Love In Secrets (Love Distilled #3) - Scarlett Cole Page 0,90

events hall, as that wasn’t planned to be completed until May. The first reason was simple—it was mostly Liv’s domain anyway. And second, well, after his weekend in New York with Cassie, he couldn’t wait to get back to see her.

He knew how she felt about long-distance relationships. But with her previous boyfriend, there had been no clear end in sight. He hoped he could convince Cassie to sit tight for four months, six at most.

But before he discussed it with Cassie, there were two equally important people he needed to speak to. And he heard their voices and footsteps as they climbed up to the mezzanine offices.

Feeling light-headed, he gripped the table with both hands and lowered his head. Taking deep breaths, he attempted to calm himself. Was he really about to propose leaving? He lifted his head and looked around the distillery. Memories flooded him. Hiding behind Patience while Emerson looked for him. Sitting on the floor next to Constance as his dad explained what was going on inside the still. Coming into the distillery two days after his mom’s death and watching his father cry as he touched the nameplate on his office door, which their mother had bought and mounted when they first moved into the building.

Sick to his stomach, he closed his eyes and focused on Cassie. He’d meant what he said. The idea of a life without her in it was even worse than the idea of never working here again.

Before he talked himself out of it, he jogged up the steps to the offices.

“Liv,” he said, knocking on the doorframe. “Can I talk with you and Em before we get started for the day?”

Liv slipped her jacket over the hook near her desk. “Sure thing. Is everything okay?”

“Not going to lie, this is going to be tough.”

“Jake, you’re worrying me.”

She followed him to Emerson’s office. “Jake needs to speak with us both,” Liv said, as if she sensed his struggle.

“Yeah?” Emerson looked up from her laptop.

“At the boardroom table,” he said, even though he was unable to look at their old family dining table sitting in the corner.

“You want to leave, don’t you?” Emerson asked, her voice cracking.

Jake sat down at the table and organized his papers. “I love her. I love her so much it fucking hurts being here while she’s there, and this,” he said, gesturing out of Emerson’s window to the production floor below. “This isn’t enough to compensate. She’s been gone two weeks and I’ve been miserable.”

Liv pulled out the chair next to him and held his hand. Fuck, he was a mess. He shouldn’t need his sister to hold his hand. He shouldn’t feel so torn apart.

“We know,” Liv said, softly. “We talked about it yesterday after you’d left for the evening. We just didn’t know what to do about it.”

Emerson pulled out the chair on the other side of him, ironically the seating position they’d occupied as kids. “What do you need to do?”

His mom had always assured him that ripping a Band-Aid off was the least painful way to remove one. She’d count him in. One, two, three, breathe, and while he exhaled, she’d pull it off. Once done, she’d kiss his cheek and tell him he’d been brave.

One, two, three, breathe.

“I’m moving to New York.”

There, the words were out in the open now. They couldn’t be sucked back in, and he couldn’t allow them to be brushed under the carpet. This was the very worst it would feel.

Neither sister said anything. But looking from Liv’s face to Emerson, he could swear he could hear their thoughts. Emerson wanted him to be happy but was terrified what would happen to the distillery. Liv understood why he needed to leave but worried what would happen to him.

“I’d like to suggest a four-to-six-month window to prepare. I’m not going to head out of here straight away. I’d never leave you in the lurch. I have plans, if you’re interested. I’d wait until the distillery is up and running in the new building and hire a new master distiller. But I guess what I need to know . . . what I need to hear . . .”

His words trailed off. A tear had already leaked down Liv’s face, and Emerson was staring up at the ceiling, biting down hard on her lip, trying to stop the tears.

And fuck, if he didn’t spit it out soon, he was going to join them. “I need to know you’re okay with