“Oh, I’d believe it,” Logan drawled.
“Look at you with Arnold.” Dougal smiled at the dog. “And you said you weren’t a dog person. You’ll have no trouble at all looking after him while I’m in Spain.”
“Dougal,” Agnes snapped, then winced at the sound of her own voice. “I’m resigning. Effective immediately.”
He gaped at her. “You can’t resign—this is market weekend.”
“Stop shouting!” She held up a hand as if to ward off the noise. “Whisper or die.”
“What she means,” Logan said, “is that she’s got a stinking headache.”
“Oh, aye, I understand,” Dougal said softly, for him. “I need you this weekend. You can’t resign. And what about while I’m in Spain? Who’ll look after the place? Or Arnold?”
That reminded her. She handed Dougal his scabby dog. “You’re not going to Spain, because, no matter what you do, Betty won’t sell you the land you need. She thinks the conference center is a dumb idea.” She paused and took a breath. To hell with it. She might as well get it all out of her system. “I do, too. It isn’t going to bring business to town, not in a way that will revive it. But that’s another issue. Your dog is the thief. He has a stash under the table in the first-floor hallway. And Betty’s the one who’s been stealing your whisky.”
Dougal sucked in a breath. “I’m going to wring her scrawny old neck.”
“On top of that, I ate the carrot cake with Betty last night while we were getting drunk on stolen whisky after hours. And she may, or may not, have left with a ham. Feel free to tell the planet I’m a useless, thieving hotel manager. I don’t care, because I hate hotels and I’m never going to work in one again. Consider this my resignation. Not only from this job but also from this career.” Although, why she was giving it to Dougal, she didn’t know. She guessed it was the symbolism that counted. Turning to Logan, she said, “Can I come home with you?”
“Aye.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and turned toward the door to the carpark. “We’ll sort out her room later,” he told Dougal.
“But she can’t resign.” Dougal looked a little shell-shocked.
“She just did,” Logan said, opening the door for them.
Agnes was done with the hotel. “I want to sleep for a month. Can I sleep in your bed for a month?”
“Sure, but you should know it’s Saturday and the kids are there. They’ll think I’ve brought my girlfriend home.”
“I’m past caring.” If he wasn’t bothered about parading her around in front of them, why should she be? “But I’m not having sex while they’re in the house. That’s just wrong.”
“We’ll see,” Logan said ominously.
Snow fell over Invertary, and Agnes stopped to stare. It must have started sometime during the night because already a light covering lay on the hills beyond the loch. The whole scene looked like something straight off a Christmas card. The sky was painting everything new.
“You must be cold.” Logan shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Strangely, for the first time in a very long time, she wasn’t cold. Settling into the passenger seat, she snuggled down in Logan’s jacket, feeling his warmth and breathing his scent.
She was asleep by the time they’d turned into the road.
With Agnes showered and tucked into his bed, Logan went downstairs to deal with his kids. As meltdowns went, getting drunk with Betty McLeod was pretty unique, and entertaining to boot. But not as spectacular as watching her handle Dougal while dressed in yesterday’s crumpled clothes, with half a cake in her hair, and wearing sunglasses. He grinned. He should have filmed it.
“Is Agnes staying here forever now?” Darcy asked as soon as he walked into the room.
“I don’t know what she’s doing.” He doubted she even knew what she was doing.
Drew took off his headphones, obviously worried he’d miss something important. “You want her to stay, don’t you, Dad?” he asked quietly.
Logan thought about fobbing him off with a non-answer, but that wasn’t how he did things, even if it meant letting his kids see his vulnerabilities. “Aye, son, I do.”
“Have you told her?” Drew toyed with the wires from his headphones as Darcy soaked up every word.
“No, and I won’t.”
“But, if you ask her to stay, she might change her mind and do it,” Darcy said.
“That’s true, but if I ask her, I’ll never know if it was her choice, or if I influenced her to do it. I want her here, but only if that’s what she wants too.” He reached for the coffee pot and a mug. “Sometimes, people don’t stay, no matter how much you want them to. And, in that case, it’s better to let them go.”