Page 40 of Wassailing We Will Go
Is it, though? he says. I don’t know why I’m watching it, but I also can’t stop. So, what can I do for you?
You’re the last stop on my apology tour, I say. I’ve already stopped by bitter&sweet and spoken with Britt. She’s really nice.
I do feel like I may have mentioned that once or twice, he says, a bit sharply.
Anyway. We figured out the food-poisoning situation. Linda, you know, the sort of loony one, gave her bad cheese. We think on purpose, but we can’t prove it. And I also figured out what happened with the cider, I think. It wasn’t your fault, Harrison.
Only Charlie and I have access to the tank rooms, he says and sits down at one of the chairs. And you, I suppose. I don’t see how it couldn’t have been me, though I really can’t figure out what happened.
Barb also has access, I say. I haven’t asked her about it yet, so take this with a grain of salt. But I think she wanted my aunts to come back. Maybe permanently. And this was her way of making that happen. She would know how to do it, too. She used to help them make the cider in the early days before Charlie came aboard.
Barb? Orchard Barb? says Harrison, incredulous.
The very same. But we can deal with that later. I brought a peace offering. I gesture to the multiple bags across the table. I didn’t want you to leave without ever having tried Big Jimmy’s Barbecued Meats.
Wow, he says, looking into the nearest bag. Did you order one of everything?
Yes. I blush. There’s more in the car.
We bring it in, and the spread covers the table. I do have to consider, for a moment, that maybe this is a little unhinged. I sure hope Ryan and Britt like ribs and brisket.
I was not wrong to want to go here, announces Harrison. I think any potential dates would be really impressed by this. He gestures to his brisket with a plastic fork.
This is…better than I remember it being, I say, and it’s true, but not necessarily because of the food.
So, what’re you going to do about Linda and Barb?
I sigh into my coleslaw. Linda is a lost cause. We can’t prove she gave us bad cheese, and even saying that sounds insane. But now Ryan and Britt know to give her a wide berth, I say. Barb…I don’t know. I’ll talk to my Aunt Jenn tonight.
Your aunt is here? he asks.
Yeah, Barb’s little stunt worked, in the end, I say. She’s back. She’d, uh, love to meet you. If you’re up for it.
Harrison looks a little uncomfortable. I’d love to meet her, too, but is that…weird now?
Well, first things first. Britt told me your flight doesn’t leave until the new year. You’re welcome to keep working until then. We still have one more Wassail weekend left…and then there’s Charlie’s retirement party. I look up at him. We had been dancing around each other’s gaze for much of the conversation, trying to keep things light, but at this, his eyes meet mine.
Charlie’s officially retiring? he asks.
His party’s next week, but he won’t officially leave until we…find his replacement, I finish and look down at my plate. And I know you’re going home and that the flight is booked and everything, but I have to ask you first, whether you’d consider, maybe…taking that job. And staying.
He pauses for a moment and then smiles. They make return flights, you know, he says. The plane can come back.
You’d take it? The job?
After a visit home, he says. My parents sounded excited to see me, and my sister’s coming in all the way from Brisbane for the occasion.
Which is…far away?
An eighteen-hour drive from Melbourne, yes, he says. But she’s flying in. You’d like her. She’s in finance, and she and her husband have three cats.
We sit and talk for a while and eat quite a lot of barbecued foods until we’re both stuffed. We talk about everything and nothing, and we dance around what I really want to ask. Finally, as we’re cleaning up in the kitchen, Harrison is the one to get to the point.
When I take the full-time job, he says, and I appreciate the when instead of if, how does Boss Kate work, then?
Boss Kate is gonna boss, I say. But I have given that some thought. I mean, my aunts started this thing as a couple and then hired their friends. It’s been a messy place from the start, when you look at it that way. So maybe the line…can soften a bit. Where my cider maker is concerned, anyway.
Your cider maker, he says and steps a little closer. You know, I don’t mind that at all.
