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!
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
