Chapter 39
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
brIAR
Text conversation with Dad
My rules have gone missing. Do you know anything about that?
I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do YOU happen to know why the brewery flooded last night?
Of course not.
Maybe a pipe burst. It WAS cold last night.
But even if there’s damage, it won’t impact the deal.
They’ll be renovating the whole building.
It’s a good time to sell.
Goodbye, Dad. Feel free to come by later. We’re having a bonfire. We have plenty of firewood. ;-)
The sight of all that standing water broke something inside of me.
I still don’t believe the party is going to happen.
I’m pretending for Liam’s sake. But when we arrive at Tea of Fortune, I’m shocked by all the people who’ve gathered to help us—even Nora’s mom is present, along with Eugene and a few people I don’t recognize.
Hannah, Sophie, and Nora get up as soon as we come in, hurrying forward and gathering around us.
“The doll situation has been taken care of,” Nora says, exchanging conspiratorial smiles with Hannah and Sophie.
“You guys really did it?”
“We can neither confirm nor deny that,” Hannah replies.
Maybe I should feel guilty, but I don’t. I’m grateful they care enough about me to want to defend me—and I’m proud that I finally defended myself the other night.
“What doll situation?” Liam asks.
Hannah bumps him with her shoulder. “Just because you’re dating my friend doesn’t mean you get to know everything. The doll situation is privileged information.”
“Well, all right. Don’t get your panties in a twist. I don’t actually care.”
“Do you care that we ruined that woman Melly’s day?” Hannah asks, putting a hand on her hip.
He glances at me with a grin. “I definitely don’t give a shit if her day is ruined, but Briar already ripped her a new one last night. Anything else is icing on the cake.”
“You did?” Sophie clasps my arm. “Oh my gosh, that’s great, Briar! It felt good, didn’t it?”
“It did.” I look at each of my friends in turn. “But thank you. It means a lot to me that you want to stand up for me. I can’t believe everyone here wants to help us.”
“Well, believe it,” Hannah says. “Plus you have Travis and the guys out there dealing with the standing water. You have no idea how much Travis hates messes. He’ll blast that water away, no problem.”
Dottie, who has stopped in the center of the room, wolf-whistles.
“Now, dears. We have a lot of work today, but we’re going to help Silver Star put on a monumental New Year’s party tonight. A party this town will be talking about for years to come.”
The tea room erupts in a chorus of wolf whistles, and Liam hugs me close and kisses the top of my head…which leads to another round of wolf whistles.
He grins at everyone. “Yes, I know. I’m a lucky man. Now, let’s get to work.”
Nora holds a lot of outdoor events at The Ginger Station, so she has a tarp for us, plus lots of twinkle lights that we use to blanket the outdoor space, making it look like it’s speckled with stars.
Liam brings out the kegs, including the rapidly diminishing supply of Bubba’s beers, our new pale ale, which we decided to call Champbier, and Nora’s ginger beer.
We set up the outdoor bar, with Ann and Otis as our bartenders, and an enormous sign, made by Sophie, advertising our “drink us dry” campaign.
My sweet aunt joins us later in the afternoon after texting me about the “Man with the Nice ASS.” She also asked if she could stay with me, since my parents have been even less fun than usual, and my father kept talking about his stolen rules until she had “no choice” but to tell him to stick them up his ass.
The answer was yes, obviously.
When she arrives at the brewery, I hug her for a good five minutes before she pulls away and asks me to show her around.
I do, even though the damp floors squeak under our shoes and the interior already smells like mildew.
We end the tour at the back, where everyone is hard at work transforming the beer garden.
“You’re going to do just fine, my sweet Briar Rose,” my aunt says, tapping my hand. “You’ve done a beautiful job here.”
I laugh. The brewery’s floors are all water damaged, and it’s definitely not looking its best.
“You’ve barely seen it.”
“But I know there’s no one better suited to run this place than you.” She surveys the work in progress in the beer garden before pointing to Liam’s backside. “And I’m glad you have that man. I’d recognize his backside anywhere. He’s very handsome, my dear, and surprisingly polite for an intruder.”
I smile at his butt, which is very nice, and then at her. “Me too. I love him, Great-Aunt Sky.”
“I can tell.” She smiles at me. “You’re glowing, my dear. None of your other beaus have made you glow like that. Now, what can I do to help?”
