17. Chapter 17
seventeen
W illow thanked the mobile canning team and waited for them to leave before breaking the professional face she’d been wearing all morning with an excited scream.
“Happy?” Jer asked with a wry smile.
“You have no idea,” she said, fighting back tears as she held a can in each hand as if they were her children.
The art that she and Jer had chosen from the canners was incredible, and they’d done a great job filling the cans that morning. Probably better than she could have done herself.
She grabbed the first box from the floor, went to the cooler behind the bar, and filled it with neat rows of cans.
“I can’t wait for the soft opening,” she said as Jer worked away mopping the floors .
“Same. Is it okay if I invite some friends?”
Willow nodded. “Of course,” she said, pushing away the guilt that she didn’t care that Shane wouldn’t be there. She should want him there, maybe even feel sad about it. But she kind of wanted to be surrounded by people who were excited about the brewery, not naysayers who would try to find reasons why it was a stupid idea.
“Cool,” Jer said. “I already told them about the peach ice cream beer we brewed. They can’t wait to try it.”
Willow smiled, knowing she’d be celebrating the opening with supporters. She was just as happy keeping her personal life and business life separate.
She’d just finished filling the coolers when the invoice from the canning company came through her email and killed her mood.
It wasn’t because she couldn’t pay but because the accounting software Max had given her was confusing as hell. She’d gone through it, watched tutorials, contacted support, but she hadn’t figured it out, and she could no longer ignore it.
She’d have to either ask Max for help or buy new software that actually made sense.
She’d been avoiding him since her horribly embarrassing admission that she thought about having sex with him, so buying new software didn’t seem that wild to her. She’d even priced it out. But it was way too expensive, so she resigned herself to the fact that she would need to go talk to Max.
She sucked in a deep, cleansing breath and pushed it back out. “I gotta go to the office for a while,” she told Jer as she picked up her laptop and unplugged it from the wall.
He looked up from the mop with a raised brow. “Isn’t Max in there?”
Willow nodded. “I won’t be long.”
“Good luck,” he said with a shake of his head. “I went by there earlier to go to the washroom, and he was yelling at Luis.”
Willow’s brows shot up. “He was yelling?”
Jer nodded. “To be fair, Luis was yelling back,” he said with a shrug, “so it’s hard to tell what was going on.”
Willow sighed. “I’m glad we don’t yell,” she said.
“Same. Good luck.”
Jer went back to mopping as Willow braced herself to see Max for the first time in a week. She made her way to the office but found the door closed tight, so she balanced her laptop on one hand, raised her fist, and knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Max said, his deep voice loud and commanding .
Ugh, he shouldn’t be allowed to sound that good when he was being a dick.
She pushed open the door and stepped in as he raised his eyebrows.
“You knock now?” he asked in a hard tone, but the corner of his full mouth rose with a smirk. “I thought this was our office.”
She shrugged, tried to look away. “Door was closed,” she said.
Max sat back in his chair, rolled his neck. “I was trying to keep Luis out. He’s been in here five times, raving about your wheat ale and wanting to adjust his recipe for the cabbage roll sandwich to a more expensive bun.”
Willow’s shoulders relaxed as she realized they were just having a heated discussion, not actually yelling at each other. “He’s pretty passionate, eh?”
“He said the flavours would dance on the tongue,” he said with an eye roll. “I’m guessing you’re all set for the soft opening?”
Willow nodded. “Yeah, the canners already came and left. They did a great job. I just need to hook up the kegs and sort out the samples. You?”
Max nodded. “We’ll be ready. Just a billion things to do between now and then,” he said, raising his hands to lift off his hat and run his hands through his dark hair before putting his hat back .
She’d seen him make that move before, when he’d been stressed. It made his biceps look huge.
She glanced down at her computer. “So . . . is this a bad time?” she asked.
Max shook his head. “What do you need?”
“I can’t seem to figure out this accounting software you installed. I got the invoice from the canners, but I’m stumped.”
Max nodded. “I know it’s complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it makes everything easier. Come here,” he said, standing and pulling a chair around the desk for her to sit next to him.
She walked over, sat down, and placed her computer on the desk in front of them, watching as he clicked away on the keyboard with his long fingers.
Even his fingers looked hot. And his giant hands with the tattoos from his arms peeking out from under his long sleeves.
“You see this folder?”
She blinked up away from his hands to the screen. “Yup.”
“This is where you enter accounts payable. Do you have your other invoices from the suppliers yet?”
She turned to look him in the eye. He was so close. Closer than he had been in the car, even.
She shook her head. “They haven’t sent them yet. ”
He blinked hard and shifted his gaze back to the screen. “Uh, right,” he said with a swallow. “When you get them, add them in here. Do you want me to walk you through everything else?”
“Do you have time?”
He nodded.
