2
Jacob paused in the doorway of his bedroom and smirked at his wife, Yvette.
“Please tell me that coffee is for me,” she said as she squinted at him, her brows pinched together.
“It is for you,” he said as he walked over and sat gingerly beside her. “I considered making you breakfast, but I’m guessing you’re going to need a minute to get your sea legs.”
“Oh. My. Goddess. Do not talk about food or the sea right now,” she said with a moan.
“Is it that bad?” He set the coffee mug on the nightstand and ran a soft thumb over her forehead.
“Yes. Abby makes strong margaritas, and all I had for dinner was a pastry.” She pushed herself up so that she was leaning against the headboard. “Next time remind me that I’m not twenty-two anymore.”
“You still look twenty-two,” he said.
“You’re a liar. And stop flashing those dimples at me. You’re annoyingly handsome this morning while I’m sure I look like a troll.” She reached for the coffee and let out a contented sigh when she realized he’d made her a latte. “Annoying, but a god among men.”
Jacob chuckled softly. “A god might be a little much, but I’ll take husband of the year.”
“Done.” She took a long sip of the latte and let out a sigh of relief. “That’s exactly what I needed. I might actually live.”
“That’s good to hear.” Jacob leaned over and kissed her on the temple. “I’ll go make you some toast.”
“And fried eggs?” she asked hopefully. “Over easy?”
“You got it.” He was still smiling as he headed to the kitchen.
Jacob sat at his desk, staring at the blank page of chapter three of his manuscript. Even though he had an outline for the midgrade novel he was writing, he just couldn’t get this chapter started.
After years of working in the book business, Jacob had finally decided he wanted to be on the creative end instead of the retail end. And since he and Yvette had decided that he’d be the one to stay home as the primary caregiver for their kids, he finally had time to write. Or at least he did when the kids were at school and he wasn’t struggling with writer’s block.
His phone vibrated on the desk, and when he picked it up, he saw Yvette’s smiling face. “Hi gorgeous,” he said as he answered.
“That never gets old,” she said with a small sigh.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
“Much. It’s helped that it’s been really slow this morning. I was able to take it easy and knock this headache out. Brinn brought me another latte and a coffee cake from Incantation Café. I think the sugar helped.”
Jacob glanced out the window at the brilliant blue sky. “Good thing. You’ll probably be slammed this afternoon.”
“We usually are on Fridays. I just wanted to call and say hi before we get busy. And to thank you for breakfast.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” Jacob said, his chest warming with affection. “I’m happy to do it.”
“I know. That’s why you’re both the sweetest and most annoying husband in the world,” she teased. “You make me look bad.”
He laughed. “If you say so.”
Yvette blew him a kiss over the phone and then ended the call.
Jacob took another look out at the gorgeous day and decided that he needed a change of scenery. If he wasn’t feeling inspired in his office, maybe he’d do better in town. He closed his laptop, grabbed his keys, and headed for the Toyota Sequoia parked in the driveway.
Fifteen minutes later, he parked in the nearly empty parking lot of the Keating Hollow Brewery. He glanced at the time on his phone, making sure he hadn’t arrived before they opened. But when he saw it was just after noon, he frowned. Normally there’d be quite the lunch crowd by now. But considering he was going in to grab lunch and work, maybe it was exactly what he needed.
The brewery was indeed dead. There wasn’t anyone in the place except for Rhys and Hanna. Rhys, the assistant brewer, was behind the bar, and his wife, Hanna, was sitting across from him. Rhys raised his hand in greeting.
Jacob nodded to him and made his way to the bar. He took a seat next to Hanna and said, “Hey, you two. How’s it going?”
Rhys glanced around the pub and said, “Kinda slow.”
“Kinda?” Hanna asked with a snort. “I left the café early since there’s nothing to do.”
“Seriously?” Jacob asked. “Yvette said the bookstore is slow, too. Is Caltrans working on the highway or something?”
There were two ways in and out of Keating Hollow. One was the two-lane highway out to the coast, and the other was the two-lane highway up into the mountains. Hardly anyone came into Keating Hollow via the mountains. If there was a problem, it would be on the road that led to the coast.
