Page 1 of Break My Heart
Chapter 1
Sawyer
‘How’s business?’ Brody asks, coming into the brewery.
‘Look around.’ I motion to the empty bar. ‘Does that answer your question?’
‘It’s four o’clock. You just opened.’ He takes a seat at the bar.
‘Yeah, and just last week the place was full at this time.’ I huff. ‘It’s that damn brewery opening up. I swear she did it just to piss me off.’
Brody laughs. ‘Yeah, she moved here and invested all that money to open a brewery just to piss you off.’
‘Okay, maybe that’s not the reason, but why didn’t she open a place somewhere else? Why did it have to be Haydon Falls?’
‘Because she inherited the building. She doesn’t have to pay rent.’ Brody points behind me to the row of taps. ‘I’ll take the stout.’
‘You’re already drinking?’ I fill a glass with the new fall stout I created. It’s one of my best brews, if I do say so myself. The color is a dark chocolate brown and the flavor is rich with a hint of spice.
‘I’m done working for the day.’ Brody leans forward, scanning the taps. ‘What’s the Skullhead Lager? Is that new?’
‘Yeah, I’m trying it out, seeing if people like it. I think it still needs some work. It’s supposed to be my Halloween brew, but the way things are going, the place might be closed by then.’
‘C’mon, it’s not that bad.’ Brody takes a drink of his beer. ‘Business has only been slow a few days.’
‘It’s been a week.’ I roll my eyes. ‘Since Gina’s place opened.’
Gina Slater is a girl I met at camp when we were seven years old. I couldn’t stand her because she beat me in every competition. Swimming. Archery. Fishing. Canoe races. You name it, she beat me, and to this day, I’m still pissed about it. I’m extremely competitive. I get angry when I lose to a guy, but losing to a girl? It was shameful, to the point that I begged my parents to let me come home. They wouldn’t, so I was stuck there, with Gina humiliating me with her constant wins. And now—23 years later—she’s back in my life, in my hometown, opening a brewery just months after I opened mine.
Why is she doing this? Does she hate me? Or is she just trying to prove once again that she can beat me? If so, she’s done it. She has customers and I have an empty bar.
I shake my head. ‘How the hell does she do it?’
‘Do what?’
‘Beat me in everything. First camp, and now this?’
‘She didn’t beat you. There’s enough people in town to have two breweries. Once everyone’s checked out Gina’s place, they’ll come back here.’
‘That’s what I’m hoping, but look around. She’s been open a week and people still aren’t coming back here.’
‘They will. Just give it a few more days. You’re a townie. She’s not. And you’re a Kanfield. People will support a Kanfield any dayover an out-of-towner.’ He sips his beer. ‘You get any info on her grandpa?’
‘Yeah, he’s not from around here. He grew up in Green Bay and never left, or that’s what I heard.’
‘Then how’d he end up with a building in Haydon Falls?’
‘He won it in a poker game.’ I roll my eyes. ‘Apparently he has the same good luck as his granddaughter. Must be a family trait. Or maybe they’re witches. Maybe they put hexes on people so they lose.’
Brody laughs. ‘Now you’re talking crazy. Maybe you need to get away from here for a day or two. Clear your head. You want to go to the cabin? Go fishing?’
‘And leave my business when it’s about to go under? Yeah, I’ll pass.’ I grab a glass and go over to the pitcher of hard cider, pouring a small amount and bringing it to Brody. ‘Try this.’
‘What is it?’
‘The hard cider I’m working on for the competition.’
He takes a sip, then shoves the glass back at me as he shakes his head.
