Page 10 of More Than Words (Trickle Creek: The Lyons #2)

Chapter Eight

Delaney

I had a post-festival hangover. The Fall into the Plaza event had been a complete success, but spending an entire day outside on my feet peopling all day had taken its toll.

Sure, I did a good job with my customers, and I enjoyed the relationships I made with each and every one of them.

But I was an introvert at heart, and I was exhausted from the effort of being on all day.

All I wanted to do was hide under my comforter with a mug of tea and a good book and take a personal day.

Not an option when you ran your own business, so somehow I mustered up some energy and got myself down to the shop. Perhaps I wasn’t the only one with a festival hangover, because the shop stayed mercifully quiet for most of the day.

It was late in the day and I was in the back room trying to wrestle a box of new arrivals onto the bottom shelf, when I heard the bells over the front door chime with a new customer, followed by a familiar voice.

“Bookstore lady?”

A warm smile crossed my face reflexively. “I’ll be right there,” I called, brushing my hands on my jeans as I stood and stretched the kink out of my back.

I stepped into the main shop, expecting to see Quinn full of life, bouncing on her toes, eager to tell me all about the book she most certainly had just finished.

Instead, Quinn stood with her back to me, her shoulders hunched under her school backpack, her eyes downcast so I could tell she wasn’t really scanning the shelf in front of her. Her usual bounce was noticeably absent.

“Hey, kiddo,” I said, softening my voice. “How was school?”

She shrugged, but didn’t turn around.

“Everything okay?”

Finally, Quinn turned, gave a noncommittal shrug, and headed toward her usual chair in the corner without a word. No sarcastic remark. No little smile. Just a tired exhale as she flopped down and tucked her legs under her.

It was a sharp contrast to the bright and fun-loving girl from yesterday.

I walked over and crouched beside her, resting my hand on the arm of the chair. “You usually have a lot of opinions around this time of day. So this quiet version of you…it’s a little unsettling.” I tried to keep my voice light. “Did something happen at school? What’s going on?”

She let out a half-laugh, but it didn’t touch the sadness in her eyes. Whatever it was that was on her mind, I could tell it was heavy. “It’s nothing.”

“Quinn.”

She glanced at me, then at the hem of her hoodie she was worrying with her fingers. “It’s just…my mom was going to come for career day next week. She promised and everything.”

My chest squeezed. Quinn rarely mentioned her mother. “And now she’s not?” But I didn’t need to know the details to know that mother-daughter dynamics could be hard and lead to heartache. Especially for a twelve-year-old girl.

“She texted this afternoon, during last period.” She didn’t look up. “Something came up. Again.” Her voice cracked a little on the last word, and she blinked hard.

I sank onto the ottoman beside her. “I’m sorry, Quinn. That sucks.”

“It does suck.”

“It really sucks.”

Finally, she looked up and offered me a small smile before it disappeared again. “She always tells me she wants to come, but it’s like…I don’t know, something more important always comes up. A meeting. A trip. Whatever. It’s always more important than me.”

My heart cracked for this girl who deserved to be the most important thing in her mother’s life.

“I shouldn’t be surprised,” Quinn continued. “I just thought…maybe this time…”

“You were excited,” I said gently.

She nodded. “And now I don’t have anyone to come.”

“What about your dad?” Ethan did seem like the obvious choice.

“He makes beer,” she said simply. “That’s not really a school thing. And my uncles, well…everyone in town already knows that Uncle Brody runs the Peak to Path and Uncle Gray manages the hardware store—that’s so boring. And Uncle Reid…well, he’s way too big of a grump to agree to come.”

I didn’t bother hiding my smile. She was right. “And your Uncle Preston?”

“Does he even have a job?”

It was my turn to shrug.

“I’m going to be the only one there without anyone.”

I watched her shrink further into herself. “You know,” I said after a moment. “Bookstores are kind of a school thing. If you don’t think it’s too boring.”

