Page 57 of Challenged by the Single Dad

“But what if the next bartender is a dude?” Dom blurted out, immediately regretting it.

Jagger gave him a curious look. “So?”

Shit.

“I mean … maybe she’s not comfortable sharing her space with a man she doesn’t know,” Dom argued, trying to save face. But he knew there was no point. These were his brothers. Expert button pushers. They knew him almost better than he knew himself. He wasn’t going to go down without a fight though. “Especially considering what just happened at the hostel. She seems like the type of person who really values her privacy.”

“I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves here,” Clint interjected. “First, we need to find another bartender. But offering them accommodation in the job posting would sweeten the deal since its widely known that it’s difficult to find vacancies on the island. And if word gets out about the hostel, people might not want to stay there.”

“I can’t imagine Hawke will keep Joey on once he finds out what he did. And he’ll probably evict the guy who snuck into her room too.” Bennett scratched at his beard. “Hawke’s a good guy.”

They all nodded and sipped their beer.

“All in favor of offering up a cabin to Chloe?” Clint asked.

Everyone but Dom said, “Aye.”

“The ‘aye’s have it,” he said, making eye contact with Dom. “Sorry, brother. But we’re a democracy for a reason.”

“It’s feeling more and more like a dictatorship,” Dom grumbled, finishing his beer.

Wyatt cleared his throat. “I’d like to add something to the agenda if everyone has time?”

They all nodded.

“Even though the wedding itself was an utter disaster, the party and catering that we took care of went over really well. And the kitchen staff and I really enjoyed coming up with a new menu. I think—if we have time to pull it off—we should consider hosting a Christmas party for islanders here at the bar. We could hire a band, have a special menu, dancing, a few holiday themed cocktails, and even have Santa come. We could even do an afternoon party for families, then an evening one for adults. Vica and I have been tossing around the idea that we also think that showcasing the fact that weknowhow to put on a big event would swing in our favor with the Elders and our proposal. Because the winery already hosts weddings and parties—easily. As does the cidery. The distillery doesn’t have the space for more than just small group tastings. So even though I love those fuckers, I don’t see them as our steepest competition.”

Dom and the other three bobbed their heads in thought.

“Would we sell tickets to this?” Bennett asked.

Wyatt shrugged. “I don’t think so. But maybe people would need to RSVP so we have a headcount for food, and to stay to fire code.”

“What about bringing a toy or food for donation?” Jagger suggested. “If we did the party early enough, like by December 15th or 20th. Then we could take the stuff over to the mainland for drop off.”

“I like that,” Dom said. “RSVP,andby donation. Cash donations would be fine too. We’d just have to pick a charity in advance to advertise it. The local women and children’s shelter. And the food bank. Maybe?”

“The main objective is to just bring people together with the underlying, secondary, slightly-more-selfishreason being to showcase our ability to host a large-scale event.” Clint scratched the back of his neck. “How big do we want to make this? Do we want to have prizes? An auction? If we’re footing the bill for this ourselves, we need a budget that won’t put us in the poorhouse.” He glanced at Bennett who smirked. “Iamtrying to take your finance and budget concerns serious.”

Bennett snorted. “And I appreciate it. It’s about fucking time.”

“I think we keep that in our back pocket for now, but they’re great ideas,” Wyatt said. “We just don’t want to bite off more than we can chew.”

A knock at the door to the brewery startled all of them, and they passed around curious and confused expressions. Clint was the first to stand up and go to the door. “Gladstone and Cooper have keys. Why are they knocking?”

He opened the door and they all pivoted to see who it might be.

A hollow formed in Dom’s gut at the thought of it being Chloe, there to quit because he’d gone and messed it all up.

“Hey, Clint.” A shaggy blond head with bright blue eyes peered around the corner. “All the cousins. Hey.”

“Logan?” Wyatt said. “What are you doing here?”

Clint held the door open wider for their cousin on their mother’s side. Logan, who couldn’t be a day over twenty-five, stepped in. Rain droplets clung to his eyelashes and coated his jacket and big backpacker’s backpack.

They all stood up and embraced the kid they hadn’t seen since their mother’s funeral four years ago.

But something about Logan showing up out of the blue with no warning, no call or text message, didn’t sit right with Dom. And he knew his brothers well enough to know that they were all probably feeling the same way.

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