Page 15 of On the Rocks

It was the first time I felt the high of my own personal drug — helping others. It was the spark that gave way to a flame that burned brightly in me ever since. I loved to volunteer, to give my time to people, organizations, causes that mattered to me.

I’d dragged Annie with me, and though she hadn’t taken to it quite as quickly, she’d made it her home just as much as I had. And now, she was a full-time employee.

“Well, do you want me to give you the run down or do you just want to frolic on your own?” Annie asked when the young family she’d checked in made their way down the hall to their mother’s room.

“I’ll meander, make myself useful.”

She leaned back in her chair, one hand soothing her stomach. “Okay. Well, when you’re done meandering, you owe me a lunch and a thorough run down of all the wedding planning I know your mother has you doing.”

I chuffed. “We’ll need more than one lunch break for that.”

“I can’t believe it’s so soon.”

“Six weeks from Sunday,” I murmured, rocking in my own chair.

Annie watched me. “That’s not the best reaction to have when you’re six weeks from getting hitched.”

I sighed, shaking my head before I let it fall back against the head rest of the chair. “I reallyamexcited — to be married, to start a family, to be by Anthony’s side as he makes his dreams come true. I just…”

My words faded, because it felt selfish and ungrateful to follow them up with something as petty asI just wish I could travel or get my degree before I get married.This was what so many girls in this town dreamed of, it was whatIhad dreamed of — I’d just found it sooner than I imagined.

And I loved Anthony. I was lucky to have found him at all.

I sighed in lieu of finishing my sentence, and Annie just continued rubbing her stomach.

“I know,” she said. “I’m sure wedding planning with a family like yours is a lot of pressure and a lot of stress.”

I lifted my head again and nodded rather than telling her my true feelings on the subject. “Yeah. But, I’m lucky to have parents who are paying for such an extravagant wedding, and to have a fiancé like Anthony. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better match for me, for my family.”

“Mm-hmm,” Annie agreed, but the way she watched me, I knew I’d let my façade slip. She saw it, what I was trying to hide — not just from her, but from myself. “Speaking of wedding planning, I heard you got Anthony the classic wedding gift.”

I frowned. “How did you possibly hear about that? I was at the distillery for all of an hour.”

Annie scoffed. “Come on, like you don’t already know this town is filled with bored old women who have nothing better to do than gab.” She paused, biting back a smirk before she waggled her brows at me. “I heard something else, too.”

“What? That I tasted the whiskey? Like no one in Stratford has ever had a drink underage.”

“Oh no, it wasn’t the barrel tasting making the gossip rounds,” she said. “It was the certain barrelraiserwho hosted the tasting that everyone wanted to talk about.”

My jaw dropped, foot stopping where it had been rocking me gently in the office chair. “Noah? What were they saying?”

“Oh, not much,” Annie said, glancing at her cuticles before she peeked at me again. “Just that he was looking hot as sin when he walked you into that warehouse, and that you looked a little flustered when the two of you came out.”

My cheeks burned, the memory of Monday afternoon with Noah making my skin crawl in a way I wasn’t sure how to decipher.

Annie shot up, eyes widening. “Wait, is there a littletruthbehind this rumor?”

“There’s notruthin this town, period.” I stood abruptly, making myself a volunteer name tag and smacking it on my blouse. “People are ridiculous.”

“What happened? Did he get all up in your space? Did he give you that sexy Becker smirk?” She gasped. “Oh, my God. If he kissed you I willdie.”

“He didn’t kiss me, for Christ’s sake. He showed me the barrel, and the most scandalous thing that happened was he let me taste a single drop of whiskey.”

“Off his tongue?”

“I’mengaged,Annie!”

She threw her hands up. “You say that like a Becker brother would even pause at that fact before they planted a hot one on you.”