Chapter 32Cade
Cade
Jenna has officially moved out of the house, taking shelter at a friend’s apartment until she can find her own place.
I could’ve easily taken a chance on a new start for us. But when you take a chance, the reward has to be worth the risk. And Jenna’s not a reward. Her value plummeted the second she decided mine didn’t exist.
And then there’s Olivia.
Olivia.
Madness wrapped in beauty.
How did this spitfire blonde enter my world, unknowingly pulling me from the hell I was living in? She came into my life like a goddess, sent to rebuild my broken heart piece by piece.
I’ve been in love before, and I know what falling in love feels like. But I sit here and question if those experiences were as powerful as I thought they were.
Olivia isn’t just a woman who attracted my heart. She’s holding it. Protecting my heart so she’s the only one who has the ability to touch it. Cradling it in her palms like her most cherished possession, and I feel … safe .
We can unapologetically be ourselves. I don’t have to be anyone else but the person I am, and I know that’s enough.
It’s enough.
My elbows are propped on my office desk, my lips smirking when they feel the metal around my knuckle. I absently rest the ring under my nose, her faded scent speeding the current of the blood in my veins.
Maybe I’ve been a little savage, but Olivia’s just as feral. We’re a wild card in a deck. A force no one wants to see flipped up on the table. We have the potential to change the original outcome and shake things up.
Then I’m reminded of the story of this ring.
I think of her .
Did she somehow groom all of this? Did she summon Olivia into my life through this spiritual tunnel that’s connected us?
No way.
Just as quickly as I dismiss that idea, my mind wanders around the possibility of its truth. That white feather still dangles from my handlebar. Maybe it’s carried the winds of good luck ever since I gained possession of it.
Whoever she is, she definitely got her wish.
This is, without a doubt, the best way she could’ve thanked me.
A knock on my office door plunges me into reality. “Come in,” I say, standing from my chair.
Jake opens the door to greet me, half his body crossed over the threshold. “Hey, we’re out of the brown ale. Do you want me to change the line to another brown ale keg or the IPA?”
“Uh …” My hands rest on my hips as I pause in consideration. “Let’s do another brown ale. That seems to be popular.”
“You got it. Are you going to be here much longer?”
I shake my head, stalling my words as I hold his eyes. “No, actually.” It feels strange, almost uncomfortable, to not need a reason to stay here. “Unless you need me to take care of anything beforehand.”
He nods once in silent assurance. “We can hold down the fort.”
“Sounds good. I’ll be on the floor in a minute to mellow out the influx of people before I leave.” Then I rotate in place to point to my desktop behind me. “Just had to respond to emails from suppliers in California and Colorado. I’m trying to get as many ingredients from the West Coast as I can.”
“Awesome. What ingredients are you ordering?”
“Citra, Mosaic, and Simcoe,” I answer. “A lot of customers have been asking for citrusy beers, so I figured I’d balance out the piney selection that we already have from the East Coast.”
“Right on. Hopefully that brings in new patrons. Not that business has been slow or anything,” Jake says.
I sigh, lifting my backward snapback to run a hand through my hair. “Yeah, that’s the goal. My biggest fear is plateauing in sales.” When I drag my attention back to him, my index finger gestures in his direction. “Always be on the defensive. Business management one-oh-one.”
Jake flashes a crooked grin. “I’ll keep that in mind when I open my own bar.”
I smile before turning around, the door closing behind me when I shut the computer down. All the while thinking how this brewery is starting to feel like a business.
Not my second home.