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Lilly always asked more than one question at once.
“Don’t worry—I’m not going to become an alcoholic,” Eliza promised. “This fresh start will be good for me, I can feel it in my bones. In answer to your other questions, I’m moving into an apartment next door to Lachlan’s twin sisters. I met one of them this afternoon and she just happened to mention the place next door was vacant. She set me up with the landlord and I checked it out this afternoon. It’s perfect, so tomorrow I’m going to buy a bed, a fridge and maybe a couch, a microwave and a TV. That should do me for starters. And as for Lachlan, I’m not sure what to think of him.”
“Whoa. There’s a lot to unpack here. What do you mean, you’re not sure about him? Didn’t you like him?”
Eliza pondered her response a few moments before she told her friend about Lachlan’s ex. “They’re a close-knit family,” she added. “Anyway, my opinion of him personally doesn’t matter—he’s definitely a good chef and he’s serious about making the restaurant a success. Since he’s going to be my boss and not my friend, I guess that’s the main thing.”
“Yes, I suppose that true. But are his sisters at least nice?” Lilly asked. “Perhaps you’ll become friends with them. I don’t like to think of you all alone across the other side of the country.”
“They seem nice. A bit younger than us, though—different zone. Sophie asked me if I wanted to join Tinder. Apparently they’ve both signed up.”
Lilly snorted. “Tinder! Jeez, I’m so glad I met Matthew before the dating scene changed so dramatically.”
“Mom-my!”
Before Eliza could say anything to that, Lilly’s two-year-old daughter, Britt, hollered in the background.
“Mom-my, I did poos in the potty.”
Eliza felt torn between laughing and crying at the excited little voice. Jack and Britt had been born only three months apart and every milestone Britt crossed felt like a knife twisting in Eliza’s gut. She wanted to be happy for her friend but all she could think about was the fact Jack would never do any of the things Britt was doing.
“I’ll let you go,” she said, choking up. “Tell Britt I said well done, and I’ll send you some photos of my new place tomorrow night when I’ve furnished it a little.”
“All right, my love,” Lilly replied. “Chat soon.”
Eliza had barely disconnected from her friend when the phone started ringing again.
“Grammy,” she said as she answered.
“Hello, my darling,” came her grandmother’s singsongy voice down the line. “I’ve just got in from salsa and I’m dead on my feet, but I couldn’t go to bed without checking in on my favorite granddaughter.”
“I’m your only granddaughter.”
“Even if I had a hundred grandchildren, you’d be my favorite,” Grammy said. “Now, tell me, did you get the job?”
“Yes.” Eliza filled her grandmother in on her day.
“Wow—that’s quite a jam-packed day. But tell me, is Lachlan McKinnel as good-looking in person as he is in his photos?”
Eliza frowned. “How do you know what he looks like?” Although he’d appeared on a local TV show cooking segment, until she’d seen the advertisement for the job and searched online, she’d never heard of him and she was pretty sure her grandmother hadn’t either.
“You don’t think I’d let my favorite granddaughter fly all the way to Tombouctou without doing a little research.” As far as Grammy was concerned, anywhere outside of Manhattan was the end of the earth. “Well, is he good-looking?”
Something quivered low in Eliza’s belly—indicating that she wasn’t as numb as she’d thought. It was quickly followed by guilt that she could be feeling anything so frivolous. “It doesn’t matter what he looks like. What matters is that he’s passionate about food and has offered me the fresh start I need.”
“So he is good-looking.” Grammy sounded victorious. “I might have to jump on a plane and come and check him out myself if there’s potential for a romance.”
“I think he’s about forty years too young for you.”
Grammy laughed. “I meant for you, my dear.”
That’s what Eliza had been afraid of.
“I’m not looking for love,” she said, trying to put her grandmother straight. Her heart had been so full of love once and she’d lost it all in the most tragic of circumstances. Even thinking about loving another left her feeling chilled.
“Did I say anything about love?” Grammy tsked. “Not all relationships have to be serious you know? Fun and mutual pleasure are just as important. I should know.”
Eliza blushed. She should be used to her grandma’s frankness about sex by now, but it still made her want to cover her ears.
