Page 12 of Temporarily in Love

I wanted to be a good boss. I was the sweet to Nolan’s sour, but I wanted the brewery to be a place where people wanted to work. Just because we didn’t want to ‘be corporate’ didn’t mean we should be lax with certain things.

“I told Annie you had a girlfriend,” Gemma said.

“Why?”

“So she’d lay off.”

“Thanks, Gem.”

“She thirsty!”

I laughed. “Christ, Gem.”

She laughed with me. “What? I told her it was inappropriate to date her boss, and it was like in one ear and out the other. So maybe get a girlfriend soon?”

“Or maybe I have one, and she lives in Canada,” I joked.

Gemma laughed and went back to work. I worked at my desk for a while before going out on the floor. Nolan and I were hands-on owners. We wanted to make sure our staff was happy, and if we were short-staffed, we pitched in.

I should be content with working regular hours in the back office, but I did more. While my brother brewed the beer, I was doing everything a manager should do. Like busing tables because we had an odd rush in the middle of the afternoon.

“Did you take a break today?” Nolan asked, and I jumped because his voice had startled me. He had Norah strapped to his chest, and she was fast asleep.

“Not yet,” I said.

“Have a late lunch with me.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. Nolan never took breaks, either. I usually had to be the voice of reason and pull him out to make sure he ate. I was pretty sure I was such a workaholic because he raised me that way.

“Allen said I was being crankier than the baby,” he said at my unasked question.

I glared at him. “Did you have her in the tank room with you?”

“Fuck no! Felix watched her while he was on his lunch break.”

“Okay, good.”

“Did you think I’d take my fucking baby near the hops?” he snarled.

“I don’t know!”

“Peanut was hanging with Uncle Fe today.”

Since Felix was with Gemma, he was basically family now too, and had been relegated to Uncle Felix. He didn’t mind because he was good with kids, even though he and Gemma didn’t want any of their own.

I went over to the register behind the bar and punched in our orders. Nolan sat at one of the booths next to the bar and put Norah into her carrier. He fussed with her as he woke her up, and a smile turned up on my lips at watching my brother with his daughter. I was happy he got what he always wanted with Avery. She brought him out of his shell, and I loved that about her.

I sat across from Nolan and gave Felix a nod in thanks when he brought us over waters and beers.

Nolan rocked Norah’s carrier to get her to fall back to sleep. “I saw Lila Sullivan here earlier.”

I mumbled to myself.

“What was that about?”

“I told Gemma to give them marketing advice.”

“Oh right. She told me about the Irish Red idea.”