Cashmere and Camo

by Erin Nicholas

  Yeah. He thought maybe he was.

  “You’re actually telling me that you still think Brynn should go back to New York?” Parker asked, sitting forward and finally, thankfully, abandoning the metaphor.

  Noah scowled at him. “Yes. Dammit. Nothing’s changed that. Everything is on track. She’s almost done with everything in the will and she’s definitely come out of her shell, gained confidence, learned to socialize. Hell, she even likes it. I’ve done a hell of a good job here. She’s in the perfect position to go back exactly the way Rudy wanted.”

  Parker sighed and looked at Evan. “You try.”

  Evan sat forward now. “You’re sleeping with her every night.”

  “Yeah. I’m very aware.”

  “Do you really think that’s the best way to do this?” Evan asked.

  “So you’re thanking me for being here every night, but now you’re lecturing me about it?” he asked.

  “Actually, the jam was a lot more about making our point than a thank-you gift,” Parker told him.

  “No kidding,” Noah said dryly.

  “We’re concerned about Brynn,” Parker said.

  “I’ve been taking care of Brynn since she first set foot in this town,” Noah said. “You don’t need to be concerned about her.” In fact, it irked him that anyone would think they needed to worry about her. He had this. It was all good.

  “But now you’ve changed… grape jelly…for her too,” Evan said. “Is that fair? I guess if you’re okay being a miserable monk after she leaves—though if you turn into an asshole, you can’t hang out with us anymore—that’s one thing, but are you doing her any favors?”

  “I’m fucking showing her what it’s like to have a great, healthy, happy relationship with someone who—” He broke off and swore.

  “Someone who loves her,” Evan filled in. He shook his head. “You’re showing her what it’s like to be with someone who’s in love with her. And then you’re going to take that away from her?”

  Noah felt a knot in his stomach. He’d never pretended to not be a selfish bastard. That’s all this was really. He wanted her. As much of her as he could have. So he was taking it. Every day and night that he could get. “If you find really amazing jam, but you know that eventually it’s going to run out and you’ll never be able to have it again, of course you’re going to have it on everything,” he said, turning their stupid analogy back on them. “You’re going to gorge yourself and be happy that you at least got that much.”

  Did they really expect him to leave her alone now that he’d gotten this close to her? Yes, she was leaving. But that was even more reason to be here every damned day until that time ran out.

  He told himself it wasn’t all selfish though. From the start, he’d wanted to show her what it was like to be involved with a man who was with her for the right reasons, who would treat her well and appreciate her. He’d been showing her how it should be, so that she’d look for that. So she wouldn’t settle. So she wouldn’t get duped by some dickhead in New York who only wanted her money, or only saw her amazing, long legs. She needed to know what it felt like to be loved…so she could find it again.

  “We just—”

  Whatever Evan had been about to say was interrupted by the girls coming into the room. Cori and Ava carried plates of food—all fruit themed. They set down the plates of grilled fruit kabobs, chicken and beef kabobs with fruit dipping sauces, and tiny fruit tarts. Tonight, they were playing Fabled Fruit. It was technically for players ages 8 and up, but Cori had a way of making even the kids’ games they played more adult. Sometimes she added extra rules. Always she added liquor.

  Which was where Brynn came in. She was carrying the tray of drinks.

  He caught her eye and his heart gave a stupid thump when she smiled at him.

  Was he being selfish playing the full-time, serious boyfriend? Probably. But he really did want her to know what it was like to be romanced and adored so she would expect it, even demand it, in the future.

  Or maybe so that when she went back to New York she’d miss him and would come back to visit often. Ava would be flying back and forth. They had a private jet after all.

  Yeah, okay, he was being selfish.

  But when Brynn brushed against him, setting a glass down in front of him, and he caught her scent and felt the heat from her body, he just didn’t care. She was his for now. For as long as they could make it work. And if he had to eventually let her go, then he’d do it knowing that he’d shown her what it was like to be in the spotlight of at least one guy’s life and how great that felt.

  That thought made him freeze in reaching for his glass.

