Bourbon Springs Box Set: Volume II, Books 4-6 (Bourbon Springs Box Sets Book 2)

by Jennifer Bramseth

  “Is that the only place you two go?” Hannah asked. “It’s nice enough, and… the pie is to die for. Kyle and I go there a lot.”

  “That’s the only place so far,” CiCi said, choosing not to reveal the date she had with Walker at the Old Talbott Tavern for the next weekend.

  But there was no fooling Hannah Davenport.

  “So far? Sounds like something’s afoot,” Hannah said. CiCi reluctantly revealed their next lunch date at The Windmill and the dinner date at The Tavern. “Oh, The Tavern!” Hannah sighed. “Haven’t been there in so long! If they still have it, be sure to get the pot roast. Melts in your mouth! And order the bourbon bread pudding, of course.”

  “But what if it’s not made with Old Garnet?” CiCi asked.

  “Get it anyway and get a shot of Garnet to soak it,” Hannah reasoned as Lila nodded. Harriet did not participate in this banter but seemed happy to eat in silence and listen to the chatter. “So you finally have a thing going with Walker,” Hannah continued with approval in her tone. “About damn time. Man’s been eyeing you for months.”

  “We do not have a thing,” CiCi objected over the giggles of Hannah and Lila. “I… well… I guess we’re thinking about it,” she stammered.

  “Thinking about having a thing,” Hannah said slowly as she nodded her head. “You know, Lila, a thing, like you and Bo had at first.”

  Lila looked scandalized, and her mouth dropped open. “Yeah, just like you and Kyle, right?”

  “Ladies!” CiCi interjected, not expecting to see Hannah and Lila get into a silly verbal tussle. “Walker and I have been out a handful of times. That’s it.”

  “Handful? What’s he managed to get his hands full of so far, CiCi?” Hannah asked, making Lila giggle.

  CiCi frowned at Lila. “Seriously? Are you turning into her or something?” she asked, and dipped her head in Hannah’s direction.

  “I think I am,” Lila admitted. “It’s fun.”

  “Not when you’re on the wrong end of that tongue of hers,” CiCi said pointing at Hannah

  “Back to Walker,” Hannah interrupted. “Who cares how many times you’ve been out? Numbers don’t really matter, do they? For example, one time before they actually started dating, I caught Bo and Lila in the tasting room after he’d given her a special private tour and—”

  “Hannah!” cried Lila. “Shut it!”

  “Told you so,” CiCi said, nodding at Lila. She picked up her drink as Hannah laughed so hard tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and smeared her mascara.

  “That happened to be our first kiss, if it really must be said,” Lila said. She was now a deep shade of red but smiling.

  Hannah’s face brightened, and she stopped her giggling. “Really? That’s so sweet! I didn’t know that! And for the record, I didn’t actually see you kiss!”

  Now it was CiCi’s turn to laugh as Harriet watched in mild shock.

  “How the hell did we get so off topic?” Lila demanded to know. “I thought we were talking about her,” and she pointed to CiCi, “and the thing she’s got going with our master distiller.”

  “I don’t have a thing!” CiCi protested.

  “But do you want a thing?” Harriet asked, surprising everyone with the query. “Sorry. I just had to get a word in edgewise here. The rest of you were having way too much fun, and the lawyer in me couldn’t resist asking a question.”

  Lila and Hannah were in stitches, with the latter grabbing a napkin to wipe away the tears streaming down her face.

  “I… I’m willing to find out. There. Everyone happy now?” CiCi picked up her sandwich while the others laughed.

  “What’s so funny over here?” Goose strode up to the table with a small white bag in one hand and a fountain drink in the other.

  “Speaking of things,” CiCi muttered before taking a bite of her sandwich, causing Hannah to shoot her a glance.

  “Girl talk,” Lila told Goose and smiled at Hannah, who kept laughing.

  Goose offered general greetings to the group, but his eyes lingered on Harriet.

  “What are you doing around here?” Harriet asked Goose.

  “I work here,” he said proudly.

  Harriet’s eyes bulged. “Since when?”

