Chapter 19
Cal
One Friday afternoon a few weeks later, Cal’s sisters, Eilidh and Cara turned up at the bar.
‘Two fish and chips and the biggest bottle of champagne, please.’ Cara was reverberating with excitement. ‘We’re celebrating!’
Cara got excited about a lot of things and would drink champagne because she’d had a good day or a because she’d had a bad day, but to Cal this seemed different.’
‘What are we celebrating?’ he asked. ‘You’re ultra-pepped about something.’
‘Only Cara getting a role in a movie starring the one and only Jackson bloody McGregor.’ Eilidh put her arm around her sister and beamed with pride, before apologising. ‘Sorry, Car, that wasn’t my news to tell.’
‘Hey, my news is your news.’ Cara leaned into her sister with affection. ‘And that is the news!’
‘Are you serious?’ Cal knew she was. Cara was dedicated beyond measure to her acting career, and it was only a matter of time before it paid off.
‘That’s a cracking result.’ He placed a bottle of the best champagne he stocked onto the bar.
‘Tell me more. What’s the movie? What’s your role? When do you start filming?’
Cara glanced around. ‘Well, I’m sworn to secrecy on all those things, so I can’t talk about them in a public place like this, but I can tell you that filming begins next year and that it might involve a bit of kissing.’
‘Bloody awesome, Car.’ Cal popped the cork and poured the bubbling liquid into two glasses. ‘We are so proud of you. You deserve this.’
‘Thank you! I can’t believe it. I know I work hard, but two years on a Scottish soap then a lead role in a Hollywood movie, albeit one filming in Scotland. That doesn’t happen.’
‘It happened because you’re amazing,’ said Eilidh. ‘But be prepared for an insane amount of scrutiny if you’re in a Jackson McGregor film.’
‘Meh. Scrutiny, schmutiny.’ Cara giggled into her drink. ‘Nothing I can’t cope with.’
Cal couldn’t help but wonder what that level of scrutiny might do, not only to his sister but to the rest of the family.
Cara was an immense talent, and he always knew she was going to go far, but what implications could this have?
Cara’s past, before she’d been adopted along with her triplets Eilidh and Nate, was a troubled one.
What dirt might the media try to dig up?
He fiercely wanted to protect her – his whole family – from that, at the same time as celebrating her success.
‘You drinking with us?’ Cara scanned the bar for a glass for Cal to drink from. ‘Toast to your favourite sister?’
‘Aye, but a soft drink as I’m working.’
‘Can you not take the night off and get one of your people to cover?’ Cara giggled again, probably because she knew Cal didn’t refer to his staff as his people.
‘We can have a drink next week. I’ll cook you dinner. Unless you’re out for lunch with Jackson McGregor to get on top of your lines.’
‘Shhh!’ Cara feigned outrage at the volume of Cal’s voice. ‘No, I’m not getting on top of Jackson McGregor…I mean my lines for another eighteen months.’
Cal quirked a brow and hoped his sister had made that mistake for deliberate effect.
Cara and Eilidh ate their fish and chips, drank champagne and talked non-stop while Cal worked and chatted to them during lulls at the bar.
They mentioned continuing the celebrations elsewhere in town and Cal suggested they stay at Butler’s.
He preferred his sisters to be where he knew they were safe, but they wanted to go on a city adventure, so he proposed they get a lift home with him later or stay over in the upstairs flat.
‘Okay, thanks, big bro,’ said Eilidh. ‘But where will you sleep?’
‘Och, I’ll––’
‘Cal?’ Eilidh waved at her brother. ‘Where will you sleep? Earth to Cal.’
But Cal was gone from that conversation. His gaze was glued to the door of the bar where Bea – all curves and billowing red hair – was entering in the manner of a model striding down a runway. My God! Each time he saw her, she emptied his lungs of more breath.
‘Evening, boss,’ Bea chimed, as she approached the bar.
‘Hey, Bea. How are you this evening?’ Cal tried his best in front of his sisters to not appear utterly beguiled by Bea.
‘Great! I got so caught up in some street theatre out there that I nearly forgot I was on my way to work.’
‘Yes, that can happen.’ Cal chuckled.
‘Hey.’ Cara waved at Bea. She waited a beat for Cal to make introductions, but when he didn’t get in fast enough, she did it herself. ‘We’re Cal’s weird sisters. Well, that’s what he calls us. I’m Cara and this is Eilidh.’