  Rudy had wanted her to be in the spotlight. He’d said those very words. He’d wanted her to be the center of attention for a change. It seemed that she was more comfortable in the midst of everyone and everything at the pie shop now. She didn’t shy away from attention now. She didn’t come seeking refuge from it all in the garage every single day now. But no matter what else she was feeling or how else she’d grown, Noah could honestly say he’d done at least part of what Rudy had wanted. He’d made her the center of his attention.

  “Damn, what is this?” Parker asked, peering into the glass Brynn had set in front of him.

  “You like it?” Brynn asked. The glasses on her tray had all been distributed and she was holding one, standing at the end of the table.

  “I do.”

  “It’s cherry cider,” she said. “Actually, it’s hard cider.” She glanced around the table. “I made it.”

  She looked a little excited and a little nervous. Noah frowned, not sure why he felt a niggle of trepidation, but sensing that something was going on. He picked up his glass and took a sip.

  “That’s a beer.”

  He looked up at her as he swallowed. “Yeah.” He couldn’t help but notice the flavors on his tongue. There was the familiar malt taste, but there was also some apple, a hint of cinnamon, and it had a creamier taste than his typical ales. “It’s good.”

  “I made that too.”

  He felt his eyebrows rise. “You made this beer?”

  She nodded, her smile growing. “It’s apple pie beer. Did you get the hint of nutmeg?”

  “Apple pie beer? Hard cherry cider? What’s going on?” he asked.

  “This is peach, right?” Cori asked Brynn, holding her glass up to the light.

  Brynn grinned. “It is. I’ve got a peach cider and a peach pie beer.”

  Noah frowned, setting his glass down. “What are you talking about?”

  She shrugged, but she was almost bouncing on the balls of her feet now. “I’ve been playing around after I was tasting beers for Ladies’ Night. I started reading up on everything, and my friend Jeffrey and I were talking about the process of making beer and ciders and wine. It’s all basically just chemistry.”

  Jeffrey. Her buddy in New York. Another brilliant genius scientist. Noah didn’t like Jeffrey. He’d never met him, of course, but he didn’t like him. Jeffrey had a ton in common with Brynn. He was probably the first guy she should date when she went back to the city and her lab.

  Yeah, he didn’t like Jeffrey at all.

  Cori laughed. “Well, chemistry is definitely your forte.”

  Brynn nodded. “I was thinking about it all when we were at the river and people were talking about how Bliss really needed a bar. And then we had the ladies’ night and it was so successful. Everyone loved the pairings and even the pie themed drinks. So…I thought…” She trailed off, suddenly looking nervous. She reached under one of the placemats at the table and pulled out a sheet of paper. She looked at it, took a deep breath, then set it in the middle of the table. “I was thinking that we could expand our business. Pie themed ciders and beer. The brewed could also apply to the coffee drinks we make.”

  Everyone around the table leaned in simultaneously. They stared at the paper. Ava was the one to finally reach for it.

  “Blissfully Baked and Brewed?” she asked,
looking up at Brynn. “You want to turn the pie shop into a bar?”

  The sheet of paper was emblazoned with a new logo. Or really just a logo, since the pie shop under Rudy’s direction hadn’t had anything official like that. In fact, most of the businesses in Bliss didn’t have a logo. Some of them, like Parker’s diner was just “the diner”. It was probably legally called something, but Noah wouldn’t have been surprised to find that it was something basic like “the Bliss Diner”. And his own shop was simply JN Motors, for Jared and Noah. They just didn’t get fancy around here.

  But then again, they were talking about the Carmichael triplets here.

  “Well, it would still be a pie shop too,” Brynn said. “Say until 4 or 5 p.m. Or maybe just after Parker closes at six. Then we’d switch over to a bar. People could come in for dessert and wine after community events. They could come in for a beer after work. We could do a regular ladies’ night. And,” she continued, “we could also maybe distribute our ciders and beer. Jeffrey has a friend who runs a microbrewery that is willing to sit down and talk with me. We’ll need capital, of course, so we’ll have to wait until our profit margin is a lot bigger and we have some extra money to play with, but it will be a fun way to brand our business and expand.”

