Page 37 of Break My Heart
‘Tomorrow’s perfect. I don’t have many tools so you’ll need to bring your own.’
‘What time?’
‘Nine, or eight if that’s not too early for you.’
‘It’s not too early. I’ll be there at eight.’
She turns to leave.
‘I’ll walk you out.’ I go up the stairs, following behind her, trying not to check out her ass, but of course I do. She’s got a great ass.
When we get upstairs, we run into Jason and Brody on their way to the kitchen.
‘What are you doing here?’ Jason asks me.
‘Playing pool. Why are you two here?’
‘Nick asked us to help get stuff ready for the festival,’ Brody says. ‘Jason’s painting signs and I’m doing the wood cutouts.’
Every year we switch out the decorations for the fall festival. We make wood cutouts of cartoon characters and paint them, then set them up by the pumpkin patch. The kids love it and the parents like taking pictures of their kids next to the characters.
‘Why didn’t Nick askmeto help?’ I ask.
‘He said you’re too busy with the brewery and getting your hard cider ready.’ Jason looks over at Gina. ‘Hi, I’m Jason.’
‘I’m Gina. I’m a friend of Sawyer’s.’
‘We’re friends?’ I kid.
She shrugs. ‘I didn’t know what else to call you.’
‘Competitors?’ I look over at Jason. ‘She owns G’s.’
Jason nods. ‘The new brewery. I heard you’re getting a lot of business.’
‘It’s slowed down a little since the special ended,’ Gina says, ‘but yeah, we’re still doing well. I’ll be planning some events this fall to keep people coming in.’
‘What events?’ I ask.
She smiles at me. ‘You think I’d tell that to my competitor?’
‘We should go check it out,’ Brody says to Jason.
‘Yeah, maybe tonight.’
I’m annoyed they want to go there, but I’m not going to tell them that in front of Gina. I don’t want her thinking I can’t handle the competition. May the best man, or woman, win. If I’m not the best, that’s my fault, not hers, assuming we both play fair. I just need to make better beer than her, which I will. I’m determined to.
‘First round’s on me,’ Gina says to Jason and Brody. ‘Just find me when you get there and I’ll get you each a beer.’
‘Will do. Thanks!’ Jason says, smiling at her like he wants to date her. It’s not going to happen. If anyone’s going to date her, it’ll be me, but I can’t. She’s my competition. It’s a conflict of interest.
‘We should get going,’ I say.
‘It was nice meeting you guys,’ Gina says as we leave.
‘You too.’ Jason gives her that flirty smile again while Brody heads to the kitchen.
‘Your brothers are nice,’ Gina says as we go outside.
