“You can come see them anytime,” Martha says to Mitch. “We’d love to have you.”

  “We’re going to head out,” Nash says as he and Callie get up from the table.

  “Thanks for all your help with the wedding,” Callie says, looking at all of us around the table. “It was a perfect day.”

  “I second that,” Nash says.

  Martha gets up and gives them a hug. “We’ll see you soon. Have a safe drive back.”

  “We’re going to head out too,” Sawyer says, getting up. “I need to do some work before we go to G’s this afternoon.”

  “When’s the dumpster getting there?” Brody asks.

  “It should be there around noon,” I tell him.

  “You want to just meet there?” Jason says to Brody. “Or you want me to pick you up?”

  “We can meet there,” Brody says.

  I look at them. “Wait—what do you mean?”

  “They’re going to help us clean up,” Sawyer explains.

  “Oh, you guys don’t have to do that,” I say to Jason and Brody. “I don’t want to take up your Sunday.”

  “It’s not just them,” Sawyer says. “We’ve got a whole crew lined up to be there.”

  I turn to Sawyer. “You hired people? I can’t pay them.”

  “You’re not. They’re doing it for free.”

  “The boys and I talked to some people in town,” Carl says. “We told them what happened and that we could use some help. Some will be there today for the cleanup and others volunteered to help Nash out when he starts the repairs.”

  “But they don’t even know me.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Carl says. “This is how people are here. Someone needs help, we all pitch in. Haydon Falls is a good town. Those two that attacked your business don’t represent us. They’re just too bad seeds that made you their target. It wasn’t right, and the rest of us want to help fix it.”

  “What about all that stuff they read about me? The stuff Wade put online? There have to be at least some people in town that believed that stuff and want nothing to do with me.”

  “A few of the old timers, sure, but that isn’t about you. It’s about them not wanting anyone new moving to town.”

  “I’ll be over around one,” Nick says, getting up. “I need to do some work in the orchard before I go.”

  “I’ll help you clean up,” Lyndsay says to Martha as she gets up to gather the plates.

  “Thanks for breakfast, Martha,” I tell her.

  “You’re welcome.” She winks at me and smiles, then smiles at Sawyer.

  As we’re driving back to his place, my phone rings. “It’s Ryder,” I say to Sawyer. “I’ll tell him I’m busy.”

  “You should tell him—” Sawyer shakes his head. “Never mind.”

  This morning before we left for breakfast, Sawyer and I had a long talk about Ryder. Even since I told Ryder what happened to G’s, he’s been calling and texting me, offering to come here. Sawyer doesn’t want me to remain friends with Ryder because he’s convinced Ryder wants me back. I insisted Ryder and I are just friends, but Sawyer didn’t believe me and we argued about it until Sawyer said he trusts me and that if I really valued Ryder’s friendship that much that he’d stay out of it.

  “Hey, Ryder,” I say.

  “Hey, I was just checking in to see how everything’s going.”

  “It’s good. The supplies have been ordered and we’re going to clean up the debris today.”

  “Any idea when you’ll reopen?”

  “No. It really depends on when we get the supplies.”

  “When you have a reopen date, I’ll come down the week before and get everything set up.”

  “You don’t have to do that. That’s my job. It’s my place.”

  “Yeah, but you’re new at this. You might miss something.”

  “I won’t,” I say, getting that irritated feeling that pops up whenever Ryder talks to me this way, like I’m incompetent. “I can do this, Ryder. I don’t need your help.”

  Sawyer glances at me as we wait at a stoplight. I can tell he wants to say something, but he won’t. He agreed to stay out of it.

  “Why don’t you drive up to Green Bay next weekend?” Ryder says. “Get away from that place. You could use a break and it’ll be good to have you here again. We can go out to that restaurant you like, the one with the smoked meat.”

  Ryder likes that place. I don’t. He just assumes I like it because I didn’t complain all the times we went there.

  “I can’t go there next weekend,” I say.

  Sawyer mutters something under his breath as he turns into the lot behind his place.

