Page 30 of It's a Wonderful Knife

She wasn’t.

My face warmed as all eyes turned on me. “It’s just that I try not to eat too much meat. I mean, Ilikemeat, and you have… you know… great meat here… but…”

“Oh, you should try it, Dr. Thornton. It’s delicious.” Hermina bit into a piece of crunchy bacon, as if that would entice me. I guess that technique worked on Mary Puppins?

“Maybe I’ll have some tomorrow,” I said. Was I going to have to eat bacon every day just to pacify them?

“Remember, guys”—Royce patted my back—“Maxwell is a doctor. He has to deal with patients suffering from all the problems that come with eating too much bacon.”

Hermina made an O shape with her lips. “I suppose that’s true. I never thought of that.”

“Royce is right. Dr. Thorntonhasto think like that.” Girdy was at the far end of the table with Todd, and she gave me an encouraging smile. I’d barely seen her since we arrived. I suspected she and Todd were making the most of their time away from Rainy Dale. They both still lived with their parents, so this much quality alone time was probably a rarity.

Mona walked into the room with Dakota. “Morning, all. Are you all doing great today?” she asked. We all nodded our approval, and she turned her gaze to Amelia and Santiago. “I’m so sorry about that scare you had last night.”

Amelia swallowed. “It was definitely terrifying.”

“I feel just awful. I can’t say we’ve ever had a Peeping Tom on our property in all the years we’ve been in business. But we’re taking this very seriously. I’ve had Jax and the boys scour the area around the main house and cabins, and they say there’s no one to be found. Whoever that person was, they’ve apparently moved on.”

“Thank goodness,” Amelia said breathily.

Santiago tried to put his arm around her, but she shook it off. He looked embarrassed, and Gianna gave him an empathetic smile. That was a treacherous little love triangle in the making.

“You may have heard there’s a big storm on the way.” Mona sighed. “Fear not, we’ve battened down the hatches many a time before, and we’ve always come through unscathed. Storm or no storm, the show must go on. Chloe has graciously volunteered to do the Christmas ornament session with you today.” She smiled at the young girl who stood nearby.

“It’s my pleasure.” Chloe smiled shyly.

Mona took a step back the way she’d come, as if she was preparing to leave. “I’ll see you all at lunchtime. For now, I have some things I need to take care of. You have a fun time crafting.”

“Oh, Mona, before you go.” River raised his hand. “I was wondering, do you think maybe I could have my phone for just like an hour today? I need to check in with some of my patients.”

Mona got a skeptical look on her face. “I’m sorry, River. You all agreed to the no-phone policy when you made your reservation. Unless it’s an emergency, we’re not going to give the phones back just yet. If I give you your phone, then everyone will want their phone. Pretty soon the tranquility of the farm will be compromised. I’m sure you understand.”

Judging from his scowl, he didn’t understand.

“You left the number of our landline with your receptionist, I assume?” Mona asked.

“Yes,” River said unenthusiastically.

I had to squelch a laugh at his crestfallen expression.

Nice try, River.

“Wonderful. So, she’ll be able to get hold of you if any emergency comes up.” Mona beamed. “Now, Chloe will take you folks to our crafting shed. Enjoy!” She turned and walked out of the room.

Chloe said, “If you would just follow me?”

There was a lot of scraping of chairs and murmuring, and then we were all outside in the warm morning sun. While the sun was shining at the moment, there were black clouds in the distance, and it smelled like rain.

“I wish our cabin had a fireplace,” Royce said. “It would be nice to snuggle in front of a fire while it rains.”

“That would have been nice.” I sighed. “The main house has a fireplace, but River would probably insist on sitting in your lap, so it wouldn’t be the same.”

Royce grinned. “Onlyyou’reallowed in my lap.”

“Ooh, this thing between us really is serious,” I said jokingly.

His eyes warmed. “It sure is, Max.”