“Agnes, you have to come back. I need you.”
“No, you don’t,” Agnes said. “That’s the busy weekend talking. Let’s face it, Dougal, you didn’t want me there any more than I wanted to be there.”
“That’s not true—” Dougal started.
But Agnes held up a hand. “At least be honest with yourself. It might have seemed like a good idea to have a manager to free you up to do other things, but you hated every minute of it.”
His shoulders slumped. “Okay, that’s true. But I’m drowning right now. Would you at least consider coming back to work until I return from Spain?”
Agnes tugged on Logan’s hand. “What do you think?”
“It’s up to you.”
She chewed on her bottom lip for a minute before looking up at him. “I know we haven’t talked about this, but I don’t want to move back into the hotel. Can I stay with you for a while?”
His stupid heart lurched in his chest. “Course you can,” was all he said.
She turned to Dougal. “In that case, I’ll help out until you return from Spain, but I’m not looking after your dog.”
“But—” Dougal said.
“No.” Agnes was firm. “Get Mrs. Edwards to watch him. She’ll love it.”
“But that means I’ll have to talk to her,” Dougal grumbled.
“I don’t care what you do with the dog,” Agnes said. “Just so long as you don’t think you’re foisting it off on me.”
“Fine. Can you start now?”
She let out a huff. “I’m on a date, Dougal.”
“You are?” Logan asked.
“Am I or am I not holding your damn hand?” Agnes held up their hands to make her point.
“And that means date?”
“Yes.” She tapped her toe in the snow, which was a sure sign he should let things go.
But he didn’t. “Well, if it’s a date, there should be kissing.” And with that, he spun her into his arms and proceeded to match action to words.
“I’ll be in the pub,” Dougal said as they kept kissing. “Come on in when you’re ready. Aye, I’ll just go then. Bye for now.” And at last, he stopped talking.
Logan didn’t check to see if he’d gone, he just kept on kissing Agnes. Astonished that she was allowing it to happen in full view of all of Invertary. Slowly, reluctantly, they broke apart—to a round of applause.
That’s when he spotted Darcy, standing wide-eyed beside them. “Does this mean you’re his girlfriend?” she asked Agnes.
Agnes didn’t want to be back in the hotel and pub. She wanted to be in Logan’s house with him and his kids. Drew had mentioned a movie that sounded good—they’d planned on watching it together. And Logan had promised they could make a snowman. It would have been the perfect evening.
But instead, she was in the pub, supervising the karaoke night and experiencing a weird sense of déjà vu. Her memories of the night before were foggy at best. She knew she’d sung, but that was about as far as it went. At some point, she’d have to ask Logan exactly how much of a fool she’d made of herself.
In the meantime, she had work to do and people to talk to. People she wanted to talk to for a change, and they were all sitting in their usual booth.
Weaving through the crowded room, she headed straight for the table with Kirsty, Lake, Josh, Caroline, Mitch, and Jodie.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey, yourself,” Kirsty, Lake’s wife, said. “I heard you quit.”