Slamming my hands down, I say, “I don’t want to be in the papers, Ma! I’m done. No more. I am about to be the head of this estate, and that’s my decision.”

She eyes me and then shakes her head. “I’ll be speaking with your father about this.”

I nod. “Be my guest. Would you like me to come too?”

She glares, and I may have crossed the line there. “I don’t care that you are about to marry or even that you’re in your twenties, but I’ll take ya over my knee and wear your arse out. You watch your tone with me, Declan.”

My face reddens as Kane chuckles, that is until she says, “Same goes for ya too, Kane.”

Meeting her gaze, I nod. “Yeah, Ma, sorry. But I’m so irritated with it all.”

Her eyes soften a bit as she smiles. “Yeah, I know. It will all be over soon, and you’ll start a new adventure with that sweet girl at your side.”

A smile comes over my face as I nod. “I can’t wait.”

We share a smile, and I hope that my eyes tell her I’m not joking around. I’m done with it all. I have the power to stop it, and I’m going to. Instead of parading for the damn media and hoping to make a show like my family does, I want to stay private. Like Kane said, nothing matters but Amberlyn and me. That’s it.

“I’ll see ya at dinner. Bye, Kane.”

“Yeah, have a good day, Ma,” I say as she heads out the door.

“Bye, Mrs. O’Callaghan,” Kane says as the door shuts.

Letting out a breath, Kane laughs. “Well, it’s always so much fun with your ma.”

I chuckle. “Sure is. She’s mental, I swear.”

“Indeed,” he agrees as he leans back, kicking his feet up on my desk. A comfortable silence falls upon us as he plays on his phone and I work. Being the boss of the malting room has its perks. Kane is able to sit in here and hang with me most of the day. But when he works, he works; that’s why I don’t mind it all. I like it. It’s good to bounce ideas off him, and he is always there for a good laugh.

As I click through emails, out of the corner of my eye, I can see him grin as he texts wildly on his phone. Must be talkin’ with Fiona. Taking a pull of my water, I clear my throat and ask, “How’s things with Fiona?”

He looks over at me and shrugs. “Good. She’s moving in.”

One brow goes up. “Oh yeah?”

He nods, letting his phone fall to his lap. “Yeah, she was leaving shite all the damn time, and then she brought up yous two getting married. And I was like, whoa, not ready for that, but how about you move in? And she agreed.”

I smile. “Don’t act like ya don’t want it. I know you do.”

He shrugs one shoulder, not looking at me as a grin pulls at his lips. “Maybe so, but I sure as hell ain’t ready to be married though.”

I roll my eyes. “Yer already married in a sense. Lord knows you aren’t going anywhere and neither is she.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment and then waves me off. “Eh, shut up with ya.”

I laugh as he goes on, “I’ll ask when I know that she meant what she said—that I was enough as just a malter. She’s gonna start school and make loads of money, while I’ll still make the same, ya know? So we’ll see.”

I don’t like this side of Kane. The part that was damaged by his real ma. No one really knows that his ma ran out on his dad when he was four. Only I know because I watched it happen. She didn’t like the life they had, but there was no changing it. Then his da met Kane’s stepmom and she took Kane as her own. She was the ma he needed, but still, sometimes, this part of him comes out. I’m usually the insecure one he helps pick up; never are the roles reversed. But I guess some things don’t ever go away, and his real ma is someone that still rears her ugly head to hurt Kane.

Clearing my throat, I say, “She’ll still love ya and you know it. She isn’t like your real ma, Kane. She isn’t going to run.”

He nods. “She says that too.”

Shocked, my eyes go wide as I hold his gaze. “You told her?”

Kane doesn’t tell anyone about that. Maggie is his ma, and that’s all there is to it.

Shaking my head, I say, “See, you know it’s true. You wouldn’t have told her that if you thought she had a foot out the door, yeah?”

He shrugs again and bites his lips. “I was drunk when I told her.”

I laugh. “Liar.”

Kana laughs too but then stops when he looks over at me. “I love her and I pray she doesn’t leave me, but I know it could happen.”

Holding his gaze, I say, “That’s the scary part about love. You’re all in and pray that they are too.”

Kane nods. “Love expert now?”

I smile. “Eh, fuck no. But I know that we both picked some top birds, for sure.”

He smiles as he nods. “That’s the damn truth.”

When my email dings, I look back at the computer and see that it’s an email from my da. “Fuck, guess my ma went straight to talk to my da.”

“Really? Jeez, it’s not that big of a deal, I think,” is Kane’s opinion as I open the email. Reading it quickly, I find that I was wrong to assume what I did. It isn’t about what I discussed with my mom.

It’s about my whiskey.

“He approved it,” I whisper, shocked. I really don’t know why I am because I am about to own this company, but I thought I would have to wait to do it myself. I sent the email to get beta testing done on a whim, in hopes he’d agree.

And he did.

“What’d he say?”

Looking over at Kane, a grin pulls at my lips as I say, “Cathmor is going into beta testing.”

Kane’s face breaks into a grin as he exclaims, “Fuck yeah! Awesome, Declan, congrats!”

I can only nod as I reread the email. I still can’t believe it, but it’s there, in black and white. Glancing back at Kane, I ask, “Wanna go to the pub?”

Kane nods as he shares a knowing look. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Standing up, I can’t wipe the grin off my face. Before, I would throw one back with Kane to celebrate, but there is now another person I need to make this moment a billion times better. The only person who matters.

Amberlyn.