  “C’mon, Gina,” Ryder says. “It’ll be like old times. I ended it with Mandy, so we’re free to do whatever we want.”

  He’s single again. Is that why he keeps calling me? Because he wants us to get back together?

  Sawyer parks the car and opens his door. “I’ll be upstairs.”

  “No, wait.” I grab his arm as I talk into the phone. “Ryder, this needs to end.”

  “What needs to end?”

  “Us.” I let go of Sawyer but keep my eyes on him. “I need a clean break. I don’t want to see you anymore.”

  He laughs. “What the hell are you talking about? We’re friends. We’ve been friends for years.”

  “And now I have new friends. And a new life. And a boyfriend. It’s time to end this, Ryder. It’s time for you to move on with someone else.”

  “Did that asshole tell you to do this?” Ryder says, getting angry.

  “No. It’s my decision. And he’s not an asshole. He’s a great guy.” I smile at Sawyer. “And I love him.” My heart’s beating really fast after saying that. I almost didn’t, but then it slipped out.

  Sawyer’s smiling at me as he turns and undoes my seatbelt.

  “Ryder, I have to go,” I say as Sawyer wraps his hand around the side of my face and leans toward me.

  “Gina, what the hell?” Ryder says. “You can’t be serious. What—”

  I end the call and drop the phone as Sawyer kisses me. My phone rings. I’m sure it’s Ryder calling back. I ignore it, my focus on Sawyer and how good it feels to kiss him again after our week apart.

  “You really love me?” he asks over my lips.

  “I do.”

  “I love you too.” His lips press to mine before I can respond, but there’s really nothing to say. I knew he loved me. It’s what scared me and made me want to run away. I don’t know why I’m like that, if it’s genetics or just what my dad taught me by leaving me all the time when I was growing up.

  I’m over that now, and I’m not my dad. I’m not going to run from love. I’m going to embrace it, fight for it, and do whatever I can to make it last.

  26

  DECEMBER

  SAWYER

  “I’ll take the Naughty Nitro,” I say, sitting down at the bar, my eyes locked on the sexy brunette filling a glass from the tap. Wearing tight black jeans and a tiny white shirt, every guy in here has his eyes on her. But I’ll be the one taking her home tonight.

  “Hey, babe.” She turns to me and smiles. “You sure you want a drink? I thought we were leaving.”

  “We are. I just like saying Naughty Nitro.”

  “Other guys must like it too because it’s selling like crazy.”

  The Naughty Nitro is one of Gina’s new Christmas beers. She’s been experimenting with nitro beers since last summer and finally found one she liked enough to serve. It’s really good, and not something Kanfield Brewery serves. I agreed not to, just like she agreed not to serve a pumpkin ale during the holidays. Instead she made a gingerbread stout, which my mom loves.

  Gina and I decided that our breweries would both benefit from not serving similar beers. If people want a nitro, they come here. If they want a pumpkin ale? They go to Kanfield. A gingerbread stout? They go to G’s. We’ve been doing this since G’s reopened and it’s worked out great. We’re both making a good profit and people choose which brewery to go to based on the beer rather than who owns the brewery. There’s still a few townies, mostly old guys, who will only go to my place and won’t step foot in Gina’s, but most people are happy to support both breweries, especially after my family and I spread the word around town that the rumors online about G’s weren’t true. When a Kanfield talks, people listen, so it didn’t take long for people to accept Gina and return to G’s after it opened.

  Tom’s print shop closed the same week G’s reopened. Tom’s cousin was running the place while Tom dealt with the charges against him, but nobody went there and the print shop had to close. Tom’s still waiting to find out what’s going to happen to him, but the last I heard, he could be going to prison for several years. Doing that much damage to a place is considered a felony, something I doubt he considered when he did it. As for Wade, I never saw him again after that day I fired him. He probably went back to his old job in Eau Claire.

  “Lexi, can you take over?” Gina asks as Lexi cleans off a table.

