Speakeasy (True North #5)(67)

“Leprechauns?” I laugh, because I feel like crying.

“Roll with it,” Audrey says, backhanding my arm. “I’m trying to make a point here.”

“Oh, you’re making it. Six weeks. There are barrel-aged beers that take longer than that to make. I’m such a bonehead.”

“Nah. You’re just a first-timer. A love virgin.” Audrey finds this idea so hilarious that she cracks up right there in the passenger seat.

“So what do I do?” I ask when the hilarity peters out.

“Patience and calm. Just be there, okay? She’s going to be out of work for a couple of weeks until they decide if her hand will heal without surgery. She can’t drive, I bet. It’s going to be boring. Can I give you a couple of tips?”

“Certainly.”

“She has a weakness for Twizzlers. And pop culture. And…” She looks thoughtful. “May is a practical person. Not the kind of girl to chase after luxuries, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t appreciate little things. Nobody ever brings her flowers. Daniela certainly didn’t.”

“You are full of wisdom, Audrey Shipley.” I pull into the parking lot for the Busy and the Gin Mill.

She smiles, and not for the first time I wonder how she and Griff get along so well. He’s a storm cloud, and she’s the sunshine. “Later, Romeo.”

“No, I’m coming in for breakfast.”

I get out of my truck, then walk around to help Audrey down.

There’s a damaged brown sweater mocking me on the back seat. Just one more thing in my life that needs fixing.

We walk into the Busy Bean together. Audrey greets Zara and then disappears into the back to wash her hands.

I wait for a customer before me to be served. After the heart-stopping panic of hearing about May’s car accident, the other problems in my life seem smaller now. But since I can’t be with May right now, I might as well tackle a couple of them.

At the counter, I greet my sister and get more coffee. Zara brings me that pretzel I didn’t get a chance to eat before. I eat it right there while she quizzes me about May’s condition. I do my best to explain that she’s banged up but okay.

“Well, that’s a relief,” she says, pointing at the crumbs I’m dropping on her counter.

I sweep them into my hand. “Aren’t you going to grill me about the whole relationship, now?”

“Nope,” she says, offering me more coffee. “Figure Griffin’s got that covered.”

“Rossis don’t end up with Shipleys, anyway,” I remind her. “I think I remember telling you that once. He’ll realize pretty soon that he doesn’t have anything to worry about.”

“I don’t know.” My sister looks thoughtful. “Griff and I weren’t a good match. I loved the idea of him more than I was in love with him. But it’s not the same for you.”

I guess it really isn’t. “May and I are a bad match on paper. That’s what she tells me, anyway. But I just don’t buy it. And she makes me want things I didn’t think I’d ever want.”

“See?” My sister chuckles. “You might break the streak, big brother, if it’s meant to be.”

That’s Zara for you. She doesn’t take any shit from anyone, but she doesn’t judge, either.

“That’ll be six fifty,” she says.

Right. I pay my sister, finish my delicious pretzel with cream cheese and salmon, then get back into my truck.

I drive out to Otto’s farmhouse, feeling weighed down by a lack of sleep and too much on my mind. And I’m dreading asking Otto for help. There’s more than one thing I need from this man and humbling myself will sting.

It’ll be bad enough if my uncle refuses to help me. But he won’t just refuse, he’ll insult me, too. You’d think I’d be used to it by now.

I’m girding my loins as I park my truck in front of the house. I can’t allow our conversation to end up like a teenage throwback. I’m going to go in there and be calm and ask for help. Even if it makes me want to put my head through a wall.

I jump onto the porch and knock on the door.

Otto answers with his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. He looks harmless, but I know better. “Need something?” he asks.

The urge to snark is strong. But I don’t do it. “Yeah. I need your help.”

“Of course you do,” he says. “Quite the show you put on last night.”

And here we go. I make a promise to myself as I follow him inside. After this, I’ll head to the gym and take it all out on the heavy bag. I’ll need to.

I take a long breath in through my nose and let it out. “I found out yesterday that Giltmaker cut off my supply of Goldenpour a week ago. Would you happen to know why that is?”

Otto’s bushy eyebrows lift. “No. New strategy? They wanna go it alone?”

“That would have been my guess, except they haven’t opened their brewpub yet. I also found out that I’m the only one they cut off.”

“Don’t know a thing about it, boy. Maybe that supplier’s daughter got sick of you.”

“This wasn’t the supplier’s decision, I’m told.”

“So you want me to fix it?”

I swallow all my pride, and the taste is bitter. “I’d like you to make a phone call on my behalf to ask what the problem is. And if it has anything to do with the Gin Mill, I’ll address it. And I’d like to apologize for flipping out about Hamish’s place last night.”