wine. I’m not much of a wine drinker myself, but I know enough to put together a pairing. We send out suggestions of what wines to drink with our cheeses. Our customers like that sort of thing.” He stared at her intently, his pale blue eyes watering slightly. “Wine is easy, just so you know. Cheese is hard. I hope you understand that.”
She had no idea what to say to that comment, so she settled on a faint smile and nod.
“We’re looking to grow the company,” he said. “Find different markets, have a bigger online presence. Our cousin Bing has been doing our website. He’s a great kid. Computers are his thing, but he doesn’t always take care of everything, you know.”
“Kid?” Stephanie asked faintly. “As in, he’s young?”
“Fourteen. He took over the website when he was eleven. He prefers robotics, but family is family, right?”
Stephanie was saved from having to respond to that by the sound of footsteps in the hall. Seconds later a woman walked into the office. A woman who looked exactly like Jack. Same features, same coloring, same size, same blue shirt and khaki pants. They were identical—except for the whole man-woman thing.
“I’m Jill,” the woman said, moving papers off the credenza and sitting there. “You’re here about the marketing job, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Jill looked at her brother, her expression peevish. “I’ve told you, I can handle it.”
Jack shook his head. “We’ve been over this. We need someone with training.”
“Oh, please. So she has a college degree. Big whoop. I can do the job in my sleep.”
“And yet you don’t.”
“I’m going to tell Dad what you’re up to.”
Jack offered Stephanie a tight smile. “You’ve worked in a family company, so you understand the push-pull dynamics, I’m sure.”
Jill turned to Stephanie. “Are you married?”
“I...what?”
“Married. A lot of women try to work here because they want to marry Jack. That’s not going to happen. He’s not going to be interested in you. He doesn’t need you in his life. He has me.”
Okay, so now the creep factor was a bigger deterrent than the cheese smell. Whatever hope she’d had crashed to the ground and crawled away. If the interview was going this badly, there was no chance the job was going to work out.
“Jill, come on. She’s not here to marry me. She wants a job.” He looked at Stephanie. “Why do you want to leave Bel Après?”
“I wanted to challenge myself with something new. Your expansion plans are exciting, and I was thinking I could help with that.”
At least she had been thinking that. Now she was much less sure.
Jill stood up. “You’re not right for the job. I don’t care what Jack says. You can’t have it.”
Jack glared at her. “This is my interview, not yours. You don’t get to say.”
“I get as much say as you get. We’re equal partners. Besides, you know what Mom and Dad are going to think. They don’t like outsiders. I don’t know why you even brought her in for the job.” Jill looked at Stephanie. “You’re not going to get it.”
“Okay, then.” Stephanie rose and smiled at both of them. “Thank you so much for your time. Good luck with the expansion.”
With that, she walked out the way she’d come. Once in her car, she breathed in non-cheese-smelling air and told herself at least there was a bright side. She’d wasted—she glanced at her watch—only eight minutes of her life, not counting the research she’d done and, hey, the drive over. But better to know now rather than quit and take the job only to discover she couldn’t make it work.
Which all sounded great but didn’t shake her sense of disappointment. She hadn’t even had a practice interview. Walla Walla wasn’t a big town, so there weren’t a lot of marketing jobs available, especially with her excluding the wine industry. So she was back to where she’d started—working for her mother and wishing for something more.
* * *
Mackenzie poured single malt Scotch into two glasses and carried them into Rhys’s study. He stood behind his desk, sorting through the mail. She’d already looked at it herself, and there was nothing to concern her. A utility bill that he would pay and some flyers for local real estate for sale. The Walla Walla area was growing and the housing market had heated up.
When she set the glass on his desk, he smiled at her. “Thanks.”
They moved to the sofa and sat at opposite ends.
“The drip system is fixed,” he told her.