Page 55 of On The Rocks

Mack’s hand went to his chin, and he rubbed it contemplatively. “Our fruit is high quality; it’s what we’re known for. We don’t sell to any fool who thinks they can make a quick buck; it’s not the reputation we want.”

Callum’s eyes went all narrow and squinty, and he bit out, “My Maeve’s no fool.”

My nerve endings tingled at the raw protectiveness in his tone, and I couldn’t stop my gaze from drifting to his beautiful face, now darkened with his waning mood.

Mack waved Callum off. “Keep your panties on, son. You were right; I knew your wife was no fool after speaking to her for about three point two seconds. This here is me laying down my business terms. Whether you take them or not is your choice.”

Callum’s eyes slashed toward mine, and his lips curved with the secret words only I understood.

We’ve got this.

From out of nowhere, tears hit the back of my throat.

For the first time in my life, I had somebody at my back. Somebody who believed in me. The stark realization of it filled me to the brim with so much emotion that it almost spilled from my eyes.

At that moment, more than anything, I wanted to make him proud.

So that’s what I did.

“Apples, pears, elderflower, sour cherries, currants, and strawberries. Standard fruits, and we’ll take them all in the quantities I gave you in my report. Some will be used in the basic recipe, others for what we’ll market as special edition flavors. We also want apricots and peaches.”

Mack tilted his head to one side. “That’s different.”

I smiled knowingly. “Secret ingredients. Can you get enough of a yield? I know they’re harder to grow in the Wyoming climate.”

“We’ve been testing peach and apricot crops for two years, and they seem to be working out well. As long as we keep their elevation low, they do okay. If we struggle, we’ll grow them somewhere else and bring ‘em in. Nothing’s off-limits.”

“That’sawesome,” I told him excitedly. “When’s the soonest we can take delivery.”

He studied me. “Day after tomorrow?”

I glanced at Callum and grinned. “That’s perfect.”

“This blend of yours sounds interesting,” Mack said thoughtfully. “You looking for investors?”

My heart leaped at his words.

Mack had been doing this for a long time. For him to inquire about investing was a huge honor, especially with us being a small, local business and novices at brewing. Mack’s operation was international and thriving, even though the industry was risky and saturated in parts. For him to want to take a gamble on us was a coup.

“You think the blend sounds that good?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he replied, eyes taking in every inch of me and Callum sitting side-by-side. “But it’s also you, Maeve; you’ve got something that draws me in. You remind me of my grandma Maimie. God rest her soul.”

I winced. “Are you sure I remind you of your grandma? Aren’t I more like a sister, maybe? Even a mysterious, understatedly beautiful, but eccentric aunt would be kinda cool.”

Mack smiled fondly, his eyes glazing over with memories. “Grandma Maimie was something else, Maeve. You take that compliment because I could never pay you a higher one.”

My heart swelled with pride.

“How nice,” I whispered, humbled by Mack’s kind words.

That day, we politely declined Mack’s offer of investment.

Callum told me if anyone should invest, it would be the Speed Demons. But it wasn’t a factor anyway because he wanted to keep it in the family.

I was touched by his faith in me. I knew money wasn’t available in abundance for him, so to show so much confidence in me, well, it wasn’t something I was used to.

Most of my days—and nights—were spent in our distillery, running around the place in a lab coat, researching and testing out flavor combinations. I settled on a basic recipe of apples and a few pears and berries, adding in a hint of sour cherry and slightly underripe peach to cut through the sweetness of our cider. Our alcohol content would be set at five point five percent, a little lower than some, but the level seemed to enhance our flavor combinations. Plus, it wasn’t about how lit we could get people; Callum and I decided we wanted the flavors to speak for themselves.

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