Made With Love

Chapter 17

I wake in the morning to a peel of birdsong. I stretch out, starfish style, and let out a groan. That’s the best sleep I’ve had in ages!

Wait.

I feel about in the close dark.

Where am I?

I flick on my phone.

Twelve thirty?! SHIT.

I yank the blackout shade and it flaps up to the ceiling with an awful crack. A milky sun sits over the headland. It casts a hard, morning afterlight into the sparse little room.

Where is Michael?

A cozied pot of tea steams away on the side table. There’s a scrawl of a note tucked between two fat scones and the morning paper.

‘Didn’t have the heart to wake you,’ it says. ‘Took a sneaky photo of you to keep me going at the conference. Be back soon. Yours, Michael.’

I smile to myself and pour a cup of tea.

I am definitely going to bask in this for at least a minute. No thinking about what it means, just being.

My phone rings, and I spill a scalding spray of tea on my lap.

Now I have signal.

‘Hello?’ I gripe into the receiver. It’s a New York landline. Kate, no doubt.

‘Julie, hi.’

Feck, it’s Stuart!

‘Hiiii.’ I pull myself upright, tidy my hair.

‘Been keeping an eye on your work out there in Ireland. St. Enda’s, right? Excellent job,’ he says.

‘Have you? Thanks.’

‘The way you took advantage of the dairy crisis to plug your product? Genius!’

‘Well, that’s not exactly—’

‘Listen, I want you on a plane this afternoon.’

‘What?’

‘You really opened my eyes with this one, Quinn. Roger’s not half the marketeer you are. I was wrong. The directorship’s yours. I’ll even double your salary!’

I slip off the bed onto the floor. ‘Double?’

‘Okay. And the corner office.’

WHOA.

‘Stuart, I can’t—’

‘Can’t what?’ he huffs. ‘Have you had another offer?’

‘It’s not that. Look, I really appreciate the offer, but I can’t do it. Not right now, anyway.’

‘Very good. You want to finish out the project there? Hands on! I’m liking it,’ he says.

‘Yeah.’

‘Kate told me you’re coming back in a couple of days, right?’

‘Right.’

‘See you on Monday then, Quinn. Counting on you,’ he says and hangs up.

I sigh and press the end key. Go back to M&A? The thought fills me with a dreadful elation. But what about my future with Kate (if we still have one)? And what about Michael and the co-op? Stuart’s practically gift wrapped my fantasy job. How could I say no to that? But so much has changed in the past week. I’m not sure what I want anymore.

I prop up a pillow and settle back with the paper. No news on the front page about the Fressen deal. Is there a Farming Section?

I flip through the pages, smiling into my tea. First proper paper I’ve had in a week, and I’m looking for the Farming Section!