Page 33 of Love Is Brewing

The fact she appeared more like a woman he wanted to know and not an attorney on the clock made him feel better about things too.

“Next is Foster. He’s our tech guy. Vice President of Technology is his fancy title, if you must know. He lives in Merrick on Long Island. He handles everything West has a pulse on.”

“Is he single?” she asked. “Just getting the players here. I had seen that West was married.”

“West is married to Abby who works for Laken too.”

“Wow,” she said. “I think it’d be great to be the boss of my brothers’ wives.”

She was laughing when she said it. “They all get along well, but if I know Laken, she pokes fun at West and Braylon about that.”

“So, Foster?”

“He got engaged at Christmas to Charlotte.”

“And then there is you,” she said, holding her hand up, her fingers wide. It’s as if she was ticking them off as he went along.

“There is me,” he said. “I didn’t want to work for West like the rest of them.”

“You wanted to make beer,” she said. “And good for you for going out on your own.”

“I always had a taste for it,” he said. “I will admit my business model isn’t exactly what West thought it’d be, but I proved I could be just as successful.”

“I’m sure you did,” she said, smirking. “And then some.”

“Next is Rowan. We are only a year apart in age. We are the closest in terms of the timing of the births, but I’d say I’m closest to Foster. Foster is quietest, and I’m probably the most laid-back. I let him be him and we got along well.”

“That’s nice,” she said. “What about Rowan? Where is he? So far everyone is in the Northeast.”

“Rowan is in Long Beach. He’s got his own business. Does custom surfboards and has a line on the pro circuit. He’s alwaysbeen the one living the surfer dude life. Went to college in California, learned to surf and found his calling.”

“I love how that happens,” she said. “Single?”

“He is the last I knew. Next is Nelson, he works for West and also in Manhattan right now. Or wherever West sends him. He and Rowan are close like Foster and me. Though I’d say that Nelson is the opposite of a beach bum. He’s pretty bougie and all, but those two get along great.”

“Sounds like you all get along. That leaves one more. Your last sister?”

“Talia,” he said. “She’s the baby. Twenty-four and still trying to figure out her life. She’s going to be working with me starting next week.”

“She wants to brew beer?” she asked. “That’s nice.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “She doesn’t and I don’t want her to touch anything.”

“That’s not nice,” she said, grinning.

“She is trying to find her calling. We all did or had to. West will support or invest, but you know, you need a business plan like the next person.”

She laughed. “You’re joking, right?”

“Nope,” he said. “Nothing is free in our family. We all work for it. Hope you don’t think otherwise.”

Though West paid for their education. He didn’t share that.

“I don’t,” she said. “Many believe that with me too, which isn’t the case. I worked hard for what I’ve got and where I am. I like to know I’m spending time with someone else who thinks the same way.”

“My mother would never let us think any way else. She’s one tough woman raising us all on her own. Even when my father was alive, he wasn’t always around.”

“Bet she learned quickly how to knock heads together.”

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