Page 122 of Break My Heart
‘I can’t go there next weekend,’ I say.
Sawyer mutters something under his breath as he turns into the lot behind his place.
‘C’mon, Gina,’ Ryder says. ‘It’ll be like old times. I ended it with Mandy, so we’re free to do whatever we want.’
He’s single again. Is that why he keeps calling me? Because he wants us to get back together?
Sawyer parks the car and opens his door. ‘I’ll be upstairs.’
‘No, wait.’ I grab his arm as I talk into the phone. ‘Ryder, this needs to end.’
‘What needs to end?’
‘Us.’ I let go of Sawyer but keep my eyes on him. ‘I need a clean break. I don’t want to see you anymore.’
He laughs. ‘What the hell are you talking about? We’re friends. We’ve been friends for years.’
‘And now I have new friends. And a new life. And a boyfriend. It’s time to end this, Ryder. It’s time for you to move on with someone else.’
‘Did that asshole tell you to do this?’ Ryder says, getting angry.
‘No. It’s my decision. And he’s not an asshole. He’s a great guy.’ I smile at Sawyer. ‘And I love him.’ My heart’s beating really fast after saying that. I almost didn’t, but then it slipped out.
Sawyer’s smiling at me as he turns and undoes my seatbelt.
‘Ryder, I have to go,’ I say as Sawyer wraps his hand around the side of my face and leans toward me.
‘Gina, what the hell?’ Ryder says. ‘You can’t be serious. What—’
I end the call and drop the phone as Sawyer kisses me. My phone rings. I’m sure it’s Ryder calling back. I ignore it, my focus on Sawyer and how good it feels to kiss him again after our week apart.
‘You really love me?’ he asks over my lips.
‘I do.’
‘I love you too.’ His lips press to mine before I can respond, but there’s really nothing to say. I knew he loved me. It’s what scared me and made me want to run away. I don’t know why I’m like that, if it’s genetics or just what my dad taught me by leaving me all the time when I was growing up.
I’m over that now, and I’m not my dad. I’m not going to run from love. I’m going to embrace it, fight for it, and do whatever I can to make it last.
Chapter 26
December
Sawyer
‘I’ll take the Naughty Nitro,’ I say, sitting down at the bar, my eyes locked on the sexy brunette filling a glass from the tap. Wearing tight black jeans and a tiny white shirt, every guy in here has his eyes on her. But I’ll be the one taking her home tonight.
‘Hey, babe.’ She turns to me and smiles. ‘You sure you want a drink? I thought we were leaving.’
‘We are. I just like saying Naughty Nitro.’
‘Other guys must like it too because it’s selling like crazy.’
The Naughty Nitro is one of Gina’s new Christmas beers. She’s been experimenting with nitro beers since last summer and finally found one she liked enough to serve. It’s really good, and not something Kanfield Brewery serves. I agreed not to, just like she agreed not to serve a pumpkin ale during the holidays. Instead she made a gingerbread stout, which my mom loves.
Gina and I decided that our breweries would both benefit from not serving similar beers. If people want a nitro, they come here. If they want a pumpkin ale? They go to Kanfield. Agingerbread stout? They go to G’s. We’ve been doing this since G’s reopened and it’s worked out great. We’re both making a good profit and people choose which brewery to go to based on the beer rather than who owns the brewery. There’s still a few townies, mostly old guys, who will only go to my place and won’t step foot in Gina’s, but most people are happy to support both breweries, especially after my family and I spread the word around town that the rumors online about G’s weren’t true. When a Kanfield talks, people listen, so it didn’t take long for people to accept Gina and return to G’s after it opened.
Tom’s print shop closed the same week G’s reopened. Tom’s cousin was running the place while Tom dealt with the charges against him, but nobody went there and the print shop had to close. Tom’s still waiting to find out what’s going to happen to him, but the last I heard, he could be going to prison for several years. Doing that much damage to a place is considered a felony, something I doubt he considered when he did it. As for Wade, I never saw him again after that day I fired him. He probably went back to his old job in Eau Claire.
