Ali stood and pulled her foot to her butt. “What can I do to help?”
“Meet me at the six a.m. class for the foreseeable future?”
Laughter bubbled from Ali. “I can do that. Outside of the amazing medal wins, how was your trip?”
Connor’s face flashed in Emerson’s mind. “Interesting.”
“The way you drew the word out says there was something specifically interesting. Care to elaborate?”
Emerson changed to a different cooldown exercise. “There was this guy—”
“Oh, the best stories start with that. Tell me.”
As they finished their stretches, Emerson found herself telling Ali everything that had happened.
“And you didn’t get his number?” Ali practically yelled as they walked to the showers.
Emerson shouldered her friend gently. “What part of he disappeared from the ballroom did you not understand?”
“Urgh. You are useless. You could have called down to the hotel desk, asked for his room, and spoken with him.”
“And even if I’d thought of that, I wouldn’t have done it because that is spectacularly creepy. If a guy did that to me at an event, I’d have to change hotels!”
“Fine. You’re right. It would be weird. But a quick search online would tell you where his office is, and I’m sure you could come up with something to say.”
Perhaps she could.
After she showered and went to the distillery, the thought kept rattling around in her mind.
“Hey, Emerson,” Jake said, sticking his pen behind his ear as he popped his head into her office. “Cash flow. I’m placing a botanicals order. It’s a big one. Am I good to go?”
She shook the thought of Connor from her mind. “You’re fine.”
“I don’t suppose there’s any sign of the insurance check for the events hall yet, is there?”
Shit. Did she notify them about the change of ownership? Abruptly, she stood. “Not yet. But I can’t even remember if they were contacted. I’ll check my list. There were so many documents to sign and names to change over the last two months. I know Dad said it would take a while before we heard anything from them.”
Once they had that check, she wouldn’t need to worry about cash flow to place orders or pay overtime.
“Em, relax. If you didn’t, then we need to fix it, that’s all. It shouldn’t stop them from processing the claim in the meantime.”
Emerson sighed, the tightness in her chest was replaced with low-grade anger. It was easy for Jake to tell her to relax. Liv hadn’t been in any state to help, and Jake was needed on the production floor. She’d already been carrying her own job and Liv’s. And then she took on the burden of her father’s work. Basic math said that was untenable. “I’ll get on it. They won’t tell me the status until they have my name on the forms.”
Jake threw his arm over her shoulder. “It’s okay for us to make mistakes, you know.”
Emerson shrugged. “Not when there’s a lot of money at stake.”
Jake let her go and ran his fingers over the award statuettes that stood on the newly cleared top of the filing cabinet. “I can’t believe we pulled it off.”
Emerson cheered a little. “You pulled if off, Jake. You. Dad always said you had talent. Remember how when we were little, Mom always used to play that game over dinner? What did she call it?”
“Guess the Ingredients,” Jake said with a grin. “I always crushed it.”
“It was always some stupid herb or something. Like she’d sneak chopped, fresh oregano leaves into pasta. You could always taste them or smell them.”
“So, what you’re saying is that there’s finally a place for my talents.”
Emerson smacked his arm playfully. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, pity it counted for shit at school.”
Jake hadn’t gone to college. He’d left school with less than stellar grades and gone to work directly for their father. “But look at you now, Double Gold and Best in Class medal winner.”
“Let’s hope I’m not a one-trick pony. Dad only won one medal in his career.”
She could hear the doubt in Jake’s voice. They all had fears about stepping into their father’s shoes to drive the business forward. “You’re off to a strong start, Jake. I’m sure you’ll keep the momentum going. I have faith in you.”
Jake looked at her intensely for a moment. “That’s exactly what Dad used to say to me.”
The loss had affected all of them deeply, but Jake rarely shared his emotions about it.
“He used to say it to me too.”
Jake squeezed her hand, gave her a sad smile, and left the office.
Her gaze returned to their trophies. For a moment, she wished her father had been the one to bring them home. Instead, it had been her.
And then there was Connor.
Wait. Why was she still thinking about a man who’d simply disappeared?
It had been rude.
It had been expected based on his behavior on the airplane.
But it still hurt.
Damn it.
Emerson pulled up her hair into an elastic and turned on a focus playlist. Within the hour, she’d reviewed all the new order requests. She’d had to quietly remind herself that having too many orders was a good problem to have. Only then had she been able to make a plan for production that would see them hit at least eighty percent of it for the month.
She opened the presentation she’d started during her enforced airplane working session.
Thoughts of Connor’s eyes on her had spurred her on until she’d not only forgotten about her fear of flying, but also had the most productive two hours she could remember in months.
Gah!
Why did he keep appearing in her thoughts? It had been three freaking days.
She focused on the presentation. When the insurance came in, she was going to suggest putting the money into expanding the distillery with additional stills and labor, so Jake could have time away from the stills to develop the new
