Page 74 of Bad & Bossy

Vee nodded toward the door. “Go. It’s fine.”

I hated this. Hated the conflicting feelings swirling in my gut, the need to be in two places at once to support the ones that needed me. “Promise you’ll text me updates.”

“Of course.”

I took a deep breath and grabbed my purse from the countertop, quickly double-checking I wasn’t taking anything Drew would need with me. “Alright.”

————

Having Lottie and Hunter by my side was enough to keep me distracted from constantly worrying about Drew. I almost wished they’d brought Brody but a part of me wondered if I’d give him Drew’s cold from the amount of doting I’d do on the poor kid.

The center of the brewery had been cleared of workers and their stations to make room for the soft launch party. Banners hung from the ceiling, decorated with the images that would be on our cans and bottles when the drinks landed on shelves in a few months. Shareholders and people much higher up than me littered the floor, all in suits or fancy dresses that likely cost much more than mine. The wait staff of the restaurant worked the floor with hors d’oeuvres, passing them out to whoever simply stretched out an arm.

Apart from me.

They seemed to have picked up on our relationship and weren’t exactly happy for us.

“Who’s that Cole’s talking to?” Lottie asked, saddling up beside me as she sipped at a bottle of fruit-infused IPA. She hid her scowl fairly well, most wouldn’t realize how much she hated the stuff.

“You don’t have to drink that, you know,” I laughed, following her line of sight until I spotted him.

His dirty blonde hair poked up from the crowd as he spoke animatedly with another man I didn’t recognize. Even from where I was standing I could tell Cole looked a little better—no massive bags under his eyes, the color in his face had returned, and even the stubble that he’d neglected for weeks had been clean-shaven. The cut of his jaw was harsh again, and the way he spoke… it was like someone had breathed life back into him.

“I don’t know who that is,” I said, taking the bottle from Lottie when she tried to sip at it again. “Probably a shareholder.”

Hunter’s hand snaked its way around her waist as he presented her with a fresh IPA, no fruit this time, and she beamed back at him. “What’d I miss?”

“Just trying to figure out who that guy is,” Lottie said, keeping her voice low as she pointed in Cole’s direction.

“That would be our good friend, Cole,” Hunter grinned. “Drunk already, sweetheart?”

Lottie’s expression soured. “You’re so annoying.”

His lips pressed against the side of her head before he took a swig of the beer. A part of me was almost jealous—there wouldn’t be a time when Cole and I could be like that: easy, free, drinking if we wanted, making jokes about it. It seemed like such a small thing in the grand scheme of things, but it felt almost as if the normalcy of it was calling out to me, shouting at me for the first time in weeks, that I was going down the wrong path with him.

“That’s Dale Hawthorne,” Hunter finally said. “He’s been our liaison with local businesses for the agriculture stuff.”

“I feel like I should know that” Lottie mumbled.

“You just stick to breeding, horse girl,” Hunter laughed, resting his chin on top of his simmering wife’s head.

“You’re Dana, right?”

I spun on a dime, instinctively plastering on my customer service smile and came face to face with the man who’d been here the night Cole had turned up unannounced three months ago.

Tall, built, and just an inch shorter than Cole, I wondered why I couldn’t have fallen for this one instead until a pretty little girl about the age of four with blonde braids poked out from behind him, a little stuffed rabbit clutched in her fingers.

“Uh, yeah,” I said, giving the girl a small wave before she tucked herself further in behind him. “You’re Cole’s friend.”

“Grayson,” the man grinned, all dimples and hard lines as his cheeks shifted. I’d heard about Grayson, he’s Cole’s best friend. He’d picked him up from the airport when Cole came back from rehab. Did something in… sports? “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

He stuck his hand out to me as an offering. I took it gently, his palms making mine look as small as a doll’s. “All good things, I hope?”

“You really think Cole would have a bad thing to say about you?” he laughed. Grayson placed a hand on his daughter and pulled her out from behind him. “This is Penny, my daughter.”

She held up her little rabbit toward me.

“And Thomas, her rabbit.”

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