Page 14 of It's a Brewtiful Day
“You mean the school field which for the two weeks will be filled with astronaut stuff.”
“Astronomy things like telescopes and binoculars, not astronaut stuff, whatever that is.” Cassie sighed. “So, the meeting is in the high school gym at 7:30.”
“Does Fox know to expect me? Like, what should I be prepared for? What next level of humiliation are you throwing out at me?”
“Well, Alice is telling Fox to expect you, but she wanted an air of mystery, so he knows to expect someone, but doesn’t know who. It’ll be someone in the crowd who’ll come up afterward and say hi.”
“Why? Why are you two doing this to me?”
“Because she said it’s fun and romantic, and it could be a sweet meet cute.” The chipper tone in her voice was not at all contagious.
“It’s orchestrated. Not spur of the moment romantic.”
“She read about something like this in a book once and so wanted to set up her brother like it, but not really set it up. Just have all the pieces there.”
“And you accusemeof reading too many romance novels.” However, as I thought about it, there was something appealing about the idea. “I’ll do it, but you owe me big time for this.”
She sighed. “What do you want?”
“A million dollars.”
“Be real.”
“If I had a million dollars, I could move somewhere else where you wouldn’t need to constantly try and set me up like it was necessary to have a man in my life in order to be happy.” Yes, it was mean, but I was getting tired of having the same conversation with her over and over again.
“So don’t go then.” Four words laced with more guilt than should be possible.
“Hey.” My anger was building, much like the bulleting raindrops against the window. I hated when she guilted me into things, and I was too weak to resist. “You know I’ll go, but just stop butting into my love life.”
“Fine. Be that way. I only do it because I care, and I don’t want you to die alone.”
I rolled my eyes and watched the leaves fight to stay gripped to the branches. “I won’t die alone. I have you.”
“Yes, you’re stuck with me, always and forever, however, I can’t light your soul on fire.”
A loud sigh I wanted her to hear barreled out. “Fine. Seven-thirty, is it? That’s when I have to be there?”
“Yes,” the chipper popped back into her voice. “And go say hi after.”
“Well, we’ll see about that.” I was going, but there was no way I was going to introduce myself when it was over.
“Thanks. I gotta run. I’m going with Alice to Hinton. You need anything?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Love you.”
“You know I love you too.”
She ended the call on a high note, something I could never do. I hung onto my emotions for a long time, but not Cassie. Hers flicked on and off like a switch. I tossed my phone onto the back counter, covering it with a book to hide the happy face emojis she texted. How did she flip so fast?
* * *
Harvey had called and said to close early if business hadn’t picked up with the brewing storm. Although I was supposed to stay open until six, by five the last customer had been through nearly two hours earlier. The storm was picking up intensity, and when a crack of thunder sounded, I rushed around turning off the lights at an epic pace. It was time to get home and be safe.
The keypad beeped as I punched in the activation code to secure the bookshop, and with a box of books tucked under my arm, I pushed myselfpast the Tiger’s Tail children’s consignment shop, taking shelter under the small red and white awning of the Coffee Loft, although I wasn’t sure what the point was. The rain had already pelted against my cheeks and ruined the soft curls I had painstakingly rolled into my hair. No doubt my mascara was streaking down my face, and my foundation had worn off enough to let the rosacea shine through as well. Perfect. Just perfect.
I pulled on the door, and it didn’t budge. Dang. Had they closed early too?