“Rough day?”
Sammie hesitated, stopping before him, slipping her hands into her pockets as she tilted her head to the side. To Kieran’s surprise, she laughed, some of the tiredness melting from her frame.
“I look that bad, huh?” Sammie bumped him with a shoulder as she stepped past. “Come on, my treat.”
“I was going to get our first round.” Kieranhadbeen the one to ask her to meet him. It was the courteous thing to do.
“Dude.” Sammie leaned her forearms on the bar top, waving down the bartender. “I think I owe you a beer, considering you’re half the reason I’ll be able to afford that new window I need.”
Fair point. Kieran shrugged. “If you say so.” He scanned the tap list hanging on the wall behind as the bartender approached, a woman in her sixties with warm brown skin who smiled brightly as she stopped in front of them.
“Keg just blew for the blonde.” The bartender leaned forward, matching Sammie’s stance. “But the amber’s still going strong. New favorite with the regulars.”
Sammie glanced at Kieran. “How adventurous are you feeling?”
Her eyes pinned him, a soft smile tilting their corners, creasing the skin there. A few strands of hair fell forward, tickling her cheeks. Kieran almost reached out to push them away.
“I’ll try anything once.”
Sammie’s grin broadened. “Two ambers it is.”
As the bartender left to get their beers, Sammie hoisted herself onto one of the barstools, so Kieran did the same.
“How was work?” He scanned her face, noting the way her expression shuttered at his question.
“It was work.” Sammie shrugged. “Same shit as always.”
“I’m still looking for a brewer, you know.” The bartender had returned with their drinks, her words a trilling song as she pushed the glasses toward them.
“You want Sammie to work here?” Kieran looked around the place. It was small, much smaller than Everly’s taproom. Despitethat, the place was full on a weeknight. Not overly so, but most seats were taken, with people spilling out onto the patio listening to the band.
“I want whatever Sammie wants.” The bartender faced him fully, holding her hand out across the bar. “Zehra. You are?”
“Kieran.” He shook her hand. Zehra raised a brow in Sammie’s direction.
“I get our malt from his dad.” Sammie bumped him with her shoulder again. Kieran could still feel the contact after she leaned away, taking a long pull from her drink. “We’ve been friends since we were kids.”
“That’s sweet.” Zehra was looking between them, and Kieran got the distinct impression that she was seeing something that he wasn’t aware of. He fought the urge to scan their surroundings. “I’ll leave you two to your drinks then. Let me know if you need anything else.” And then she was gone, off down the bar to take an order from a group of five young guys that had just walked in.
“Do you want to work in a place like this?” Kieran twisted on his stool so that he was facing Sammie. She stayed turned toward the bar, both hands braced around her glass as if it were the only thing holding her in place.
“I’d love to work somewhere like this.” She still wasn’t looking at him, her eyes glued to the bubbles slowly rising in the amber liquid. “It just doesn’t pay enough.”
Kieran let that thought float in his mind. “What about with the extra you’re making now, from our videos?”
Sammie’s cheeks went pink as she ducked her head, but a tiny grin split her lips. “I don’t know, I haven’t really weighed that in yet. Right now it’s all just going toward the house. Can’t really see beyond that at the moment.”
Kieran understood the feeling. His own situation might not be the same—he wasn’t stuck at a job he disliked, rather, he wasafraid to step away from the job he loved—but he knew what it felt like to face something so seemingly insurmountable. He knew what it was like to stand before a wall that you couldn’t see past, no matter how hard you looked or how high you climbed.
“I think a place like this would suit you,” he said simply. That pulled Sammie’s full attention to him. Kieran shrugged. “It has more personality.” He held up his glass. “The beer is better.”
Sammie reached out and shoved his knee. “I know the beer is better, but you don’t have tosay it.” She was laughing, finally, the tense line of her shoulders melting away, some of the tiredness dissipating from her eyes. A storm rolling off into the distance.
Kieran laughed with her. “I didn’t mean it like that.” But how did he mean it? He took another sip of his beer. “I don’t know what’s in this, but it doesn’t taste like something I’d find at Everly. Or in the beer cave at a liquor store. It’s fun.” Kieran bumped Sammie’s knee with his own. “Like you.”
The distance between them had begun to close, though Kieran hadn’t noticed when or how. Their knees were still pressed together, both of them leaning in to hear over the low din of conversation around them. Kieran could pick out the scent of Sammie’s strawberry shampoo. Sammie watched him, a question in her eyes that he couldn’t decipher, her lips parted on a breath that seemed to hold her words back.
It would be easy, Kieran thought, to lean forward. To find out if Sammie tasted as good as she smelled. As she felt.
