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He laughs. “Wow.”
“When was the last time you slept eight hours?” I ask him, and he smirks.
“When was the last time you slept eight hours?” He raises his eyebrows. “You look like shit.” He gets up from the chair, and we both burst out laughing. “I’m going to test the last batch we made, see if it’s ready.”
“Good, Bryan should be here any second anyway.” He turns to walk out, and I look down at the bills, going through them and making a spreadsheet to see which ones are the oldest to the newest.
I’m finishing my coffee when I hear a knock on the door and look up to see Bryan. “Hey.” I get up, smiling at him. He’s wearing a button-down dress shirt with blue pants, his blond hair pushed to the side, and his brown eyes looking at me. The smile on his face goes big when I get up and walk over to him. “Bryan.” I hold out my hand to shake his. “I’m Autumn.”
“Autumn,” he replies, his voice deeper than I thought it would be, “nice to meet you.”
“Thank you for coming in today,” I tell him.
“Of course,” he says, looking around. “I’ve never been here.” He puts his hands on his hips as he looks around. “Heard about it but—”
“I can give you a tour, if you like.” I move out of the office with him, going over the story of how we started. He listens to the story as we circle back to the office. “I know that you closed the account with us.”
He avoids looking at me as he looks down to the side. “I’m not sure what was said as to why the account was closed.” He turns back to look at me.
“I can imagine what was said,” I tell him, and his eyes go big. “It’s no surprise that the Cartwrights might be behind it.” I don’t give him a chance to admit it or deny it. “But it’s been close to eight years, and, well, business is business. It’s also time to move on, don’t you think?” I don’t know why I put in that last part. I just know that I’m over all of this. The hatred that seeps into your soul until you don’t even know who you are anymore.
“I agree. I know your product,” he admits. “I have to agree it’s some of the best whiskey out there. What are you looking for exactly?”
“I’m looking to get my product on the shelves of liquor stores, as well as in restaurants. Sort of exactly what we had before.” I explain to him exactly what I want. “I have a product I know is far more superior than what is out on the market. It’s a family-run business, and I guarantee once they try our whiskey, they won’t go back.”
He puts his hands in his pockets. “You aren’t going to take no for an answer, are you?”
“No, I won’t.” I fold my arms over my chest.
“Good, then neither am I,” he states, shocking me. “I’ll take the contract. We will start with twenty cases. Usually, the deal was twenty percent, but since I’m going to have to do this personally, I will have to do it for twenty-five.” I can’t believe my ears. Twenty cases is a lot more than zero.
“Are you serious?” I ask him, and he smirks.
“Yeah,” he replies, pulling out his hand for me to shake, “we have a deal.”
“Only if we can revisit the terms in six months.” I put out my hand, and he chuckles.
“We have a deal.” He shakes my hand, and I feel his warm one take mine. The smile is so big on my face it hurts my cheeks.
“Thank you.” I take my hand out of his. “You won’t regret this.”
“I don’t think I will either. We’ll be by tomorrow to pick up the cases.” He turns and walks out of the door.
I put my hands on my head and silently scream before the door opens again, and he comes back in, shocking me. The dread now creeps up my body. “Hey,” I say as he gets closer. “Did you forget something?”
“What?” He shakes his head. “No.” He grins. “It’s just, that was business.” He points at the door. “And now I’m not here for business.” I watch him. “Now I’m here for personal business.” I roll my lips. “I want to know if I can take you out.”
“What?” The shock rips through my words.
“I want to take you out,” he announces. “I’m very persistent also.”
I can’t help but smile. “Is that so?”
“That is so.” He takes a step forward, his voice going soft. “I’d like to take you to dinner.”
“I don’t know,” I counter him, “the town and all that.”
“How about I pick you up or you meet me at my house, and I’ll cook for you?” I think about all the reasons I should say no, but then I think,why the fuck shouldn’t I do this?
