“I never committed to that.” His answer was swift, and a little harder than he’d intended. He cleared his throat. “I mean...the deal was she’d try to organize my process, and I’d think about the maze. But you know me and crowds, Maura. One of the reasons I bought the place was the location.” The old farm was high on the hill overlooking Seneca Lake and Rendezvous Falls. If more than two cars drove by in a day, it was a lot. “She wants to bring busloads of people up there.”

“For three days, Zayne. Surely you could grin and bear it for three days.” Maura smiled and patted his hand. “Or at least bear it. Andrea needs this.”

“People keep saying that.” Zayne nodded his thanks to Bridget when she delivered a mouthwatering plate of food. She leaned against the bar to listen. “I know she wants what she wants, but Jesus...it’s just a corn maze for some local fair. And frankly...” He looked at Bridget, who remembered high school just as well as he did. “I’m trying to figure out why I owe Andrea Wentworth anything. You know how she treated me in school.”

“Zayne Rutledge, how old are you?” Maura asked, a surprising sharpness to her voice. He talked around a bite of his burger.

“Thirty-seven.”

“And you’re still holding grudges from high school?” She pulled her hand back. “I thought you and your brother wanted people to get over the whole Rutledge boys thing, but you seem to be hanging on to it.”

“I am not!” He winced. He sounded like a child. “I’m just saying Andrea wasn’t the nicest person then.” She seemed much nicer now, but she’d broken his heart once. “And besides, it’s just a corn maze! Why is the town so obsessed with this thing?”

“The festival is important because—”

He interrupted Maura as gently as he could. “I know, I know. It brings in money and the foundation helps vineyards and people love it.”

“That’s all true, but it’s personal this year for Andrea.”

Bridget nodded in agreement. “When Marion Hall had to step down from the chairmanship, Marissa Wentworth fought the idea of Andrea taking over. You remember how coldhearted the woman always was.”

“That’s pretty low. I thought Andrea was her most precious possession.” That was why he and Andrea had to keep their friendship secret as kids—her mother was so overprotective.

Bridget rolled her eyes. “She always was, and still is, obsessed with herself. When Andrea had Hudson without a husband, Marissa took it as a great personal insult to her. She’s given Andrea a hell of a time.”

“That’s for sure,” Maura agreed. “She stopped paying Andrea’s college loan. That’s why she needs the festival to go well.”

“Why? Does she get paid for it?”