Page 65 of Break My Heart
Ryder comes into the office. ‘She hasn’t changed.’
‘Aria?’
‘Yeah. She’s still taking forever to wait on a customer. A guywalked in and I timed her at over a minute before she even acknowledged him. I don’t know why you hired her.’
He’s been here less than a minute and he’s already pointing out problems. This is why I don’t like him coming here. He acts like this is his place instead of mine.
‘She’s doing a great job,’ I tell him. ‘And the customers love her.’
‘Because she’s hot. But that only goes so far. People want to be served. They don’t want to wait forever.’ He walks up to me. ‘I’ve really missed you.’ He puts his arms around me. ‘I thought it’d get easier as time went on, but it hasn’t.’
‘Don’t.’ I pull away from him. ‘We’re not together anymore.’
‘I know that. And I’m sorry how things ended between us. I wasn’t ready for that kind of commitment. I had the new brewpub opening up and it became my priority. I’m sorry I wasn’t around more. And I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when your grandfather died.’
He’s never apologized to me, for anything. It’s nice to hear him say all this, but it’s too late. I needed to hear it when we were together.
‘Ryder, I need to go. I was invited to dinner and I need to be there at four.’
He takes my hand. ‘Stay. Please. I can only be here a couple hours and then I need to head back.’
‘I already made plans.’
‘Then cancel them. This is important.’
‘What’s important? Why are you here?’
He looks in my eyes and gives my hand a squeeze. ‘I want to help you win that cider competition. It’s been all over the news. It’s getting a lot of press and not just in the brewery industry. The travel magazines are covering it, local and regional tourismagencies, restaurants. This could be huge for you, Gina. You need to win.’
‘Yeah, I know that. And I’ve already got the cider I’m going to enter. I just tasted it. It’s really good.’
‘It needs to be better than good. You’ll be competing against breweries in Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis.’
‘The competition isn’t for those bigger breweries. It’s only for small microbreweries.’
‘And the small microbreweries competing against you are in those bigger cities. A lot of the owners are guys who started out working at the larger, more successful breweries. They’ve learned from the best.’
‘Yeah, and I learned from you. I know how to make hard cider and I’m not afraid of the competition. You know that.’
‘I also know you can be overly confident, which doesn’t work in your favor. Just because you think something is good doesn’t mean it is. You have to win over the judges, and this year’s lineup is going to be tough. I’ve seen the list.’
‘So what are you saying?’
‘That I want to help you. Show me what you’ve done so far and we’ll go from there. If what you’ve made is good enough to win, then great, I’ll get out of here. But if it’s not, I’m offering you my help.’
‘What’s the catch?’
‘There’s no catch.’ He lets go of my hand and steps back. ‘I really want to help you.’
‘Why? So we’ll get back together?’
‘Gina, no. It’s not that at all. We don’t even live in the same town. You know I don’t do the long-distance thing.’ He pauses. ‘And I’m kind of dating Mandy.’
‘The manager you hired? The one with the kid?’ I’ve onlymet her once. She’s 36, same age as Ryder, and divorced with a ten-year-old son.
‘I know, right?’ He chuckles, noticing the shock on my face. ‘I didn’t think I’d ever date someone with a kid, but as you get older, you have to learn to be okay with it. Most people have kids.’
‘Do you get along with her son?’
