11:33
Chapter 320
The cashier just shook her head with a smile. “The bill’s already been taken care of.”
Seeing this, Wyatt didn’t press further. With a puzzled frown, he pocketed his card and headed back to the private dining room.
Upon his return, Wyatt noticed Mirabella was absent. He asked casually. “Where’s Ms. Mirabella?”
“Bathroom,” James replied, barely glancing at Wyatt, his tone disinterested.
Wyatt paused, a thought crossing his mind. Could Ms. Mirabella have settled the bill? But hadn’t she been in the room the whole time?
“What’s up?” James inquired, noticing Wyatt’s perplexed expression.
Scratching his head, Wyatt admitted, “I went to pay, but the cashier said someone had already covered it.”
He hesitated before adding, “Maybe Ms. Mirabella sorted it out.”
James tapped his fingers on the tabletop but didn’t respond.
Shortly, Mirabella returned to the room. She caught the odd looks from James and Wyatt and asked curiously, “What’s with the faces?”
“Nothing.” Wyatt replied quickly, determined not to admit that he and James had almost freeloaded a meal. That would be too embarrassing to share.
After lunch, Mirabella parted ways with James and headed straight home. She brought back all the herbs and spices she had purchased and spent the afternoon in her room crafting scents.
After dinner, she went back upstairs to check on her creations. They were perfectly set and dry. She carefully cut them into pieces and packed them into three boxes. Nick and Catherine would each receive one, while the third one was for home use.
Mirabella had just placed the spare box in the storage cabinet downstairs when her eagle–eyed brother, Zach, spotted it. “Did you make more incense?” he asked excitedly.
“Yeah, want one?” Mirabella pulled the box back out.
“Sure,” Zach nodded eagerly.
Opening the box, Mirabella handed him just a single stick. Holding it, Zach glanced at the box with at least twenty sticks. “Only one for me?”
Mirabella looked up at Zach and suddenly remembered the three huge boxes of school papers still in transit. Her mood soured instantly. “You think one’s too few? Then you don’t need any.”
Zach quickly hid the incense stick behind his back. “No, I misspoke.” Mirabella’s moods could
1/2
flip so quickly all he had wanted was just one more stick,
With a snap, Mirabella closed the box and, right in front of him, locked it away in the
before turning to leave,
Zach watched her ascend the stairs, confused, pushing up his glasses without a clue as to how he had managed to upset her.
The next morning, Mirabella was up bright and early. The studio “Country Comfort was going to be shot wasn’t in Ashford but in a smaller town called Harmony Point within its county. It was a good two–hour drive away. The call time was ten in the morning, so they needed to arrive at the set before then.
Collins was already waiting downstairs. In no time, Mirabella and Leo, each with a small suitcase, took the elevator down. Once their luggage was stowed, they climbed into the car. ready for the journey to Harmony Point.
On the road, Collins glanced in the rearview mirror and couldn’t help but comment. “You really planning on staying behind the scenes for the show?”
Mirabella leaned back in her seat, a lazy ponytail draped over her shoulders, and lifted her eyelids slightly. “Yep.”
“If you’d join me in showbiz with that face of yours, you’d be a sensation, Collins lamented, not for the first time, But Mirabella seemed entirely disinterested in the limelight.
Such a waste of a pretty face.
