Page 6 of Unexpected Entanglement

“You look stressed.”

Rowan forgot the mail. “Is it that obvious? Just got off the phone with the lawyer.”

“What’s the news?”

“No answer yet.” Rowan shook her head.

The lines around Kieran’s eyes deepened as he frowned. “What the hell?”

“Either she’s currently out of reach, or she doesn’t want to have anything to do with us,” Rowan said. “But that’s not the bad news. We can’t withdraw any funds from the account unless all trustees consent. So until Rae is on board, we’re shit out of luck. Just the news I need when I have this wedding in two weeks.”

Kieran’s lips flattened into a slash of line on his disturbed face. Rowan was aware of Kieran’s disapproval of her decision not to cancel the wedding when the inn’s reopening project had been delayed after their father’s passing. But she thought it was important to respect their commitment. Besides, Meredith was family. Though, they were second cousins, they had always been close.

“I have enough for the wedding in the inn’s account since Meredith and Sam paid upfront, so I won’t need to back out of the deal I’m finalizing with Bobbie on the cleaning staff, but I’ll have to dip into your human resources.” Rowan’s brain spun to find ways out of her predicament.

“The farm is well-staffed and running smoothly, especially with the new upgrades we invested in the equipment. I think you can spare me some staff for a few days during the wedding weekend,” she concluded.

“My people are farmers.”

“Not just farmers. We can ask if anyone has a restaurant or wait-staff background. Almost everyone has worked in a restaurant or some kind of service sometime in their lives,” Rowan reasoned. “And Alex can train them. Oh, what time is it?”

Kieran glanced at the antique wall clock behind Rowan. “It’s ten-twenty-ish.”

“Shit. I gotta get into town. I have a quick meeting with Bobbie, then I gotta pick up Alex and her friend at the 11:45 ferry.” Rowan dropped the pile of mail on the receptionist’s desk, fixed her messy hair into her hat, and grabbed her keys.

Alexandra Freeman was Rowan’s oldest friend and a great Portland-based chef. Meredith, Alex, and she used to spend their summers on the island together. When Rowan had asked for her help with Meredith’s wedding weekend, Alex was in a hundred percent.

“How are you paying Alex? She must cost a good penny,” Kieran said as they walked out together.

“She’s taking a fraction of her usual fee. It works out for the best. Her boss finally lets her take vacation time—her first in three years—”

“And she’s spending it working for us?”

“Helping us.” Rowan made an air-quote gesture as they skipped down the stone path to the lot where her truck was parked. “Tell Frankie I’ll be back by one in time for our meeting.”

Frankie, aka Francesca Feldman, was Kieran’s right-hand person, who dealt with the farm’s business as much as Kieran did. But when it came to details, Frankie was the person Rowan wanted to work with. Kieran was more of a big-picture guy.

“What are you meeting her for?” Kieran made a face.

“Supplies, and now the staff sharing.”

Kieran nodded brusquely. “Just make sure it doesn’t affect the farm’s operation.”

“I will,” Rowan assured him. “This wedding will be pivotal to Bright Head, Kieran. I just know it.”

“How? It won’t bring us that much income since it’s family and we didn’t charge as much as we could because of Dad’s agreement with Aunt Caroline.”

“Maybe not, but the income from it will cover the expenses. It’ll be a beautiful wedding, and Meredith has agreed to let us use pictures from the wedding in our promotional materials. It’s a cost-saving effort. If not, we might be forced to sell some more land.”

Before their father’s death, they’d spent a good chunk of the funds their father had set up for the estate on upgrades for the farm. They’d added goat cheese production to their usual offerings of seasonal produce, wildflowers, and honey. They had been a good investment, and Rowan didn’t begrudge Kieran ofthat. The farm was the only part of the estate currently making income.

A new scowl appeared on Kieran’s face. “Connor Gibbes has been poking around again, hinting he might be willing to take a few more acres from us. As if we wanted to sell him the eighty acres in the first place.”

“I really don’t want to lose more land than we already did, Kieran,” Rowan said distractedly as something furry slid around her calves. She looked down, smiled, and picked up the little tiger making a guttural meowing sound at her.

“We can’t sell even if we’re willing. We don’t own all of this ourselves anymore.” Kieran sounded bitter and frowned at the creature in her arm. “You shouldn’t be babying the barn cats. They’re working animals.”

Rowan scoffed. “Like you don’t have a soft spot for your goats. I don’t think Felix here has the mentality of a barn cat. The others kind of bully him.”

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