  “I got it,” Aria says, appearing from the back. “Hey, Sawyer.”

  “Hey.” I smile at her. “I like what you did with the place.”

  “Thanks! I’m really into Christmas.”

  Aria hung colored lights along the back of the bar and the ceiling and put a Christmas tree in the corner.

  “I’m going to head out,” Gina tells her. “But call if you need anything.”

  “I will.” Aria goes over to a guy who just sat down at the end of the bar.

  “I just need to grab my stuff,” Gina says to me. “Then we can leave.”

  Gina and I are going to the town Christmas tree lighting, then to my parents’ house for the annual Kanfield Orchard chili dinner. It’s a tradition my parents started before I was even born. Every year after the tree lighting, people come to the orchard for chili, cornbread, and cookies. It’s to raise money for charity. The charity changes every year. This year we’re raising money to get a new wheelchair for Angie, my friend Eric’s little sister. She needs a new one, but the kind she uses costs $15,000, which her parents can’t afford and insurance won’t cover.

  “Before you run off,” I say, “I’ve got something for you.” I slide an envelope over to Gina across the bar.

  “What’s this?”

  “Open it and find out.”

  She looks in the envelope. “A key?”

  “It’s for my apartment.”

  She holds it up. “Why do I need a key? You’re always there when I come over.”

  “But if I’m not, you need to be able to get in.”

  “Okay.” She slips the key in her pocket, not getting the significance. “I’ll be right back.”

  She’s gone before I can explain. Moments later, she returns and we go outside to the street.

  “Gina, it’s more than that.” I take her hand, stopping her.

  She turns to me. “What are you talking about?”

  “The key. I gave it to you because…” I take a breath. This is a huge deal for me. After Kendall moved out, I didn’t think I’d be ready for a girl to live with me again for a very long time. “I’m asking you to live with me.”

  Gina’s eyes widen. “You’re what?”

  “I want you to move in with me. I know my place is small, but we don’t have to stay there. We can get a different place, maybe even rent a house.”

  She slowly smiles. “You really want me to live with you?”

  “You’re there all the time anyway, and I like it better when you’re there. And this way, I’ll have a place to eat. You can bring over that table I made you so we don’t have to eat on the couch.”

  “Is that the real reason you want me to move in? To get extra furniture?”

  I pull her into my arms. “I want you to move in because I love you and want us to be together.” I kiss her. “So what do you say?”

  She smiles. “How soon can I move in?”

  We talk about it and decide she’ll move in tonight. A lot of her stuff is already at my place. We can get the rest of her things later. The lease on her apartment ends this month. She’s been looking for a new place but hasn’t found one. I think she was secretly hoping I’d ask her to move in.

  “Sawyer, look!” Gina points to a church on our way to the tree lighting. We left early so we could walk around the downtown and see all the shops decorated for Christmas.

  “What am I looking at?”

  She points to a sign in front of the church. “A pie-eating contest! It starts in ten minutes!” She turns to me and grabs my arm. “Let’s do it!”

  “Now? We’ll be covered in pie.”

  “I’m sure they have bibs or something to cover our clothes.”

  “Didn’t you tell me a few months ago that we’re too old for this?”

  “Maybe, but I changed my mind. C’mon!” She gets that competitive look on her face. “We haven’t competed in forever.”

  “Because it always leads to us fighting.”

  “But now we’re dating and the fighting will lead to us making up.” She gives me her flirty smile.

  “Okay, fine,” I say with a sigh. “But when you walk out of there with your face covered in pie, remember that you’re the one who suggested this.”

  We go in the church and are greeted by Mabel Andover, an old lady who worked at the library when I was growing up. She was old back then. She must be close to 90 now.

  “Hey, Mrs. Andover,” I say to her. “We’re here for the pie-eating contest.”

  “Down the hall and to your left.” She winks at me. “You get more handsome every time I see you.”

  “Thanks,” I say with a laugh. “This is my girlfriend, Gina.”

  Mabel smiles at her. “You were at the craft fair with Martha.”