“Even if that’s true,” she said, “getting involved with my boss would be asking for all sorts of trouble. Been there, done that before, and you know how it ended.”
“What happened with Jack was not because Tyler was your boss,” Grammy said almost tersely.
But as much as she loved her grandmother, Eliza really didn’t want to get into all that—again—right now. “It’s a moot point anyway,” she said, equally as terse. “I’m not ready for another man in my life yet.”
Deep down, she didn’t think she’d ever be ready but if Grammy thought there was a slight chance, maybe she’d stop pushing.
“Okay,” Grammy relented. “Tell me about Jewell Rock instead, then.”
And despite the tiredness she felt from getting up at the crack of dawn, flying across America, getting a job and house hunting all in one day, this was something she could give her grandmother.
“It’s beautiful. The complete opposite of New York, but I think you’d love it. There’s a big gorgeous lake near where I’m going to live and I’ll wake up every day to a view of the mountains. I’m going shopping tomorrow to buy stuff for my apartment, but over the weekend, I hope to have some time to play tourist. I’ll email you some photos.”
“I’d rather you send me a bottle of McKinnel’s whiskey!”
Eliza puffed out a breath of amusement. “I think that can probably be arranged. Now, as much as I love talking to you, I’m exhausted and I’ve got a big few days ahead so I need to try to get some sleep.”
Try being the operative word—sleep hadn’t been something she’d easily achieved for a long while.
“It’s not even midnight here,” Grammy proclaimed. “You young things these days have no stamina. But you’re probably right. I need my beauty sleep.” Then her tone turned serious. “I love you, cherub. Look after yourself and remember I’m always here—any time of the day or night—to talk if you need it. I might not have suffered a loss like yours, but I’m an old woman and I’ve experienced enough in my long life to know that when you’re hurting you shouldn’t bottle it all up inside. Promise me you’ll call when you’re feeling low.”
Eliza tried to swallow the lump that rose in her throat and blink away the tears that came at her grandmother’s loving concern. “I promise,” she whispered and then quickly disconnected the call before she lost it.
No matter how far she ran from the scene of her heartbreak, she knew she’d never escape the pain but, somehow, she had to learn to live with it. And maybe McKinnels’ Restaurant was exactly what she needed to help her do so!
Chapter Four
Lachlan hated to be late on Eliza’s first day but getting two kids ready and off to school in the morning took three times longer than one kid. And Hallie’s hair was responsible for almost half an hour of that time. Thankfully, his mom had offered to take Hamish, so he could drive Hallie into Bend and talk to her teacher to make sure everyone knew that he was the first point of contact for the foreseeable future. Hallie seemed to be taking the change in stride but he’d wanted to spend a little one-on-one time with her just to be sure.
When he finally arrived back at the distillery, his new head hostess was sitting on the restaurant’s front step, her elbows resting on her knees, waiting for him. A bicycle was off to one side, leaning against the building. Even though he’d told her she could wear casual clothes until they’d sorted out the uniforms—one of the many jobs on his to-do list for the next few days—Eliza looked professional in smart black trousers, a short-sleeved pink blouse and her hair held back off her face with some kind of pink clip. Pink looked good on her, he thought as he approached—a color he’d never seen the benefits of before now.
“Good morning,” he said as she stood to greet him. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Isn’t that usually the employee’s line?”
He grinned, feeling some of the tension dispersing that had built up inside him since Hamish woke at 6:00 a.m. “Perhaps, but I don’t like being tardy and I am genuinely sorry you had to wait. Can I get you a coffee to make up for it?”
“Sounds good. Thank you.” She hitched her purse against her shoulder as they headed toward the door.
He slipped the key into the lock, pushed the door open and then held it as Eliza went through. The scent of caramel wafted by as she passed him and he wondered if it was perfume or if she’d had something sweet for breakfast. He’d never smelled such a scent on a woman before—his mom, sisters and ex-wife all preferred floral aromas—and he liked it. A lot.
“How was your weekend?” he asked, pushing the thought of caramel to the back of his mind as he flicked the switch so light flooded the restaurant. “Sophie told me you took the apartment. Are you all settled in?”
“Yes,” she said, putting her purse down on one of the tables. “Everything seems to have fallen into place. Your sisters are wonderful.”
