Page 3 of Protect My Heart
She sits back, that intoxicating smile still on her face. ‘What a small world. Nora was just telling me about the orchard and here I am, talking to the owner. Well, not the owner but the owner’s son.’
‘You should come to Haydon Falls sometime,’ I say, alreadywanting to see her again after tonight. ‘The orchard isn’t open in the winter, but you could check out the town.’
‘I might just do that. Nora said it’s adorable with all the cute little shops and restaurants. And she mentioned they have a new microbrewery.’
‘Kanfield Brewery. My brother, Sawyer, owns it. And his girlfriend owns G’s, the brewery just outside of town.’
Mia laughs. ‘Does your family own the whole town?’
‘No, just the brewery and the orchard. And Brody, my younger brother, has a snowplowing and lawn mowing business. He’s also getting into renovating houses. I come from a family of entrepreneurs. I’m the only one who took a different path.’
‘Why is that?’
I shrug. ‘I just always wanted to teach. Well, actually I wanted to play baseball, but when that didn’t work out, I went into teaching. I’m also the baseball coach.’
‘Hope you weren’t talking about me,’ Chuck says with a laugh as he joins us back at the table, a drink in his hand.
‘Jason was just telling me about his job,’ Mia says.
‘I’d tell you about mine, but you probably don’t want to hear about pouring concrete,’ Chuck says before taking a swig of his drink. ‘So where are you staying tonight?’
‘With a friend,’ Mia answers. ‘She’s picking me up after the reception.’
‘I got a room here at the hotel.’ He winks at her. ‘Just saying.’
‘Jason, would you like something from the bar?’ Mia asks as she hurries to get up.
‘Yeah. Let’s go.’
‘I thought you didn’t want anything,’ Chuck says as we leave.
‘I was hoping he’d get the hint by now that I’m not interested,’ Mia says, holding onto my arm as we walk.
‘We might have to step up our efforts,’ I say.
‘How?’
We stop as we reach the bar. There’s a line with three couples ahead of us.
‘What if I did this?’ I take Mia’s hand as we stand side-by-side, facing the line.
‘I’d be okay with that.’ She glances at me. ‘And maybe you could put your arm around me when we’re sitting at the table.’
‘I could do that,’ I say, trying to hold back my smile. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I think Mia and I might be seeing each other after tonight. We just met and we’re already hitting it off.
‘What would you like?’ I ask, getting out my wallet as we reach the front of the line.
‘Oh, I’ll get it,’ she says, opening her phone case where she has some money stashed.
‘I’m your date. I think that means I get to buy you a drink.’
She smiles and closes her phone case. ‘I’ll have an old fashioned.’
‘An old fashioned.’ I eye her, feeling this immense amount of curiosity for a girl I just met. I want to know everything about her.
‘Did you think I’d say wine?’ she asks.
‘I wasn’t sure. I tend to date women who drink beer, but that’s probably because we always end up going to my brother’s brewery.’
