Page 12 of The Havenport Collection

Liam

I don’t know why I was keeping her here.

She deserved to go home. But I wanted more time with her.

And I didn’t want to snap at her like I did earlier.

I needed to make amends for last night. How could I assume she wanted to date me?

I wasn’t that guy. I wasn’t a cocky asshole who assumed all women wanted a piece of me.

My mother got in my head and I said something boneheaded.

She seemed like she had forgiven me tonight, but I wanted to make sure.

Cece slumped into the chair and undid her ponytail. I was mesmerized as her wild curls cascaded over her back. I tried to hide my smile. “What can I pour you?”

“The raspberry sour, please. I love it.”

“I could tell. You sold the shit out of this beer tonight.”

“It’s just like nothing I’ve ever tasted before.”

“Well, thank you for that compliment.” I winked at her, biting my tongue to keep the “that’s what she said” from flying out of my mouth like a total perv.

“I’m serious. It’s complex and interesting and tart and fun and it’s a pleasant surprise, that’s all.” She smiled and my heart soared. I liked making people happy. It probably sounds silly—maybe it’s a youngest child thing.

“Well, enjoy it. We only brewed it for the summer.” Sours were popular in the summertime. They could be hard to brew and get right. I wasn’t brewing juice, so it had to be perfect. We had spent months figuring out this raspberry, and Cece was right—it really was something special.

She seemed upset. “You aren’t going to make any more?”

“Not until next summer. We have a few kegs left and then it’s done until next year.”

“What about a fall sour?”

“Our fall seasonal is a pumpkin IPA.”

“Doesn’t everyone do pumpkin beer in fall?”

“Yes. Because it sells really well.” I was getting annoyed. I was the beer expert here.

She pushed her hair behind her ears. “Pumpkin is pretty basic right now. Maybe something unexpected. Something fruity and crisp, yet seasonal too.”

Normally, I would get furious with anyone who tried to tell me how to run my business.

But Cece was genuinely brainstorming and I liked it.

Her mind was whirring around and I could see her thinking critically about beer and the marketplace and our business.

Although I hated being told what to do, I was at least marginally interested in what she had to say.

“Okay. So I’m sure your pumpkin beer is great. But maybe something else, like a super limited edition that we can promote on Instagram or at a local festival. Something small batch and really unique.” She got up and started pacing around, sipping her beer and thinking.

I liked this idea. She was right. From a marketing perspective, it would be great to have something exclusive and special that we could promote. She was already thinking like a marketer and I respected her for it.

“What about cranberry?” I suggested.

“Could you do a cranberry sour?”

The wheels in my brain were turning, and I could already taste this hypothetical beer.

Something about her brought out my creativity as well.

“Something cloudy and tart with maybe hints of some kind of fall spice, like nutmeg? So you get the fall seasonal but as a sour—which there are far fewer of on the market.”

“Yes.” She pumped her fist. “I am envisioning a rollout campaign—we can blast social media, have an unveiling event here at the brewery when we tap the first keg, really get all the beer snobs excited.” She continued to pace, and I could see the excitement in her eyes.

I had to stop my jaw from hitting the ground.

This woman was forty-eight hours into the job and already figuring out how to brew, promote, and sell specialty beers?

I couldn’t decide if I was angry or enamored with her.

On one hand, it was actually an awesome idea.

On the other, I had devoted my entire adult life to brewing beer.

I was the expert here, but she was really onto something.

I took out my phone and started jotting down notes in my app.

She was bouncing around, so excited about this idea that I couldn’t muster up the energy to shoot her down.

“Okay. It’s a good idea. Let’s take it to the team during Monday’s meeting.

It might not be possible. I have to talk to Karl and then try to source cranberries.

” The more I thought about this, the more fun it sounded.

A special, limited edition beer? Maybe for Thanksgiving?

We could brew a small amount and then hype it up.

I jotted down some more notes in my phone.

We could divert some bandwidth to this as a special project to see if the concept could work.

As difficult as it was for me to admit, she certainly brought new energy to this place. “You may be onto something, Cece.”

She beamed at me. “I’ll drink to that.”

