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“No blasphemy, Mort!” Gran yelled over her shoulder as she exited to the kitchen.
“It’s nothing, Jessie,” I sighed. “Just stuff Uncle James does on his phone.”
My phone buzzed with a message and I risked a peek under the table. Amanda had sent a photo of her lying face-down on my bed, typing on her laptop, wearing nothing but heels.
“Oh, Stuart,” my mother crooned.
I jumped, shoving my phone back in my pocket.
“You’re smiling, Stuart,” she said, with a twinkle in her eye. “I can’t wait to know who this mystery lass is in the near future.”
Gran appeared at the head of the table with beef roast surrounded with potatoes, neeps, and onions. We all oohhed and ahhed. For a woman who turned 86 two months ago, she was spry and vital, and insisted on cooking Sunday lunch every week.
“Right, enough of the chit chat and the sexting. McAlisters, it’s time to eat!”
My family made polite conversation about everything else going on in town except the pub fight, and what was happening with Amanda and the audit.
Perhaps I’d managed to keep our secret relationship a secret for now. Plausible deniability was on my side. I can’t believe I almost gave away Amanda to Gran as soon as I arrived.
Da ignored me for the rest of lunch, the exception was when he asked me was if I was practising my poems for Burns Night. I grunted an affirmative and, before Da could take it any further, Jess took my hand, declaring I’d promised to watch a movie with her. I’d never been so grateful to watch a cartoon of two sisters and their snowman sing their way around the fiords. I sent Amanda a photo of me and Jess on the couch, while the brown-haired sister smashed an evil wolf with a guitar shouting ‘It’s true love!’
Me:I’ll be home soon. Keep those heels on.
My grin widened.
A voice hissed in my mind:Too soon for true love.
Jessie was glued to the TV so I zoomed in on Amanda’s photo, wondering if she had her spreadsheet open and if I could see any of the details. But the screen was for an airline’s booking site. Was she thinking of flying back to Australia very soon?
And where did that leave us?
I looked up and found Robert staring at me, wee Angus asleep on his shoulder, disappointment on his face.
Did he just see Amanda’s photo?Nah, I was imagining things.
I ignored my brother, as well as the voice in my mind and the unsettled feeling in my stomach, and gave myself over to Disney.
Chapter Thirteen
Stuart
I watched our staff wander into the boardroom, whispering and shrugging their shoulders, as some asked why a meeting had been called.
I, too, was wondering what was going on when Robert rapped on my door. “Time’s up. Get ye sore arse to the meeting.”
What I really wanted to do was go back to the flat with Amanda, light a fire, practise Burns’ poems one more time before Burns Night dinner tomorrow, eat some dinner, and then spend the rest of the night naked.
My brothers hadn’t asked further about what I was doing with Amanda and I hadn’t volunteered any details.
Amanda had worked late every night this week. Her London office and our Board, via Lachlan, were keen to see results soon. Her dedication was amazing.
I kept swapping suits for my workwear, suitable for the stills and malting floor. The latest distillation was a success, I could feel it. Everything went right; the barley was steeped and germinated perfectly, the still had kept stable temperatures because of our boiler repairs and we got the last of the spirit into sherry oak casks this morning.
I’d surprised Amanda with lunch in her office. Behind closed doors, a kiss had turned into my hands sliding up her skirt and Amanda begging me to touch her. I’d crawled under the table when her work called with an urgent request and I had to leave with the taste of her on my tongue.
So say I had no desire to waste time in another meeting right now was an understatement.
I wanted to be with Amanda. We were making the most of the time we had while she was here. Amanda had had a point about the logistics of long-distance dating. Could we make something of what we had by calling each other, and seeing each other on weekends when work permitted? She’d get a new client after this audit, and Michelle had hinted to her during the week that they may not be based in London. Amanda had also asked for an extra resource to work on the audit from London to help speed things up. The deadline of her stay was coming up; time was running out.
