Page 4 of Break My Heart (The Haydon Falls #2)

‘Yeah, he had a heart attack and bypass surgery. He has to take it easy, but he’s doing a lot better. Nick, my older brother, is running the orchard now.’

‘And you have the brewery. I knew it opened. I just haven’t been over there yet. I don’t go downtown much. ’

‘You should stop by sometime. I’ll even match the price. Two-dollar beers if you come in.’

‘Great! I’ll come by this week.’

I can’t believe I’m so desperate to compete with this place that I’d offer this guy $2 beers.

There’s no way I could do that for everyone and definitely not for a week.

I’ve got too much debt to pay off. How is Gina doing this?

Did her grandfather leave her with millions, or is she just taking a loss this week in order to get people in the door?

‘Smokestack Porter,’ the bartender says, dropping off Hank’s beer.

‘You keeping this one around?’ he asks her. ‘It’s my favorite. I’d hate to see it go.’

She shrugs. ‘I’m not sure yet. That’s kind of why I had the special going this week. I want to see what people around here like.’

‘I vote for keeping this one,’ he says, taking a drink. ‘It’s the best porter I’ve tasted, and I’ve had a lot.’

‘Thanks.’ She smiles. It’s the first time I’ve seen her smile. Her smile reminds me of someone, but I can’t think of who, probably because I’m too distracted by her beautiful lips.

‘How often do you plan to switch them out?’ Hank asks.

‘I haven’t decided. I’ll definitely change them for the seasons, but I might also rotate a new one in every month, just to test it out and see if people like it.’

‘Hey, have you met Sawyer?’ Hank asks, pointing at me.

‘Just now, when I served him his beer.’ She smiles at me and extends her hand. ‘Hi, I’m Gina, the owner.’

Wait—what? That’s Gina? No fucking way. That can’t be her. Last time I saw her she was short and scrawny with dark blonde hair. Then again, she was seven. It’s possible she’s changed a lot since then .

‘Gina Slater?’ I say, staring at her.

‘That’s me.’ She points to my glass, which is almost empty. ‘You want to try something else?’

‘Um, not right now,’ I say, too stunned to think about beer when my mind is still trying to wrap around the fact that this girl is Gina.

‘Sawyer owns the brewery downtown,’ Hank says.

Shit! I didn’t want her to know that. I didn’t want her even knowing I’m here, but it’s too late. The secret’s out.

Gina’s smile drops and she eyes me with suspicion, her hand going to her hip. ‘Are you here to spy on me?’

‘What? No. I just came in to get a beer.’

‘Uh huh,’ she says, like she doesn’t believe me. ‘You know, I really don’t care. I’m confident enough in my brewing skills to not be threatened by the competition. So go ahead.’ She waves her hand in the air. ‘Check the place out.’ She walks away.

‘Wait!’ I yell.

She pretends she didn’t hear me and continues to the end of the bar.

‘You know her?’ Hank asks.

‘Yeah. I knew her when we were kids. We went to camp together.’

‘I don’t think she remembers you.’

‘I don’t know how she couldn’t. All we did was fight that summer. She made my life hell. I begged my parents to let me leave, but they wouldn’t.’

‘I’m sure you’ve both changed a lot since you were kids. She probably doesn’t recognize you.’

‘She should recognize the name. There aren’t that many Sawyers around, and there was only one at that camp.’

‘Ask her if she remembers you.’

‘I was going to, but she ran off. ’

Hank checks his phone. ‘My wife just got here. We’re gonna get a table. You want to join us?’

‘No, thanks. I’m heading out.’

He gets up. ‘It was good seeing you. I’m glad your dad’s doing better. I’ll make sure to stop by your brewery sometime soon.’ He puts some money on the table and walks away. I look back and see him going up to his wife as she comes in the door.

‘Are you done?’

I turn back and see Gina holding my empty glass, her friendly smile replaced by a look of annoyance that I’m still here.

‘Actually, I think I’ll try the porter, the one Hank had.’

She stares at me a moment, almost like she recognizes me, then goes to get my beer. I watch her, still not believing she’s the girl who tortured me at camp.

‘Do you remember me?’ I ask as she sets my beer down.

‘Why would I remember you?’ she snaps. ‘We just met.’

‘No. We met before, when we were seven. At camp.’

She shakes her head. ‘Sorry, but I don’t remember.’

‘You don’t remember camp or you don’t remember me?’

‘I remember going to camp, but I don’t remember much about it. It was a long time ago.’

‘You don’t remember the competitions? The canoe races? Swim races? The pie-eating contest?’

‘Sorry, but no. I really need to get back to work. Enjoy the beer.’ She walks off, through a door to a back room.

How does she not remember me? How is that possible?

I’d understand if she couldn’t remember some of the other people at camp.

I can’t remember most of them either. But Gina and I were rivals.

We woke up every morning determined to beat each other in that day’s competition.

None of the other campers even came close to beating us.

And on the last night of camp, during the party they had around the campfire, Gina and I snuck off into the woods and I kissed her.

I thought she was pretty and I liked that she was competitive like me.

So I kissed her. It wasn’t a grown-up kiss.

It was a quick peck on the lips. I was really nervous before I did it, and when it was over, I was sure she was going to slap me so I ran away before she could.

When I got back to the bonfire, she was sitting with her friends, the girls she shared a tent with, acting like nothing happened.

She didn’t even look at me, which was good because at that point I was too embarrassed to have her look at me.

I thought if she did, she’d laugh at me or yell at me or tell everyone what I did.

That was the last time I saw her. The next morning she was gone.

Her grandpa came and got her before we’d even had breakfast. I wanted to say goodbye to her, but she left before I could.

When I got home, I missed her, which was weird because at camp I couldn’t stand her, or that’s what I told everyone, including myself.

But if I’m being honest, I kind of liked her.

I liked that she wanted to win and wasn’t afraid to compete in any of the competitions, even if it was mostly boys competing.

For years I’ve told myself I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her because she annoyed me so damn bad, but I think the real reason is because I liked her.

I thought she might feel the same way about me, but she doesn’t even remember me.