Page 83 of Brewing Up a Bad Boy

It had been a few weeks since she’d signed the deal with Lancaster-Spencer, and she hadn’t heard anything from their side since. “Is there a problem with our deal?”

“Not at all. In fact, I brought the fully executed copy with me. Bronte has been wanting to come visit, and as she mentioned, I did promise. Thought it would be nice to give you this in person. I’m so glad you accepted our offer.”

“It felt right,” she admitted.

“I’m glad. Alistair told me how silenced you felt when you worked for Lancaster-Spencer. I’m sorry I didn’t pay better attention to how Dad was running things,” George said.

“Thanks. That wasn’t really your job,” she pointed out.

“No, it wasn’t. But it will be now. I’m going to be the CEO starting October 1.”

“Congratulations,” she said. She was hopeful that George would continue to make the changes he’d already started. Lancaster-Spencer had centuries of heritage behind it, and bringing the company into the twenty-first century would ensure that continued.

“Thanks,” he said.

A customer came in while George finished his tea, and when the customer left, he asked Poppy if she knew where Alistair was.

She directed him to the Bootless Soldier and assured him she’d make sure Bronte knew where he’d gone.

Bronte had Sera emboss her intention into the cover of the journal she’d purchased in Glastonbury from Solange’s shop. Then she settled next to Poppy to have a cup of tea.

“I hope I haven’t been too fan-girly today, but this is a dream come true,” she said.

“You’ve been fine. It’s good to see you again,” Poppy said.

“Same. I’ve been buzzing since George told me you signed with Lancaster-Spencer, but given that even the Earl of Winfield knew that it would be foolish not to do everything to get you to sign, I sort of figured it was a done deal.”

“Everything? I mean, the terms were pretty standard, and they had the offer from Willingham that they wanted to beat,” Poppy said.

“Of course, but it wasn’t just your contract they were after,” she said. “You know, Alistair’s been on a leave of absence, and nothing that George or Howard has offered has made him leave his little beer barn.”

Ali liked being in his beer barn. Also, there was something passive-aggressive about the way Bronte had put that. His beer was bigger than that and meant a lot to Ali. “I don’t think my contract is going to change that,” Poppy said at last.

Bronte sort of went pale and pursed her lips together. Then she looked down into her teacup, avoiding eye contact.

“Right?”

“Uh, sorry. I thought you knew. George said Alistair is staying at your place now,” Bronte said.

“Knew what?”

“I don’t know all of the details, but George mentioned before we left London that everything was in place. Howard’s retirement and your fair deal were the last things keeping Alistair from accepting the chief operations officer position. George has been monitoring him since the leave of absence.”

There was too much to process. Poppy’s ears were buzzing. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, after his break, everyone wasn’t sure he’d be able to come back. But the therapy and the extended time away from the office has finally been enough for HR to sign off on his return.”

“Bronte, you shouldn’t be talking to me about this,” Poppy said. This was all secondhand news. Nothing substantial. She found it hard to believe that Alistair wouldn’t have told her if he’d decided to go back to England. They’d made future plans.

“You’re right. I’m just so jazzed that we are going to be like real sisters when you both move back. Now that you’re not separated anymore.”

“We were never separated,” she said, stopping before telling the other woman they were actually divorced.

Bronte didn’t seem to realize that Poppy was upset, and there was a part of Poppy that wanted to tell Bronte they’d never be sisters. A sister would have noticed that Poppy was crumbling. Like Sera and Liberty, who’d moved closer to their table, both of them coming to support her without her asking.

Bronte keep drinking her tea as Poppy waved her friends away. There was nothing to discuss with Liberty and Sera until she had a talk with Ali, which would have to wait until the shop closed.

Twenty-Three

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