Love, Chocolate, and Beer (Cactus Creek #1)(46)

A rush of emotions coursed through his veins over that fact, intensified threefold when he caught the exact moment Dani discovered him standing there on the other side of the machine. Was it no wonder he pictured her in his future? He’d consider himself the world’s luckiest guy just to be greeted with that smile of hers every day for the rest of his life.

Of course, in one of life’s ironic, sobering slaps in the face, the first words out of her mouth after that smile were, “Hey, Luke. Sorry, do you mind waiting a bit? I’m almost ready.”

Logically knowing she only meant that in the context of their lunch today, in his mind, he was nodding in reference to their relationship as well. He’d wait for her until she was ready.

Immediately following that short but lasting transgalactic flight of fancy, Luke quickly headed back out to the brewpub to do his waiting…lest he accidently blurt out one of these long-term fantasies and send his favorite commitment-phobic brewmaster screaming for the hills.

Once safely out front, he grabbed a seat at the bar and noticed for the first time a list of all the past Dobson beers, carved into the wall off to the side behind it. After studying the long list, he started to see an interesting trend. “Hey, Sam,” he called over to the bartender on duty. “How come your seasonal brews have only been in the summer, fall, and winter? Why not spring?”

Sam’s answer sounded very...careful. “Fall, summer, and winter are all easy seasons for brewers—more robust beers for winter, light ones in the summer, and of course the malty brews during the fall months. Spring has less…brewing standards.”

Luke frowned. What an informative way not to answer his question. Even more curious was the way Rylan, who was eating at a nearby table, was avoiding looking at him altogether.

Then Xoey, who’d been in the middle of dropping off more t-shirts, cupped a hand on the side of her mouth and stage whispered, “We’re not supposed to talk about it.”

“Oh stop, you guys,” shushed Dani, finally joining them. “It’s not like it’s an NFL superstition or something.” She turned to Luke. “Folks around here call it the Dobson curse.”

Luke’s curiosity piqued. “Should I be wearing a vial of holy water around my neck?”

“Not that kind of curse, goofball. Just the unlucky kind. For as long as I can remember, my dad couldn’t make a successful beer in the spring. They’d always flop. Pretty horrendously. The ones that came close to being decent would always run into problems during the trials—too flat, fermenting gone awry, etc. Eventually, he just stopped trying to make a spring beer.”

“What about when you took over as brewmaster?”

“While I don’t believe in curses, even I have to admit I’ve brewed up some stinkers.”

Luke shook his head in amazement. “I find that impossible to believe.”

Xoey put a sobering hand on his shoulder. “Oh trust me, she’s made some awful ones.” She gagged in memory. “Dani, remember that blackcurrant rum beer? Ew, and that bizarre lychee one you tried to make a few years ago? Blech!”

“Gee thanks. Thanks a lot.” Dani’s nose scrunched in consternation. “In theory, those two should’ve come out really good.”

“In reality, one tasted like sugary spoiled malt vinegar and the other just tasted like ass.”

She laughed. “The smell and the taste didn’t match up at all in that last batch; I can’t believe you all even swallowed it. You should’ve just spit it out.”

“I would’ve,” assured Quinn as she walked in to join the tail end of their conversation. She passed an important-looking form to Luke—very official business—even though the way she and Rylan were looking at each other pretty much outed her as a bald-faced liar.

Luke scoffed. “You mean you would’ve spit it back in her face. Been there, wiped that.”

Quinn shrugged, completely comfortable with her methods.

“Wow, no one here would ever do that to me.” Dani’s eyes rounded in admiration.

“You hear that, Quinn? What a concept. They actually respect their boss enough not to spit in her face.” Luke’s comical look of shock was priceless.

“I respect you,” assured Quinn. “But I also have certain expectations of you. Evidently, being able to duck in time to avoid my feedback is no longer one of them.” She clucked her tongue disappointedly. “Live and learn…”

They all laughed, mostly at his expense.

Luke’s laughing smile instantly turned into a hidden grin when he saw Rylan slide his hand onto the small of Quinn’s back as he whispered something in her ear. Luke nearly choked on his food. That was the type of thing that would usually result in a lost limb for most men.

Discreetly, Luke signaled Dani with his eyes to check out the development.

When she looked over, her eyes instantly widened to the size of saucers right before she grabbed his hand.

“Hey, you know what? The special for lunch isn’t quite ready yet so why don’t we go to Desert Confections for a bit first? You can show me that new chocolate you created yesterday.”

She shuffled swiftly toward the door, hollering out to her assistant manager on the way, “Sam, tell Jim I’ll be back in the brewery in an hour. The recipe I’m trying on the Baby D system is on a hundred-twenty-minute boil cycle with Mikey taking care of the hops addition. No worries, I walked him through it a few days ago. I had extra time to rack the last Rylan Red in the Daddy V system so he won’t have to condition at all today. Oh, and I left a note for him describing which valve on Ole Betsy is acting wonky, in case he asks. Thanks, Sam!”