27. Chapter 27
twenty-seven
“ G uess what!?”
Jer’s voice startled Willow awake as he rushed into the brewery. She’d arrived at work that morning super early to balance the books on the accounting software before getting to work brewing that day.
The last thing she remembered was deciding to rest her eyes for a moment.
She rubbed her eyes and looked up to find Jer directly across from her, staring at her with a dazzling, excited smile.
“Uh, what?” she asked.
He sucked in a dramatic breath, sat down on the stool across from her, and put his phone on the table .
“Fuzzy Milkshake is already getting reviews,” he said, doing a little happy dance in his seat.
Her heart seized.
“Reviews?” she asked, bracing herself and praying they would be positive. “Are they good?”
“See for yourself.”
He opened the beer review app on his phone and spun it toward her. When she looked down, she found five little yellow stars all filled in and immediately sagged.
Oh, thank God.
At least something was going right.
“Want me to read my favourite review?” Jer asked, vibrating with energy.
She let out a long exhale. “Sure.”
Jer clicked a couple times, then cleared his throat.
“Fuzzy Milkshake is an absolute dream. This may be the most delicious and unique beer I have ever tasted! It’s hazy, thick, and sweet with a bright peach flavour, sure to be a crowd pleaser. Literally impossible to dislike!”
Willow stared at Jer, astonished, as she tried to fight back the happy tears that began filling her eyes. “It really says all that?”
Jer nodded, his smile doubling. “You can cry,” he said, standing from his seat and slinging an arm over her shoulders. “You did it. ”
“We did it,” she said, blinking and wiping the tears from her cheeks. “This is as much you as it is me.”
Jer smiled before squeezing her tighter. “I disagree. But thank you for saying that.”
“It’s true,” she said, turning to look at him. “It’s not just developing the recipes. Execution is ninety percent of it. You’re a very talented brewer, Jer.”
His eyes went misty, and he blinked the tears away. “I’m gonna miss you,” he said. “If . . . I mean, when you leave next week.”
Willow sighed. “I’m gonna miss you, too.”
When Jer finally broke the hug, he lifted a questioning brow at her.
“What about Max? Will you miss him?”
Willow glanced over her shoulder at the door that led to the dining room. It had been a few days since they’d driven into work together and he’d shut down when she’d told him Shane texted. She’d expected him to not be happy about it, but she hadn’t expected him to be so . . . distant. He’d clearly been upset, but instead of talking about it, he just went cold and shut down.
She hadn’t spoken to him since, even though she’d really wanted to. But she’d heard through the grapevine that he was working round the clock dealing with endless supplier issues and other problems that kept cropping up, so she gave him some space.
Not to mention that he hadn’t come to see her, either. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to. Or maybe he had wanted to, but he was “annoyed” again. Every time she thought she had him figured out, he’d flip a switch and go from burning hot to icy cold in the blink of an eye, leaving her more confused than ever.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes.”
Willow slumped forward and let out a sigh. “I think he’s hard not to miss. He’s a big presence.”
Jer snorted. “I, for one, would not miss his moody energy-vampire ass.”
“Energy vampire?” Willow asked, genuinely shocked. “I don’t get that vibe from him at all.”
In fact, she felt very energetic around him. A little too energetic.
“Yeah, we know,” Jer said, pulling a face.
“Uh, we ?”
He looked at the door, then back at Willow. “Everyone’s been talking about you two. In the break room, on the floor. They all suspect you’re banging.”
“Oh my God,” Willow said, looking down at her feet. “How embar—”
Her phone blared in her pocket, saving her from materializing that thought. Should she really feel embarrassed ?
Ugh, probably.
She pulled her phone out and checked the screen as her heart stopped.
Shane.
“Fuck,” she said, not knowing what the hell to do.
“I better get to work,” Jer said, clearly having seen she just received a call from her ex. “The vanilla’s not going to add itself to the Fuzzy Milkshake.”
He promptly turned on his heel and made his way to the tank across the room, while Willow retreated to the opposite corner of the brewery, hoping for some privacy from the rest of the gossipy staff that might overhear.
She considered screening the call to see what the hell he wanted but figured it was likely about Nikki’s wedding gift.
“Hello?”
“Willow, hi,” Shane said. “How are you?”
His voice was smooth, calm, without a trace of his usual annoyance or shortness. It took her a moment to process it. Then another moment to figure out how to answer him.
She’d just had a huge win with that review, and the last person she wanted to share that with was him. He’d probably find some way to piss on it, as if it wasn’t that big a deal.
“Fine, how are you? ”
Shane let out a long sigh. “I miss you.”
She reared back, then held the phone out and silently screamed at it. Why did he always treat her the nicest when they were broken up? Why couldn’t he have said that to her when they’d spoken before he came there?
She put the phone back to her ear, shook off the anger. “How’s Barley?”
A moment of silence met her before he finally answered.
“He’s good. I gave him a bath.”
