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“We aren’t throwing Cosima to Mama. Help me out here, Max. Do you have any tips on handling siblings? Do you have any?”
He took a deep breath. It was a question he was used to answering and he had his pat response ready. Yet he couldn’t help rubbing the inside of his wrist, on the tattoo that he and Cal had gotten when they’d been eighteen and nineteen respectively. It was Cal’s own design and incorporated both of their initials and the Gaelic symbol for brotherhood. “I had a brother who died five years ago. Our family is nothing like yours so I have no tips for you.”
“Sorry about your brother,” Angelica said.
“Yeah, man, sorry,” Jock said.
“Thank you both. Tell me how you two met,” he said trying to change the subject.
“Jock strolled into town like a big-deal celebrity chef expecting everyone to fall for him—”
“Delilah promptly did,” Jock finished for her.
“I did not…well I mean I did but he had to work for it,” she said.
“I still am,” he said, pulling her close and kissing her.
Max looked over at Angelica who was laughing. “Delilah had a bad experience with TV chefs before she met Jock. But they worked it out.”
“We did,” Jock said. “What about you two? I didn’t hear how you met.”
“She crashed my party, pretending to be friends with Logan Calloway.”
“Is that true?” Jock asked.
Angelica sat up a little straighter and tipped her head to the side, something he noticed she did habitually. “Yes, it is true. But only because I knew that if I just sent in a proposal for The Barrels project, he’d reject it based on my reputation.”
“She’s right. We don’t need notoriety of any kind when we are doing these Second Start programs. But as soon as we spoke, I knew your sister was the real deal.”
She arched one eyebrow at him.
He remembered telling her he’d be keeping a close eye on her and he still intended to. But that didn’t change the fact that her passion and her integrity had been revealed to him that night.
“Sounds like your gamble worked. Doesn’t really sound like you,” Jock said.
“It was Cosima’s idea,” she admitted.
“That makes sense. How’s business? Other than the party,” he said.
They talked about their businesses and the upcoming holiday events in both Last Stand and Whiskey River. He had the feeling that Angelica was going to be very busy over the coming weeks. He thought about what they’d agreed to. Just fun. When had he ever been a man to have fun?
He was pretty sure the last time he’d been so relaxed had been as a child racing through the halls of his family’s mansion with his brother. It had been a long time. He wasn’t sure he could still have fun.
But Christmas was more than the season of miracles, it was also the time of joy and he wondered if this year he’d see a bit of both.
“Do you want to go with me to the Corbyns’ Christmas party next weekend?” Angelica asked.
He furrowed his brow, realizing he’d zoned out on the conversation. Who were the Corbyns, he wondered? He would find out later. “I’ll have to check my calendar but I think I can make it. I have to fly to New York for a board meeting on Wednesday but plan to be back in Whiskey River by Friday.”
“I didn’t know you were going to New York,” Angelica said.
“Would you like to come with me?” he asked.
“I…I have to run the shop but thanks for asking.”
“I bet Cosima could cover for you,” Jock said.
“Stop pushing, Mom junior,” Angelica said through a forced smile.
