Page 26 of Love Is Brewing

“Hey, Phoebe,” Ben said. “Couldn’t get enough of me today?”

“It was great seeing you,” she said. “And a surprise. Got a minute to talk?”

“Always for you,” he said. “Eve is still working. I’m going to start dinner the minute she sends me a text. She was out of town doing some audit or something and got held up.”

Her future sister-in-law was a CPA for some big firm in Charlotte not that far from Fierce Brewing. Eve’s sister, Hope, was married to Mason’s cousin Devin. Both of them worked at the brewery too.

“I won’t take up too much of your time,” she said. “Just wanted to tell you what a small world, or more like a small town, Southern Pines is.”

“I noticed that myself,” Ben said. “Not sure how you’re going to handle that. Matt joked about you and your sushi, but I don’t think there was anywhere for you to get coffee on the way in either.”

“Only fast food type places,” she said. “Which is why Matt gave me that espresso machine that I’ve been using. But that isn’t what I meant by my comment. I hadn’t realized it at the time who Elias was when you mentioned his name.”

“The owner of Fifth Kid Brewing,” Ben said.

“Yeah. But I mean, I ran into him a few times already in town.”

“You have?” Ben asked.

She had to weigh her words on how she said this. She decided to be honest with her oldest brother. He’d get a kick out of her running into Elias on a snow day.

“Well,” she said. “It started on Wednesday. An ironic chain of events.”

“You know I have to hear this,” Ben said.

She told him about it all and listened to his laughter.

“It ended with dinner tonight. I still didn’t know who he was. We were talking about where I was from and I said Charlotte and Kelly Law Firm.”

“And he put it together with me,” Ben said.

“He did. Right away, he said he’d met with you and Mason today. I told him I’d be calling you. I still made a fool out of myself when he said our last name was common and I said his was too, that most probably don’t think of the billionaire.” Ben was roaring with laughter.

“He admitted that was his brother, right?” Ben asked.

“He did. I felt bad. Anyway, we had dinner and then left.”

“Are you going to have dinner with him again?” Ben asked.

“Maybe,” she said. “I don’t know. It was an impromptu thing. I’m busy. I know he is.”

“Extremely,” Ben said. “But if you do go on another date with him, I don’t have a problem with it.”

She clenched her jaw. She didn’t need his permission or approval. “I don’t even know if it was a date tonight.”

“Had all the elements of it to me,” Ben said.

Except a kiss, but she wouldn’t admit that popped into her head to anyone.

She didn’t even want to admit it to herself.

9

NO REPRESENTATION ON YOU

Elias picked his phone up and then put it back down the next day.

He was in his office and debating his next move more than he’d ever done in his life.

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