Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
JUDE
“Table five is still waiting on their IPAs,” Lindsey says in a rushed voice as she brushes past me, grabbing a few glasses and pouring her order.
“Can you take care of them for me? I’m backed up.”
“And I’m not? Maybe you should call in Dylan.”
I steal a glance around the taproom, every table inside taken, as well as most on the patio. The sun streams in through the large windows, bathing the room in light. It seems everyone has decided it’s the perfect afternoon to enjoy a few beers.
“She needs a day off. We’ll handle it. And if people don’t want to wait, they can go somewhere else.”
“We need more staff,” Lindsey reminds me, placing her order onto her tray before returning to pour my forgotten IPAs.
“I’m working on it,” I reply, turning and setting several beers in front of a group of men around my age, all of them dressed in golf attire.
I take their card and swipe it through the register, then move down the line of thirsty customers, a mixture of locals and tourists awaiting their turn to order.
“What can I get you?” I ask the next group.
But their order fades into the background when the door opens and a woman walks in, a wedding dress draped over her arms.
After I left for work, I wasn’t sure if I’d see Abbey again. Part of me didn’t want to, not after the way my body reacted to the feel of her skin on mine as I unbuttoned her dress last night. Or the way I had to practically peel my hands off her hips when she fell into me after I returned from my run this morning.
It’s a sobering realization.
Sure, I’ve been with women over the past few years. Probably more than I care to admit. But they were all meaningless. A way to numb the debilitating pain and soul-crushing loss that’s consumed me for too long now.
That’s not the case with Abbey, and I don’t know how to make sense of these feelings stirring inside me, especially after all this time.
“Did you get all that?”
I snap my attention back to the men in front of me. “Sorry. One more time.”
One of them rolls their eyes in annoyance, but repeats it, and I get to work on pouring a couple of lagers and a brown ale. After setting the glasses on the bar and swiping their card, I turn my focus to the next group.
“Just give me one second, please. I’ll be right with you.”
I don’t miss their aggravated groans, along with snide remarks that they’ve already been waiting over ten minutes. But they don’t leave. They know my beer is the best around.
I duck out from behind the bar and head toward Abbey. She’s wearing the t-shirt and jeans I picked up for her earlier. Her brown hair falls to her mid back in gentle waves, not a single lick of makeup on her face.
She looks almost as good as she did this morning wearing just my t-shirt.
“I’m sorry to barge in on you,” she says, cutting through my thoughts. “I wanted to say goodbye, and to thank you for everything. The clothes. Phone charger. A place to stay. It means a lot.”
“No problem.” I cross my arms in front of my chest, and I notice her eyes briefly drift to my biceps. “Were you able to work everything out?”
“More or less.”
It doesn’t escape my notice that she answers somewhat evasively. I’m about to press for more information, but before I can, Lindsey calls out to me.
“Jude. Break time’s over. We’re swamped here.”
“Right. Sorry. Coming.”
“I’ll let you get back to work,” Abbey offers.
“It’s usually not this bad, but I gave my sister the day off and another server called out sick, so I’m shorthanded here. You’ll be okay?”
She grits a smile. “I always am. Thanks again.”
I give a subtle nod of my head and watch as she makes her way through the taproom and toward the door. A pang squeezes my chest at the idea that I’ll never see her again. A strange thought, since she was a stranger mere days ago.
“Jude! Beer!” Lindsey shouts, and I quickly snap my gaze away, rushing back behind the bar.
“Thanks for your patience,” I offer the waiting customer. “What would you like?”
He orders a round of IPAs, and I move toward the taps. But when I pull the handle, only sputters of foam come out.
“Shit. I’ve got to replace the keg.”
“Just great,” Lindsey replies sarcastically.
“I’ll be right back.”
Thankfully, I’ve been doing this long enough that I can change a keg in my sleep.
I weave through the bustling crowd in the taproom, coming to an abrupt stop when I nearly run into someone. I inhale a sharp breath, my eyes flinging wide as I peer down at Abbey.
“What are you doing here? I thought you left?”
“I did, but…”
“Yes?”
“You helped me. The least I can do is help you.”
I furrow my brow. “What are you talking about?”
“I bartended all throughout college, so put me to work. You’re obviously short staffed. Let me help.”
I blink repeatedly. This is the last thing I expected. Mere seconds ago, I didn’t think I’d ever see her again, let alone have her offer to help.
“Jude!” Lindsey yells again, becoming increasingly impatient and frustrated. “I need that tap changed, like, yesterday.”
Blowing out a breath, I face Abbey. “Come with me.”
She follows me into the back room, practically having to run to keep up.
“You can leave your stuff in my office.” I gesture toward the closed door across from us. “And you’ll need to put this on.” Grabbing a t-shirt from one of the shelves, I toss it at her.
She scrambles to catch it while still clutching that damn wedding dress.
“Give me a sec to switch out this keg, then I’ll give you a quick rundown.”
I open the door to the walk-in cooler, unhooking the lines from the spent keg before replacing it with a new one. Once everything’s connected, I step back into the break room.
But as I do, I stop dead in my tracks. Abbey’s mere feet away, clad only in her jeans and a white bra.
The same white bra I bought her this morning.
While I certainly imagined how it would look on her, I didn’t think I’d get the chance to see her in it.
I was wrong.
And she looks even better than I imagined, her skin smooth and curves addicting.
As she yanks the fitted t-shirt with my brewery’s logo over her head, I avert my gaze, pretending I didn’t see anything I wasn’t supposed to. Then she faces me.
“Follow me,” I order, trying to sound composed despite the spike of desire surging through me.
“Aye aye, captain.”
I hurry through the taproom that seems to have gotten even busier in the last couple of minutes, leading Abbey behind the bar. I pull the handle on the IPA and allow the beer to run into a pitcher for a minute.
“It’s pretty straightforward. All we serve is beer and it’s all on tap. And it’s only my beer.”
She does a double take. “ Your beer?”
“This is my taproom. I own the Wicked Hop.”
“Oh. I… I thought you just worked here or something.” Her eyes scan the row of taps before shifting to the brewhouse that’s visible through the windows separating it from the taproom. “I didn’t realize you brewed all of it.”
“I do.” I can’t ignore the hint of pride that fills me from the amazement in her voice. But I don’t have time to linger on that right now. “Hey, Lindsey,” I call out to the tall blonde as she fills her tray with nearly a dozen glasses of beer.
“Yeah?”
“This is Abbey. She’s going to help.”
Lindsey gives her a nod. “The runaway bride. I heard about you. Welcome aboard.”
“Thanks.”
“If you can take the patio, Abbey and I will work the inside together.”
“You got it.”
She carefully lifts her tray off the bar and heads to the doors leading outside.
“Sound good with you? Just do the best you can.” I find a paper menu and hand it to her. “All the descriptions are on here. If you have any questions, just interrupt me no matter what I’m doing, okay?”
“Relax, Jude,” she says, placing her hand on my arm.
It’s supposed to be a soothing, innocent gesture, but the simple feel of her skin against mine ignites something inside me.
“This isn’t my first rodeo. I can handle it.”
“Okay. Good luck.”
She grabs a tray and slips out from behind the bar, flashing me a wink. “Thanks, boss.”