  “Oh, sorry,” Hannah interjected. “I thought you knew. I’m sure we mentioned it to Bruce and Jon, but I guess you were out of the loop on some of the personnel matters since you don’t handle that work for us. Goose is now our director of security and groundskeeping.”

  “No, I didn’t know,” Harriet said, addressing Goose and smiling. “I knew you weren’t at the police department any longer, but I thought you’d gotten a security job out of town. Congratulations. Nice that the Davenports keep it in the family.”

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself. Having the chance to work here has been great,” said Goose, patting Hannah on the shoulder.

  “You got the job, Goose,” Hannah said, removing her cousin’s hand. “You can stop sucking up.”

  “A little now and then never hurts,” he said, his eyes moving about the table.

  “I’d ask you to join us, but I don’t know whether you have much interest in planning Rachel Richards’s baby shower.”

  “I’d be happy to help Judge Richards in any way I can,” he said, making CiCi think he was going to pull up a chair and really join the group. “But I need to take this and run,” he said, indicating his lunch. “Electrical problem in Rickhouse 8 needs checking out. “Good to see you all today.” With a nod and a smile for Harriet, he was gone.

  After Goose left, the women got down to the real purpose of the lunch meeting: the baby showers for Rachel and Brady. Hannah was full of ideas and decided to throw the first shower (the nonsurprise one) at the distillery in the tasting room or café.

  No one voiced any objection as to how odd it might be to have a baby shower at a bourbon distillery. They were in the middle of bourbon country in the middle of Kentucky. And the mother-to-be’s best friend happened to be a part owner of said distillery. As for the second shower, the others tried to talk Hannah out of a “surprise” shower but only managed to get her to reconsider the idea rather than completely give it up.

  As lunch began to wind down, Harriet excused herself to make a call and exited the café for the lobby.

  “You saw it?” Hannah asked CiCi as soon as Harriet was out of earshot.

  “Of course,” CiCi confirmed with a smile.

  Lila looked confusedly between her two friends, waiting for an explanation.

  “You’d think that someone who’s around kids with raging hormones would pick up on some of these things,” Hannah said, looking at Lila.

  “Oh, you mean Goose and Harriet?” Lila asked. “Of course I saw that.”

  “It was mostly him though,” Hannah said. “I don’t think I saw any interest on her part. Or maybe she’s just good at hiding it.”

  “That wasn’t the first time today he’d checked out Harriet,” CiCi said. She revealed how Goose had watched Harriet as they had entered the visitors’ center.

  As Hannah and Lila chatted about Goose and Harriet (wasn’t she dating some lawyer from Lexington?), CiCi took the opportunity to check her phone. She wanted to see a message from Walker, but there was nothing.

  Call him? Text him?

  That was so… girlfriend-like.

  So what if it was?

  And that meant she was ready to start a thing with him.

  5

  CiCi excused herself to make a call, and Hannah immediately gave her a sly look.

  “I’m sure he’s in the distillery if you want to go drop in,” Hannah teased.

  “Shut it,” CiCi said, thereby confirming the identity of the intended recipient of her call.

  CiCi went to a corner of the café, called Walker’s cell number, and put a finger to one ear to block out the noise.

  “Hi,” he answered before she heard the first ring. “Please tell me you’re at the distillery.”

  �
�Well, yeah,” CiCi said, a little embarrassed at his eagerness to know her whereabouts. “You remembered I was coming here today?”

  “Of course I did. I’m the guy who couldn’t wait to see you until Saturday, remember? Are you in the visitors’ center?”

  “Yes, but Hannah and Lila are here and—” she began to protest, thinking of all the ribbing she would get should Walker appear.

  “Great,” he told her. “It should be easy to find you. And I have other business in the visitors’ center. Be there in five minutes.”

  Yeah, great. CiCi knew she was about to be subjected to no end of teasing by Hannah and Lila. But at least she’d get to see Walker.

  CiCi returned to the table and saw that Harriet had not yet returned.

  “Thought you’d be off to meet a certain someone,” Hannah said as CiCi sat.

  “No,” CiCi grumpily insisted.