“They have their moments,” he said, secretly in complete agreement. His younger sisters were pretty fantastic and the best aunts he could want for his kids, always helping out whenever they could. They’d both make great moms one day, but so far, neither of them had been lucky in the love department.
“What about you?” she asked. “How was your weekend?”
“Busy,” he replied as he went behind the bar and turned on the coffee machine. “I played cabdriver to Hallie and my son, Hamish—they have better social lives than me—and then in the evenings I came in here and experimented with a few more dishes.”
He yawned at the thought, his body in dire need of a caffeine injection. He’d already had one cup of coffee this morning but it wasn’t enough, not at the moment when he was burning the candle at both ends.
“Anyway, how do you like your coffee? Cream? Half-and-half? Sugar?”
Eliza came across to join him, pulling out a stool on the other side of the bar. “Half-and-half and no sugar, please.”
“Sweet enough already, hey?” It was supposed to be a joke, but she looked horrified and he mentally kicked himself in the shins. He didn’t want her to think he was flirting with her, because he hadn’t meant it that way and he got the impression she already didn’t have the highest opinion of him. He blamed Linda for that. Eliza had seen him at his worst before she had the chance to find out that he was really a pretty nice, fair and levelheaded guy.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he said. “It was just a stupid joke.”
“It’s okay.”
Awkward silence lingered while he finished making the coffee and by the time he placed the mug on the bar in front of her, he decided he needed to clear the air before they got down to business.
“Look, I wanted to apologize properly for the way your interview unfolded the other day. I’m not proud of what you witnessed between me and my ex-wife,” he said. “And I want to thank you for taking Hallie outside so she didn’t hear our discussion.”
Eliza’s lip quirked upward at one edge. “Is that what you’d call it?”
“Okay. A heated discussion. What you heard may not have given you the best impression of me and that’s probably because Linda tends to bring out the worst in me. To be honest, I can barely stand to look at her and if it wasn’t for Hallie, I wouldn’t have anything to do with her.”
“Your personal business isn’t any concern of mine.” She wrapped her fingers round her mug and drew it up to her lips.
“Still, I’d like to explain. Linda and I got married fairly young—we thought attraction was enough to build a marriage on, and I won’t lie, things were good for a while. But then we had twins and everything changed. Our son was born with cerebral palsy and she couldn’t handle it. She gave all her attention to Hallie and refused to even hold Hamish. It broke my heart but I hoped in time, she would learn to love him.”
He paused a moment, emotion swamping him.
“Hamish is the most lovable kid on the planet, but Linda never came to feel this way. Instead she drew away from me, too—she came to resent the love and attention I gave Hamish—and so she had an affair. I wanted custody of both the kids but she fought in court to keep Hallie and has never so much as acknowledged Hamish again since. So when she came barging in here the other day and said she was off to take care of some sick relative I’ve never even heard of, the anger I usually manage to contain exploded. How can she give herself to look after a near stranger when she’s never given any of herself to her son?”
“I don’t know.” Eliza twirled a few strands of her hair between her fingers. “But that’s really sad. How do you explain that to Hamish?”
Lachlan let out a heavy breath. “So far I’ve just skirted around the issue. He gets lots of love and attention from me and my family and I hope that we give him everything he lacks not having a mother. I guess because it’s always been this way, he’s never questioned it. Hamish isn’t a dumb kid but his condition has left him with a moderate intellectual disability—he amazes me. He can play things like chess almost as well as an adult, but he takes longer to catch on with things like schoolwork than most kids, and perhaps this has been an advantage when it comes to the absence of his mother.”
Eliza smiled sadly. “He sounds like a great kid. I can’t imagine how any mother could just abandon their child.”
“He is.” Lachlan nodded. “And I’ll never understand Linda either. Hallie’s always been great with Hamish, though, and it may not have sounded like it the other day, but I’m glad to have her with me, too. I’d have appreciated Linda giving me a little more notice, though, so I could organize everything better.”
