I hung a towel off my shoulder and cleared some glassware from the bar before running it through our sanitizing station. “Yep, numbers are great. Lou did a lot of work for this one.”
Sully turned and leaned a hip against the bar to watch me. “You and Ivy did more than a little, Jake.”
My gaze immediately searched the bar, looking for her. The bookstore was open tonight, of course, but she was taking the early shift and then Nic was taking over with a high school worker for the second half of the evening. She should be here anytime, and I was getting impatient.
“Lou truly did the bulk of the work,” I replied to Sully while I searched the crowd. “Ivy and I just confirmed numbers, and she hit the cesspool known as social media.”
Sully chuckled. “Yeah, but that cesspool brings in new customers. See the evidence in front of us.” He glanced around. “Where’s Ivy? Mags said she was coming here tonight.”
I wiped down a glass, then another, fighting the urge to pull out my phone to check and see if Ivy had texted yet. “Coming when Nic relieves her. Mags staying home?”
“Yep.” Sully didn’t resist the urge and pulled out his phone, clearly looking for a message from Maggie. “Says she is officially exhausted.”
“Her school’s on break in what, two weeks? Think she’ll make it?” I began to ask when I heard Max’s voice.
“Beer me,” he said from across the bar where he stood with Emma and another guy I knew I’d met before but struggled to place. Sully moved around the bar to greet the group.
“Harp,” I nodded in his direction. Looking to Emma who was pulling back from a hug from her brother, I teased. “You couldn’t convince Mags tonight?” Emma had been working on what she called Maggie’s hermit-like ways as the pregnancy went on and Maggie’s belly grew.
Emma laughed. “I gave her a rest tonight. The end of the week makes her want to crash in a normal year. Cooking this baby is a lot of work.” Glancing at the guy next to her, she waved in my direction. “Nate, do you know Jake Spencer? He and Sully are partners here at the brewery.”
I glanced to Emma’s side and saw Nate Roberts, the librarian that had joined her at the Ryan Library this fall. “Hey, Nate.”
Nate greeted me then nodded as Sully offered to get him the new IPA that he’d just passed to Max.
Nate had joined us for drinks once or twice over the past month as we got to know him better. Good guy. His grandparents had lived in Highland, but he’d moved to Chicago for a bit, just coming back this fall when he’d inherited their place.
“You feeling more settled here? Still haven’t seen you in the brewery much over the past few weeks.”
Nate grinned. “Promise I will be one of your loyal customers. Still getting my feet under me at the library and some work on my place, but now that winter’s hit, I’ll be slowing down and coming in. We’ll have to do wings again soon…” His voice trailed off as he lost focus.
I followed Nate’s gaze, and at first, I thought he and I were going to need to have a discussion. He was looking at Ivy as she made her way to us through the main room. I mean, I’d give him that she was a vision. Then I noticed that his gaze was actually on the women Ivy was dragging with her toward us. I’d allow that.
Without giving the group another thought, I moved around the bar and toward Ivy. We’d stayed up for hours last night, talking, laughing, planning, kissing. Waking up with her naked body in my arms, I felt more settled than I ever remembered feeling. That feeling only increased when I stopped at the vet and picked up Chief. They said it would take weeks for his hip to heal, but reducing his activity, keeping him calm, and some medication to start would all help. Drew had stayed home with him tonight to make sure he got the rest he needed.
Life was pretty damn good.
Reaching Ivy, I stopped when she was flush against me. “Babe, you’re killing me.”
Her grin widened as her eyes blinked up in some fake innocent look. “Jake, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
I ran a finger in the neckline of the forest-green sweater she wore that dipped off a bare shoulder. Her blond curls were a loose and messy, like we’d just spent the day in bed. The sweater was over some short cream slip dress, and she had her suede boots on that went over her knees and drove me fucking crazy. I wanted the entire outfit on the floor of her bedroom twenty minutes ago. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be happening for hours, but it would be happening.
I kissed her neck and then whispered in her ear. “You’ll pay later, babe.”
She wrinkled her nose at me. “Counting on it, caveman.”
“My parents settled?” I asked. I’d texted my mom and dad this morning to tell them about the accident yesterday. Their response had been to hop in the car and drive for three hours, insisting that Addie needed them more than a babysitter tonight.
Ivy had kept Addie home from school today just to watch her, making sure all was still well. I’d been there at lunch since I brought Chief to see Addie so she’d know he was fine. The two of them had been curled up on the floor, Addie reading stories to him while Ivy and I cooked. My mom had charged into the kitchen, and Ivy took one look at Margot in mama-bear mode and had burst into tears.
Mom took it in stride, turning to Ivy and pulling her in. Eventually I’d left them there for the afternoon, knowing there was no way my mom or dad would be moving from Addie’s side.
Ivy’s eyes immediately welled up. “I still can’t believe they’re here, Jake.”
I kissed her nose. “Believe it, Ivy.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh no, where are my manners?” She turned and found the woman she walked in with talking to someone at a nearby table. “Elle?” The brunette looked at Ivy, then gave the woman she was talking with a hug, crossing to us. “Jake, Elle’s one of my tenants above the bookstore. Elle, this is Jake. My boyfriend.” I noted Ivy’s cheeks heated up at that label.