  “How about frozen pies and canned pie filling?” Parker asked. He looked at Ava. “I know you’ve been thinking about that stuff too.”

  Ava just gave him a little shrug. Parker rolled his eyes.

  Brynn looked like she didn’t know if she should take him seriously or not. But she lifted her chin. “Yeah, maybe all of that too. Why not? There are lots of ways to extend the pie business and brand of Blissfully Baked and Brewed.”

  Noah felt his gut knotting. He should be getting used to feeling torn right down the middle, but he still couldn’t believe how one half of him loved seeing her excited and how the other half only felt anxious. This didn’t sound like something she was planning to dabble in temporarily. And that was going to be trouble.

  Evan was nodding. “You might get to the point of needing to hire some more people. That would be really good for the town. Rudy would have loved that.”

  Brynn’s smile brightened and Noah felt his heart expand. Damn, he loved that look of excitement and happiness on her.

  Then a thought occurred to him. “You’d be setting up a facility to make the ciders and beer here in Bliss?” he asked.

  She turned her full attention on him. “Yeah. I mean, maybe. I hope so. If we get big enough. But for now, I can easily keep doing it in the kitchen at the shop. I’ve been doing it in there anyway. There’s plenty of space in there for a little while.”

  “You’ve been doing this in the pie shop kitchen?” Cori asked. She looked at Ava. “How did we not notice this?”

  Ava shook her head. “I’ve been going over to Parker’s side to help with clean up and next day prep so I’m not in the pie shop after three.”

  “And doing God knows what in Parker’s kitchen,” Evan said. “I try not to think about it when I’m eating over there.”

  “Feel free to take your business elsewhere,” Parker told him.

  He said that often. And it was an empty offer. There was nowhere else to go. Even if Parker’s food wasn’t outstanding—which it was—and Parker wasn’t one of Evan’s best friends—which he was.

  “I guess she’s been sneaking behind our backs,” Ava said, watching Brynn.

  Yeah, that was kind of Noah’s thoughts. Why hadn’t she mentioned any of this to them? To him?

  Brynn laughed. “You’re both completely distracted by being in love. I could be raising a baby elephant in that kitchen and you wouldn’t notice a thing as long as I get you talking about Parker and Evan.”

  The guys gave each other cocky grins, and Ava and Cori said nothing to dispute Brynn’s statement.

  But they were getting off on a tangent. Away from the subject of Brynn making hard ciders and brewing beer in the pie shop and wanting to turn it into a bar.

  “You really think this is a good idea?” Noah asked. His tone was short and he didn’t mean it to be. But he wasn’t feeling good about all of this.

  “Well it would require expanding our hours, which means more staff,” Ava, ever the businesswoman—and not the woman Noah had been talking to—said. “That or we stagger when we’re all at the shop. Which could work, but we all already have stuff we need to be doing.”

  “I could easily work later a night or two a week,” Cori said.

  “You could?” Evan gave her a wide-eyed look.

  She laughed. “I could. You could work with me. We could mess up the kitchen in the pie shop like Ava and Parker mess his kitchen up.”

  “Well, when you put it that way…” Evan wiggled his brows.

  “I could work a night, I guess,” Ava said, shooting Parker a look. “But Parker gets up too early as it is.”

  “I’m fine, Boss,” Parker said. “We’ll do whatever we have to do to make it work.”

  Noah gritted his teeth. They were already to the “whatever we have to do” stage? Brynn had just brought the idea up.

  Ava shook her head. “You can’t work until one in the morning—”

  “Two,” Evan broke in.

  “Two what?” Ava asked.

  “The bar can sell alcohol until two.”

  Ava nodded and looked at Parker. “Yeah, you’re not doing that.”

  “Well, we could hire someone,” Cori said. “Profits are up and this would be bringing in more money. We could afford someone I think. At least some of the time.”

  “Yeah,” Ava agreed. “We’ll probably have to.”