“That’s understandable.” Eliza took another sip of her coffee and he found himself wondering and wanting to ask about her background. He knew from her résumé when she’d graduated college, which put her in her early thirties, about the same as him—she couldn’t have got to that age without some kind of serious relationship. Did she have a crazy ex in her past, as well? Was that why she’d chosen to leave a perfectly good job in a fancy restaurant in New York to come here? She’d told his siblings she was looking for a change of scenery and a new adventure, but people didn’t usually look for such things unless something or other had gone wrong.
These were questions he might have been able to ask at the interview, but he felt like the chance had passed him by and that if he asked them now, it might sound like he was prying. Lachlan told himself that Eliza’s personal life wasn’t any of his business anyway, that as long as she worked hard and did the job he needed her to do, then he didn’t care, but he couldn’t help being curious.
Pushing that thought aside, he also took a sip of his coffee. Man, that tasted good. Just what he needed, and hopefully with caffeine in his system, he would focus on what mattered—getting the restaurant ready for the grand opening.
He put down his mug. “I thought I could give you the grand tour of the distillery first and introduce you to everyone who works here and then we can come back and go through the list of everything we need to achieve over the next few weeks.”
“Sounds good.” She downed her last bit of coffee and stood.
Although he still had almost a full mug to drink, Lachlan decided it would be better to get the tour started. Things felt weird between them and he wanted to get back to the easy conversation they’d been having before Linda rudely interrupted the interview.
“I grew up here,” he said as they started out of the restaurant, “and, like my brothers and sisters, I’m very passionate about the whiskey and the distillery, even though until now I haven’t worked here. What I’m trying to say is all of us can tend to go on a bit about the history of the place, and so if we start boring you to tears, let us know.”
Eliza let out a sound that was almost a laugh, but not quite. “I’m sure I’ll be fascinated.”
Was she nervous? What would it take to get this woman to relax? He hoped to God he hadn’t made a bad decision in hiring her. He wanted a head hostess who was chatty and friendly, happy to flirt a little if necessary and laugh with the clientele. For a moment, he wondered if he—like Mac and Blair—had been bamboozled by her looks.
“The gardens are beautiful,” she said, jolting his thoughts.
And he grabbed hold of the topic, happy that she’d initiated something. “Thanks. My mother is the family green thumb and she does a lot of the work herself, although she does have help these days. We’ve got a full-time gardener on staff.”
“I read that your mom lives here at the distillery, and that your father died recently. I’m sorry,” she offered.
“Thank you.” It was good to see she’d done her research. “Yes, we lost Dad to a heart attack just over a year ago and a lot has changed around here since then. My older brother has taken over as head of the distillery and where Dad was all about tradition, Callum wants to take the distillery to the next level. In addition to opening the restaurant, he’s branching out in the types of whiskey we make. We’re now selling McKinnel’s touristy merchandise as well, and he’s hoping to buy some land next door and actually start growing our own grains.”
“Sounds like a lot going on.”
“There is, but you don’t need to worry about any of that. Our prime concern is the restaurant.” He gestured to the building they were approaching. “We’ll start in here. You met Blair the other day—he’s our head distiller. If you’ve got any questions about the making of whiskey, he’s the one to ask.”
Both Blair and Lachlan’s other brother Quinn were in the distillery and they stopped talking to welcome Eliza to the distillery family.
“Quinn’s in charge of our warehouse,” Lachlan explained. “And he recently got engaged.”
“Congratulations,” Eliza said.
“Thanks heaps.” Quinn smiled broadly and the goofy expression that crossed his face whenever he spoke about his fiancée, Bailey, appeared. “We’re also expecting twins.”
“Quinn and Bailey are going to get married at the distillery and we’ll do the catering in the restaurant. Bailey’s an event coordinator and we’re hoping that with her on board, we’ll get to host a lot more weddings here. The first one is actually going to be our oldest brother, Callum, and his fiancée, Chelsea, in two months’ time.”
“I hope you like weddings,” Blair said with a chuckle.
“Who doesn’t like weddings?” Eliza asked, but again she didn’t smile.
Lachlan let Blair show her round the actual distillery, which—whether she liked it or not—included a brief lesson in whiskey making and then Quinn took them into the warehouse for a quick look. From there, Lachlan took Eliza to the shop and office building. Sophie was busy with customers doing a tasting, so although she offered them a quick wave, they headed down the corridor to Callum’s office to find him and Chelsea locked in a passionate embrace.
