Page 7 of Eternal Hoptimist

Nate snorted as we reached the brewery's front door. “I’d be drowning in dates if I wasn’t happily in love.”

“Sure, bro.” I flicked his ear before walking through the door he held open.

Before I could get a good look at the brewery Nate had been trying to drag me to for ages, Mom rushed over as though I hadn’t seen her in months.

“Sweetheart, you made it.” She pulled me down to kiss my cheek. At nearly a foot shorter than me, I was used to it.

“I said I would.”

One terse look reminded me of the times I’d missed. Sometimes things came up at work, and I couldn’t control them.

She tugged me over to the table near the front window of the brewery, where I greeted Dad, my sister, Olivia, and her girlfriend, Brooke.

“How was your New Year’s Eve?” Dad asked.

I gave them a quick rundown of the dinner party.

“Did you take a date to the dinner?” Mom’s eyes were eager. She was always bugging me to settle down. Being happily married to my dad for so many decades made her think that type of love was attainable for everyone. Clearly, she’d never faced the mortal peril of dating apps.

“No. I sat with Hector.”

As the conversation shifted to Olivia and Brooke moving in together, I got a good look at the brewery. Nate had been bugging me to visit Tap That Brewery with him for a while, but when I was in Dahlia Springs, we always had dinner at our parents’ house.The place was packed, which explained the lack of parking.

I understood why he liked it so much. Wood and copper decorated the place, giving it a modern industrial style while remaining comfortable. The various flags under the rainbow umbrella hanging behind the bar were a nice touch. Though I’d fled before my diploma ink dried, I could appreciate how it would be a draw to adults living in Dahlia Springs.

As I scanned the tables to say hello to or avoid people I recognized, my attention landed on the bar on the opposite side of the room. More accurately, the person behind it. “Holy shit.”

“What? Did you risk a fart and shart again?”

I smacked his arm. “I was twelve.”

He shrugged. “It was memorable.”

As though plucked from my hottest fantasies, I stared at the guy with the disarming smile and wicked glint in his eye who’d kissed me like there was nowhere else he would’ve rather been.

“Do you know Ethan?”

Ethan.“Doyouknow Ethan?” I snapped my head in my brother’s direction.

“Well, yeah, I come here often. I thought you said you’d never been here before.” His eyes narrowed.

The fucker had learned to read even the smallest twitch in my face. When I said nothing, Nate’s eyes went wide and he got the biggest shit-eating grin.

“Guess that explains why the brewery wasn’t open last night. Why don’t you go say hi?”

“What’s with the faces?” Mom asked as she—with a subzero level of chill—turned to look at the bar.

I stared at Ethan as he smiled at a customer while wiping the counter, then he tipped his head back and laughed. He wore a tight black T-shirt with the brewery logo over his heart and looked competent as fuck.Is competency porn a thing? Could that be one of my kinks?I badly wanted to understand what I liked. As I watched Ethan seamlessly juggle talking to a customer, pouring beer, and cashing someone out, I guessed competency might be one of my undiscovered kinks after all. It would be nice to date someone who had his shit together. I tended to attract people wanting to be taken care of in ways beyond what I could offer.

Ethan must’ve sensed six sets of eyes on him because he turned in our direction and the empty glass in his hand slid onto the counter. His smile cranked to twenty.

“Guess you made an impression. Go talk to him.” Nate nudged his shoulder into mine.

“What am I missing?” Mom said to Olivia.

“How the hell should I know?” Olivia said.

“If you don’t go over there, everyone will notice how the place just got a thousand percent more awkward with you two staring at each other.”

---