by Natalie Ann
She waved her hand at Gavin. “Anyway, I placed the ad and started interviewing.”
“How many did you have to go through until you found someone?” he asked.
She didn’t want to say. “It wasn’t bad. There were a lot that were qualified.”
“Qualified to do the job, sure. Qualified to be your future daughter-in-law, I doubt it. And I can’t believe you think interviewing from an ad in the paper would work. You’re nuts.”
She picked his coffee up and brought it to the sink and dumped it. “I wasn’t done with that,” he said. Then she picked up the remaining coffee in the pot and dumped that too. Gavin laughed at her. “You’re evil.”
“You love it.”
“Fine. So you found someone. How did you know Mason would choose her? I’m guessing you weren’t so obvious that you only had him interview one person.”
“Please,” she said, shaking her head and tisking her tongue. “What do you take me for?”
He got up and walked around, leaned over and kissed her cheek. She loved that she felt so small next to him and was glad all her sons took after their father in height and build.
“You sent over the absolute worst candidates and then the best, knowing he’d be an idiot to not choose the one you wanted.”
She pursed her lips, but he only kissed her again quickly, laughed, and walked out of the room.
Social Interactions
Jessica was just pulling a pre-made dinner out of the microwave when she noticed her mother calling. She dropped the hot plastic on the counter, waving her burned fingers around before she answered. “Hi, Mom.”
“Jesse, darling.” She hated when her mother called her that, always making her feel like such a child. A name her father used to call her. “How is school going?”
“It’s good,” she said. “Workload is light, so I found a part-time job.”
There was a pause on the other line and she was pretty sure her mother had her brows creased together, her lips pursed, and was calculating the best response for the maximum effect. “Why didn’t you take more classes then?”
“Because I’ve busted my butt for almost four years. I’ve met all my requirements and I was just shy two electives. I tried to find something fun. I told you I was taking a class at the local community college too.”
“Beer making. Yes. You told me. A complete waste of your time. You could have picked up another minor.”
“I’ve got a minor. And a major. I don’t know what I want to do with what I’ve got. Why bother to waste my time taking more classes?”
“It would look good on your resume.”
It was always about appearance. “My resume is going to look good with my three point eight GPA as it is and you know it.”
“If you worked a little harder you could have gotten a three point nine.”
Jessica ground her teeth. “Was there a purpose for this call?” She hated being so blunt with her mother, but it never ended. It seemed no matter what Jessica did, she’d always fall short in her mother’s eyes.
And her father. Of course, her father probably felt he’d never measure up to her mother’s standards either, but he was able to walk away. He’d found himself another wife and had two sons.
Sons. That was what her father wanted, but that wasn’t what he’d gotten with his first child. She often wondered if that was where the Jesse nickname came from. Boys were named Jesse, but not Jessica.
Then she was wondering why she was wondering that. She’d long since accepted that her father was just a figure in her life. She visited him on weekends and holidays growing up, she saw him on holidays now when she went home. He loved her, she knew, but he loved his sons more. He was proud of his two boys who were only ten and twelve.
“I just wanted to see how you were doing. So what is this new job you’ve got? Are you in a lab?”
Figures her mother would want her in the lab. Her mother was a science teacher, never doing much more than that. She’d always thought she’d find cures someday or get a Nobel Prize. When that didn’t pan out like she’d hoped, she’d put that bug in Jessica’s ear growing up. And because she’d wanted her parents’ acceptance so much, she’d gone along with it.
Then after all the work she’d put in, she found it wasn’t what she wanted, but now she was stuck. For once she just wanted to do what she wanted and be who she was.
Sure, her tuition had been paid for with scholarships, but not her living expenses. She still had loans she’d have to pay and the thought of adding on to that by changing careers or fields of study and continuing on with school was something she didn’t want to consider.
“I’m doing tours in a brewery.”
Her mother laughed on the other line. “You’re joking, right?”
“Nope. It’s really great. I’m meeting all sorts of people. You always wanted me to go out and mingle and now I am.”
There was another pause. This time she knew she’d cornered her mother by saying she was achieving something her mom wanted her to do. Her mother felt Jessica wasn’t social enough. It wasn’t that she didn’t try or want to be, it was just that she was so awkward with it. So bad.
“It’s just a temporary job, right?”
“Of course, Mom. Spending money.”
“If you need money, just asked your father.”
“I’m not asking Dad for money. Or you. You both have your own expenses.”
“You should have stayed on campus. It would have been cheaper and you’d have more social interactions,” her mother said...again. Jessica lost track of the number of times she’d heard that.
“It’s actually cheaper, and it’s quieter for me to live on my own. I wish I’d done it years ago rather than waiting until my senior year.”
“But you’re meeting people, you said?”
