Page 98 of Break My Heart
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‘Ready for this to be over?’ Jason asks as we watch all the couples dancing. I was dreading this part of the festival, knowing it would make me miss Gina. I wasn’t wrong. I miss her like crazy.
‘The dance? Yeah. I don’t even know why I’m here. I think I’ll head home.’
‘I meant the festival. Every year I forget how much work it is.’
‘I thought it was easier this year. Nick had everything running smoothly. This is the best the festival’s ever been. Don’t tell Dad that. I don’t want him to feel bad.’
‘He wouldn’t. He admitted Nick did a better job than he did. Dad’s not good with stuff like this. He’s better at the orchard stuff.’
‘Are you going to be here tomorrow?’
‘Just for a couple hours. Nick said he wouldn’t need much help since it’s a short day.’
‘I think I might skip it then, spend time at the brewery.’
Tomorrow’s the last day of the festival. It’s a short day. We’ll close up around five, when most of the tourists head home.
On Monday, Nick will start getting ready for the cider competition, which is next weekend. In addition to the competition, we’ll have food trucks here and the grills going. People who don’t care about the competition, which is most everyone other than the judges and contestants, will come here for the food. It’ll be another big weekend at the orchard, one I was hoping to spend with Gina.
Now I just want the competition to be over. I’m hoping to win, but I’m not counting on it. I’ve spent a long time making my hard cider the best I could, but I still don’t think it’s good enough. I’m starting to accept that I’m still learning this stuff and need a few more years before I can compete with breweries in bigger cities.
Gina’s the reason for that, for me admitting I need to keep learning and getting better. If she’d never come to town, I’d assume my beers were good because people were buying them. But the truth is, the locals would buy my beer just to support me, because I’m a Kanfield.
I don’t want my name to be the reason people buy my beer. Iwant them to buy it because it’s damn good, better than other breweries. Gina pushed me to do better, and for that reason, I’m glad she came to town. I just wish I’d never gotten involved with her. Finding the girl you want to be with, only to lose her, is worse than never having her at all.
Chapter 22
Sawyer
‘Go ahead and take your break,’ I say to Wade as I go behind the bar.
‘Thanks, man. I’ll be back in 15.’
As he leaves, I grab a bar mop to wipe down the counters. Wade’s a great bartender, but he’s not good at cleaning up.
‘Sawyer,’ Tom says as he gets up from the bar to leave. ‘Good luck tomorrow!’
‘Thanks. You gonna be there?’
‘No, I gotta work.’ He drops some money on the bar. ‘See ya later.’
‘Yeah, see ya.’ I watch as he walks to the door. Tom comes here a few times a week and always acts like he wants us to be friends, but there’s just something about him that bothers me.
‘Sawyer!’ Mr. Hendrick yells. He was my high school algebra teacher. He’s retired now. ‘Good luck at the competition!’
‘Thanks!’ I give him a wave as he goes out the door.
People have been wishing me luck all week. The hard cider competition is tomorrow and people around town are placing betsthat I’ll win. Nobody thinks Gina will win, but I think she could. If her hard cider is as good as her beer, she has a better chance of winning than I do.
‘Give me the pale ale,’ a guy says as I’m cleaning the area around the taps.
I turn around and see my dad there. ‘Hey. This is a surprise.’
He chuckles. ‘Your mom said I was hanging around the house too much. She sent me to town to get me out of her hair for an hour or two.’
‘Don’t you have to be getting ready for tomorrow?’
