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“And I will, at that, if you don’t keep him happy.” With that, Catriona blew me a kiss and walked back to the kitchen. “The dough’s prepped and in the pantry. I’ll get the ovens started in time for first service.”
“Perfect, thanks.” Hilda hadn’t been wrong. Catriona’s bread, and other baked goods, had turned out to be mouthwateringly good. Once I’d been able to ease the pain with her arthritis, she’d been happily back to baking every day. She was a welcome addition to my kitchen.
So long as she didn’t steal my man.
“Stop flirting with Catriona, or she’s going to steal you out from under me,” I ordered Munroe, a mock look of outrage on my face.
“Understood,” Munroe said, schooling his face into a serious look. “I realize how poorly I’ve acted. Can you forgive me?”
“Maybe.” I sniffed, tilting my head at the box in his hands. “If you show me what’s in the box.”
“It’s a gift. For your first night,” Munroe said. The box was small, wrapped in gold foil paper, and had a delicate gossamer ribbon tied around the edges.
“You don’t have to get me gifts, Munroe,” I said, admiring the pretty packaging. Tracing my finger along the paper, I looked up at him. “You know that, right?”
“Och, Lia. What kind of man would I be if I didn’t buy a bonnie lass a trinket or two?” Munroe thickened his accent and winked at me. I didn’t care that he was teasing a bit, as the brogue did delightful things for my baser self. I could feel my cheeks warming, so I bent my head to carefully unwrap the box while Lachlan found a space for my vase of flowers. I handed the paper to Munroe and carefully eased the top of the velvet jeweler’s box open, my heart hammering in my chest. When I saw the contents, my mouth dropped open.
And then I threw my head back and laughed.
“Oh, I’m so nosey. What is it?” Sophie demanded.
“It’s a grasshopper,” I said, delight filling me, as I traced the emerald and diamond grasshopper pendant. Strung on a long sturdy gold link chain, the grasshopper was intricately detailed, covered in tiny emeralds, with two bright diamond eyes that glittered in the light. It was ridiculous.
And perfect.
Just like Munroe.
Throwing my arms around his neck, I pulled him in for a deep kiss, not caring that everyone was watching.
“Right, we need to stop, or I’ll embarrass myself,” Munroe said, pulling back to whisper at my lips.
“It’s perfect, thank you.” I stepped back, and Munroe helped me pull the chain over my head and the pendant nestled at my breasts. The necklace was the perfect length, because it didn’t interfere with the thistle locket my mother had given me, and I could wear it under my shirt while cooking.
“I don’t get it,” Sophie said to Hilda, who just shrugged.
“Didn’t I tell you the story of how I quit my job in Boston?” I turned to the group, and they shook their heads.
“Well, now, you’ll love this. Walk with me. I’ll tell you while I start prep.”
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Munroe
Nothing pleased me more than seeing Lia in her element. Knowing she wore my necklace under her shirt was doing strange things to me, like she was happy to admit she was mine, and I wondered if this was how people felt when their person wore a wedding band.
I’d returned to the cottage after Lia had started her food prep, knowing she didn’t need or want the distraction. After she’d assured me, for the tenth time, that there was nothing else I could do to help, I’d left to get some work done before the dinner. I still needed to look over the paperwork for the new distillery, and I had a mound of unanswered emails from Cassidy who was beginning to threaten to look for another job if I didn’t attend to the more pressing issues.
This was a problem I’d created, I realized, as I worked my way through my inbox. Because I’d dedicated my whole life to building Common Gin, at the expense of my social life, I’d trained my employees to expect me to be readily available. And now, for the first time, I wasn’t. For once, I was using my free time to get to know Lia and invest in myself and my personal life. The problem when you changed the pattern though, is that other people needed to catch up. If I wanted to enforce more boundaries between my work and personal life, then I needed to create a better framework for me to do so.
Which meant I’d likely need to promote Cassidy and give her an opportunity to hire more help. It was an ideal solution, one which I’d flirted with before, but hadn’t really needed to pull the trigger. I’d have to hammer out some details with her, and see if she was up for more responsibility, but I trusted Cassidy to rise to the occasion. Firing off a meeting request for next week, I grinned as I typed the subject line:To discuss Cassidy’s promotion.
Two seconds later my email dinged in response.
This is how you tell me you want to promote me? Through a meeting request?
You’ve mentioned that you want me to be more efficient, I wrote back, a grin on my face.
My only response was a notification that the meeting was accepted, and I laughed. Cassidy hated unnecessary emails as much as I did. Pleased with the direction that was headed, I bent my head to the file of paperwork with the historical deeds to the auld mill land. The file held a mix of papers, maps, and printouts. Many with conflicting information, which wasn’t highly unusual for plots of land that had been passed down for centuries. It was just following the thread, I told myself, and pinched my nose as I tried to make sense of it all.