  “Oh, I get it. Walker’s coming to see you. Sweet. But not very private.”

  CiCi said nothing but shook her head and sighed as Lila broke into a broad grin. She quickly realized Lila wasn’t smiling at her but someone behind her and turned to see Bo arriving.

  Lila gave him a peck on the cheek. “What’s wrong?”

  “Too many tourists,” he said. “I just had to stand in to give another tour.”

  “Wish you’d called me,” Lila said. “I’d have been glad to help.”

  “But you need to get back to school soon,” Bo pointed out.

  “Too many tourists? Sounds like an embarrassment of riches,” CiCi said.

  “I suppose it is, but we do have a real problem,” Bo insisted and started picking at the remains of Lila’s lunch by eating her abandoned pickle. “We’ve got to get more tour guides hired.”

  “And we have to hire the person who’s going to manage all those tour guides,” Hannah added.

  “Look, there’s Walker,” Lila said, pointing toward the café entrance where the master distiller was walking in with Harriet.

  After greetings and Harriet retaking her seat, Bo told Hannah that he needed to meet with her after lunch.

  “Then let’s do it now because Harriet gave me those probate papers we also need to review,” Hannah said. “Is this something Lila needs to be in on as well?”

  Bo nodded. “She’s an owner, so the answer is yes.”

  The three gave apologies, leaving CiCi, Harriet, and Walker in the café together.

  “Hey, do you mind if I go over to the gift shop for a moment before we go?” Harriet asked. “I need to buy a few birthday presents for family.”

  CiCi told her to go on and that she’d catch up with her in a few minutes.

  Walker asked whether he could sit, and CiCi waved him into the seat across from her.

  “Still on for Saturday?” he asked as CiCi looked at the envelope Walker had placed on the table. It had a printed return address—Harriet’s law firm.

  “Of course. You picking me up?”

  “Of course. I could be a little late,” he said, reminding her that he had business at the distillery that morning.

  “Just give me a call,” she told him and began to gather the remains of her lunch. She tossed the empty soda can into the box along with a crumpled napkin.

  “It’s nice to see you.”

  “You too.”

  CiCi felt giddy. This man was polite, sweet, and obviously attracted to her. She hadn’t felt like this in years—in fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she felt like this.

  But what was the feeling?

  Silly? No, that was her default emotional setting.

  Happy? No, not quite—but close.

  Lust? Not really, although certain tingles in certain parts of her anatomy indicated the possibility.

  It was hope.

  It was that little kernel of optimism at the beginning of a relationship shouting out that this guy could be a lot of fun, that this guy could be really serious about her, and this guy could be the One. It was bittersweet, however, because CiCi had felt this way before—and had been sorely disappointed. Hope had blossomed only to be squashed with betrayals and apathy. Men seemed to have a way of leaving her.

  Walker slid the envelope in front of her.

  “Remember that house you told me about in your neighborhood?” he asked, and she nodded. “I called your neighbor. She’s interested in selling to me, and I had a title search run on the place before I went any further.” Walker tapped the envelope.

  “Harriet just delivered that to you, didn’t she?”

  He nodded and stuffed the envelope into his back pocket with his free hand. Then he took both of her hands and held them on top of the table. This was the most conspicuous display of affection that had passed between them, and she realized it would not go unnoticed by the distillery and visitors’ center staff milling around in the café along with the tourists.

  “Maybe we’ll be neighbors soon?” CiCi asked, surprised at how quickly Walker had moved on the house.

  “Maybe,” Walker acknowledged.

  But she knew he wanted to be a hell of a lot more than her neighbor, and she was more than willing to explore the possibility.

  * * *

  “Those two,” Hannah said as she entered Bo’s office and Lila closed the door behind them.

  “Which two?” Lila asked.

  Hannah laughed. “Good question, but today’s couple for purposes of interpersonal relationship gossip will be CiCi and Walker.”

  “That’s gonna happen,” Lila declared.

  “It is happening,” Hannah said. She fell into a chair in front of Bo’s desk with Lila quickly following suit into the other chair.

  “Enough of that crap,” Bo said, displaying his dislike of gossip. “She’s a bad influence on you. Did you know that?” Bo addressed his fiancée and pointed to his sister.