“That’s a thought,” Rhys said. “I bet Drew would know.”
Jacob nodded and pulled out his phone to call his brother-in-law, who was the town sheriff.
“Jacob, what’s up?” Drew asked after he answered the call.
“Do you know if there’s road work on the highway from Eureka or an accident maybe that’s holding up traffic?” Jacob asked.
“Haven’t heard anything,” Drew said. Jacob heard the sound of a keyboard clacking before Drew added, “I don’t see any reports in the online system either.”
“Okay, that’s good to know.” Jacob shook his head, letting Rhys know there wasn’t any roadwork happening.
“Why?” Drew asked.
“Just wondering what’s going on. Main Street is a ghost town right now. Seems odd for this time of year, especially on a Friday.”
Drew let out a huff of laughter. “It’s likely the calm before the storm. You watch. Just because you said that, town is going to be packed to the gills this weekend. Enjoy the quiet while you can.”
“Will do.” Jacob relayed the message to Rhys and Hanna.
Hanna grimaced. “He’s probably right, and tomorrow is going to be hell.”
“But at least you’ll have a full pocketbook,” Rhys said with a wink.
“One can only hope.” Hanna picked up the burger that was in front of her and took a giant bite.
“That’s my girl,” Rhys said, egging her on.
Jacob ordered a beer and a burger of his own and then took his laptop to a table to get to work.
The change of pace did the trick, and before he knew it, he was finishing the chapter he’d had so much trouble with back in his office. He was just about to go pay his bill when Rhys yelled, “Jacob! Help!”
Jacob rushed over to the bar, where he found Rhys struggling with a tap that was gushing beer. “What can I do?” Jacob asked.
“Hold this tap up while I go shut down the keg.”
Jacob did as he was asked, doing his best to keep the tap from spewing beer. As he was standing there, a second tap started gushing. He grabbed that one, trying to get it to stop, but nothing he tried worked. “Rhys, hurry up!”
“I’ve almost got it!” Rhys called back from the nearby room that housed the kegs.
“Rhys!” he shouted again. Now both taps had turned into geysers, and there was nothing Jacob could do to stop the flow.
“I’ve got it!” Rhys cried as he reappeared.
But before Jacob could say anything, all the remaining taps exploded, and Jacob found himself drenched in beer from head to toe.
“Holy hell,” Rhys said as he stared in awed horror at the scene.
Jacob stopped struggling with the taps and backed away until he was no longer under the spray of beer. After wiping the liquid from his eyes, he glanced around at the destruction and just blinked.
“What the hell happened?” Clay Garrison asked when he suddenly appeared from the brewhouse behind the bar.
“The taps exploded,” Jacob said. “Do you think I could get a towel?”
“I’ll get it,” Rhys said and disappeared.
Clay stared at the destruction. “Did a witch come in and blow everything up?”
“That’s a great theory. Too bad there was no one else in here except for me and Rhys. Hanna left about a half hour ago,” Jacob said.
Clay scratched the back of his head, looking confused. “I don’t understand. Taps don’t just explode like that.”
“I don’t know, man,” Jacob said as Rhys returned and handed him a towel. “But the evidence is all over me.”
“Damn, sorry about that, Jacob,” Clay said.
“Not your fault.” Jacob quickly toweled off as much as possible and then handed the towel back to Rhys. “I’d stick around and try to help you determine a cause, but I have to go pick up the kids from school. Talk to you both later.”
“Later,” Clay said, already sounding distracted as he moved toward the taps that were now just trickling beer.
Jacob grabbed his laptop and cursed as he looked down at himself. Driving around in wet, beer-soaked clothes sounded miserable, but there was no time to go home and change.
He hurried to his SUV, jumped in, and took off toward the school. When he was only two blocks away, a siren sounded just as lights flashed behind him. “What the?—”
Jacob pulled over, expecting the cruiser to fly right by, but he was surprised when the cop car pulled up behind him.
He ground his teeth and waited for what seemed like forever for the police officer to come to his window. Jacob was about ready to jump out of the SUV to see what the holdup was when a short, skinny man with a severely receding hairline approached the window.