I held up my glass. “To a really busy and successful Saturday night and new ideas for the future.” We toasted and sipped our beers. It was nice, sitting here with her.

“So,” she said after a few minutes of silence. “If it was such a great night, why do you look like you’re going to vomit?”

“I’m just a bit stressed.”

“Care to elaborate?”

I hesitated for a moment. I never talked about this stuff.

Not even with Callum, who knows the full extent of my financial situation.

I wasn’t one to open up and talk about my feelings, but there was something about Cece that made me feel like trying.

“This place is doing great, but not great enough. The overhead for a brewery is so high, and I’m struggling to pay back some of the loans I took out to open the place.

It’s not enough to brew amazing beer. We need gimmicks, and additional revenue streams, and all kinds of shit to make money.

” I took a big gulp of my beer to stop from saying more.

Why was I pouring my heart out to this girl?

I needed to get it together. “Sorry. I don’t want to dump this all on you. ”

She looked at me curiously. “I get it. It must be a ton of pressure to do this. Lots of people depend on you, and you are out here living your dream every day, but you have to live with the constant stress.”

“Yeah.”

“I would be terrified. But I think you’re really brave.”

“Ha! Brave? Not exactly.”

“No, I mean it.” She leaned forward, and her face was illuminated by the firelight. She looked so beautiful. “You are only what, thirty-two?”

“Yeah.”

“And you had a dream and you worked for it and made it happen. I don’t even know what my dreams are, and I certainly could never just start from scratch and build something like this.”

“I appreciate that. But dreams can be terrifying. Because if it doesn’t work out, then what? If I pour all my passion and my soul into something and then it goes nowhere, what does that make me?”

“It makes you brave. And it makes you human.”

I was emotionally vomiting all over her and I knew I would live to regret it. “Most days I am terrified that I am screwing everything up and that I am in over my head.”

“You are not. You are crushing it. Look at this place.” She gestured around.

“Thanks. But things are not as great as they look. I need to pick things up, get more revenue, and take this place to the next level if it’s going to last. I just need some fresh ideas.

Frankly, that’s why I hired you. Because I work so much and I live in survival mode, I can’t get creative about things.

I can’t see the forest through the trees.

As much as I can’t really afford to pay you what you are worth, I need someone to take some of my workload so I can actually think and figure out this mess I’ve got myself and my business into. ”

She leaned forward in her chair and covered my hand with hers.

Her hand was warm and soft and looked so small in my calloused bear paw.

But it felt nice. “Take a breath, Liam. I can help.” She was so kind and disarming, and I just needed someone to talk to.

I walked around like a volcano ready to explode with anxiety most days.

It felt nice to share it with someone and have them believe in me.

“I may have sold drugs, but I was damn good at it. And your beer is amazing and this space has a ton of potential. Right now I have, like, five hundred ideas of how we can get more people in the taproom. You have a whole commercial kitchen you don’t use.

And that patio area? We can dress that up and make it an amazing place to hang out. ”

“I know, this place is awesome. But we don’t have the staff to run it and do all this extra stuff.”

“You don’t need extra staff, kid, you have me now.” She looked at me with those soft brown eyes, and I really started to feel a bit better, like I may actually have a chance.

“So you want to stay and help me figure this out?” I didn’t know what I was asking her, but I felt like I couldn’t do it without her. I didn’t want to face the future without this creative, spunky woman by my side.

“I have to be back in New York in January when my subletter moves out. But I’m here until then.

The past couple of days have been the most fun I’ve had at work in years.

And I get to wear sneakers. Do you have any idea how much heels suck?

” She laughed, and I felt warm all over.

I didn’t know from experience, but I was willing to bet that yes, heels did in fact suck.

“I can stay here with you until the end of the year. So we have four months to sell the shit out of your beer and your brewery and your vision.”

I couldn’t believe I had just spilled all that to her.

I didn’t even tell my family about this stuff.

I was a one-man show, and I took care of my own problems. But sitting here, talking to Cece and brainstorming about my business, my passion, I felt more relaxed and content than I had in years.

I barely knew her, but somewhere deep inside I felt like she just might be the thing this place needed. She might just be the thing I needed.