Her head shot up. “What?”

“I mean…running a bookstore is a career. I order stock, manage inventory, handle customers and all that stuff. I don’t know what your mom does, but if you don’t think it’s too lame, I could?—”

“You’d come?” She sat up straight and pulled her shoulders back. “To career day? Really?”

“If you want me to,” I said. “You’re kind of my favorite regular.”

That got a real smile out of her.

“Thanks,” she said after a moment. “That would be really cool.”

“I’m glad you think that inventory management and fictional worlds are cool.”

That got a laugh. A real one. “The coolest.”

Her whole face softened with relief and for a moment, it was just the two of us. Me and this whip-smart, fiercely independent girl I was starting to care about more than I should.

“I’ll be there,” I told her. “Just tell me when and where.”

I gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before standing up. Before I could move behind the counter, she stopped me again.

“Hey, Delaney.”

I lifted my eyebrow in question. She rarely used my real name.

“Can you not tell my dad about this?”

I didn’t like the idea of keeping secrets from her father, but there was something in her eyes. “Why don’t you want him to know?”

“It’s just… I don’t want it to be a big thing with him and my mom.” She blew out a breath. “And, I don’t think having him come to talk about beer to a bunch of sixth graders is really the best idea.”

“No, probably not.” I chuckled. “But you don’t think he’d understand?”

Quinn shrugged. “I just don’t want him to feel like he has to fix everything all the time. I mean, I’m not a kid anymore. Besides, he has enough to worry about. He doesn’t need to be making a big deal about nothing, you know?”

I nodded. “I do.”

She pulled the sleeves of her hoodie down over her hands and mumbled, “Don’t tell him, okay?”

“I won’t,” I said. “Promise.”

She looked up at me then, her eyes shining, but a smile on her face. “Thank you.”

I winked and turned to head back toward the counter as a new customer entered the store, but the weight of the moment stayed with me.

Because saying yes to Quinn had been easy.

But walking the line between helping her out and getting too close? That was starting to feel a little bit harder every day.

Ethan

The warm, earthy smell of brewing hops filled the space. I’d moved my smaller batch brews out of the shed and into the brewery, and the new brews I’d mixed up in the tanks were ready to bottle and put into kegs.

Peaks & Brews was finally ready.

Or, almost ready.

I stood behind the bar, running my hand across the smooth, polished wood Reid had custom-made just for the space. The bar top was rustic, yet beautiful and absolutely perfect. I trailed my fingers along the newly installed tap handles, just to feel their smooth finishes one more time.

The glass on the front windows had been cleaned up, and although it was too cold now to open the doors, they would be a perfect way to bring the outside in as soon as spring rolled around again.

The signage was in place out front, and Reid had delivered the last of the tabletops yesterday. All that was left were a few final touches and one final pass with the mop before the grand opening this weekend.

“You actually did it, brother.” Brody stepped through the door with another box of pint glasses in his arms. He looked around with the quiet approval that only a big brother could hand out. “I’m impressed.”

“You doubted me?”

Brody laughed and slid the box onto the counter. “Nah. I knew the first time I tasted one of your shitty beers that you’d nail it.”

“Thanks.” I rolled my eyes. “I think.”

“You have to admit, some of your first attempts weren’t that great.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“Good thing I kept at it then?”

“Exactly,” Brody said. “Because that’s what you do. You’re not a quitter, little brother. You’ve more than proved that. And now…” He moved in a slow circle, with his arms out to encompass the space. “You’ve done it.”

“Almost.” I turned my attention to wipe down the bar. Again. “I’ll breathe easier once there’s a line out the door.”

“There will be.” Brody leaned against one of the barstools. “I know you’re planning to do kind of an inside/outside thing with the front garage door, but have you ever thought about an actual patio space out front?”

I looked up.

“It has potential.” He shrugged. “And really, a few tables out front would draw people in. Add a few lights, some plants…could be good.”

