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“Would you like me to come along?”
She blinked. “Come along?”
“Carol and I get along okay. I like her. Maybe I could help. I could make arrangements with Stanton.”
Her heart gave a quick thump. It wasn’t an offer she could accept, but making it was such a nice thing to do, it almost brought tears to her eyes. “No. Thanks anyway, but I think we’ll need to argue this out between the two of us. Do you need to go to the brewery this morning?”
He nodded. “We’ve got an IPA working. Put it in to brew yesterday. And we need to make more of the red ale. The tavern in Barrington where we sold a batch ran out. We’ve got some on hand, but we’re going to need more, particularly if Bec decides to expand the way she wants to.”
“That’s good, isn’t it? That you’ve got something that popular?”
“It’s good—and a problem. Bec needs more people at the brewery making beer. She could use a full-time assistant, not me. But if we hire somebody, that means we don’t take any profits yet. The profits have to go back into the business.”
She nodded. “I did the same thing when we were starting the Salty Goat. I was living upstairs then, and Carol was still little, so I wasn’t spending a lot of money on myself anyway. But it was still a tough couple of years.”
They’d wandered away from the whole Carol situation, which seemed like a good idea. But she was still sort of shocked. His offer was unexpected. What kind of man wanted to help you out with your problems instead of running in the other direction?
The right kind, toots.
Ruth resolved not to think about that too much right then. She had other things she had to get done right now.
Liam pushed himself to his feet, giving her a half smile. “Time to head for the brewery, I guess. Good luck with Carol.”
Ruth nodded, then bit her lip. “What time do you get off tonight?”
“Early. Six or seven. I’m doing the daytime shift today.”
“Want to come to dinner?”
His half smile spread a bit farther. “You’re sure you won’t want the time to talk to Carol?”
She shook her head. “Whatever we have to say to each other will already have been said. Carol may still be in a mood, though. It might be better to have somebody else around to keep things civil.”
“I don’t know how civil I’ll be, but I’d be glad to come. Maybe I can grab some beer on the way.”
“Okay.” She blew out a quick breath. “Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For…being around. And being helpful and thoughtful.” And being you.
His eyes turned warm. “Any time. You make it easy, ma’am.” He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss. And then he was gone.
Was there any way he could stick around after dinner that night? Probably not. Not without Carol finding out and maybe being even more confused. Sometime she’d try to figure this whole thing out, but right then she had bigger problems to deal with.
And she still hadn’t asked Liam for the details about his new job. She didn’t even know exactly when he was leaving. She needed to do that. Soon.
Bec showed up a little after lunchtime and headed into the cheese room. Ruth took off her overalls and hat and headed for her garage.
Since pretty much everything in Antero was within walking distance (or within walking distance plus the free shuttle bus), she didn’t drive much. Taking her aging Toyota out for a spin was a treat. It would give her a chance to get away from town and maybe think about something other than her problems.
Twenty minutes later, she turned off the county road onto the gravel drive that led to Brett’s house. The goats were out in one of the fields, contentedly chewing on the long grass that would soon be a lot shorter. It looked like Brett had a couple of pregnant nans in the herd, which would mean a little extra money in a few months. Brett’s herd had a reputation for good stock, and he sold off his extras without much trouble.
She pulled up in front of the comfortable white-frame house as the side door opened. Her sister-in-law came out with a sullen Carol in tow.
“Here you are. I thought maybe you’d changed your mind, but she’s all ready to go.”
