lake
Suddenly Psychic
Semi-Psychic Life
Psychic Dreams
Moonstone Cove
Runaway Fate
Fate Actually (December 2020)
Fate Interrupted (Spring 2021)
The Cambio Springs Series
Long Ride Home
Shifting Dreams
Five Mornings
Desert Bound
Waking Hearts
Dust Born
(newsletter serial)
The Elemental Mysteries
A Hidden Fire
This Same Earth
The Force of Wind
A Fall of Water
The Stars Afire
The Elemental World
Building From Ashes
Waterlocked
Blood and Sand
The Bronze Blade
The Scarlet Deep
A Very Proper Monster
A Stone-Kissed Sea
Valley of the Shadow
The Elemental Legacy
Shadows and Gold
Imitation and Alchemy
Omens and Artifacts
Obsidian’s Edge (anthology)
Midnight Labyrinth
Blood Apprentice
The Devil and the Dancer
Night’s Reckoning
Dawn Caravan
The Bone Scroll
(Summer 2021)
The Irin Chronicles
The Scribe
The Singer
The Secret
The Staff and the Blade
The Silent
The Storm
The Seeker
Linx & Bogie Mysteries
A Ghost in the Glamour
A Bogie in the Boat
Contemporary Romance
The Genius and the Muse
7th and Main
INK
HOOKED
GRIT
Runaway Fate: Moonstone Cove Book One Page 27