If her mother wasn’t on her case to become the next great scientist, then she wanted her to be the homecoming queen. It still bothered her mother to this day that Jessica never went to any school dances or parties. She always stayed home studying. She’d once told her mother she couldn’t have it both ways, valedictorian and party girl. Maybe some people could do both, but Jessica wasn’t one of those people.
“Yes, Mom, I am. And I’m enjoying it. It’s giving me some confidence to put myself out there more.”
“Really,” her mother said, all excited. Jessica knew that would please her mother.
“Yes.”
“Have you met any boys?”
It didn’t matter that Jessica could legally drink, her mother still called her friends girls and boys. “I meet a lot of them every time I work.”
“Not those type of boys. You don’t want someone that visits a brewery. Or someone that works in one. Please don’t tell me you’re interested in some blue collar worker.”
Jessica felt her blood pressure rise. She’d never understood why her mother was so snobby at times. She was a teacher; she wasn’t a rocket scientist. Though she probably wished she was.
“I’m not interested in any man right now, Mom. I just want to finish school and then figure out what the next phase of my life is going to be.”
“Good. You keep thinking like that,” her mother said.
Funny how her mother could change her tune about Jessica meeting someone when it wasn’t someone her mother would approve of.
“I will. Now I’m going to eat my dinner while it’s still hot.”
“Have a good night, Jesse.”
“You too.” She hit the end button on her phone and tossed it on the counter, scowling at it and wishing she could just throw it across the room. But she couldn’t because then it’d break and she’d have to buy a new one. Being irrational never had a place in her life.
She didn’t understand why no one would let her live her life the way she wanted. She thought going to college so far away would have helped, but it didn’t.
All her life she was pulled in so many directions. Academia from her mother mixed with popularity. Her
father was a sports fanatic, and even though he wanted boys, he probably would have paid more attention to Jessica if she excelled at some sport.
The problem with that was, Jessica had no interest in any sports. Did she want to join so she could be part of something? Belong to a group her parents wanted her to be in so much? Sure. But she had no skills to be on a team, or even be the mascot.
She knew because she’d tried that too. She got beat out there because she didn’t “fit the type” of a mascot.
What type of person did they want? She’d be in a costume and covered from head to toe. All she had to do was run around and wave her arms. How hard would that be?
But they’d said they had more qualified candidates, and sent her on her way. That had been high school. By the time college rolled around, she’d pretty much given up on anything sports related and focused on groups and clubs.
Except those groups and clubs were a lot of the same types of people like her. Sure she felt at home with them, but it wasn’t helping her get out and spread her wings either.
Then she wondered why she was trying so hard. To please her mother? To get her father to like her more? Both were stupid reasons and she vowed to just be herself. If that meant she’d only have a few friends and be single most of her life, then so be it, but she wouldn’t be selling her pride for a token smile or compliment from fake people.
Moving out on her own had been the best thing. No more roommates that she had nothing in common with, either trying to make her over or get her to do their work.
No more looking for a place to sit in the cafeteria and wolfing her food down so she could get out of there, or buying food to bring back to her room and eat alone.
She could come and go as she pleased now. She could be her own person. She was happy.
And she’d lied to her mother because she did find a man—not a boy—but she wasn’t telling a soul because Mason Fierce was her first crush and crushes were meant to stay secret.
More Important Things
Who knew having a crush felt like this? Giddiness when you wake up in the morning just watching the clock and waiting for when you’d see that person again.
The thumping of her heart when anyone around her mentioned the name Fierce, or even used the word fierce.
Sweaty palms when she walked into work the last few days and her eyes gazing everywhere they could, just trying to catch sight of a tall muscular man with a firm deep voice that didn’t speak often.
It was probably a good thing she was having her first real crush now. It would have been a distraction in school years ago. Even last year when she was trying to maintain her GPA.
Now she was on easy street with her two classes and was able to relax and experience things she didn’t realize she was missing so much in her life. Who knew!
Nah. She’d always known she was missing them in life but told herself a million times there were more important things to focus on. More important goals to have than a man.
But now, walking around doing the last tour the following Sunday, having done them on her own for one full week, she was slightly disappointed that she’d be leaving for the day. Bonus though, she’d be back in the morning.
So yeah, more important things than having a man...lie!
After the last person was out the door, she started to help Joe, another bartender, clean up the bar, chatting with him about how excited everyone was to have food on site soon.
“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be limited to this room,” she said looking around at the tables and chairs people sat at while sampling the beer and waiting for the tours to begin.
“I know,” Joe said. “Mason has already reminded everyone that no food will be allowed in the brewery. No rules are changing there. If staff want something on break, we can have it, but we have to eat in here or the break room.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Jessica said.
That was one thing about Mason, he was always reasonable. Always fair. Always thoughtful. She loved those qualities that she’d never seen much of in the younger men she’d been in contact with at school. Maybe that was why she’d never been attracted to anyone before.
