As a kid, his tone would have made me flinch, but I was free of him as an adult. The only reason I allowed him around Linc was because he treated him like gold.
I ignored him, choosing to smile at Linc instead, who was sampling some of Mom's cornbread. "Did you ask Grams first, Linc?"
"Yes," he replied, grinning triumphantly as he popped another bite in his mouth.
Dad set down his fork, folding his hands on the table. "We saw Dan Sutton earlier. It seems like you two have been spending a lot of time together. Want to tell us anything?"
"He's my landlord," I replied, realizing what he was implying when he gave me a rare smirk. "He's visited twice since I moved in for landlord business."
I'd rather join a convent than date Dan Sutton. It was about time Dan knew it too, landlord or not.
"He's a good guy, Josie. He's stable and has a lot of money in the bank. That would be a great set-up for you and..”
"Stop," I ordered. "We're not having this conversation."
Dad had been trying to sell me off like a broodmare since he heard I was moving back to Briar. Actually, he'd been trying since I separated from Scott. And when he died, he didn't miss a beat in telling me it was time to move on.
I was surprised he hadn’t typed up a personals ad for me.
Single mother seeking a wealthy match. New in town. Parents desperate. Personality optional.
"You're not getting any younger," he noted, his chiseled features sharpening as he leered my way.
"Ed!" Mom scolded through her teeth. "Leave her be! She's fine!"
She always tried to play peacekeeper but was never successful. Dad's disgust for me ran too deep, and there would always be a strain. No amount of intervention would clear the air. Nothing would balm the wounds.
"It's true! The boy needs a father figure! If he doesn't have one, he'll be gay!"
That was it. I put up with a lot of crap from him, but that was too far. I turned to Linc, who was already working through his second piece of cornbread with a bite wedged in his cheek like a hamster. "Linc, we need to go."
I wouldn't stand there while he shredded my parenting skills, and he insulted others as he saw fit. I knew too well what it felt like to be persecuted for following your heart.
"Everything good?"
We all turned to see Luke closing in, a muscled missile ready to burst our bubble.
Dad stiffened, not seeing the two of us together since we were in the back of a police car eleven years earlier.
"Linc and I are leaving." I didn't want to talk to Luke either, but he was the lesser of two evils.
Linc pouted but obeyed, taking a hunk of cornbread for the road and grabbing my hand with the other.
Luke came to a stop at my side. "I was trying to find you. Jason said you came down here. Want an owner's tour?"
Dad was red as a tomato, ready to explode while Mom held up a hand whispering as she tried to reason with him. It was embarrassing, but I was used to it. The scene had unfolded a thousand times.
"Sure," I replied, knowing I needed to calm down before I started driving again. A tour could be just the thing I needed. Even one he gave. "Let's go, Linc."
Luke
Who knew sundresses could be sexy?
I didn’t until Josie appeared in one dusted with sunflowers, the flowing fabric skimming her curves. As modest as it was with its knee-length skirt, she was more than a ten, earning my undivided attention the moment I saw her in line. Her hair flowed just how I liked too, wild and free, the waves bouncing.
Jason gave me a hell of a side-eye when he caught me looking for her, flicking his head towards the stairs without even asking the name of my target. On the way down, I spied her squirming away from Pete, and I wanted to throw the fucker through a wall. Luckily I wouldn’t end up in handcuffs since she rescued herself, hurrying to her folks.
I led the two down to the brew room in the elevator, not wanting to risk mixing stairs and her shoes, the strappy platform sandals an accident waiting to happen. They both seemed to welcome the change in scenery, Josie scanning the space, while Lincoln munched on cornbread, his eyes darting from machine to machine.
Downstairs was calmer than the restaurant, most people too busy drinking to want to tour. While not a guide or brewmaster like Tucker, I could handle myself. I’d assembled most of the machinery and had done plenty of research on the process before jumping in.
I gestured at the wall to our right, trying to ignore Josie’s perfume that enticed my cock like a snake charmer. “I’ll do a quick one, so I won’t bore you, but we combine malted barley and water in mills in the room over there. Then the mixture moves into a machine called a mash tun where the actual brewing occurs.”
“In here, the process starts in those machines,” I noted, pointing at the huge metal bins far down the wall. “Those are lauter tuns, where the mixture from the mash tun strains. The liquid then moves to that kettle where it boils, and we add hops and whatnot depending on the recipe. After it does its magic, it moves to the whirlpool where it strains again.”
Their eyes followed everywhere I pointed, Lincoln surprisingly interested for a kid. Josie also paid attention, seeming to relax once away from Ed. I didn’t know what I’d interrupted, but the old bastard practically had smoke billowing from his ears.
“From there, it’s cooled and moves into these barrels behind us to ferment.” They turned, eyeing