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Gina says, smiling back. “I helped her set up the desserts.”

  “We should hurry up,” I say to Gina. “It’s starting soon.”

  We go down to a room that has about 30 people lined up at tables with pies in front of them. They’re miniature pies and all appear to be pumpkin.

  “Will you be joining us?” a lady asks, walking up to Gina and me.

  “Yes, we’re entering the contest,” Gina says.

  “Wonderful!” The lady smiles. “I’m Eleanor. Have a seat. We’ll be starting in a few minutes. Oh, and it’s free, but we’d love a donation. The money will go to the food pantry here at the church.”

  “I got it,” I tell Gina as I take a twenty from my wallet and drop it in the donation box.

  We take two open seats at the end of a long table.

  “Hope you’re hungry,” I whisper to Gina.

  “Hungry or not, I’m beating you.”

  “Yeah, okay.” I chuckle, looking at her tiny body and flat stomach. There’s no way she could fit more than two pies in there. I could easily eat six or seven, maybe more.

  Eleanor stands in front of the tables with a timer in her hand. “We’ll begin shortly. Now remember, you must completely finish one pie before starting another. Only clean pie tins will be counted as pies eaten. Any questions?”

  “What do we get if we win?” the teenage boy next to Gina asks.

  “Haydon Falls Pizza has generously donated a $50 gift card to the first place winner,” Eleanor says. “And Emmy’s Bakery has donated a $25 dollar gift card to the second place winner. The third place winner will receive a free bouquet of flowers from Haydon Falls Florist. Now, if that’s it for questions, we’ll get started.” She waits a moment, then starts her timer. “You may begin.”

  Gina and I grab the large serving spoons in front of us and start shoveling pie in our mouths. The teenage kid beside Gina is using his hands, putting half the pie in his mouth at once. If he keeps that up, he’s going to win. Even I can’t eat that fast.

  “This is harder than I remember,” Gina says, or I think that’s what she said. It’s hard to tell with her mouth full of pie.

  I’m already on my second and she’s still finishing her first. She notices me beating her and hurries to start on her next pie. I look at her as I shovel spoonfuls of pie in my mouth, trying not to laugh at the panic in her eyes, knowing I’m going to beat her. Her cheeks are all puffed out, full of pumpkin pie she can’t swallow fast enough.

  After three minutes, the timer goes off. Gina drops her spoon and falls back in her chair, her mouth still full of pumpkin pie.

  I wipe my face with the napkin and smile at her. “You good?”

  She shakes her head.

  I laugh. “Not quite the same as when we were seven.”

  “Looks like we have our winner!” Eleanor says, walking up to the teenage boy next to Gina. He ate seven pies and was half done with an eighth. His hands and face are covered in pie filling and when he smiles I see more of it stuck in his braces.

  “Anyone make it to six?” Eleanor asks.

  A girl around 15 waves her hand in the air. As Eleanor goes over to her, the girl points to the teenage boy who won. “Did you check his pie tins? Were they clean?”

  “They were,” Eleanor says.

  The girl glares at the guy like she wants to kill him. She reminds me of Gina, angry that she lost and even angrier at the boy who beat her.

  “Look familiar?” I say to Gina.

  She didn’t hear me. She’s too busy cleaning the pie off her face.

  “Anyone make it to five?” Eleanor asks.

  “I did,” I say, looking to see if anyone else did. They didn’t, which means I won. It’s only third place, but it’s better than nothing.

  “Enjoy your prize,” Eleanor says, handing me the gift card. She walks back to the front of the room. “Thank you all for coming tonight. I hope to see you at the tree lighting. And don’t forget the chili supper afterwards at Kanfield Orchard.”

  Everyone gets up to leave.

  “Congratulations,” Gina says to me.

  “Thanks. We had some tough competition. I forgot how much teenagers can eat.” I hold up the gift card. “You might be getting some roses soon.”

  “Aww, you’re going to use your prize on me?”

  I kiss her. “I wouldn’t give flowers to anyone else.”