Page 48 of Talk About… History

“What is it? Did they do something?”

“No,” I groaned. “Can we focus on anything but my out of control life tonight?”

“Sure,” he said. “The guys and I recorded a few videos for you to edit from those ideas you sent over.”

I raised my eyebrows in shock. “Even Maverick?”

He snorted. “Reluctantly, but we kept him in only a few. I’m sure you’ll have your work cut out for you.”

“We set you up in the corner, sis,” Cameron said as he walked past. I looked over and let out a startled laugh at the sight. They’d literally set up a VIP table, homemade sign and all. There was a fancy red table cloth they’d pulled out of who knows where, and it was partitioned off.

“That’s not going to stick out at all,” I groaned. “Really, guys?”

“What?” Nash blinked innocently.

“Fucking brats,” I accused.

“Nah, now you can work undisturbed this way,” Cameron argued, his mischievous grin on full display.

Maverick stepped out of the back office, taking in their grins and my crossed arms and let out a sigh.

“What did you assholes do now? She just forgave us for our last fuckup.”

“Nothing, just giving me the VIP treatment apparently,” I said, gesturing to the table. Maverick let out a sigh like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

“Clean it up before she gets shit from customers all night. I said save her a table to work at, not make it stand out,” he said, side eyeing them both before stalking away.

He seemed particularly on edge. After making them do all the social media stuff, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was too much for him.

While the others went back to work, I followed Maverick back into the office. He was sitting down, rubbing a hand over his forehead and looking years older.

“Hey,” I said softly, knocking gently on the door before coming in and closing it behind me. “What’s wrong? Am I being too much?”

He shook his head and finally met my eyes.

“Nah, I know what you’re doing is already helping and you’ve only posted once,” he said, letting out a breath. “It’s just… I’ve been thinking a lot.”

“About our dads?” I hedged. “The Artisan Fair? I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“No, stop that. I don’t need you to take the blame, Avery. I’m just realizing I’ve been holding back and everyone else is ready to move on and I can’t figure out how.”

“You’ve been keeping everyone together, don’t be so hard on yourself. You guys have kept Mama taken care of and this business running. My goal here is to give you the opportunity to hire staff and step back to manager roles. If this takes off, we’ll be able to have actual lives. You deserve one.”

He frowned down at his desk, still not convinced. He was more stubborn than the rest of us combined.

“I just don’t have the mental capacity to bring the fair back to life. It’s so much more than us, it’s tons of people who were involved and I can’t get hopes up for it to fail.”

“Then take it slow,” I said. “Put in the research, study our dads’ notes, then make plans. It doesn’t have to happen tomorrow or even this year, but if you want this to be your thing, start giving it some thought.”

He blinked at me as if he was shocked I’d suggest it. I wasn’t here to argue one way or another, so I stood to leave him with his thoughts.

“I’m going to get some work done. You think it all over and have faith that your little sister is planning to make it so you have a choice in the future. The brewery was our dads’ dream. It doesn’t have to be yours. If you want the artisan festival and taking part in that, then that’s fine. Just remember that what you want matters, too.”

He blinked at me before nodding once. Even if he didn’t say anything else it felt like we finally had a breakthrough. My brothers had spent years building this place back up and losing themselves in the process.

My goal now was to give them their life back. I knew with all my plans I could do it, and that motivation got me through hours of video editing.

I’d prove to them that this omega knew what she was doing, and one setback wasn’t going to define me.

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