Page 4 of Break My Heart
‘And I did, but I also wanted to win. You know how I am. If I’m competing I’m going to win, or at least try to.’
‘Sounds like this girl felt the same way,’ Nick says. ‘So why is it okay for you but not her?’
I pause to consider that. ‘I don’t know. Maybe it was her attitude, assuming she’d win before the competition even started.’
‘Don’t you do the same thing?’ Brody says. ‘You didn’t start this brewery assuming you’d fail.’
‘It’s not the same. You’re not getting it. You have to meet her to know what I’m talking about. She’s just .?.?. freaking annoying.’ Itake a breath, trying to diffuse the tension building inside me, the anger I felt when I was seven resurfacing.
‘I think you should go talk to her,’ Nick says.
I throw my hands up. ‘Did you not hear anything I just said?’
‘What I heard is your whiny-ass seven-year-old self complaining that you lost to a girl.’
‘That’s not what—’
‘And now you’re just being a stubborn idiot and putting your business at risk because you don’t want to face her again.’
‘I think he likes her,’ Brody says, smiling at me.
I stare at him like he’s lost his mind.
‘Shit, I think you’re right,’ Nick says.
My gaze bounces back and forth between them. ‘Are you two serious? Did I not just make it clear how much I can’t stand this woman?’
‘And yet you’re still thinking about her 23 years later,’ Nick says.
‘Because she opened a brewery in my fucking town!’ I grab a rag and wipe down the bar, hoping it’ll calm me down.
‘Did you guys make out?’ Brody says, snickering.
I glare at him. ‘We were seven.’
‘Yeah? So? I kissed a girl when I was six.’
Nick laughs. ‘That’s right. You got in trouble for it.’
‘More from Mom than from my teacher. Mom said I couldn’t kiss girls until I was 16.’
‘She told all of us that,’ Nick says. ‘I’m the only one who listened.’
I set the rag down and look at Nick. ‘You seriously waited that long?’
He shrugs. ‘I didn’t have a girlfriend. Who was I going to kiss?’
‘You can kiss a girl who isn’t your girlfriend.’
‘He was holding out for Lyndsay,’ Brody says. ‘He wanted his first kiss to be with her.’
Nick gets that smile on his face, the one he had when he walked in. ‘I dreamed that would happen, but it didn’t. I had to wait 15 years to kiss her.’
‘I still can’t believe you two are together,’ I tell him. ‘How’s it going living together?’
‘Great! We’re already talking about buying a house.’
‘Why don’t you take Carson’s old place?’
