Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
AVERY
I had marketing materials to go over, but I gave in to the urge to lean over the vat of mash and take a deep, long breath. Sour, tangy, yeasty. God, I fucking loved it. My first attempt to recreate the fall brew was getting there. So far, so good.
I didn’t want to review new label designs and social media posts.
I wanted to do something physical. Move those bags of hops from the pallet to the bin, maybe, or play with a new recipe.
I needed to get my hands dirty. But work was work, and dealing with the office shit was part of running the brewery.
At some point in the hopefully not-too-distant future, instead of hiring a new brewmaster, maybe I’d hire an office manager or whatever you call the life-saving person who wrangled the endless piles of paper and logistical phone calls that came with running a business—the stuff I didn’t like.
Someday. For now, except for Dave and Cammie and the rest of my skeleton staff, it was all me.
This is why you fired Matthew , I reminded myself.
Because that was what I wanted—for it to be all mine, the good and the bad, including the paperwork.
I turned and headed back to my office, sliding the piles of stuff on my desk out of the way and pulling my keyboard closer.
I could answer some emails before I got to the rest. Blessedly, my phone rang. I knew that tone. Sterling.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“You busy?” Sterling asked.
I eyed the screen of my computer and my full inbox. “No,” I lied. “Why? What are you up to?” I glanced at the clock. Too late for lunch, too early for dinner. She wasn’t calling to see if I wanted to grab a meal.
“I’m at Quinn’s, waiting for a guide group to come back, so I can’t leave the desk,” she said. “Can you come over?”
I caught the thrum of energy in her voice.
She was excited about something. My mind immediately flipped to the night before.
Fuck, how did she know about West already?
Normally, I might have spilled to one of my sisters by now, even if it was just a silly text.
I didn’t hook up a lot. I hadn’t dated anyone since Matthew, and not a whole lot before.
But even so, I might have shared the news the morning after.
It was different when it came to West. I was trying to avoid dwelling on how complicated this could get.
I hadn’t wanted to before, blinded by the idea of getting my hands on him.
The lust had hit me out of nowhere. Maybe not completely out of nowhere, but after a lifetime of knowing him, everything had shifted in a heartbeat .
I told myself I’d figure it out later, half convinced that maybe it’d be a one-time thing. Curiosity satisfied, no need for repeats. Except hell no to that. Curiosity had only been whetted, and repeats were absolutely in order.
“Avery, are you there?” Sterling demanded, interrupting my thoughts. “Are you coming over?”
The anticipation in her voice had me squirming in my seat. I wasn’t ready to talk about this.
“What is it?” I asked. “I kind of am a little busy here,” I hedged, “but I could come over. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, it’s fine, it’s fine. I just... I don’t want to talk on the phone. If you’re not busy, come on. I’m not far away. It’s important,” she said, putting the nail in my coffin.
I wasn’t 100% sure what was important to Sterling these days, though I could make a list: Forrest, school, and whatever sketchy hacker stuff she was doing with Griffen’s friends from Atlanta; her family; finding that jewelry designer; and yes, most likely, needling gossip out of her older sister—especially if it concerned the police chief, who was as good as family.
But if Sterling said it was important...
I let out a sigh. We’d ignored what was important to Sterling for too long.
No more. If she needed her big sister, I’d haul my ass over there, even if it meant her giving me crap about West. We hadn’t exactly been discreet.
There’d been a ton of tourists in the draft room the night before, but plenty of locals had seen me leave with West. Fuck.
“Be there in five,” I said. I put my computer to sleep, grabbed my bag, and poked my head through the door to the taproom, catching Dave’s eye where he worked behind the bar.
“I’m headed out for a bit. Call if you need anything, okay?”
“Got it, boss,” he grinned back.
I waved and headed out the back door. It wasn’t a long walk to Sawyer Outdoor Adventures.
Hawk and Griffen, and probably West, too, though we hadn’t talked about it directly, didn’t want me wandering around by myself.
I wasn’t calling for a pickup to go three blocks on Main Street.
Even if this side of town wasn’t as well-trafficked, it was still tourist season.
Everything was crowded. There were eyes all over the place.
The only people who bothered me on my walk were locals, shooting me a smile and a raised hand. I waved back.
It wasn’t long before I found myself in front of Quinn’s guide business.
The parking lot was full, and the Sawyer Outdoor Adventures van was gone.
Quinn could be anywhere, but my guess was leading a leaf season hike.
We’d gotten lucky this year with the right temperatures, the perfect amount of rain, and the mountains were a riot of color.
Yellows, oranges, reds. Everywhere I turned, it looked like a postcard.
Days like these, I remembered how lucky I was to live here.
My phone beeped with a text, and I looked down, stopping in the middle of the parking lot. West.
Staying out of trouble? What are you doing tonight?
Hmm, how to answer that question? What did I want to be doing tonight?
Every cell in my body answered that question with one simple answer: West. West was what I wanted to be doing tonight.
Was it too soon? Was that going to make this like a thing?
Definitely not casual if it was two nights in a row.
We hadn’t talked about anything. We’d eaten dessert in bed, then licked chocolate sauce off each other, and then had mind-blowing sex again.
