Page 53 of A Flower for Angus

She glanced at her watch with a frown. “Isn’t Lucerne dropping off the kids and headed into town in a minute?”

“Aye,” Lucerne replied, “but this will just take a few minutes. We need to do some rescheduling. Delilah and Corey, ye need to get yer shoes on and get your backpacks ready to head towards the car.”

Once all the goodbyes were said, Poppy seated herself at the table by Angus where she could face Darro and Lucerne across from her. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Darro cleared his throat. “Poppy, Doc was very clear about ye needing to get more rest. Last night ye misunderstood and I don’t want that happening again, so let me be perfectly clear. Ye can be our housekeeper for as long as ye like, but there will be no more working the hours ye have been.

“This job is very versatile, mostly revolving around mealtimes and when the kids are home but Lucerne isn’t. That being the case, she will tell ye when she needs ye on a weekly schedule, and ye will have three-day weekends off. If ye need other times off for whatever reason, ye need to coordinate with Lucerne. Like this morning. Lucerne needs a short list of items and I need Angus to pick up a few things.

“Doc said ye had a script to fill as well, so I’m sending the two of ye in together. Since this is Friday, the rest of today and the weekend are yours to do as ye wish.”

Poppy frowned, trying to think fast. Was Darro trying to push her and Angus together? It had seemed that way last night, and now this made her suspicious again.

“I-I was actually planning on stopping in at a realtor’s office while I was in Inverness to get some ideas of properties for rent,” she supplied. “You don’t normally have a live-in housekeeper, do you? And since I plan on staying around Inverness for an unspecified period of time, I thought I should get my own place.”

“I’ll be happy to help ye with that, Poppy,” Angus replied earnestly, his gaze looking like he was trying to read her thoughts on a page in her brain.

“Since Lucerne is the first actual housekeeper I’ve hired, and I married her, I haven’t given it any thought,” Darro replied with a teasing grin at Lucerne. “But if ye are here through the winter it would be impractical, not to mention impossible at times, to drive up here when the roads are bad.”

“Oh, you’re right. I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” she confessed. “I’d still like to look around and get some information. I’ll need a place of my own eventually, I can’t stay here all the time, and I probably won’t work as much once all this stuff in my personal life is past.”

“Ye aren’t planning on going back to Chicago when all this is settled?” he asked.

“I-I don’t know. I like it here in Scotland. I’ve always wanted to come back since I was a young girl. But I do have my daughter and her family to think of.”

Afraid of getting any deeper into the conversation, she gave in and looked at Angus. “I’ll go into town with you then, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, I don’t mind,” Angus replied, patting her leg under the table.

Darro nodded. “Good, it’s settled for now.”

Poppy drank her coffee and nibbled her bacon, trying not to feel like a paranoid fool. What was wrong with her? She liked Angus, more than a little bit. Just because he had a bossy way about him didn’t mean he and Darro were plotting against her. Being with Angus was something she wanted anyway, so why spoil the opportunity by being a suspicious brat?

Chapter 13

Angus noticed Poppybiting her lip as she sat beside him in his truck. He hadn’t allowed her to stay away from him on the seat, losing ground he’d already gained wasn’t an option. “What’s troublin’ ye, wee one?” he asked gently, squeezing her small hand.

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