29. Chapter 29
twenty-nine
W illow waited until she knew Max had left the building before she left the office. Her body felt heavy and her mind foggy as she finally arrived in the brewery.
She rubbed at the ache in her chest as she filled a bucket with soapy water. Once the bucket was filled, she began cleaning up all her ruined beer from the floor.
The day had gone so badly that she almost couldn’t even believe it. Over the past three weeks, she’d gone from engaged and starting a business to single and homeless. The worst part of it all was that she couldn’t shake the feeling that no matter what she did or how hard she tried, she was constantly disappointing someone .
She hadn’t imagined things would go so wrong so fast. She’d truly believed she could pull this whole thing off, but she’d failed miserably.
Maybe Shane had been right.
Maybe this was a bad idea, and she should have just left well enough alone. She’d been happy enough with him in Churchill. Just because things weren’t perfect didn’t mean they weren’t good, or weren’t worth trying to save at least.
She fought back tears as she moved around the room, mopping. It didn’t take long for her mind to land on Max.
His reaction hadn’t surprised her, but the sudden change in his expression had sent a chill down her spine. She’d never seen him as angry before.
But how could he expect her to miss her best friend’s wedding?
She suspected Shane was the underlying reason for his frustration, but it was unreasonable for him to expect her to just abandon her whole life in Churchill. Especially when she’d only known Max for three weeks and he was so hard to read.
Granted, she had much stronger feelings for Max than she’d ever imagined she could have in only a few weeks. And the thought of leaving him made her feel sick.
He was supportive and encouraging .
Until he wasn’t.
She fought back tears. This was a hard decision to make. The only thing she was certain of was that she couldn’t miss her best friend’s wedding.
It took her a couple of hours to mop the floor, clean and sanitize the tank, and start the mash for a fresh batch of Fuzzy Milkshake. She let her mind pour over her predicament the whole time. She still didn’t know what she wanted, but she’d figured out some key things.
One, it wasn’t right to delay the opening more than a week. Max, Luis, and everyone else had worked hard to be ready on time, and it wasn’t fair to ask them to delay for her friend’s wedding in Churchill.
And two, she was far too overwhelmed and stressed to make life-altering decisions.
She pulled out her phone, opened Max’s contact, and typed out a simple message: Open one week late without me. Beer will be ready.
She stared at it for a moment, the tears flowing again. It was going to kill her to miss the grand opening, but at least she would still be a good friend and business partner.
She hit Send, then packed up her things and drove home. When she got there, the house was empty. She wished Cara or Chelsea had been around to talk to, but she’d rather have someone without bias to talk things through with and help her.
And that’s when it hit her; she should go to Nana.
She had a flight from Ottawa in a few days, anyway. And Jer was more than capable of finishing the beer. He had made one mistake—a mistake that even she had made before—and she knew it was traumatic enough that he wouldn’t repeat it.
She gave a single nod, decision made, and went in the closet to pack, trying to ignore the sick feeling rising in her gut at the possibility that she might never be back.