Page 96 of Kilt Trip

“Speaking of Elyse—she’s one of your greatest assets. It would benefit you to give her more responsibility and autonomy as part of this transition.”

An interesting thought to be pondered at literally any other time than now. “Were you showing us the website next?”

She looked at Logan with desperation in her eyes, hesitating like she was giving him an opportunity to call this off.

He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms.

“The website is much cleaner and easier to navigate. We’ll build out a landing page to book for next year when we’re ready to add the new tours.” Pursing her lips, she clicked into a draft folder of the website. “Marc...and I...think these itineraries will give you the broadest market appeal and the best chance of success. I tried my very best to keep as much of your current itineraries as possible and add more recognizable destinations with your hidden gems to balance out the margins,” she said, rubbing at the side of her neck.

He could feel her eyes on him, but he didn’t look away from the screen as she pulled up web page after web page. Itineraries she hadn’t talked to him about.

Destinations he’d never guided.

Not so much as a footnote about the clan tours.

The only thing he recognized was a Hogmanay itinerary—an exact replica of the tour she’d brought him on.

His stomach hardened, his pulse heavy. “You’ve sold yourself short. This looks quite polished, indeed.”

Addie winced.

Oblivious to Logan’s sarcasm, Neil reclined in his seat, a grin splitting his face. “It’s brilliant.”

Logan might have thought so, too, when he’d wanted something safe. If they had simply looked for a compromise. But she’d urged him to name what he wanted. Pushed him to recognize a dream he’d been happy to leave banked but now burned in his chest.

And she was here to douse it.

Her boss and his dad were committed. Apparently Addie was, too. There would be no changing course now.

She’d made an irrevocable decision about his business that affected his entire future, without him. Just like his brothers.

Jack had been meddling from the sidelines, and his dad would never retire. Addie made Logan feel supported and confident, like his dream mattered, but clearly she never believed it could work.

Just like them, she didn’t believe he could do this on his own.

“This way, you still keep your relationships with current vendors, although some will need to have renegotiated terms. Neil, you haven’t even adjusted for inflation,” she said with a tip of her head and a smile to reassure him she was only gently scolding.

Logan’s blood simmered that she could be lighthearted when his world was collapsing. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to pull some sense from this conversation.

“And you have financials for all these?” Neil asked.

Addie watched Logan, a deep groove between her brows. “Yes.” She clicked through detailed financial plans and the marketing changes that would come along with this shift. Neil rambled about his delight in the tours, but the words sounded far away and distorted.

When he stood, he gripped Logan’s shoulders and said to Addie, “Thank you. Truly. We’re indebted to you.”

She watched him leave the room and turned to Logan. “I’m sorry—”

“What the fuck was that?”

40

Logan gripped the armrests of his chair, blood pounding like the Royal Military Tattoo.

“I asked Marc to give me time. That was not how I planned to tell you.” Addie shifted her weight back and forth, her hands pushed together in a gesture of pleading, pressing against her lips. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry you didn’t warn me or sorry you’ve pushed through an entirely new proposal behind my back?”

Addie folded her arms over stomach. “It wasn’t like that. I didn’t know when my next project would come up, and I didn’t want to leave you with nothing. Worse than nothing. I was supposed to recommend golf trips, Logan, so while we were figuring out what we wanted to do, I’ve been building out these tours. They’re a compromise.”

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