“Wanna have a tasting?” I ask, aware I’m ignoring two possible customers in front of me. Damn. I still gotta work. “Haven, you mind taking over for me? Excuse me,” I say to them.
Without missing a beat, Haven switches places with me and starts chatting with the women so seamlessly they don’t have time to get irritated that I ditched them.
Clem comes over. “What goes with nachos?”
Elodie hovers behind her and glances over our selection, her eyes narrowed like she’s studying and designing recipes that would go with each spirit.
“I’ve got a few that could be considered desserts,” I say.
Clem gestures to the lineup with her fork. “I’ve gotten to taste everything. I’ll go back and see how Kinley’s doing, El. You stay.”
Elodie’s eyes go wide. “Oh, I shouldn’t.”
Clem rolls her eyes. “Of course you should. This is your first break all weekend and only because I made you.” She bumps her sister’s arm with her elbow. “I don’t have to be at the library booth until one. Take your time. It’s fun. Let me take that.”
She grabs for Elodie’s plate, and Elodie scrambles to save her last bite. I fight back a grin. Clem doesn’t manipulate. She bulldozes. She has the power only a sibling possesses to get Elodie to do what she wants.
“Byeee.” Clem rushes off.
Elodie brushes off her fingers and finishes chewing. “So,” she says, crinkling her nose like she’s trying to shift her glasses up her nose. She wipes at the corners of her mouth. “What should I try?”
“Of the spirits we gave you, which was your favorite?”
“The huckleberry vodka.”
I take out a juneberry vodka, a ninety-proof whiskey with strong notes of cherry and vanilla, and a rhubarb-infused gin. “We’ve got our own patch of rhubarb growing behind the distillery.”
Her soft smile is the biggest one I’ve seen yet, other than when I made her laugh earlier. “My parents raise rhubarb for me. I saved the patch from weeds when I was over there.”
“One time, I thought I killed Mae’s fifty-year-old rhubarb plant when I replanted it. I kept trying to snap off a part to plant, hoping she wouldn’t notice. Turned out I accidentally grew three more.”
Her laughter is another win, but I restrain the force of my smile. I haven’t shared this with anyone. I’ve never talked about my time with Mae with other women, and I don’t want Elodie thinking I’m being anything more than real.
Her smile falters, and she chooses the juneberry vodka. After she drinks the small amount, her eyes go distant. She smacks her lips together. “I can tell the difference between that and the huckleberry. Huckleberry tastes sugary-er, not just sweeter.” Her cheeks flush. “That probably doesn’t make sense.”
“To a guy who peddles fermented and distilled carbs, it absolutely does.” I slide a bigger plastic cup of water toward her. She takes a drink and then samples the rhubarb gin.
“Oh.” She puts her finger to her lips. “I never thought I was a gin girl.”
“It can be like Windex, or it can be a really smooth spirit to relax with, depending on who makes it. Fosters and Hennessys don’t make window cleaner. But you can scrub your glass with it too.”
She laughs again, catches my gaze, and looks away. Damn, did I sound like I was coming on to her again? I’m trying really hard to... not be me. That should be a red flag, but if I’m the type of guy someone jaded like Elodie can trust... I’ll call that a win. After all, there was a time no one could trust me.
She takes another gulp of water and then downs the scant amount of whiskey we serve for tastings. She smacks her lips together. “That’s not bad.”
“You don’t like it.”
“No, it’s good.” She’s aloof again. I’m not getting the real Elodie, and we’ve come too damn far to backpedal over a tasting.
“You don’t want me to lie to you,” I say, only loud enough for her to hear, “so don’t lie to me. It’s an oatmeal raisin cookie for you?”
She nods shyly.
“That’s the fun of the tasting. You never know what you’re gonna like or dislike.”
“You picked it for me to try.”
And she was afraid to hurt my feelings? I shrug to make it seem like I’m nonchalant when I’m actually touched. “I help a lot of people with their selections. It’s part of the job.”