Lachlan cleared his throat and rolled his eyes at Eliza as he rapped on the open door. “You two should get a room!”
Chelsea sprang out of Callum’s arms and her cheeks turned pink as her gaze fell on Lachlan and Eliza. Callum seemed less embarrassed—in fact, his smug, satisfied smile as his gaze met with Lachlan’s made Lachlan try to recall the last time he’d kissed a woman.
He pushed that thought aside. “This is Eliza,” he said. “And these two are my brother Callum and his fiancée, Chelsea.”
“It’s so great to meet you,” Chelsea gushed as she rushed around Callum’s desk and offered her hand.
“And you, too,” Eliza replied with a smile.
Callum also shook her hand. “Welcome to McKinnel’s—Lachlan showed me your impressive résumé. Sounds like we’re very lucky to have you here.”
“Thanks. I’m excited to be here.”
“If you ever need anything or have any questions, my door is always open.”
“Maybe you should shut it more often,” Lachlan quipped.
Callum gave him the finger and Chelsea reprimanded him. “Don’t mind these two,” she said. “They’re very professional most of the time.”
The four of them chatted for a few more moments until Chelsea excused herself. “I’m really sorry,” she said, placing her hand on her small bump. “I have to get to a prenatal appointment.”
“It’s fine.” Lachlan smiled at his future sister-in-law. “We should be getting back to the restaurant anyway.”
“It was lovely to meet you both,” Eliza said.
Callum nodded as he wrapped an arm around Chelsea and pulled her close. “You, too, we’ll see you around.”
Leaving his brother and Chelsea to no doubt partake in a passionate goodbye, Lachlan led Eliza back down the corridor.
“Oh, do you mind if I buy a bottle of whiskey for my grandma?” she asked, glancing across to where Sophie was just wrapping up a sale.
“Of course.” He took her over to the polished wood tasting bar, but neither he nor Sophie would hear of Eliza paying for her bottle.
“Call it a welcome-to-the-team gift,” Sophie said as she placed the bottle in a special case for mailing.
“You’re close to your grandmother, then?” Lachlan asked as he and Eliza finally headed back to the restaurant.
“Yes. I’ve been living with her the past few months and she was kind of like a surrogate mom for me in my teens.”
“Oh?” Lachlan didn’t know if he sounded nosy but he couldn’t help asking, “Was your own mom not around?” He remembered her saying her parents were divorced.
“She died when I was thirteen, in a helicopter crash.”
It was his turn to say, “I’m sorry,” but he couldn’t help being happy that she’d shared a little of herself.
“Thank you.” Her reply was almost a whisper. “Until then she had full-time custody and I stayed with Dad every second weekend, but after her death I went to live with him and Grammy moved in until I was old enough to take care of myself. We became very close.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
“No. And sometimes I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse. Did you like growing up in a big family?”
He chuckled. “Sometimes I loved it and sometimes I hated it. My siblings can be my worst enemies or my best friends. Speaking of family...” He slowed his steps. “I just remembered, I’d better take you to the house to meet Mom before we head back, or my life won’t be worth living. Although she’s not involved in the day-to-day running of the distillery anymore, she likes to be kept in the loop.”
“Hallie told me you lived with your mom,” she said.
“Yes, when Linda and I split up, I moved in with my parents, so Mom could help me with Hamish. It was only supposed to be temporary,” he admitted, “but nine years later and we’re still there. Sounds pretty pathetic, doesn’t it? A thirty-three-year-old man still living with his mom.”
There was a hint of a smile on her lips as she met his gaze. “Hallie also told me how much she adores your mom. I can’t wait to meet her.”
“Come on, then. And let me hold that.” He took the box with the whiskey from her grasp before she could refuse and gestured for her to follow him toward the main house, pointing out the smaller cottage on the property as they passed it. “Callum and Chelsea live there—it used to be our grandparents’ place. It was the original house they built when they moved over from Scotland in the 1950s.”
“It’s quaint.”
“Yeah, I suppose it is,” Lachlan said as they continued. “Blair also lives at the main house with Hamish, Mom and I.”