“Cal!”
I sighed. “I already hate that Erin feels like she has to help out in the shop. She still refuses to let me pay her.”
“Because she’sfamily.”
Hearing that made my heart swell, but not enough to drop my guard. “I’m not adding any more work to Erin’s list. Maybe she wants to go back to working in human resources or something?”
Bronte snorted. “As if. Do you talk to your lover at all after you’ve finished bumping uglies? She hated that job.” My sister decided that was the perfect time to completely disregard what I wanted and flap her hand in an exaggerated wave. “Hey! Erin!”
“What the hell are you doing?” I hissed.
“I’m going to suggest my brilliant idea to Erin to see if she shoots me down.”
“No, I don’t want—”
“Hey!” Erin sauntered over, wearing a huge smile. “What’s going on?”
“Oh,nothing.” Bronte grinned.
I dragged the heel of my palm over my brow. As subtle as a sledgehammer, that one. “Hey,” I said to Erin. “I’m going to bend over to kiss your cheek because”—I held up soiled hands—“I was called down here on a made-up emergency and haven’t had a chance to clean up yet.”
She smirked and arched on her tiptoes. “I don’t mind my rugged man.” A kiss landed on my lips. “But thank you. What’s the emergency?”
Bronte’s smiling face wedged between us. “Cal and I were just talking about the accommodation manager job.”
“Any takers yet?” Erin’s hand rested on my back. I loved how she was always trying to be close to me.
“I think I’ve found the perfect candidate,” Bronte said.
“Guys, that’s great! Someone local?”
“Yeah, they livesuperclose.” Bronte grinned. “Ta da!” With a grand flourish, she swept her arms wide, pointing at Erin.
“Who?” Erin’s head whipped around. “Wait.” She pointed at her chest. “Me?”
“Yeah!”
Erin stared at me, confused. “What the hell do I know about running cottage accommodation?”
“You have real estate experience,” Bronte said.
Erin’s eyes widened. “I answered phones on reception for a few weeks when I was eighteen!”
Bronte ignored that. She had a hundred other reasons she was prepared to bullshit about. “You have amazing experience helping people.”
“I worked in corporate HR at a law firm…” Erin grimaced. “I didn’t exactly get to help many people… I feel like I spent more time covering ass for the leadership team than making anyone’s life better.”
“Er, well…” Bronte’s eyes brightened. “You loved my binder.”
“That binderisa work of art.”
“It’s got twenty extra pages now, you know.”
“Yes! Did you include that section on—”
“Ladies,” I interrupted. “Let’s movebeyondthe binder.” I’d opened enough bottles of wine for the two of them to pore over how-to pages and photos about running the cottages.
Bronte grinned at Erin. “Most importantly, you love this place as much as we do. You’re part of it now. Part of us.” She laughed. “And maybe you’re not officially a Wolcottjustyet, but I have a feeling my brother is counting down the days to fix that.”
