Page 44 of Break My Heart (The Haydon Falls #2)

December

Sawyer

‘I’ll take the Naughty Nitro,’ I say, sitting down at the bar, my eyes locked on the sexy brunette filling a glass from the tap. Wearing tight black jeans and a tiny white shirt, every guy in here has his eyes on her. But I’ll be the one taking her home tonight.

‘Hey, babe.’ She turns to me and smiles. ‘You sure you want a drink? I thought we were leaving.’

‘We are. I just like saying Naughty Nitro.’

‘Other guys must like it too because it’s selling like crazy.’

The Naughty Nitro is one of Gina’s new Christmas beers.

She’s been experimenting with nitro beers since last summer and finally found one she liked enough to serve.

It’s really good, and not something Kanfield Brewery serves.

I agreed not to, just like she agreed not to serve a pumpkin ale during the holidays.

Instead she made a gingerbread stout, which my mom loves.

Gina and I decided that our breweries would both benefit from not serving similar beers.

If people want a nitro, they come here. If they want a pumpkin ale?

They go to Kanfield. A gingerbread stout?

They go to G’s. We’ve been doing this since G’s reopened and it’s worked out great.

We’re both making a good profit and people choose which brewery to go to based on the beer rather than who owns the brewery.

There’s still a few townies, mostly old guys, who will only go to my place and won’t step foot in Gina’s, but most people are happy to support both breweries, especially after my family and I spread the word around town that the rumors online about G’s weren’t true.

When a Kanfield talks, people listen, so it didn’t take long for people to accept Gina and return to G’s after it opened.

Tom’s print shop closed the same week G’s reopened.

Tom’s cousin was running the place while Tom dealt with the charges against him, but nobody went there and the print shop had to close.

Tom’s still waiting to find out what’s going to happen to him, but the last I heard, he could be going to prison for several years.

Doing that much damage to a place is considered a felony, something I doubt he considered when he did it.

As for Wade, I never saw him again after that day I fired him.

He probably went back to his old job in Eau Claire.

‘Lexi, can you take over?’ Gina asks as Lexi cleans off a table.

‘I got it,’ Aria says, appearing from the back. ‘Hey, Sawyer.’

‘Hey.’ I smile at her. ‘I like what you did with the place.’

‘Thanks! I’m really into Christmas.’

Aria hung colored lights along the back of the bar and the ceiling and put a Christmas tree in the corner.

‘I’m going to head out,’ Gina tells her. ‘But call if you need anything.’

‘I will.’ Aria goes over to a guy who just sat down at the end of the bar.

‘I just need to grab my stuff,’ Gina says to me. ‘Then we can leave.’

Gina and I are going to the town Christmas tree lighting, then to my parents’ house for the annual Kanfield Orchard chili dinner.

It’s a tradition my parents started before I was even born.

Every year after the tree lighting, people come to the orchard for chili, cornbread, and cookies.

It’s to raise money for charity. The charity changes every year.

This year we’re raising money to get a new wheelchair for Angie, my friend Eric’s little sister.

She needs a new one, but the kind she uses costs $15,000, which her parents can’t afford and insurance won’t cover.

‘Before you run off,’ I say, ‘I’ve got something for you.’ I slide an envelope over to Gina across the bar.

‘What’s this?’

‘Open it and find out.’

She looks in the envelope. ‘A key?’

‘It’s for my apartment.’

She holds it up. ‘Why do I need a key? You’re always there when I come over.’

‘But if I’m not, you need to be able to get in.’

‘Okay.’ She slips the key in her pocket, not getting the significance. ‘I’ll be right back.’

She’s gone before I can explain. Moments later, she returns and we go outside to the street.

‘Gina, it’s more than that.’ I take her hand, stopping her.

She turns to me. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘The key. I gave it to you because .?.?.’ I take a breath. This is a huge deal for me. After Kendall moved out, I didn’t think I’d be ready for a girl to live with me again for a very long time. ‘I’m asking you to live with me.’

Gina’s eyes widen. ‘You’re what?’

‘I want you to move in with me. I know my place is small, but we don’t have to stay there. We can get a different place, maybe even rent a house.’

She slowly smiles. ‘You really want me to live with you? ’

‘You’re there all the time anyway, and I like it better when you’re there. And this way, I’ll have a place to eat. You can bring over that table I made you so we don’t have to eat on the couch.’

‘Is that the real reason you want me to move in? To get extra furniture?’

I pull her into my arms. ‘I want you to move in because I love you and want us to be together.’ I kiss her. ‘So what do you say?’

She smiles. ‘How soon can I move in?’