Willow almost fell over. “You did?”
“Yeah, I had to. He stank.”
She imagined her sweet little doggo in the tub, getting washed by Shane instead of her for the first time in his six years, and realized she missed her dog far more than she missed her ex-fiancé. But could you really compare a dog to a human man?
If the worst thing Shane had ever done was poop on the floor, she’d probably still marry him.
“I can’t wait to see you.”
Ugh.
Willow’s lip curled, and her nose wrinkled. She closed her eyes and dropped her forehead against the wall with a thud. “Did you need something?”
“No,” he said. “I just called to talk. ”
Her skin crawled. “I’m pretty busy here . . . so, uh, I’m going to get back to work.”
He remained silent for so long that she had to look at the phone to see whether they were still connected.
“Okay,” he finally said. “I love you.”
She scrunched her face up and shook her head, rolling her face against the hard wall. Maybe she should just tell him she didn’t have feelings for him anymore. But what if that was just the anger talking? She’d been with him far too long to have all her love for him evaporate in a week.
Right?
She let out one more silent scream, then said, “’Kay, bye,” and hung up before he could reply.
Ugh, what a fucking nightmare.
“That looked painful.”
She lifted her head and spun around to find Max standing behind her, his arms crossed over his barrel chest, one dark eyebrow lifted.
Fuck, he looked good.
She gaped at him for a moment, at a total loss for words.
“Who was it?”
She sighed, dropped her head as her shoulders tensed even further. “You know who it was. ”
Max shifted his weight between his feet, his face expressionless. “What did he want?”
How the fuck was she supposed to answer that? She glanced up at the ceiling, across the room, down at her feet. Anywhere but his eyes. She hoped he’d move on, but he stood there, staring at her, waiting.
“He told me he misses me and loves me.”
Max’s face stayed completely unreadable. No nod, no eyebrow raise, nothing. He could’ve passed as a fucking wax figure.
She stared back for a moment, hoping he’d budge and give her something, but when their standoff reached an uncomfortable amount of time, she broke.
“Why are you here?”
He cleared his throat, probably because it had been too long since he last spoke.
“I wanted to congratulate you,” he said with a nod to the phone in her hand. “On the reviews. And to let you know I ironed out all the supplier problems. We’re ready for the grand opening next week.”
Willow’s shoulders relaxed. “Thank you,” she said. “We’ll be ready, too.”
She looked around the room awkwardly, searching for the words to say to smooth things over between them, when she noticed Jer at the Fuzzy Milkshake tank reaching for the sample valve .
Oh no.
“Jer, wait!” she shouted. “You need to release the—”
A loud popping sound echoed through the brewery, drowning out her voice right before a torrent of beer exploded from the tank. It hit Jer in the face with so much force that it launched him backwards, clear across the room.
Willow took off running and made it to Jer just as he was clambering to his feet in an enormous pool of beer. He flipped over to stand, then cringed in pain.
“Willow, close the valve.”
She dashed to the tank and grabbed the handle on the valve, but it was no use. She couldn’t turn it under all the pressure. Finally, Max appeared beside her, pushed her hand aside, and jerked it closed. But by the time he’d sealed it, there was hardly any Fuzzy Milkshake left.
She stared at the floor, wanting to look away, but the shock of the last sixty seconds kept her frozen in place. Had that really just happened? Was all their beer gone?
“Willow,” Jer said, making his way to his feet, his hand over the deep gash on his arm. “I’m so, so sorry.”
Finally, she snapped out of it and blinked away.
“It’s my fault,” she said. “I should’ve shown you how the valve works on this tank.” She looked at his arm, and her eyes bulged. “That looks deep.”
Jer looked down at his arm, then closed his eyes, swaying a little on his feet and looking as if he was going to pass out. “I must’ve hit the corner of that tank,” he said, gesturing across the room to where he’d landed.
“I’m taking you to the hospital. You might have a concussion. And you’re definitely going to need stitches,” she said, putting her hand on his shoulder and leading him to the door.
Max silently flanked Jer’s other side and followed them to the door, held it open and did the same with the car. They got Jer in the front seat buckled in, then closed the door.
“Was that your Fuzzy Milkshake?” Max asked.
Her heart shrunk. “Yeah.”
“It’s all gone?”
She nodded, and he swore under his breath. She wanted to be angry, sad, throw something, yell at someone, but she only felt . . . defeat.
She was to blame for this. If she hadn’t been so distracted by all the Shane and Max nonsense, she’d have been paying closer attention.
She sucked in a breath and forced her focus on what was most important. Jer .
“I have to go,” she said, brushing past Max and dropping into the driver’s seat. She turned on the car, reversed out of her spot, and headed for the road before realizing she didn’t know where the hospital was.
“Willow, I feel awful about the beer—”
“Let’s worry about that later. Which way to the hospital?”
Jer sighed. “Go left.”
She nodded, then pulled out.