Page 118 of Love Is Brewing

“Being me hasn’t always been the best thing,” she said.

“That’s your grandfather being in your head,” her mother said. “You’ve always been out to prove to him you could do it. Or to others. You know what I think?”

“I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” she said drily.

“I think you just need to prove to yourself that you have what it takes. That you can do it on your own. That you don’t need your family name or who you are dating. And until you believe it, you’re always going to have doubts. You’re always going to be noncommittal. That’s why I think you wanted to open an office where you knew you’d be completely out of place, yet you’re thriving. We had no doubts, but you did. You’ve got a guy you love, yet you still talk like you aren’t sure how long you’re staying.”

Her shoulders dropped.

And there was the problem she’d been trying to avoid.

Her mother laid it right on the line.

It came down to her and what she thought of herself.

“I needed to talk to my mother for several reasons and you just solved a big crisis of conscience I had without even knowing it.”

“I’m glad,” her mother said. “But don’t beat yourself up over it too much. The right guy doesn’t mean you have a big blow-up and have to make up. It doesn’t mean you have to look for the bad because you’ve only seen the good. It just means you are both mature enough to understand what the other needs and can work it out that way. That’s a special kind of love many don’t find. Look at it that way.”

“You’re the best, Mom.”

37

MORE THAN THAT

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me what was going on?” West asked two days later the minute Elias answered the phone.

He had barely pulled into the parking lot at the brewery. He hadn’t even gotten out of his truck.

“I didn’t need to tell you,” he said.

“Yes,” West said. “You did. I shouldn’t have had to hear from Braylon that someone was trying to sabotage your business and kill a massive deal that would lead to any expansion plans you had. Then to find out it’s a woman that’s been doing it.”

He frowned. “This is my business, not yours,” he argued. “I don’t need you coming to solve all my problems. I handled it on my own.”

By Monday afternoon, Beth had started to get nervous. It came from gossip around the plant and, of course, people started to talk to Talia.

His sister wanted to know what was going on, and said some were talking about an employee getting caught having sex on the premises.

That made his blood boil higher than lava spouting out of Mount Vesuvius. He hated rumors spreading and told his sister what was going on.

Talia said that she’d overheard Emma in the offices talking about how much of a slut Beth was. Talia normally ignored things, but word was spreading Beth was screwing someone in the brewery.

That wasn’t enough for him to make accusations, but more research on the cameras showed Beth with Skip at lunch, the two of them talking in private. Even Foster noticed that Skip had his key card hanging on him before he met with Beth and then not on him after they parted.

Guess many wouldn’t notice that if they weren’t looking.

The kicker was the video of Beth walking to the locker room less than ten minutes after Skip’s card had been swiped leaving the room that the water gauges were in.

About the amount of time it’d take to get there, the key card swiped multiple times on that path. It wasn’t Skip using the card; it was Beth caught on cameras she didn’t know were there.

“I’m not solving your problems,” West said. “I’m asking for some common courtesy and information. It shouldn’t come from Braylon that this has been going onfor months. Then to find out from Foster this morning that you got new security installed on top of it. You know how we feel about this.”

His brother wasn’t wrong.

Security was always discussed with family.

He did though, just not West.

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