We talk about it and decide she’ll move in tonight. A lot of her stuff is already at my place. We can get the rest of her things later. The lease on her apartment ends this month. She’s been looking for a new place but hasn’t found one. I think she was secretly hoping I’d ask her to move in.

‘Sawyer, look!’ Gina points to a church on our way to the tree lighting. We left early so we could walk around the downtown and see all the shops decorated for Christmas.

‘What am I looking at?’

She points to a sign in front of the church. ‘A pie-eating contest! It starts in ten minutes!’ She turns to me and grabs my arm. ‘Let’s do it!’

‘Now? We’ll be covered in pie.’

‘I’m sure they have bibs or something to cover our clothes.’

‘Didn’t you tell me a few months ago that we’re too old for this?’

‘Maybe, but I changed my mind. C’mon!’ She gets that competitive look on her face. ‘We haven’t competed in forever.’

‘Because it always leads to us fighting.’

‘But now we’re dating and the fighting will lead to us making up.’ She gives me her flirty smile.

‘Okay, fine,’ I say with a sigh. ‘But when you walk out of there with your face covered in pie, remember that you’re the one who suggested this. ’

We go in the church and are greeted by Mabel Andover, an old lady who worked at the library when I was growing up. She was old back then. She must be close to 90 now.

‘Hey, Mrs. Andover,’ I say to her. ‘We’re here for the pie-eating contest.’

‘Down the hall and to your left.’ She winks at me. ‘You get more handsome every time I see you.’

‘Thanks,’ I say with a laugh. ‘This is my girlfriend, Gina.’

Mabel smiles at her. ‘You were at the craft fair with Martha.’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ Gina says, smiling back. ‘I helped her set up the desserts.’

‘We should hurry up,’ I say to Gina. ‘It’s starting soon.’

We go down to a room that has about 30 people lined up at tables with pies in front of them. They’re miniature pies and all appear to be pumpkin.

‘Will you be joining us?’ a lady asks, walking up to Gina and me.

‘Yes, we’re entering the contest,’ Gina says.

‘Wonderful!’ The lady smiles. ‘I’m Eleanor. Have a seat. We’ll be starting in a few minutes. Oh, and it’s free, but we’d love a donation. The money will go to the food pantry here at the church.’

‘I got it,’ I tell Gina as I take a twenty from my wallet and drop it in the donation box.

We take two open seats at the end of a long table.

‘Hope you’re hungry,’ I whisper to Gina.

‘Hungry or not, I’m beating you.’

‘Yeah, okay.’ I chuckle, looking at her tiny body and flat stomach. There’s no way she could fit more than two pies in there. I could easily eat six or seven, maybe more.

Eleanor stands in front of the tables with a timer in her hand. ‘We’ll begin shortly. Now remember, you must completely finish one pie before starting another. Only clean pie tins will be counted as pies eaten. Any questions?’

‘What do we get if we win?’ the teenage boy next to Gina asks.

‘Haydon Falls Pizza has generously donated a $50 gift card to the first place winner,’ Eleanor says.

‘And Emmy’s Bakery has donated a $25 dollar gift card to the second place winner.

The third place winner will receive a free bouquet of flowers from Haydon Falls Florist. Now, if that’s it for questions, we’ll get started.

’ She waits a moment, then starts her timer. ‘You may begin.’

Gina and I grab the large serving spoons in front of us and start shoveling pie in our mouths. The teenage kid beside Gina is using his hands, putting half the pie in his mouth at once. If he keeps that up, he’s going to win. Even I can’t eat that fast.

‘This is harder than I remember,’ Gina says, or I think that’s what she said. It’s hard to tell with her mouth full of pie.

I’m already on my second and she’s still finishing her first. She notices me beating her and hurries to start on her next pie.

I look at her as I shovel spoonfuls of pie in my mouth, trying not to laugh at the panic in her eyes, knowing I’m going to beat her.

Her cheeks are all puffed out, full of pumpkin pie she can’t swallow fast enough.

After three minutes, the timer goes off. Gina drops her spoon and falls back in her chair, her mouth still full of pumpkin pie.

I wipe my face with the napkin and smile at her. ‘You good?’

She shakes her head.

I laugh. ‘Not quite the same as when we were seven.’

‘Looks like we have our winner!’ Eleanor says, walking up to the teenage boy next to Gina. He ate seven pies and was half done with an eighth. His hands and face are covered in pie filling and when he smiles I see more of it stuck in his braces .

‘Anyone make it to six?’ Eleanor asks.

A girl around 15 waves her hand in the air. As Eleanor goes over to her, the girl points to the teenage boy who won. ‘Did you check his pie tins? Were they clean?’

‘They were,’ Eleanor says.