Page 11 of More Than Words (Trickle Creek: The Lyons #2)

Chapter Nine

Delaney

T he grand opening of Peaks I laughed. “You don’t say.”

“It’s true.” She tried and failed to look serious. “But with beer like this, I have no choice but to change my mind.”

I watched as she took another sip of her drink before I asked, “So, it’s just the beer that changed your mind then?”

Delaney looked up at me, all traces of humor gone as she assessed me. She opened her mouth to respond, but just then, someone tapped on my shoulder. One of my newly hired bar staff, flushed and flustered and very obviously upset about something.

“Sorry to interrupt, Ethan, but we’ve got a problem with one of the CO2 lines. There’s a jam somewhere.”

Of course there was.

I turned back to Delaney. “I should…just give me a minute?”

She nodded and took a step back. “Go.” She smiled. “Save the beer.”

I watched her for another second before ducking behind the bar and into the back room.

The situation turned out to be a fairly easy fix, but by the time we got it cleaned up and I came out again, she was gone.

I scanned the room, looking for her, but there was no sign of her.

“Mr. Lyons?”

I turned to see my latest well-wisher, only to find Quinn’s teacher, Mrs. Kelly.

“Hi there. Thanks for coming.”

“Are you kidding? My husband and I are always looking for new places to try for date night. Congratulations on such a great turnout. I also wanted to thank you, or maybe I should thank Delaney.”

I blinked. “Thank her? For what?”

She gave me a sideways look. “For career day yesterday. Quinn was so proud to have her there. She gave a great presentation on how exciting it was to be a bookseller and introduced Delaney. And Delaney did such a good job, too. The kids loved her.”

Career day?

Delaney?

My heart stalled.

“Oh,” I said, managing to recover from my shock a little. “I didn’t know…Quinn didn’t mention it.”

Neither did Delaney.