Page 6 of Temporarily in Love

“Lila Sullivan’s back in town.”

“So what?”

He glared at me. “I know you still have feelings for her. So don’t let her put her spell on you again.”

“Don’t you have a family to bother?” I asked, hoping he’d leave me alone.

I didn’t want to talk about Lila or how I was still in love with her. After all these years, even after dating so many other women, I was still enamored with a girl who broke up with me because she wanted to chase her dreams.

“Shame about the bar, though,” Nolan mused.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. “What about it?”

“You didn’t hear?”

I shook my head. “Hear what?”

“Sean’s selling the bar.”

I reared back at that. Sean Sullivan was selling the family bar? That didn’t make sense to me. Sullivan’s was a staple in our town and had been in the family for generations. When our parents died, and Nolan needed a quick way to make sure we still had food on the table, Sean gave him a job without question. Because the Sullivans had been our parents’ closest friends.

If it wasn’t for Nolan working there, he never would have started tending bar. Never would have chatted up the local brewers that did business with the bar. We never would have started home brewing until I had a solid business plan and secured a loan to start our own operation. Sullivan’s was the first bar that took our beers.

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

Nolan nodded. “I think that’s why Lila’s in town.”

“Huh.”

He checked his phone and smiled, which meant Avery had sent him a text. He only smiled when it came to her and their baby. Before Nolan got Avery pregnant and had a shotgun wedding here at the brewery, he was the grouchiest asshole I’d ever met. I loved Avery for making him less of a grumpasaurus.

“Don’t stay too late. You need to take a break,” he said and gave me a stern look.

“You’re worse than me, so don’t even try it,” I argued.

He sighed. “Yeah, but Avery made me see that you need a good work-life balance. With her and the baby, I have something to go home to. As much as I love the brewery, you can’t be at your best when you’re all work and nothing else.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have to finish payroll at least.”

“Leave before close,” he said and walked out.

But I didn’t leave before close. Felix and Asher had to come into the office to tell me they were locking up. I was able to get payroll done, but there was still so much to do. Tomorrow was another day, and I could worry about that then.

I walked out of the brewery and headed for my apartment above the tattoo shop. It wasn’t very big, but a few years ago, I wanted my own space away from Nolan. I was grateful I had already moved out when Avery got pregnant and moved in with my brother. Watching them start their family together would’ve been annoying. Unlike Nolan, I didn’t have anyone waiting for me at home. That was why I worked myself to death for the brewery. It was the only thing that mattered in my life.

Chapter Three

LILA

Damn, this was a good beer, and I was mad about it. I sipped the pumpkin beer from the MacGregor Brothers Brewing Company as I sat on a barstool in my parents’ bar. I hadn’t caught the name yesterday, but when Dad asked me what I thought of The Drake Pumpkin Ale, I laughed.

I pushed my plate of half-eaten cheesesteak away and drank the rest of my beer. Dad went to get me a box since he knew I never finished meals in one sitting.

I looked around the bar and tried to suss out why Dad wanted to sell it. When you thought of a typical Irish bar, you probably thought of a pub with a dark wood interior, dim lights, and signs for Guinness or the Ireland flag. Whatever you pictured, that was exactly what Sullivan’s Bar looked like. It was old-timey, yet perfect, and the idea of my dad selling it crushed me.

Dad came back with the to-go container and boxed up the rest of the cheesesteak for me. We might be an Irish bar, but we were also a bar outside of Philadelphia, so we had to have cheesesteaks on the menu. When I moved to California, I once saw something called ‘A Philly’ on a menu, and I laughed my butt off because no one called them that here. And then it was the worst thing I ever ate. There was mayo on it. MAYO! It was a travesty.

“Dad, do you really have to sell?” I asked.