should eat on the weekend…in bed. Oh, sorry,” he said, glancing over at Ali. “Didn’t realize you had company.”
Emerson laughed. “Connor, this is my best friend, Ali. Ali, this is Connor.”
They shook hands as Emerson scooched over in their booth. Connor sat down next to her, placing a gentle kiss on her lips.
“Would you like some while you wait for your order?” she asked.
His hand slid along her leg beneath the table. “Don’t tempt me. I love waffles.”
In response, she dipped a piece of her waffle in the cream, added a strawberry, and ate it in one bite, over-exaggerating her moan as she chewed.
Connor raised his eyebrow as Ali laughed. “So, did you two just finish up at the gym?” he asked.
Emerson shook her head and grimaced. “We parked at the gym. Does that count?”
“And we walked lots of steps here. Like all the steps,” Ali added.
Connor grinned. “It’s all about balance, right?”
“Two egg white burritos and Greek yogurt,” the server called.
“I gotta go. Have a meeting in half an hour.” He kissed her cheek. “Nice meeting you, Ali.” He stole a strawberry from her plate and dipped it in the cream before popping it into his mouth. “Mmm. You are such a bad influence. Call you later.”
She watched as he grabbed his food and disappeared onto the street.
“Okay. You did not tell me he was that cute,” Ali said, waving her fork accusingly. “Like, holy shoulders, Batman.”
“It’s ridiculous how good looking he is. Clothed and naked. And he’s a good human being, too.”
“This sounds like more than a casual thing.”
Emerson took another bite of her waffle, thinking she might make them for him on the weekend. “I think it is. It’s just a struggle to find the time I want to spend with him.”
Ali reached for her hand. “Em. I love you. With my whole heart. Your dad put so much responsibility on you, it’s almost not fair. But if something is really important to you, you’ll find time for it. Even if it means eating breakfast at stupid o’clock. Right?”
Emerson knew Ali had a point. She just didn’t know how to reprioritize.
She was still thinking about Ali’s words later that afternoon as she discussed pricing with Jake.
“We can only make what we make,” Jake said with a shrug of the shoulders. “That’s the volume we can sell. If we can’t afford to refurb right now, we’ll deal. If we can’t buy a new still, we’ll deal. Have you considered increasing the retail price for Dyer’s Medallion?”
They’d market reviewed and tested that price a million times. “You know why we settled on it.”
Jake nodded. “I do, but that was before we knew it was going to win a medal for us in San Francisco. And now we have a supply and demand problem. Because of its popularity, it’s more in demand. So let’s test if people are willing to pay more for it. I’m only talking about a couple of bucks a bottle.”
Pricing elasticity was something she’d studied. It was more work, but as Ali had said, if something was truly important, she’d find time. “That’s not a bad idea, Jake. I’ll look into it.”
Her phone rang, and she looked down at it. It was the bank, hopefully it was Dawson. “Sorry, I have to take this,” she said.
She headed for the exit at the rear of the warehouse as she answered. “This is Emerson.”
“Emerson. It’s Dawson. I have that information for you. Sorry it took so long to gather the checks.”
She sat down on the step by the door to the warehouse. It was the only sunny spot, evading the shade thrown by the main distillery building. “No worries. Who were they to?”
“They weren’t paid to companies. They were sent to personal accounts. That doesn’t mean they weren’t for services. Do you have a pen?”
Emerson flipped the productions schedule over. “Hit me,” she said.
“Forty thousand was to a Robert Harding. Twenty thousand to a Kim Lee. Fifteen thousand to a Henry Haverstock.”
She began to write them down, but as soon as she heard the surnames, her heart dropped to her stomach.
Holy shit.
Emerson kept writing the names and amounts, trying to fight back the tears.
Anderson Laurence.
Thomas Dunn.
She wrote down about fifteen more names.
“So, that’s the list, Emerson. I hate to do this, but we’re going to need an explanation within fourteen days as to what these payments are for. You’ll get copies of all this in writing to assist you in your investigation.”
Fighting down the wave of nausea, she