With an exhale, she slumped in her chair a little. “Yes please. I was afraid to ask.”
He raised an eyebrow and shook his head. “You can ask me anything. And you can walk in here without knocking.”
She couldn’t believe how different he was from Shane. If she asked Shane even a simple question that only needed a one-word answer, he’d huff and roll his eyes and make her feel dumb.
She’d never have pegged Max as the patient type, but now that she knew him better, she realized he was incredibly patient. And kind. And caring. Just not on the surface.
She really needed to stop comparing him with Shane. No good came of that.
Just as she realized she was staring at him, not breaking eye contact, her phone rang in her pocket.
She startled, then pulled it out, sparing a glance at Max, who was now wearing a deep frown.
Nikki.
“Sorry, can this wait a minute?” she asked.
Max gave a single curt nod.
“It’s my friend NikkiR,” she said, feeling the need to explain that she wasn’t about to take a call from her fiancé while she was with him.
God, how fucked up was that?
She shook her head and answered as she walked out of the office. “Hello?”
“Willow!” Nikki said in a burst. “Thank God you answered. I need your help.”
Fine, thanks. How are you?
“Uh, what’s up?”
“I need you to make a seating chart for me.”
Willow froze. A seating chart? She glanced at the brewery door, then back at the office door. There was no fucking way she had time for that.
“I’ll email you the list,” she said, not even noticing that Willow hadn’t said yes. “You know all our families and friends. You can just put people who know each other together and send it back to me.”
Willow rolled her eyes.
“Um, are you sure you don’t want to do that yourself?” she asked, not wanting to sound like a jerk but knowing she couldn’t possibly find time in her schedule to deal with that. Guilt flooded as she thought about what she’d just said. She was maid of honour, which meant she should probably do these things without question .
“I can’t!” Nikki yelled. “Everyone is telling me what to do with the seating plan, and it’s making my head spin. I can’t make everyone happy. If you do it, then I can say to my stepmom, ‘Sorry, Willow is doing it, not me,’ and I don’t have to worry about it.”
Ah, she needed a scapegoat.
“I’m actually pretty busy right now. Can’t you do it and just tell them it was me?”
“No, Willow, I need . . .” She paused, as if realizing something. “Wait, what are you so busy with? You said your Nana is sick in bed and sleeps all the time.”
Uh oh.
Willow swore silently to herself. Anything she said now would just be going deeper into the lie unless she came clean.
She squeezed her face together, unsure. The truth would come out eventually, and if she lied now, she’d be even deeper in this mess. She couldn’t do that.
She took a deep breath, blew it out. “Um, actually, I’m not in Ottawa with Nana.”
Silence.
“Where are you?”
Willow sighed, braced herself for the scream. “I’m in Mapleton.”
“What!?” Nikki screamed.
“I’m so sorry, Nikki. But please, you can’t tell anyone, especially not Shane and Kyle.”
“Oh my God, Willow. Why are you there?”
“I bought a brewery. I’m just getting it set up, and I’m really crunched for time.”
“Are you coming back?”
“Yes, of course,” she said.
“Will you be back for my wedding?”
After suppressing an exasperated huff, Willow said, “yes, I’ll be there for your wedding. I just don’t have the time for the seating plan right now. But you can blame it all on me. I’ll take your stepmom’s wrath.”
“Holy shit . . . Shane is going to lose it.”
Willow’s stomach rolled at the thought of telling Shane. “Promise me you won’t tell anyone. I’m going to tell Shane soon.”
“Of course I promise. I won’t tell him.”
An awkward silence settled on them.
“Are you mad at me?” Willow asked. “For not telling you the truth?”
“No,” she said, but it was clear she was.
Willow sagged, defeated. She hated knowing that her friend was mad at her. Hated that she’d lied. She closed her eyes and dropped her chin. “I’ll do your seating plan. Just email me the list.”
“Really? ”
Willow cringed, wondering whether there was ever a time when she’d told Nikki no. She shook off the thought and put on a fake smile. “Of course.”
“Okay, thanks. I gotta go,” Nikki said.
Willow’s eyebrows went up. She shouldn’t have been surprised that Nikki hadn’t asked about the brewery, or how it was going, or anything, but it still hurt. It felt like Nikki didn’t care at all.
Hell, Jer’s friends seemed more excited that hers did.
“Okay,” Willow said, resigned. “Bye.”
“Bye,” Nikki said and hung up.
Did she have any right to be upset by Nikki when she was the one who’d lied? Besides, maybe Nikki was just overwhelmed by her wedding or shocked by Willow’s news and would ask her about her new business once everything calmed down.
She put her phone in her pocket and joined Max at their desk, hoping that Nikki wouldn’t tell Shane before she had time to, then feeling guilty for even thinking she would. Whatever Nikki was, she wasn’t untrustworthy.
She would keep Willow’s secret for sure.