I introduce her to Dottie, and twenty minutes later, my aunt is setting up a fortune-telling table with one of Dottie’s friends in the corner of the tented area.
There’s so much to do, so many things to set up, that the time melts away. We’ve barely finished when eight o’clock hits and customers start showing up.
Hannah and Nora put out social media blasts about the change in plans, but several people find it surprising upon arrival that our big party is being held outdoors on a day with a low of thirty degrees.
A lot of them leave, but plenty choose to stay and enjoy the drink us dry specials, especially once the band goes on at nine.
Rob, Travis, Cormac, and Mick have only been playing together for a few weeks, but they’re in perfect rhythm, and they draw people in off the street.
Liam and I take over the bar service to give Otis and Ann a break, and I keep stealing glances at him, wondering if he wishes he were on stage with the band.
“Nope,” he finally says, the second or third time I look at him. “Not even a little.”
I laugh. “How’d you know what I was thinking?”
“It was written all over your face. But I don’t understand how you could think I’d want to be up there with them if I could be doing this with you.
” He gestures to the crowd gathered around us, laughing and talking.
“They’re happy because of you. Because they’re excited about Silver Star.
This is what I want. You’re what I want. ”
“You’re what I want too.”
But there’s something else I want for us too—something I’m worried we won’t get to keep.
It’s nearly midnight. Great-Aunt Sky is deep in conversation with Dottie and the rest of the Wise Elders Group, and my friends are dancing around the space heaters.
We’re down to only a dollar for Bubba’s beers, and everyone is at least a little tipsy, except for Liam and me.
We’ve tasted the pale ale, and we know it’s worth waiting for.
A couple of other tasting room employees are manning the bar now, and Liam and I are standing at the edge of the tarp, holding hands as we watch the bonfire we started just beyond it in the firepit.
“It’s almost a shame my dad didn’t come to see it burn,” I tell him, snuggling into his shoulder.
We’re both dressed in the sparkly star sweaters Dottie got for everyone on staff.
We all put them on a few hours ago, but Liam’s is one of the only sweaters that’s visible—because he never gets cold and isn’t wearing a coat.
Dottie was right about how it would fit.
The sweater is at least one size too small for him, but Liam is probably the least self-conscious person I’ve ever met.
He tugged it on, shrugged when he realized it clung to every single ridge of his chest, and then continued to wear it.
He also has a name tag on—almost everyone does.
They’re leftovers from the Big Catch party.
Liam’s says, Hi! My name is MR. MIRACLE, and I like to brEW BEER. The first name tag he filled out was immediately balled up (by me), because it said, and I like to FUCK MY BOSS.
He pulls me into his warmth, his arm wrapped around me like he’s never going to let go. “We can take a picture of the fire for him and bring it to dinner next week. Were you thinking he’d appreciate the symbolism? Or did you hope he’d run in there to save his precious?”
“Very funny.” I pause, watching the flames consume the wood. “Do you think my father will ever change?”
He peers down at me. “Do you want me to be honest?”
“Always.”
He hugs me closer. “No, Princess, I don’t.
But we’ll keep showing up every Friday until he changes that agreement.
And, who knows, maybe someday they’ll surprise us and suggest going out for burgers instead of staring uncomfortably at each other across the table.
But if not, who cares. These are the people who’ve shown up for us. ”
I lean up on my toes and kiss him. “You’ve shown up for me from the beginning, even when you kept trying to act like an asshole.”
“It’s not my fault you’re so good at getting people to see your way of thinking. I’d stopped wanting much of anything before you came along, but you made short work of that.”
I kiss him again, then press my cheek against his intensely shiny sweater. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” He checks his phone, then says gently, “It’s time, Briar.”
Seconds before midnight, we begin the countdown side by side. Then cheers ring out as we announce the new year. We weave our way through the throng of partygoers and start passing out the free samples of our Champbier.
Most people are a little drunk already, but everyone seems to love the new ale. At least five people pull me aside and say they’d like to place orders. I’m proud of us, and I want to celebrate, but my heart is also stuck in my throat.
It’s our first beer, and I’m worried it’ll be the last one we produce at Silver Star.
“It was a beautiful party,” I tell Liam, nuzzling into him as we sneak into the deserted tasting room.
He seeks out my gaze. “But it still wasn’t enough.”