Page 20 of Hammer and Hops

“I know what he is. Go in the back and see if they need help.” I waved him away. Nosy, pest.

How did he know about it anyway? Probably because he’d been calling and coming around the brewery so much. “Conroy, wait.”

“Yes, sir?” He turned back, taking a few steps forward, but looked as if he were afraid to get too close.

“How exactly do you know about Cameron?”

“I took the food he left for you the other day, remember? But…”

“But what?”

“Well, Reuben, you know Reuben Bennett? The postman? He saw ya’ll pulling into the stables over at Willow Creek, so I figured you were together.”

My eyes bugged out of my head. “What? Why would he tell you that?”

He rolled his eyes. “This is a very small community, Boss.” Lukas was rubbing off on him.

I held my hand up, asking for more info than that.

“Reuben tells everybody everything. He and Evelyn know what’s going on, whether you want them to or not. For that matter, so does Merle, down at Pints.”

That was one aspect of this small-town living that I hadn’t considered. Everybody up in my business like Cameron said. I chose this place, and my exact location in particular, to get the best expansion for my business, not to become local gossip. Fuck my life. And fuck Cameron for pulling me into the local scene. Just when I was really starting to like him, he smacks me with his gremlin shenanigans again.

Chapter fourteen

To The Rescue – Cameron

I didn’t have a job scheduled, so I headed into town to stop into Books Beans and Buns. It’d be good to catch up with Brock and maybe Jackie if he were hanging around. Not to mention, get some of that fantastic coffee.

“Yo, Cam!” Jackie called as I came into the store, the bell on the door chiming.

“What’s up, Jacks?”

“Nada. But Evelyn was in here earlier telling us all about how you’re seeing the Brew Master out at the new brewery.”

“Actually, he’s not the Brew Master—he’s the owner. Pretty sure he hired someone for that job, and his name is Lukas.”

“Whatever, dude. The point is, you and him…yeah?” He wiggled his ginger eyebrows at me.

“It’s new but I’d like it to go there.” I wasn’t even surprised that the news had already hit the rumor mill. It’s just what happened. When you lived in a small town, you had to expect it. Or at least this one. Although I’d lived farther away, up near Fish Springs, for a long time, and only recently moved closer to town after having picked up more and more closer jobs. Luckily, I’d found a great fixer-upper and was slowly working on it.

“Well, congrats, man. I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks. I need some coffee, dude.”

“Brock’s not in right now, so help yourself.” He waved me off, and I headed back to the coffee and pastry bar, but while I was pouring, my phone beeped with a message.

Everett shot pics of the truck’s tire so I could get the size and brand. But it didn’t look like a normal flat, and he said he needed two of them. Why?

It didn’t matter; I needed to just move. I got on the phone and called in some favors and had the tires delivered to the brewery quickly, but they wouldn’t be able to change them, so I needed to get over there. “Hey, Jackie, you got a two-ton jack I could borrow?”

“I do, but it’s back at the house.”

“I can go get it.”

“It’s in the garage. You know the code?”

“Yeah, still have it from when we did your pool.”