Fall Too Well (Cozy Creek Collection)

Chapter 4

Nash

“ H ey, Pumpkin Jack, why don’t you come help me with this,” Hayley calls as she hefts the liquor order on top of the bar and begins to unload it.

I grumble as I make my way around the bar to help her get the rest. I hate it when our delivery guy just drops it off in the back and doesn’t tell me. “Hey, yourself,” I grump at her for calling me Pumpkin Jack. She knows I hate fall, so she teases me about it every chance she gets. Hayley and I get along well, and we have fun working together. Sure, we have our typical sibling squabbles, but co-owning the pub has been good for us. I couldn’t have afforded the pub on my own without her help. When we each turned twenty-five, we got an inheritance from our maternal grandparents. The local run-down pub was circling the drain, so Hayley and I put our money together to buy and fix it up to what it is today. And I’m proud as hell of what we’ve built. I also invested money in a few properties around town and set up a property management company. I’ve kept it private for a reason. This town made its mind up about me years ago, so there is no need to try to change it. Now, I live a simple life above the pub and invest as much as I can back into my business. I value my solitude more than anything. I work several days a week as the local horse farrier and at the pub in the evenings. I own three busy businesses and don’t have much of a social life, so it’s good that I get to do what I love every day. Plus, staying busy keeps my mind off Everly being back in town. But if I’m honest with myself, Everly rarely leaves my thoughts.