Chapter 35

I leanagainst the far wall of the distillery, the one with the best view of where the tours started and ended. Right in front of the tasting bar. I still have a few things to wrap up, but I hear her laugh and it has me stopping my train of thought. She's charming a small group of people without even realizing it. And she knows what she's talking about as she pours the tasting flights.

"This is the 1936. It's going to give you those layered, richer flavors on your palate because it's double barreled," Laney says to the older couple that has just come off their tour group. "This is one of my favorites." Flipping a bottle of the newest blend, she pours and gets a few hoots out of it.

I made her a promise when I told her she was safe with me. Hell, it was a promise to myself too, because it was the one thing I was afraid I couldn't do. I had failed once before, and I won't allow that to happen again. No matter what.

"You realize you're staring and smiling like an idiot?"

I glance at my grandfather, who somehow ended up next to me, leaning against the same wall. "Where'd you come from?"

"Been watching you lately."

I take a big inhale, and on the exhale, push off to get back to work. "Why's that, Griz?"

"I always pay attention, Grant. Your brothers like to be the center of all of this, but you and I both know that it's makin' barrels, putting in the work, not having to be in the spotlight, that keeps things moving." He crosses his arms and surveys the room, the brand he built into what it is today. He was always the one looking at the big picture. "I've seen the way you're helping the new guys find their footing in the cooperage. They all actually want to be around you now," he sniffs out.

"Griz, I've never been interested in making friends here."

"It's not friendship I'm talkin' about. It's respect. They've always respected your last name, your role when you started as lead cooper, but they're respecting you now. You're showing them what it means to take pride in their work. Solve problems without having to ask permission. It's a powerful thing, being able to work hard and feel like it matters."

I've been doing this job for a while and haven't wanted anything other than to come in, do it, then leave. I look over at the woman pouring my family's bourbon. It feels different now. I feel different now.

"Heard this was the longest stint Jimmy Dugan had at one job. The hardware store didn't count. I know for a fact his father tried to fire him at least three times."

I smile at that. "He works hard. I think he just needed to find something other than the hardware store. Settle into something different."

Griz looks back at Laney. "Sometimes that's all it is. Balancing on new ground. Finding someone who'll see you as you are and not as you were." He claps my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. "Proud of you." I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to keep my emotions in check. Approval from him still feels good. "Heard the fish are biting at dusk again. What do you say, you and me show Laney what else we do well around here?"

"I'll grab the poles if you pick up the bait this afternoon?"

"I'll tellyou boys right now that when it comes time for you to meet your person, you'll know it," Griz said as he cast. The way he glided the fly across the water looked like it was moving in slow motion. Just enough of a ripple to get the trout biting. Although, that late in the summer, it'd be more likely to catch bass or carp instead.

Ace shouted from his rock in the center of the river. "It's just going to be the bourbon boys, Griz. Girls just want to laugh and do boring crap."

Griz laughed to himself, and I knew just as well as my big brother, regardless of what he said, that it wasn't true. "You're not going to think that in a few years, Atticus. That, I can guarantee you."

My grandfather was the smartest man I knew, so when he told me something was true, I believed him. Plain and simple. And if he said we had someone who would make our world more amazing than we'd ever imagined, then I couldn't wait to meet mine.

It's a memory I haven't thought about until now. How we stood in this very spot and laughed as Griz told us exactly how life worked.

"Don't care if it's with a man or a woman, but having someone?—"

Linc chimes in, "Like Nana, right, Griz?"

Griz smiled. "Yeah, Linc, just like your nana."

Of course it wasn't that simple, but at seven years old, it sounded as easy as following rules and clues. I was always good at that.

Julep splashes by in the shallow bank as she chases a bullfrog. Normally, that'd be the most entertaining thing about some evening flyfishing. But it's the beautiful woman standing in hip-deep water, wearing a pair of too-big galoshes that has me entertained. "I don't think fish like me. Don't I need a worm or something?" She's holding the pole at the perfect angle to cast, but Griz still gives his speech about how a looser grip meant the line would skim the surface of the water better. I thread the line around the lore and knot it twice.

"How many times am I supposed to do it?"

I can't bite back my laugh, because I can almost hear the smoke coming out of Griz's ears. She's being loud and no one ever caught anything fly fishing when they were being loud.

"I can make you more of those zucchini chocolate chip muffins, Griz."

He pulls back his line and damn near falls in the water. "What do you mean, zucchini chocolate chip?"

"The muffins you had, they were gluten-free and had zucchini in them."

"That's what that green was in there?"

But she doesn't answer him. Instead, she flicks her wrist and almost falls back into the water as her line snaps and the pole goes flying. "Dammit, this little prick-tent, sorry-ass fucking line" is followed up with a hearty laugh when she realizes her hook got snagged on the tree trunk to my left.

Griz barks out a laugh. "I haven't heard ‘prick-tent' before. Might need to use that one."

She wades through the water toward where I'm perched. With her hair piled high, a few of her strawberry and gold tinted pieces wisp along her neck. Maybe it's the way the sun hits the horizon line or the way the water ripples as she approaches, but it has my chest warming and my mouth watering. It suddenly feels like the world has decided it's time I recognize what's been happening. And maybe I was too stubborn to realize it until right now, but I won't forget this. Or what to call what I'm feeling for her. Somewhere between her swearing at me and that fishing line, I've fallen in love with her.

"Are you impressed by my skills?" She hooks her thumbs under the suspenders of her galoshes and wiggles her eyebrows.

Chuckling, I try to swallow the dryness in my throat.

When she reaches me, she wraps her arms around my neck, tilting back at me with an easy smile resting on her lips as she asks, "You alright, baby?"

Mmm. I love when she calls me that. I pull her in, wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing her pretty lips. It doesn't take any coaxing for them to part so that our tongues can meet in a slow caress. I want to linger here, with my body pressed against hers. Kissing her this way, like she's my everything. I'm afraid to blink. Afraid to let go and pretend like this is just a random evening together.

A splash and a twangy "Yeehaw" grabs our attention. Griz is laughing in the middle of the river, the water up to his hips as he reels in a fish. He yells out, "Grant, this might be the best catch of the summer right here. You and Laney stay over there so the fish come back."

"You got it, Griz," I say on a laugh, cozying her into my lap.

"Laney," Griz shouts. "Looks like your beginner's luck might be rewarding me instead, while you suck face with my grandson."

When I look back at her smiling, I pull her chin closer and lock onto those blue eyes as I tell her, "I'm better than alright, honey."