I paused, turning the idea over in my head. “Maybe.” I hadn’t thought about a patio space at all yet. It was enough to get the brewery up and going as it was. “Might give people a reason to hang out a little longer when the weather’s nice.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll think about it.” Might as well put getting a patio license on my list of things to do. I nodded, mentally adding it to the already way too long list in my brain.

Brody grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge behind the bar and twisted the cap off. “You have a big guest list for the big grand opening on Saturday?”

I blew out a breath. “Only everyone.”

“That list include Delaney?”

He said it casually, but I didn’t miss the way my brother wiggled his eyebrows.

“She said she’d try to swing by.” I shot him a look. “Why do you ask, Brody?”

He laughed, his grin slow and knowing. “Oh, only because you’ve mentioned her about ten times in the last few days.”

“I have not.”

“You have.” He stood up straight. “Just today, you talked about how much she liked the wheel you made at the fall festival.” He held out a finger.

“She did.”

“And then once about how Quinn was enjoying the books she’d picked out for her.” He held out another finger.

“She is.”

Brody grinned and added a third finger. “And then a few minutes ago, when you told me she helped you with the flyer designs.”

“Well, she did.” I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away. “I’ve been working with her. It makes sense that she’d come up.”

“Or that you can’t stop thinking about her.”

I spun around so I could glare at him. “You done?”

“Not yet.” His grin grew wider, and he laughed. “Look, man. I’m not trying to give you a hard time.”

“Could have fooled me.”

“I’m just saying…you like her.”

I couldn’t deny it. He was right. I did like Delaney. Hell, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Finally, I sighed, leaned on the bar and stared at the freshly polished taps. “Maybe I do.”

Brody didn’t say anything for a moment. “And?”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is. You like her. Ask her out.”

It was my turn to laugh. “Says you, the man who never seems to go after the woman he’s so obviously interested in.” No one really understood what was going on with Brody and Lauren, but it didn’t take a relationship expert to see that they were into each other.

“We’re not talking about me.”

“Convenient,” I muttered under my breath. “Look,” I said after a moment. “I can’t just ask her out. We’ve only barely stopped bickering every time we talk. The bookstore is right next door, and that’s not changing. I can’t afford for us to be enemies.”

“So don’t screw it up.”

“Right,” I said, more frustrated with myself than him. “But if I do, I don’t just lose a potential date. I lose a neighbor and a friend. And…”

Brody was quiet for a beat. “And Quinn?”

I nodded. “Yeah. There’s that. She likes Delaney. A lot. They have this…thing. If I tried something and it didn’t end well…I couldn’t do that to Quinn.”

Brody took a drink of his water, then set the bottle down and looked at me. “You’re a great dad, Ethan. Everyone knows that. But being a good dad doesn’t mean that you don’t get to do things for yourself, too.”

I didn’t say anything.

“I’m not telling you to be reckless,” he continued. “But if there is something between the two of you, don’t run from it just because it’s complicated.”

He wasn’t wrong. Still.

“She’ll be at the opening?” Brody asked again.

“Yeah.” I knew she wouldn’t miss it.

“Maybe it’s time to take the chance, brother,” Brody said, his voice low. “Quinn’s tougher than you think. After all, she survived you and her mother not working out.”

Dammit. He had a point.

“You’ve built something real here, Ethan,” Brody continued, slapping me on the shoulder. “You’re giving that girl the stability and the future she deserves. You should be proud of that. And maybe it’s time for you to stop assuming that everything good has to come with a risk attached.”

I didn’t respond, but simply let my brother’s words settle in.

Long after Brody took his exit, his words were still swirling around in my head. For the first time all day, my to-do list was forgotten.

All I could think of was Delaney.

And what it would be like on opening day to look up and see her watching me from across the room with that gorgeous smile on her face.

What would it be like to have that smile aimed at me?

Not as a neighbor. Not as a friend.

But something more.