Page 78 of Brew
“Who said it wouldn’t be real?”
Our eyes lock. I know she feels what I feel, I can see it in her face.
“Brew.”
I look into the distance, beyond her, unable to hold her gaze. “I haven’t said it in a long time.” When I blink, my eyes land on hers again. “I’d never just tell you that I love you if I didn’t mean it.”
Her lips part, her eyes widen even farther. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“You think I throw words around at random?”
“No, I would one hundred percent say you don’t on that one.”
Cute.
“But you’re right,” I go on. “Bothpeople have to mean it, and until then, I guess we’re at an impasse.”
She stares at me as if she’s unable to fathom my words. “An impasse?”
“A standoff, gridlock, dead end?—”
“I know what it means,” she snaps. “Brew, you can’t just blurt things out like that.”
“Life’s too short to stay silent sometimes.”
Now her surprise turns to something more sinister, or as sinister as a woman like Erica can get. “Says the man who took two years to say boo to me.”
“Hey, I’m like a fine wine, I need time to age.”
“You mean,mature?”
I chuckle. “That, too.”
She doesn’t have to say it back, and it was lame of me to blurt that out, but maybe she is right. Maybe I took all this time to mature and realize what was right in front of me.
I’ve got her to thank for that. When I look at Erica, I see a future with her. This isn’t just about sex. Do I want her? Of course I do, but it’s so much more than just physical.
I tell her as such, and she backs up as I stand. “You look ready to run,” I say, my brow vexed. “And I can’t say I blame you.”
She thumbs behind her. “I should go.”
Great. I’ve scared her off. I always knew that was a chance I’d have to take, but not following my gut didn’t play out so well the last time.
If I lose Erica, then so be it. I’m done living in the shadows.
Maybe she was never mine to begin with, but a man has to shoot his shot.
If she thinks I’m kidding about anything I said, she truly has a lot to learn about me and my promises.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
Erica
Oh, my.
Did Brew just more or less confess that he loves me? I gloss over the fun having gone on in the front reception; Nova and Olive laughing, while I revel in the aftermath of Brew’s confession. I didn’t just dream all of that up, right?
