Page 111 of Small Town Firsts
I smiled against her hair in the darkness. “Right back atcha.”
She tilted her head up, her chin still tucked into my chest. “You always seem so sure.”
“Doesn’t stop it from scaring the shit out of me. But I know this is where I’m meant to be. You and me were inevitable from the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“There’s still so much you don’t know about me. About my family.”
“It doesn’t matter. I know you’re a woman of integrity and I know you’ve been hurt by the very people who are supposed to love you the most.”
She sniffed and I felt a suspicious wetness on my skin.
“I’m not going to let you down, Sunshine. You can count on that, even if you need to catch up on the love part.”
“I—”
“Shh. You need to think things through. I know you too Kira. And I’m not going anywhere.” I stepped back and drew her back over to the swing and sat her down. “Now, you need to take the second sip from Firefly.”
She gave me a watery laugh. “Okay.”
I reached over for the cider and swirled it along the bowl of the glass to make sure everything was still mixed then handed it to her.
She put her nose in the glass then swirled it before taking a sip. Even in the dark, I saw her eyes widen and she took a bigger sip. “Ronan…I don’t know what to say. It’s perfect.”
“Of course it is. It’s a blend of us.” I took the snifter from her and tasted it again. The honey and blackberry bloomed on my tongue and the hit of cherries warmed everything up before the final notes of apple and pears made my mouth water for more.
“I guess that makes me a genius?”
I laughed as I handed the glass back to her before I stretched my arm along the back of the swing. “You’re damn right you are.”
She curled into me as I set the swing to rock and we watched the fireflies wink in the distance. For the second time tonight, I embraced the peace of Kira Webb.
TWENTY-SEVEN
RONAN
TASTE TEST
Lettingher go that night was the hardest thing I’d ever done. I knew she needed thinking time. It was one of the few things I’d learned from the moment I met her.
Even when every part of me wanted to keep her naked until she finally fessed up to what I knew could be the only answer.
She loved me too.
There was no way she could lean into me, be in tune with me as she was without love being the main ingredient. So, I put her in her car late that night and went back into my workshop.
I checked in with Kain to let him know I was pulling an all-nighter and got to work.
Music filled the firefly night and into the dawn as I measured out the things I wanted to use for back sweetening.
As I played with ratios and made Firefly even more perfect.
By dawn I’d gone through all my fermented ciders and found exactly the ones I wanted to use.
And Kira was right about one thing. The Firefly base was perfect on its own. A perfect blend of the persnickety pear trees that had given Hayes nothing but trouble and Ginger Gold apples. They were also one of the first apples of the rapidly coming season.
Which would give me a few months of cider and maybe even enough for a small batch bottling run as the first cider for Brothers Three Orchard.
The longer I worked, the more the pieces fell together.