  “Just bringing out her natural abilities,” Hannah declared, and Lila laughed.

  “Seriously, before we discuss Mom’s estate, we need to talk about the situation with the guides and the gift shop. We’ve got to hire someone. Fast. Last weekend was crazy, and now the weekdays are getting unmanageable. We haven’t even hit the Memorial Day weekend yet, and we can expect at least a third more people after the holiday coming to the distillery to get their share of good old Bourbon-'n-Bluegrass culture.”

  “But even if we hired someone tomorrow,” Lila said, “who knows when they could start working? We’re going to have to deal with this extra burden—if it really is a burden—of all these tourists for the foreseeable future and probably after the holiday weekend.”

  “Which means we need to start interviews as soon as possible,” Hannah said. “I’ve gotten ten more résumés since our meeting earlier this week, and they all look like decent candidates in addition to the ones we already had.”

  “So let’s get some people in here and talk to them,” Bo said.

  “But we need to make a decision,” Hannah said, glancing at her brother. “Are we going to interview Jana Pogue?”

  Lila was immediately confused. “Who’s that? And what’s the problem with her? Because from the looks you two are giving each other, there’s certainly a problem.”

  “The good news is that Jana Pogue is probably the perfect candidate,” Hannah said. “Has PR experience with distilleries, marketing experience, and a minor in history. Lives in the county and has been working for Wilderness Trace Distillery in Danville.”

  “And the bad news?” Lila asked.

  “She just so happens to be Walker Cain’s ex-wife,” Bo revealed.

  “Okay, that’s weird,” Lila acknowledged and sat back in her seat and scratched her head. “Does Walker know?”

  Hannah nodded. “He was the one to tell us, in fact. We showed him the résumés on Monday, along with Goose.”

  “And he was okay with the idea?” Lila asked, looking incredulous.

  “He said he was,” Bo said.

  “But Goose wasn’t convinced,” Hannah said. She described to Lila wh
at Goose had said once Walker was out of the room.

  “May I see the résumés?” Lila asked, and Bo picked up a folder from his desk and handed it to her. “She almost sounds too good to be true,” Lila said as she went through Jana’s credentials. “And I love she’s got that history minor.”

  “But what about the Walker factor?” Bo asked. “Does that bother you?”

  “Yes, but I think we need at a minimum to get her in and see what she’s like. I mean, she probably doesn’t have a problem with the idea of working at the same place with her ex-husband. Undoubtedly she knows Walker is the master distiller here. She’s still working in the bourbon industry and lives in Craig County. So if she’s comfortable with the notion of working with Walker, that would seem to be a good sign.”

  “I’ll call her right now,” Hannah said, taking the résumé from Lila’s hands.

  * * *

  Saturday was another gorgeous spring day. It was a few weeks after Derby, and the tourists rambling through Craig County were starting to noticeably increase in numbers. They were always easy to spot. They’d usually stop in downtown Bourbon Springs for lunch at Over a Barrel, looking for the renowned bourbon balls made from Old Garnet. Then they’d creep up Main Street, backing up traffic and making local drivers frustrated as they headed north toward the distillery. Walker usually saw that view of the tourist trade since he lived on the southern end of town in his small apartment. But if he got the chance to move to the house he had his eye on at the northern end of the downtown area, he’d be able to avoid a little of the traffic that clogged Main Street on a regular basis in the warmer weather.

  He was very interested in that house. It was a good deal, just the right size, relatively close to work. He liked the layout and the yard. And the kicker was that it was only five minutes away from CiCi’s home.

  Part of Walker’s brain was telling him to put the brakes on how quickly things seemed to be moving. He was deliberately buying a house near his romantic interest—and the most they’d ever done was hold hands. Maybe today he’d get the chance to kiss her on the lips—and what would it be like to hold her? Walker swallowed hard and tried to keep his eyes on the road. But it was hard to ignore the thought of how CiCi might feel in his arms—and it was impossible to ignore the growing hardness he was sporting just below the steering wheel as his thoughts continued to drift to her.