I started the day thinking I might be losing my mind, and I’m finishing it with a group of people who prove I’m not.
And I have hot, cheesy, bacon-y potato skins.
Definitely not a bad way to end the day.
17
Sylvie
By the time I’ve tasted all the beers and finished one, the potato skins have disappeared, Prudence is snoring quietly in my lap, her paws twitching as she dreams, and I’ve firmly decided that I could not have gotten luckier to land in New Hopewell.
Ghost problems notwithstanding.
I yawn, covering the giant stretch of my mouth the best I can, and Aiden nudges me.
“Come on, let’s get you home.You need your beauty rest.”
“Are you trying to call me ugly?”I ask, the comedic effect dampened by another gigantic yawn.
He laughs lightly, then tucks a stray, weirdly dried hair behind my ear.
It’s a tender touch, and the slight brush of his fingertips on my skin wakes me up more than I thought possible.
“You are not ugly, not even close.You’re beautiful.”
“I think you’ve had too many beers,” I say, trying to laugh off the compliment.
Trying to laugh off the way my body is heating all the way through, to the very tips of my toes.
“Not too many beers to lie about that.I’ll walk you home,” he says, standing quickly, offering his arm to me.Aiden’s expression is casual, like he didn’t just set my heart to racing.
Narrowing my eyes, I check out the amount of beer left on his wooden cutting board holder thing.Flight, that’s what he called it.
Well, he isn’t wrong.
“I guess when you brew the beer you don’t necessarily want to drink it all the time, huh?”
“Something like that,” he says agreeably.“I’m going to walk Sylvie home.”
“Night, y’all,” I tell everyone, trying not to read too much into him walking me home.Wanting to walk me home.Walking into my home again.
Because it’s not like it was last night.I held his wrist.
He touched my hair.
That’sdifferent.There’s a tension there now.
Or maybe it’s just too many potato skins and fried pickles and beer.
I scoop up Prudence, holding the passed out cat to my chest like a baby, then stand up carefully to avoid waking her and slip my purse strap over my shoulder.
I’m afraid if I so much as make eye contact with Tara, she’s going to make an obscene gesture again, so I give a tiny wave and practically sprint away from my new friends.
New friends.Maybe it’s the fact I’m sleepy and full of cheesy potatoes, but the phrase makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I make my way through the still busy brewery, clutching Prudence to my chest and smiling at the few people who ooh and aah over the passed out cat.
“Is she okay?”Aiden asks me, holding the door open so I don’t have to juggle her.
