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As CEO, I should like her efforts to bring the audit to an end. But I was secretly loving how the answer eluded her. I should care about missing money, company reputations and even my own, but all I knew I was I had fallen hard for her. And I liked she was here. Hell, I loved how she was in my bed every night and woke up beside me.
Amanda had been cagey during the week when I’d raised how she’d like to date when the audit was finished. She hadn’t wanted to talk about ideas; she’d changed the conversation, evading the issue.
Running around in secret sucked even if our flats were like our bubble away from the world where no one could touch us. I was smiling and felt happy these days, even if I did have a chronic case of blue balls since lunch.
I stood, buttoning my suit and straightening my tie.
“Before we go,” Robert licked his lips, looking down at his shoes. “One of the still team called me today to say we’re missing thirty labels. I couldn’t see any misprints or destroyed labels registered on the ledger. Do ye know anything about it?”
I shook my head. “Perhaps the still team made a mistake?”
“I checked it twice and we really are short of thirty labels. Everyone swore they hadn’t tossed some that had a mistake or had forgotten to record a printing error.” Robert shrugged. “I’m sure it’s fine but I just wanted to let ye know.”
I frowned, followed my brother out of my office, feeling uneasy.
You’re just antsy your lunch was cut short with Amanda.
I grabbed my phone from my jacket pocket and sent a quick text.
Me:We have an unfinished issue from lunch we need to discuss urgently
Amanda:I’ve given a certain issue a lot of thought since lunch and have emailed you a proposal.
Me:I can’t wait to read it. Got a last minute meeting with Robert. You?
I followed Robert to the board room to find all our staff gathered. Robert stood at the head of the table, James next to him, ready with his phone to take photos, and welcomed everyone to the gathering. Amanda stood at the back of the room and smiled, giving me a look that promised slow kisses later. Perhaps she’d let me unwrap her from her work clothes. I smiled back. A squawk came from Amanda’s left. Robert’s wife and kids were here, unusual for a work meeting. Caroline stood on Amanda’s right and gave me two thumbs up. I raised an eyebrow, but a noise to my right made me turn. Three catering staff were at the door, dressed in their black-and-whites, with trollies of food, and a drinks cart.
“Aye, now. The food is here so the meeting is in session and I’ll keep my part of it brief. Stuart wasn’t with us for last year’s Burns Night Eve. He was in Edinburgh selling our whisky to distributors at an industry event, so we missed his pleasant company.”
A ripple of laughter went around the room. I snorted and smiled, but I was still mystified what Robert was up to.
“So, that means he doesn’t know we put on a spread last year and had a wee dram to salute another great year at McAlister’s.”
Many staff called out ‘Hear! Hear!’ Robert grinned at the crowd. He always knew how to read people and work the room.
“I’d like to see this done every Burns Night Eve. I propose we make this a new tradition in what has been many, many years of traditions at McAlister’s. And when ye make a new tradition, ye need something special to mark the occasion. Ladies, bring in the drinks, aye?”
He gave the catering staff a chin tip and one wheeled in the drinks cart. I glanced at Amanda for clues and she shrugged.
The catering lady placed three unlabelled bottles of whisky in front of Robert and myself, and started to line up glass tumblers on the table. James hovered nearby, taking photos. Robert turned to me, holding up one of the bottles.
“My brother thought up a cracking recipe for a new single malt, so Da and I let him at the stills and malting floor five years ago. Tomorrow, we will ‘officially’,” Robert winked at the crowd, making quotation marks as he said the word. “We will officially taste my brother’s hard work for the last five years with the Laird of Lorn at Gallanach Castle.”
“T-this… i-is mine?” I stammered.
“Aye, it’s your five year. Now, we’ve already delivered the whisky for the tasting tomorrow night at the Laird’s place, where it’s under lock and key for safe keeping. But I made sure everyone got a wee taste tonight, and the rest can keep aging nicely in the casks until it’s released in another fifteen years. But… tonight isn’t about Stuart. The McAlister family know ye put in the hard yards, especially in the last couple of weeks, when it seemed like we had problem after problem on the floor. But I want to share this with ye all, to show it was worth giving him free reign over the mash and still.”
The catering staff were rapidly pouring a wee nip of whisky into tumblers and passing them around the room.
My heart slammed against my ribs as I clutched the glass and took a deep breath. Citrus, spice and the sea. Nothing was wrong. Perfect.
“A toast, to my older brother, sometimes a real pain in the arse.” Everyone laughed as Robert waggled his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes. “But he’s created something extra special with this, and McAlister’s of Gallanach will be remembered for decades for how special this whisky is.Slainte Mhath!”
Everyone echoed the toast. I cleared my throat, eyes stinging. I inhaled again before taking a sip and let the sweet burn of the liquor warm my chest.
I looked up at Robert as everyone sipped and cheered. I pulled him in close for a back-slapping hug.
“Ye did good, Stu,” Robert whispered in my ear. “Real good.”
