“And I want you to have it. Lochlan says I can only offer you the use of it for my lifetime because it belongs to a trust or something. But maybe I’ll live a long time.”
“Well, o’course you’ll be livin’ a long time. Nary a soul would question it.”
It wasn’t hard to read the hesitation. “But?”
“But you know I’m no’ home much. Most times I’m called upon to travel great distances when I’m no’ mindin’ the store.”
“Lochlan said as much. Not about the travel. About your second, um, job. So you don’t want it?”
“’Tis no’ that. No. No’ at all. Your gift is precious as the Shannon. But I truly could no’ get the good out of it as others might.” I couldn’t help but feel a little dejected. “If you want to see it occupied by someone who’d love and care for it, what about Olivia?”
“Olivia?”
“Perhaps if she had her own place, Dolan’d be free to invite Molly over.” She gave me a salacious wink.
“But then Olivia would be alone. Maybe she doesn’t want to live alone.”
“Or maybe she’s been choosin’ to keep her brother company all this time so he’d no’ be alone. He’s no’ very outgoin’ if ye may have noticed. Maybe she’d like to pursue her own interests.” Maggie wiggled her brows.
“Do you know something?” She treated me to her best Mona Lisa smile. “What is it?”
“I believe the mayor may have designs on our Olivia. And who wouldn’t? There’s no’ a better cook, well, perhaps no’ in all the world. You may have had a hand in that, puttin’ ‘em together at your lunches. The matchmakin’ magistrate.”
“I had no idea. Well,” I shrugged, “if you think that’s the best use of it. I really wanted you to have it.” Suddenly feeling bad for Maggie, I said, “It makes me sad that you go from one job to another. It’s like you have no life of your own.”
“Far from it. My work is my life and I’m happy. If ‘tis sympathy you’re feelin’, ‘tis misplaced. Nature is destiny. You do no’ feel sorry for a dog bein’ a dog or a bird bein’ a bird.”
“Well, no.”
“Enough about that then. Go on with ye. Let Olivia know that the gods have smiled on her and things are takin’ a turn for the better.”
I let myself into the residence through the pass-through. Olivia was in the kitchen getting ready for the day’s lunch bunch. I couldn’t tell if Olivia was becoming more lovely or if I was simply becoming fonder of her. But she seemed to have a blush on her cheeks that hadn’t been there when I’d first arrived. She’d also begun adding touches of color to the monochrome black that was her choice of uniform. Certainly I’d never suggested a dress code.
She was wearing an army green apron that made the swampy color of her eyes pop against her fair skin and jet-black hair. The apron was covered in a design of a beautiful leafless tree that was otherworldly. Somehow, I knew there was significance in the imagery, but the knowledge of what it meant was just on the other side of consciousness and I couldn’t place it.
“Olivia!” I sang.
She looked up, smiled, and said, “Okay.” It had become our joke. She seemed to revel in the conspiracy of having a private joke between us.
“This will be the last lunch in this house. I’m all moved into the new place, just across from Lochlan and Ivy.”
She nodded. “I saw your things were gone.”
“So, the rest of the time I’m magistrate, which I guess is the rest of my life, this house will just sit empty.” The way she looked around told me all I needed to know. “How long have you been caretaker here?”
“Over a hundred years, human time.”
“Well, like I said, it would just sit empty if you don’t take it for your own, and that would be a shame. So, I’m granting you the leasehold, free of charge, for the duration of my tenure as magistrate.”
Olivia was clearly deer-in-headlights dumbstruck. When she found her voice, she said, “Me?”
“Do as you please with it.”
I pulled out my keys and began removing them from the ring. “I’m keeping the key ring that Brad gave me. This one is for the front door. This one is the pass-through to the shop. We could have the door permanently closed if you’d rather.”