“You’re lucky you didn’t hit anyone the way you sped through that stop sign,” the police officer said.
“Stop sign?” Jacob asked. “What are you talking about?”
“The new one the city just put in yesterday. You just rolled right through it.” He gestured to the intersection right behind them. “That’s gonna cost ya.” The officer raised his chin and sniffed. Then he narrowed his eyes at Jacob. “Just how much beer did you have with lunch, Mister?”
“Just one. About two hours ago,” Jacob said, annoyed. “I drive this route every day to pick up my kids?—”
“Pick up your kids? No, sir. Not in your condition. Please get out of the vehicle,” the policeman ordered.
“What?”
“Sir, step out of the vehicle. Now!”
Jacob sucked in a deep breath and did as he was told. The minute he shut the Toyota’s door, the police officer slapped cuffs on him and started reading him his rights.
“Why are you arresting me?” Jacob demanded.
“For driving under the influence. Keep talking, buddy. It’s only going to get you a longer sentence.”
“You haven’t even given me a breathalyzer,” Jacob said. “You can’t arrest me.”
“I can, and I will. Now get in the cruiser.” The man pushed Jacob into the back seat of his cruiser and then jumped in, his lights and siren still going as he sped back to the police station.
Jacob was fuming but chose to keep his comments to himself. There was no point in arguing with the man. Once he was at the station, he knew his brother-in-law would straighten everything out.
When they arrived, the officer pulled Jacob from the back of the car and pushed him toward the front door. “Hurry up. The sooner we get inside, the sooner I can throw you in the drunk tank.”
“That sounds pleasant,” Jacob said dryly.
“Shut up.” The officer pulled the door open and shoved Jacob into the building.
Drew Baker looked up from a file he was studying and blinked at Jacob. “What in the world? Jacob?”
“This man recklessly ran the new stop sign, and when I pulled him over to give him a warning, he smelled of beer so badly it nearly got me drunk just breathing the air around him.”
“Because the taps blew up at the Keating Hollow Brewery, and I was trying to help Rhys before they lost all of them. I got drenched in beer, but I only drank one glass with lunch, and that was over two hours ago,” Jacob said.
“Deputy Crooks,” Drew said, narrowing his eyes at the officer still gripping Jacob’s arm. “What is this man’s blood alcohol level?”
“Well… I… I didn’t think I needed to bother with that considering?—”
“Uncuff him now, Crooks. And then go wait in my office.”
“But—”
“That’s an order, Crooks.”
The deputy grumbled under this breath while he took his time unlocking the handcuffs. But then he slunk away, looking like a dog with his tail between his legs.
“Drew, I need to call Yvette. The kids are waiting to be picked up from school,” Jacob said.
“I’ll have Noel get them,” Drew said as he held his phone up to his ear. “She’ll be there picking up Daisy and Poppy anyway, and I want to hear exactly what happened today.”
Jacob shrugged and then slumped into a hard plastic chair. “Sure. Why not.”
Drew got Noel on the phone, and she promised to pick up Jacob and Yvette’s kids and to call Yvette to let her know what happened.
“Tell her thanks,” Jacob mumbled, more miserable than ever in his still-damp clothes.
Once he’d finished the call, Drew sat next to Jacob and said, “Sorry about that. Crooks is new.”
“He needs to be put on leave until he figures out how to do his job,” Jacob grumbled.
“Believe me, he will be reprimanded,” Drew said. “Now come with me. I want to make an official report.”
Jacob sighed and followed his brother-in-law, wondering when exactly the day had turned to crap. Right about the time he’d had a beer shower, he decided, chuckling to himself.
“What’s so funny?” Drew asked.
“The term beer shower ,” Jacob said. “There was a time in my life when I’d have welcomed such an event. But today? Now I’m running carpool and writing at a pub instead of holding up the bar.”
Drew smiled at him as they took seats in his office. “One day you’re just an average dude with no responsibilities and a fridge full of beer, and the next you’re running carpool.”
Jacob laughed. “True. Who could have imagined?”
“Not me, but here we are.” He pulled out a notebook and said, “Okay, tell me everything.”
Jacob took a deep breath and dove in.