  “So we’ll need glassware,” Parker said. He reached for the pad of paper that they were going to use for keeping score and started a list. “And we’ll have to—”

  Suddenly a shrill whistle split the air.

  Everyone pivoted toward Brynn. She was still standing at the head of the table, now with her arms crossed. “Excuse me. But I believe this whole thing was my idea,” she said.

  “Oh, it was. And I think it’s great,” Ava said.

  Brynn shook her head. “What I mean is, I will be running the bar part of the business. I appreciate your offers to help, but you all have plenty to do. I will be taking care of the bar. I will be the one ordering glasses and doing any hiring that needs done.”

  Ava’s brow creased but she nodded. “That’s great. You can definitely get it kicked off and going before you leave. But we’ll need a long-term plan.”

  Brynn blew out a breath and dropped her arms. “I am the long-term plan. This is the long-term plan. We keep going with the pie shop, Cori takes it over with Parker, and we add the bar. That I will manage.”

  Cori frowned and turned more fully on her chair. “You are the long-term plan? You mean, you want to stay in Bliss? And be a bartender?”

  “I want to stay in Bliss and be a business owner and provide a service to this community and do something that’s fun and different and…” She paused, then nodded. “Yeah, I want to be a bartender.”

  “But,” Ava started, looking surprised. “You’re a research scientist. You work in a pharmaceutical research lab. You…make drugs.” She looked at Cori and Parker as if for help. They evidently had none to give. Ava looked at Brynn again. “Why do you want to be a bartender?”

  “Because I like it here. And I like making beer.” Brynn shrugged. “I know it sounds strange, but it’s no weirder than our billionaire father leaving New York to come to Kansas and make pies.”

  “Okay,” Cori acknowledged. “But…” She stopped and looked at Evan. “I’ve got nothing. She’s right. It’s weird but, then again, maybe it’s not.”

  Noah ran a hand over his face. He had no idea what to do or say here, really. He should have seen this coming. He probably had. Brynn wanted to stay in Bliss because it was now her safe place. She’d come out of the shadows a little, had found that it wasn’t so bad, and now felt comfortable here. And her sisters were here. And, yeah,
he was part of it too. As Evan and Parker had just pointed out. He’d been playing long-term, committed boyfriend. And she was starting to feel long-term about Bliss.

  “But you…save lives,” Ava finally said. “The work you do is hugely important.”

  “The work the lab does is hugely important,” Brynn agreed. “But I hardly need to be the one doing it. They’ve been doing fine without me.”

  “But your talents, your brain, I mean…you have to do something meaningful with all of that,” Ava said. She looked at Cori. “Right?”

  Cori shrugged. “I don’t know, Boss,” she said, using Parker’s nickname for Ava with a touch of sarcasm. “You’re a big tough CEO who runs the company that owns the lab that makes those medications. And yet, you’re here, waitressing in Parker’s diner.”

  Ava opened her mouth, then shut it. Then opened it again. “But other people can take care of the company too. And I still oversee what I need to.”

  Cori nodded. “Exactly. No one knows Carmichael or has the experience with the company that you do, and yet someone else is able to run it. And do it well. It’s the same for Brynn.”

  Cori gave her sister a smile and Noah felt frustration settle in. So he was going to be the one to tell Brynn she couldn’t stay, and he wouldn’t even have the backup of her sisters.

  “Brynn is brilliant and dedicated, but that doesn’t mean she can only do one thing with her talents. She doesn’t have to be the one overseeing the lab. And I think meaningful things can happen anywhere,” Cori said. “Definitely here in Bliss.”

  Brynn’s expression softened at that and Noah felt a breath lodge in his lungs.

  Ava took a deep breath. “Yeah, you’re right. Being a part of this town has been meaningful to all of us.”

  Brynn’s mouth curled into a smile, and Noah felt his heart try to flip behind the band that was constricting his chest.

  “The lab’s work has to continue,” Brynn said. “But Jeffrey can definitely take over. And this bar will be like the pie shop and the diner—a place for people to gather and interact and be welcomed. That’s no small thing. I think that’s meaningful.”