Page 84 of Pitcher Perfect

All in all, the day had been pretty great so far, helping Caleb in the kitchen that morning with the final assembly on-site at the competition. Even the guys had shown up at the kitchen my dad had arranged for us, coffee and donuts in hand, asking what they could do. Even though they’d walked in on us kissing, they’d been surprisingly mum about it. The only reason I could think of was because they had embraced the idea of Caleb and me as a couple. It felt like that was where we were headed with our teaser of a conversation the other night. We would need to talk after the competition, but knowing we were on the same page, or at least in the same book, took some pressure off.

A loud and familiar squeal startled me.

“Hi, Aunt Carolyn,” I said at the same time Ty groaned.

“Mom,stop. You’re so loud.”

She shot him her best mom glare. “You hush. I’m so proud of my boys. Let me get a photo for Facebook.”

I walked over to the beer side of the booth and wrapped an arm around Ethan’s shoulder. I waited for Caleb’s touch, but it didn’t come. I looked over and saw he was still working.

Before I could call him over, Aunt Carolyn did it for me. “Caleb, IsaidI want a photo of my boys. Get your cute butt over there.”

The crimson blush on Caleb’s cheeks as he placed his knife on the table and hustled over was almost as perfect as his pleased smile. We wrapped our arms around each other’s waists as Aunt Carolyn directed us for the photos.

After my cheeks hurt from holding the smile while she tapped a million photos, I noticed the crowd of other people from Dahlia Springs around her snapping their own photos.

“Holy shit. Did the whole town come out?” Ty whispered reverently.

Mabel passed out tasters of the beer and Wendy handed out samples of the food while we were occupied with the impromptu paparazzi session. Mabel wielded her Dahlia Springs elevator speech like Excalibur. Wendy talked up her store, and others congratulated us. I got choked up seeing so many supporting us. Dave and Mikey funneled traffic our way.

Frank Ambrose held up his two voting tokens. “How do I vote for you?”

I heard Caleb’s quick intake of breath.

I pointed to a far side of the room near the stage. “The setup is over there. You’ll see Polaroid photos of us on the containers for our beer and food. Drop the token with the knife and fork in the one for Be Eggcellent to Each Other and the one with the beer stein in the Tap That container.”

“QR codes would be so much easier,” Ty grumbled.

“Here we go again,” Dom said.

“What? It makes more sense to put a code on each table for people to vote that way. And Polaroid photos? So hipster.”

“Wearein Portland,” Ethan said.

“I think it’s awesome. It’s got an old-school vibe about it,” Caleb said.

Ty and I had already bickered about the digital versus analog voting options. It reminded me of my first conversation with Caleb at the stationery store and sent warm, fuzzy feelings through my chest.

We passed out the last of our tasters, and I couldn’t stop smiling as people gushed over our entries. I talked up Caleb’s dish every chance I could while he bragged about my beer by pointing out the subtle flavors and notes. We were an amazing team.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so content and proud. Caleb saw me,reallysaw me, and my work. My job had always been completely separate from my relationships. I’d compartmentalized dating and work like my life depended on it. Even when I was working in corporate America and doing home brew on the side, no one understood my passion or even tried to.But Caleb?He appreciated my work and how important it was to me.

For the first time in as long as I could remember, possibly ever, I didn’t feel that uncomfortable tingle in my gut, the one that resulted in a defensive resentment toward who I was dating because I knew they would get upset about how much I worked. The apparent signs of frustration other men had given me weren’t there with Caleb. For a while, I had thought it was because we were casually hanging out and not officially together, but we’d spent a lot of time together over the past couple of months and had been acting like a couple for a while. I was beginning to accept the possibility that those signs wouldn’t be there with Caleb. He was different, and I was different with him.

I watched Caleb chat with Aunt Carolyn. Ty walked over, wrapped his arm around Caleb’s shoulders, and patted him on the chest as he bragged to his mom about Caleb’s amazing food.

Caleb had become part of my family. I would be an idiot to let my fear of getting hurt, getting left again, stop what could be something amazing. A sense of rightness settled in my chest and radiated throughout my body. After the competition, I would ask Caleb to date me. For real. Exclusively. Caleb looked over and smiled at me. The softness in his expression left me longing to pull him into my arms.

Despite my initial misgivings about participating in Portland Pairing, I was glad we’d done it. I’d been so focused on my dad’s involvement and worrying about the extra workload, I hadn’t stopped to consider how the external validation would feel—strangers gushing over my beer, asking where Dahlia Springs was, following us on Instagram, and promising to visit. We might actually make the brewery thing work.

“What’s got you smiling?”

“Everything. This.” I gestured around the room. “You. All of it.”

Caleb opened his mouth to reply, but then his eyes went wide as he looked over my shoulder. “Holy shit! Dad?”

I followed his line of sight and saw a handsome older version of Caleb walking toward us. He was a bit shorter and thicker and very good-looking. It was like a glimpse into Caleb’s future. I liked it. Caleb hugged him a second later. I hadn’t even seen him move around to the front of the booth. He hadn’t mentioned his dad coming, and judging by Caleb’s excitement, it was a surprise.

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