Page 17 of Merry with a Brewmaster
WELLS: I know
VIENNA: Tell Saige not to worry about Saturday. I think there’s a festival or something this weekend
WELLS: Thank you—I’m going to try and swap with someone so I can take Sunday off
VIENNA: I know you want to spend the time with her but if you can’t get someone to cover you I don’t mind staying with her
VIENNA: I’d take your bar shift but I only work the floor
WELLS: I know and thank you—seriously—you’ve saved us so many times already
VIENNA: Haven and I are besties so it’s not a hardship
I stareat the message before letting my eyelids flutter closed as the magnitude of this day crashes over me.
Saige’s hand on mine startles me. Her expression is sympathetic, and I appreciate that I’m not in this alone.
“I told you I’d help you when you moved here. And even though you have a history with Vienna, she’s stepped up well beyond what you hired her for.”
“I know.”
She nods and dives back into her lunch, mine already sitting heavy in my stomach at having to tell my daughter that Kim is too busy to see her.
“It’s going to be fine.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You don’t have to,” Saige replies as she points a French fry at me. “but it’s going to be great. Haven and I will paint our nails, watch a movie, and order in dinner from that Thai place she likes.”
“You’re the best.”
“I really am.”
VIENNA
I somehow madeit through the rest of the night with Haven without cursing her mother. Because boy, did I want to.
Since I’d been nannying, Kim hadn’t been around at all. Haven had brushed it off, but I couldn’t imagine it would last forever.
I’m so distracted, I miss Wells coming down the stairs from saying goodnight to his daughter.
“Thank you,” Wells says quietly as he leans against the counter next to the sink. His hands are in his pockets, but he rolls his shoulders back as he sighs. “I’ve been trying so hard to find some kind of balance since the divorce and then with Kim being so inconsistent with Haven.”
“It’s understandable that you’d have to adjust to your new dynamic. You went from having a partner to being a single dad.” Turning the water off, I lean my hip against the sink and face him. “It’s a lot for anyone.”
“That’s not what I mean. I mean, yes, that’s hard too, but I guess I just looked past the fact that Kim never really wanted to be here. And hell, you come in and practically hate me but stillwantto be here.”
I open my mouth to tell him I never hated him, but the words won’t come out because he’s right—I want to be here.
“I do want to be here.”
“I know and I appreciate the hell out of you. I’m just so fucking in awe of you and what you’ve done for Haven. You moved in—didn’t know her—and all of a sudden you’re on the grasshopper?—”
“Cricut,” I correct, earning an annoyed glare.
“Whateverit is—you made her entire soccer team shirts with their names on them and brought in cupcakes for her class party and you’re teaching her how to cook and she asked for a sewing machine for Christmas and I can barely sew a button on.”
“Wells…” I whisper, my heart nearly beating out of my chest.
