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“It’s delicious. I take it you’re close with the people who work here?”
“I am,” I said. “The head brewer, Harlan, has been my best friend for basically my whole life.”
“That’s the guy who you love?”
“Now I’m embarrassed all over again,” I admitted. “I don’t know why I said that to him. I mean, I tell Harlan I love him all the time, but I didn’t mean to say it as thanks for the beer.”
She waved a hand. “Don’t sweat it. I accidentally said ‘love you’ to a refrigerator customer service rep on the phone last week.”
I laughed. “Now that’s a funny one.”
“It was embarrassing, but it just slipped out.”
“Well, thanks for making me feel better about it. And I’m sorry that my mother made you come all the way up into the mountains for this.”
Natasha relaxed back in the booth, taking another sip. “I certainly don’t mind. I’m envious of your life out here in the mountains. I’m at the firm now, but my plan is to eventually make enough to have a second home in the mountains. I love coming up here.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “I have to be honest and tell you that I’m pretty sure my mom brought you here to try to set us up. I’m really sorry, Natasha.”
I felt awful, but I was surprised when she just smiled.
“She absolutely brought me here for that, and that’s okay,” she said.
“Unfortunately, I’m really not in the market for dating right now,” I told her. “But it doesn’t sound like that’s going to be an issue.”
She laughed. “Not an issue at all. Like I said, I was so excited to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Fixer Brothers show. As far as I’m concerned, this day is worth it, even if your mom asks to have her drink remade a hundred times.”
“I know you can’t say anything about her because you work for her, but I know she’s a piece of work, and you are a hero for working alongside her,” I said. “She’s wanted me to work for her or my father for my whole life, and I’ve never said yes, for obvious reasons.”
Natasha nodded once. “I will choose not to give any opinions on that, but I hear you. Believe me, I hear you.”
She winked at me. It was clear that she also knew my mother was very particular, but that she was going to be diplomatic for the sake of her career. I admired that, even if I certainly didn’t envy it.
I changed the subject, letting Natasha ask me anything about the filming process for the TV show. It was the least I could do. As we spoke, I realized that I was starting to relax for the first time all day.
And goddamn, was that relaxation overdue.
My mother not-so-subtly got caught up in a conversation with Rush at the bar, leaving me with Natasha for quite a while. While Mom’s attempt to have me end up with a future wife by the end of tonight was never going to happen, it did turn out that Natasha was an awesome person, who made ceramic pottery and looked after shelter dogs in her small amount of free time.
After we’d talked for a bit over our drinks, I offered to take her outside again to watch more of the TV show being filmed. When the crew took a break, I introduced her to Nathan, Charlie, and Shawn, and she melted.
“It is such a pleasure to meet you all,” she said. “I’m completely starstruck.”
“And we’re happy our show has the best fans of all time,” Charlie said, turning on his usual charm. “We’re about to head inside for dinner, if you want to join us?”
Natasha looked at me with a question in her expression. “Would you mind, Sawyer, if I took them up on that offer?”
“Please do,” I said, holding up my hands. “I’m just glad I could make tonight worth your time.”
“So exciting,” she said, grinning. “Thank you. So much.”
“You should join us, too,” Shawn offered.
“I’m going to wait and eat dinner a bit later,” I said, waving a hand. “You guys have fun. Tell Natasha all the secrets behind the show.”
The truth was that I’d had a tornado of a day, and right now, I wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of my break outside, alone and recharging. The rest of the crew was already in the process of moving all of the cameras inside to get some final B-roll footage of the guys eating dinner.
After everyone had gone in, the sun had fully set, and the back deck was peacefully quiet.
Blissfully quiet. I listened to the sound of the low chatter that leaked out from inside the brewery as I stood on the deck, letting the night air cool my skin.
When I heard the sound of the back doors opening behind me a few minutes later, I instinctively tensed up. But when I turned around expecting to see my mother, it was Harlan, instead.
