Chapter 32 Kira
THIRTY-TWO
KIRA
THE TAPROOM
The next few days were a blur. I was glad I had Ronan in my corner because I needed him every damn hour of the day.
Between kegs malfunctioning behind the bar and a billionaire diva in my kitchen who was in a snit about some hot sauce being stuck in transit, I was ready to lock myself in my office and let them all figure stuff out on their own.
But Hayes had the best twenty-fifth birthday party we could hope for.
Sometime in the middle of all our emergencies, Beckett and Ronan had managed to make a special cider for the party using The B3 as a base and making it a sour blackberry. I’d had far too many of them, to be honest.
Ronan’s cider was dangerous.
But it was pretty amazing to see the Manning brothers get their middle brother drunk. He was the serious one of the bunch, but he was laughing and hugging everyone by the end of the night.
The matriarchs of the orchard, Laverne Ronson and Sarah Manning, were holding court. I was pretty sure Laverne was buzzed by the end of the night, as well. She even danced with my guy, which had been pretty adorable.
Kain managed to get Sarah to smile a few times. Beckett’s mom wasn’t exactly the type to get excited at a party. She always seemed to have such a dour expression for some reason. The power of Kain, and a good pork taco, could turn anyone around.
Beckett and Ronan were thrilled with the response from the family and friends who came to the party.
Even a few people who didn’t like hard cider were converted.
Lennon tried out a few of her mixed drinks on those who were feeling adventurous.
I could tell her brain was already whirling with ideas and changes to her cocktails.
From a business standpoint, I was very glad we’d found out about the keg problems before we had a room full of strangers clamoring for drinks.
Justin was a handy one, that was for sure.
He’d rigged the taps to work for the party, but came back to fix it properly on the morning of our opening.
He ended up helping a lot through the day.
I’d even caught Kain and Justin talking over equipment a few times, so I imagined a few more cameras and gadgets would be in the taproom soon.
I was trying not to dwell on the fact that we had a thief working for us and kept my eye on the prize. The opening night we’d all been working for.
Lennon and her crew were doing last minute run throughs of the registers and making sure everyone’s login worked.
I was quizzing my waitstaff on table numbers and making sure the schedule made sense. It was all hands on deck for the first night of our opening, so there were bound to be people bumping into one another.
I was a little disappointed that Laverne wouldn’t make it to opening night. There had been an emergency with one of her nieces and she’d ended up traveling to New York City to take care of her. I didn’t know Rachel well, but I’d seen her a few times over the years.
Zoe and Ian would keep things exciting during the night if things started to slow down. Our family rockstar took his job very seriously when it came to helping out the businesses.
I couldn’t worry about that right now. The buzz of excitement was already in the air, and we still had three hours before the doors opened.
“Hina, get in here.”
I rolled my eyes at Kain’s bellow, but went into the kitchen. I found him in there barking orders at his staff. Jess was dodging and weaving around everyone to take photos of the food and do her thousandth test plating.
“How’s it going?”
“Good. We’ve got it handled. Sit.”
I frowned. “I don’t have time to sit.”
He lightly grasped my upper arm and dragged me around to the small table set up at the edge of one of the prep stations. “Sit. Eat. You haven’t eaten since six this morning, when I made you breakfast. I bet you have a headache.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because your little eyebrows are pinched. Eat.” He set a bowl full of rice and pork on the table. He knew my weakness, dammit. “It’s not too heavy for your nervous stomach.”
“And how do you know I have a nervous stomach? If I had one, I mean.”
He rolled his eyes. “Because you eat like a bird when you’re revved up about something.”
I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What? I pay attention. You’re important to Ronan.”
“That’s sweet.” I picked up a fork. “I’m only eating because I have a long night ahead. Not that you’re handling me like a certain someone.”
He sat across from me. “I also wanted to talk to you.”
I forked in a bit of rice and pork with a sigh. “Good.” I quickly dabbed my mouth. “About what?”
“My hot sauce.”
“Not that again.”
“Nah. I’m not crying about it. I found something else to work for now until my new order comes in. But it’s a high end sauce.”
“Aren’t all your sauces?” I stabbed at the pork. My budget could use a few of his billions, the way he made his orders.
“Yes, but it elevates the food. However, I did find the missing shipment, and it went to a local address.”
“Can’t you just get it from them? It was a mistake, right?”
“Maybe.”
I put my fork down. “What?”
“Normally, I’d just think it was an error. We’ve all been rushing around in here for the last few weeks.”
“Right.” My belly tightened, but at least it wasn’t going to revolt. I hoped.
“Matt has been helping me doing orders, since my big fingers are always messy with making food.”
My heart sank. “Oh, no.”
