Page 84 of Break My Heart
‘Let me help you up.’ Sawyer picks up the little girl and sets her in the wagon. ‘Did you get your basket?’
‘Daddy has it,’ she says, pointing to a man holding a basket and a little girl who looks to be around three.
Sawyer smiles at the guy. ‘Hey, Matt. You guys just get here?’
‘We got here a couple hours ago. The girls have been doing the pumpkin painting.’
‘Gina, this is Matt and his wife, Tessa,’ Sawyer says to me. ‘I went to school with Matt. He was in Nick’s class.’
‘Nice to meet you,’ I say to both of them.
‘We’ll have to talk to you later,’ Sawyer says as he hoists a little boy into the wagon. ‘It’s a little crazy right now.’
Matt and Tessa get into the wagon as Sawyer greets the people next in line. He knows most everyone here, even some of the out-of-towners who come every year. It makes sense why his brewery is packed. People want to support someone they know, not a stranger, which means I’ll have to work even harder to get people into G’s.
We spend the next half hour taking people to the orchard. Seeing Sawyer driving the tractor and answering questions about the apples, I’m seeing a whole different side of him. He’s reallysweet with the little kids. I had no idea he was so good with them. And he knows a lot about apples, not just the varieties, but about how they’re grown.
‘I’m impressed,’ I tell him when we’re walking back to the barn. ‘I didn’t know you knew so much about apples.’
‘I grew up here. It’s all we talked about. I couldn’t get away from it.’ His phone rings as we go into the barn. ‘I need to get this.’ He answers the phone. ‘Wade, what’s up? You need help?’ Sawyer smiles. ‘Great, thanks for letting me know. Oh, and Tom is dropping off the t-shirts tomorrow morning. He might get you some tonight if he can.’ He nods. ‘Yeah, you too. Bye.’
‘Problems at work?’ I ask.
‘No, just the opposite. Wade said the place is packed and that the two temp guys I hired are doing great. Wade’s a good manager. I’m lucky I found him. I can leave when it’s busy and not have to worry.’
I’m annoyed that his place is busy, especially since Aria just texted that only seven people are at G’s. Why isn’t anyone going there? The first couple weeks G’s was open it was just as busy as Sawyer’s place, and now it’s dead. What happened? I know people liked the beer, so why aren’t they coming back?
We walk over to the drink station where Mitch, Sawyer’s uncle, is working.
He smiles at us. ‘What can I get you?’
‘A couple beers,’ Sawyer says, joking with him. They aren’t allowed to serve alcohol.
‘How about some cider instead?’ Mitch says, handing us each a glass.
‘You been busy over here?’ Sawyer asks.
‘It’s been nonstop. We’ve raised a lot of money.’ Mitch points to the collection box set up on the table. The cider is free, but they’re asking people to donate what they would’ve spent on it toheart disease research. Mitch’s wife died of heart failure and Sawyer’s dad recently had a heart attack.
‘You get any new business?’ Sawyer asks, pointing to the stack of business cards and brochures on the table. They’re promoting Wheeler Construction, which Mitch and his sons own.
‘More than I can handle,’ he says. ‘I’ve got 30 people already signed up for an estimate.’
‘You wouldn’t do the work if it’s up here, would you?’
‘We might, if one of the boys wanted to take the job and live here for a few months. But only some of the requests are up here. Most of them are around Chicago.’
I forgot to ask if I could put my flyers out. I’m surrounded by potential customers. This is my chance to reach them.
‘Sawyer, could I talk to you a minute?’ I ask.
‘Yeah. See ya later,’ he says to his uncle.
We walk away from the booths and tables to a quieter area near the back, where the band is setting up. ‘It’s so loud in here. What were you saying?’
‘I brought some flyers to put out. Do you think your parents would mind?’
‘Flyers for what?’
