“I would’ve said the same.” Cian grinned. “But ye didnae bring hats.”
CHAPTER 27
Iwent to school with an unbelievably handsome kid named Willy. We were both strawberry blonds and got called the same names, despite how cute he was. It formed an instant bond between us that never, ever faded, even through high school, where he just got more handsome.
Willy now went by William, and William was a lawyer in Boston, which was only three hours from Sugarbush. Cian and I flew home first so I could gather paperwork, then drove to Boston to see Willy.
My Yeti-man took one look at our lawyer and scowled at me. “Woman? Please tell me ye ken at least a handful of ugly men.”
I patted his bicep. “Compared to you? They all are.”
Willy grinned at me and winked when Cian wasn’t looking.
He bent over backwards to help, but even if he called in favors and rushed everything he could, it was still going to take nine months before I could become Mrs. MacInnis.
Cian and I stayed in the city for two days, taking in the sights and reliving history that Cian knew better than I did. And when we went back to Willy’s office to pick up the papers, I held up my hand when my lifelong friend would have hugged me goodbye.
“Better not. I wouldn’t want you to end up on the chandelier.”
He wouldn’t let us leave until I explained. And when we left the office and started down the marble stairs, Willy was still laughing.
Settlement timeat Willy’s office…
Nick shook his head when he reached the last page of the new divorce papers. He’d been anxious to get the meeting over with, probably because his lawyer was charging by the minute. But he suddenly was in no hurry.
“Absolutely not,” he said. “I won’t sign anything unless it has a Do Not Compete clause.”
I shrugged. “And I won’t sign anything that does, so you’d better decide. Even if we file right away, you won’t be able to marry Tara for?—”
“Tara is still in Scotland,” he said, between gritted teeth.
I had to excuse myself and hustle to the bathroom, so I didn’t laugh in his face.
I didn’t know what Cian said while I was out of the room, but Nick had signed the papers and was ready to go. With lawyers in the room, my betrothed as he liked to call himself—couldn’t have threatened him and gotten away with it.
My ginger friend was bright red and smothering a laugh, so I assumed Cian had said something shocking. I didn’t know if I wanted to know…
I signed where I was supposed to. The notary made his stamps, added his signature, and gave us both our copies. Willy took a copy and handed it off to his assistant to file with the courts.
As soon as Nick and his lawyer were gone, Willy said, “Sorry it can’t happen sooner.”
“Never ye mind,” Cian told him. “Nay paperwork needed fer a handfastin’.”
Willy held up his hands. “I didn’t hear that. But I’m happy for you.” He grinned. “So tell me, when do you open the new restaurant?”
“Cian’s friend John is going to help us do some remodeling. He’s shipping some tools over while we go location shopping.”
Poor John. It had broken his heart that he’d been in Edinburgh and not at his shop when Cian had come looking for him. But when he returned two days later and found we were still in town, he more than made up for it, taking us around the area and introducing Cian to all the possible friends he’d been missing over the years.
I suspected John had been telling Cian some outrageous stories about the folks of Aviemore and Glenmore, and he wanted to put faces to those stories.
Willy had been excited to hear that I would be opening a new restaurant back home, with all his favorite comfort foods, and asked what we would call it.
“Yeti-man’s Café and Smokehouse? I don’t know. We’re still looking for the right name.”
Cian rolled his eyes. He had a hundred ideas he thought were better, most of them variations of Matilda’s. Since it was the name of a Scottish queen, he was a little biased.
“The YMCA…S?” Willy chuckled. “Well, it won’t really matter. Your Sugarbush Onion Pie won’t have competition for long considering how much Mr. Gaines has to pay you—every time he sells one. Copyrighting that recipe in the beginning, in your maiden name, was the smartest move you could have made.”