Cal couldn’t help but be amused. He would bet that Kitty had told Cara about the attractive woman working in the bar and now Cara had met her she wanted to see if she was girlfriend material for her brother.
‘Weird sisters, huh? I’m charmed. Does that make Cal Macbeth?’
‘They do try to tell me what my future holds.’ Cal was impressed at Bea’s response to Macbeth’s witches reference. ‘But I tend to ignore it and do my own thing.’
‘He doesn’t want to be king of the family company.’ Eilidh spoke pointedly of Cal’s reluctance to work for BDL.
‘Ah, I see.’ Bea laughed. ‘Well, he does run a good ship here. Anyway, it’s lovely to meet you, but I’m a little late so I’d best get ready for my shift.’
As soon as Bea disappeared to put her bag in her locker, what Cal would have put money on happening, happened.
‘Oh my goodness!’ Cara put her glass down on the bar.
‘Oh my goodness what?’ Cal knew exactly what she was getting at but pretended not to.
‘She is stunning,’ said Eilidh.
‘And you guys have chemistry!’
‘Aye, she’s not bad,’ said Cal, knowing fine well he was making a massive understatement.
Eilidh and Cara both burst out laughing.
‘What?’
‘Cal, come on, she’s gorgeous and you know it.’ Cara stared at the door Bea had gone through as if to check she wasn’t coming back yet. ‘Spill, please. What’s going on?’
‘And the more you deny it, the more you give away, by the way,’ Eilidh added.
‘Nothing is going on.’ Cal was sure his face was burning up with guilt, even though technically he wasn’t lying when he said nothing was going on.
‘Okay, but would you like for there to be something going on?’ Cara asked.
‘Look,’ Cal almost spluttered. ‘Bea is a brilliant bartender.’ Damn right, she was.
She mixed drinks with aplomb, moved from the optics to the till as if she was floating on air, charmed every customer, and was genuinely happy the entire time.
‘But that’s it.’ He was about to say that Bea wasn’t his type: too confident, flirtatious, and full of ditsy affectation, but that was his old opinion of her, formed when he first met her under quite strange circumstances.
In the coffee shop, she had reminded him of Elisabetta: of the nonsense he’d idiotically fallen for because his ego had sucked him in to imagining he was some sort of hero as she contrived things like getting her heels trapped in between paving slabs and dropping her handbag and half its contents in front of him – even several months into their relationship.
He’d jumped to conclusions about Bea and judged her by those same criteria.
But he could see now she was a different mettle of woman entirely.
Bea was hard-working, down to earth and genuinely charming.
‘I’m not buying that that’s it.’ Cara shook her head. ‘Nuh-uh.’
‘Me neither,’ said Eilidh. ‘We were getting singed from the sparks over here.’
Cal sighed. ‘Okay, there might be a bit of chemistry or something between me and her, but we won’t be going there.’
‘Why not?’ Eilidh leaned in.
‘Well, for one, I’m her boss.’
‘And for two?’
Cal rolled his eyes. ‘For two, I’m staying away from women for a bit.
’ Indefinitely, he thought. Even hard-working bartenders – until all the baby stuff was sorted out, and it was clearer how things were with his Dad.
He could resist temptation until Bea went home.
Keep things on a friendly but professional level with her.
‘Hmm.’ Cara and Eilidh knew Cal was stubborn and wouldn’t admit anything more, but he could tell they were sceptical and unconvinced.
‘Mark the words of your weird sisters,’ said Cara as she and Eilidh were putting their jackets on to leave. ‘You and Bea would be good together. Don’t be a Martian, Cal.’
Eilidh and Cal laughed together at this. ‘Do you mean a martyr?’ he said. ‘And should you be having any more drinks? I think you should go home and get to bed.’
‘Aye, that’s the one,’ said Cara, pointedly draining her glass. ‘If you like her, then stop being a Martian … a martyr and forget you’re her boss. Life’s too short.’
‘She might have a point,’ said Eilidh.
‘Okay, thanks weirdos. Look, have a good night and stay safe.’ Cal hugged his sisters goodbye.
He loved them dearly, but he wasn’t about to take advice from them on his love life.
He could manage fine using his own radar to guide him.
And his own radar said to keep things with Bea purely professional.