I had a flash of memory. Matt had been really upset when we’d given him his new keycard as well. That should have been a clue.
“The address was a glorified PO Box, just with a regular looking address. A lot of people use them to get around the rules of ordering from certain places.”
“Right. Restaurant supplies especially need a physical address.”
“A few of my orders have gone missing, and the more I went through the paperwork, the more I didn’t like it. Distributors are a pain in the ass, but they will jump through hoops to find a way not to send you free product if it’s not their error.”
“So they gave up the address.”
“Bingo.”
“Can I have the paperwork? I need to go to Ronan.”
“Eat first.” He sat back and crossed his arms. “We can fire him in twenty minutes.”
I picked up my fork. Surprisingly, my stomach allowed it. I’d rather know who it was than keep wondering. Even if it would break Annette’s heart to find out.
After eating, and drinking a bottle of water, I went back out to the dining room. A few of my waitstaff had set up a silverware station and were wrapping them with our black napkins. Others were wiping down tables and hitting the windows with glass cleaner.
We would be spick-and-span by tonight. I just had to believe everyone would do their jobs while I did this hard one.
I found Ronan in his workshop and knocked on the door. “Got a second?”
“For you? Always.” He smiled and set down his tongs and blowtorch.
“What are you doing now?”
He waggled his eyebrows. “Secret.”
“Hmm.”
He leaned his hip on the bench. “I know you didn’t come in here to check up on what I was cooking in here.” He took a good look at me and straightened. “What’s wrong?”
“I just talked to Kain.”
“Did you tell him to take a pill about the damn hot sauce?”
I laughed. “I did. But it ended up being a little more involved than that. An invoice had a discrepancy on it.”
“Another one? What the hell?” His brows furrowed. “Invoice…”
“He says Matt’s been helping him with orders, and an expensive shipment went to a local address.”
His dark eyes went wide. “Dammit. Dammit, I wasn’t paying fucking attention.” He pounded his fist on his workbench.
I went around the bench to him. “What?”
“I was in Matt’s SUV that night of the first tasting. I saw a weird invoice, but I was too tired to pay close attention. And he had something in the backseat that he covered up.”
I closed my eyes and sagged against him.
He instantly curled his arms around me. “Dammit, Sunshine. I’m so sorry.”
“He’s been with us since the beginning. How could he do this?” I pressed my cheek into his shoulder. “This is gonna kill Annette.”
“What’s going to kill Annette?”
I stiffened in Ronan’s arms. He gently eased me back so we could turn and look at her together. We really needed to talk to Matt first before anyone else found out, but it seemed as if that wasn’t to be. Especially since Matt was right behind her.
“What’s going to kill me?” Annette turned to Matt, then back to us.
Matt’s face went blank, then he quickly backed up and bolted.
“Dammit.” Ronan squeezed my hand briefly, then dodged around Annette to give chase.
“What’s going on?”
“Matt’s our thief.”
“No. He wouldn’t.” Annette’s bouncy curls fluttered around her face as she shook her head. Her blue eyes filled with tears. “He would not do that.”
I went to her. “Then why would he run?”
She shook her head. “Why?”
“I don’t know.” I wasn’t exactly a hugger with people, but Annette had been a friend for a long time. I eased her toward me and she hugged me—hard.
“Why?”
“I wish I knew.”
Ronan came back with a shake of his head. “He was already in his SUV.”
“Yeah.” I rocked Annette a little as she cried on my shoulder. “Do you want to call the police?”
“Let’s wait until tomorrow. Today is going to be too crazy.” Ronan came over to us and patted Annette’s shoulder.
“Agreed.”
“You okay, kiddo?” he asked Annette.
“No.” She pulled away from me and swiped at her eyes. “I will be, but not right now.”
“Why don’t you go home and get a shower? We understand if you can’t do the opening under the circumstances.”
She shook her head. “No. This is my job. I’m not gonna let some asshole ruin today. Not after we worked so hard.” She sniffed. “I will go home and take a shower though. And put on my warpaint.”
I gave her a small smile. “That’s the best way.”
She clutched my hand. “I’m sorry, Kira.”
“Don’t be sorry. You didn’t know.”
“I didn’t. I swear it.”
Ronan came up beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “We know. He had us all fooled.”
She nodded and her eyes filled again. “I gotta go.”
“Go. We’ll see you tonight.”
She took off and I turned into Ronan’s arms. “Well, that wasn’t how I saw today going.”
He kissed the top of my head. “Me neither, Sunshine. But we faced it together. And now we will do this opening together.”
“And then I’ll marry you?”
He slung an arm around my shoulders. “Are you saying I’m too predictable?”
“No. I’m saying I like you just how you are.”
“Like?”
“Love, Viking.”