I’d woken up at 6 a.m. to West sliding from the bed, saying, “No rush to get out of here, but I have to be at the station in an hour.”
“I have to get to the brewery,” I’d answered.
I’d made coffee while he showered. We swapped places, and I emerged in a soft flannel robe I found in his bathroom to a breakfast sandwich waiting next to a steaming cup of coffee.
We ate together as if we’d been sharing breakfast our whole lives.
West had dropped me at the brewery on his way to work; that was the last we’d seen of each other.
My finger hovered over the keyboard. Yes, or no?
Fuck it. Maybe this was going to burn itself out.
Things had been too easy, too good. The more time we spent together, the more we’d find the cracks.
The glow would fade, the sex would get mediocre, we’d tire of each other, and all my anxieties would be solved.
But right now, I didn’t want to go back to Heartstone, eat with my family, and go to bed alone. I wanted more of West.
No plans tonight. What did you have in mind?
I’ll pick you up at 5 and we’ll figure it out.
I gave his text a thumbs up and squeezed my eyes shut, annoyed with myself. I could feel the dopey expression on my face. The last thing I needed was for Sterling to lock onto that. She’d tease me for the rest of my life.
Was I getting a little gooey over our hot police chief?
Yes, maybe I was.
Did I need anyone to know about that?
I absolutely did not.
I was a grown woman. It was my prerogative to get all dopey over a hot guy who was amazing in bed, even if he was my brother’s best friend. I didn’t owe anyone an explanation. Fine. Good.
Before I could shove my phone in my pocket, it rang. I glanced down, not recognizing the number. I stopped on the first step of the porch, bringing the phone to my ear.
“Avery Sawyer,” I said.
“Avery, hey, it’s Bob James.”
“Oh, hey, Bob. I’ve been meaning to call you.”
Bob James ran Wild Haven Brewing, a small place on the outskirts of town.
Small, but bigger than Sawyers Bend Brewing.
They didn’t have a taproom, but you could find their six-packs in most local grocery stores.
I’d heard through the grapevine they’d gotten distribution to grocery stores in Charlotte and Atlanta.
Bob and I had been planning a joint event with a local restaurant.
Barbecue, pies from Sweetheart Bakery, Bob’s beer, and my beer.
We were wrapping it up into a charity drive— Christmas presents for kids—but we needed to nail down some details.
“I’ve got some time on Thursday. What does your schedule look like?” I asked.
“Yeah, um, that’s the thing...”
I didn’t like the hesitation in his voice. A sense of doom settled in my gut.
“What’s the thing?” I asked, my feet clunking hollowly up the rest of the steps to the front porch of Sawyer Outdoor Adventures.
“We’re, uh, well, we talked, me and Jamie—Jamie runs the restaurant—and, uh, we’re going to do it with Bear Run Brewing. It’s not personal, Avery,” he blurted out. “It’s just, we’ve been hearing things.”
“I bet you have,” I said and immediately wished I’d kept my mouth shut.
Bear Run Brewing was Matthew’s new employer, and I wasn’t surprised.
I should have seen this coming. “What have you heard?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm and friendly, hiding the rage that threatened to explode out of me.
I wasn’t going to yell. I wasn’t going to throw my phone. I wasn’t going to murder Matthew. Yet.
“Just that you’re in over your head over there.
There’s a lot going on, and now that you don’t have a brewmaster, you’re juggling.
We really need this event to go off well, you know, for the kids.
It’s important, and Jamie and I feel like coordinating with Bear Run Brewing is just a more solid bet. You understand, right?”
“Have you talked to Daisy?” I asked. Daisy and I weren’t super tight, but she was my sister-in-law, Hope’s best friend, and head over heels in love with my brother, Royal. One of these days, he’d drag her down the aisle, and she’d be my sister too. No way would she pick Matthew over me.
“Uh, yeah,” Bob said slowly.
“And what was Daisy’s opinion?”
“Daisy’s no longer participating,” he admitted. “Without Sawyers Bend Brewing, Sweetheart Bakery is out.”
That was something, at least. My family had my back.
“When did you talk to her?” I asked.
“Just a few minutes ago. Look, Avery, I’m not trying to start anything. I know you and Matthew have had tensions, and, you know, relationship stuff doesn’t have any place in business.”
“I’m not sure what this has to do with relationship stuff,” I said, gritting my teeth and pushing open the door of Sawyer Outdoor Adventures.
Sterling sat behind the desk in front of me at her laptop. Her eyes brightened as she saw me, then narrowed when she caught the expression on my face.
“I can’t say I understand, Bob, but this was supposed to be a collaboration.
If two of you don’t want to collaborate with me, there’s not much I can do about it.
I would like to know, though, more specifically, what the fuck Matthew said.
” I bit my lip as the profanity escaped.
Inappropriate for business , Avery, I told myself.
The fact that I hadn’t set the phone on fire with the force of the fury pouring out of me was a miracle.
A paltry fuck sneaking in was nothing.
“Avery, you make a good beer. Everybody knows that. But running a brewery, it’s a business. It’s not just the brewing, you know? And without Matthew there, we need someone reliable.”
“Fine,” I said. “I wish you all the best. It’s about the kids, right?”
“I’m so glad you understand.”
I tapped the red icon on my phone, hanging up.