She’d caught sight of Mason milling around all day when she walked around the building. He seemed to be everywhere at once, almost like he was following her, but she knew better. Sundays had less staff on. It was a light day so he did more hands-on work to make up for it.
She’d asked him once if he ever took a day off and he only laughed at her. She’d take that as a no.
Once everything looked to be picked up for the day, she walked toward the lockers where everyone kept their personal belongings, grabbed her purse and jacket, then made her way to her car. February in Charlotte was still cold, but not nearly as cold as a Minnesota winter.
There were only three cars in the parking lot right now. Hers, Joe’s, who was currently running to his without a jacket on, and Mason’s truck.
Joe took off for home. When he was talking to her inside, he’d said he had a hot date. Jessica sat in her car, adjusting her mirrors again like she always did in case someone walked by and messed with them. She lost count of the number of times she’d come out of the high school parking lot and found someone pushed her side mirrors in on her. Her whole life someone was picking on her or bullying her for something or another. She just never seemed to fit in no matter how hard she tried.
She put the key in and turned it, only there was nothing. It didn’t even make a whisper. Dead as a doornail.
Undoing her seatbelt, she released the hood latch and then walked around and pulled it up. Not that she knew what she was looking for, but she could pretend. Maybe something was loose and she’d see it.
But she didn’t and was still standing there looking when Mason walked up next to her, causing her to jump and almost fall down.
“Having car problems?” he asked, his deep voice warming her chilled body up better than having a mug of hot cocoa in her hands. Even better than her mother’s big wood burning fireplace that she loved to lie in front of with a book as a kid.
“It looks it,” she said, then turned and saw him staring at her face and not the car.
***
Mason was leaving later than he thought. After one more walkthrough of the building, he made his way back to his office and saw Dale, his warehouse manager, in his office just walking around and glancing at things.
“Something I can help you with, Dale?”
Dale jumped and turned quickly. “Oh. I didn’t hear you come in.”
Mason lifted his eyes and looked around the office, trying to see what Dale might have been checking out. “Here I am,” he said again. His staff knew he wasn’t one for small talk. “What did you need?”
“Nothing important. Just wanted to see if I could get next Sunday off. Petie and I have plans. If I could make the time up during the week?” Petie worked in the brewery doing small jobs. More labor than skill. Moving and cleaning things up, stocking and delivering locally.
Dale always wanted to rearrange his schedule and it annoyed Mason. “I’ll have to check out the production for the week and see what we might be turning out and if we need someone or not. If there isn’t much going on, I could probably get away with giving you Sunday off.”
“What about switching?” Dale asked him again.
“If I don’t need someone on Sunday, I won’t take hours away from someone else scheduled. Use a vacation day.”
“I was hoping to save them up for this summer.”
“Sorry,” Mason said. “You know how it works here.”
Dale had left shortly after with Mason shaking his head. He hated dealing with bullcrap like that and wished Ella could, but they all ran their own staff, did their own scheduling and such. He tried to keep it all consistent when dealing with the staff, but there were always a few that tried to take advantage.
He couldn’t help it if he would just rather spend time brewing his beer. Now his time was taken up with paperwork
, orders, and schedules rather than getting his hands dirty like some of his brewers.
But he had more responsibility than they did and he knew it. Just like Aiden couldn’t just cook full time; he had to manage the restaurant too. Maybe someday they could get someone to take that over for them all. But today wasn’t the day and he wanted to get out of here.
He was shocked to see Jessica standing in front of her car staring under the hood. It seemed everywhere he turned today, there she was. Not that he was following her, or her him, but it didn’t stop the pull of his eyes whenever he felt her in the room.
Had he glanced over and seen her eyes on him at times? Yep, he did. Did he glance away quickly? Never.
“What’s going on?” he asked her after she answered his first question.
“It won’t start.”
He grinned at her. “I figured as much. I’ll rephrase it. Is it doing anything at all?”
“Nope,” she said. “Not a noise or even a whisper. It’s like I’m not even turning the key.”
“Go try again. Let me look.” She walked away from him and got in the car while he waited, but nothing happened.
He waved his hand to the side so she’d see it and stop doing whatever she was. “So, is it the battery?” she asked when she came back to stand by him.
“That’s my first guess. Let me try to give you a jump.” Her face turned red and her jaw opened and then closed. “Your battery. I’ve got jumper cables in my truck. Let me move it closer and give you a jump.”
“Oh,” she said, a deep blush filling her face.
He turned and walked away from her toward his truck. He had to or he was afraid he’d be like Cade and say something stupid without thought. Something like, “Lots of room in the back of my truck if that is what you want?”
He’d never say anything like that to any woman. Never even had that thought before and was more annoyed than anything he was having those thoughts now, outside in the cold, when he was trying to help her.
