“It doesn’t include you, though,” Ellen said. “Leaving you out of the name would have been bad enough when he was here, but now...it’sjustyou.”
Lane shook his head immediately. “It’s not just me. It’s half yours now. And without all of you, all I’ve got is too much beer to drink by myself. It still doesn’t work without Suttons. And this might be a passion of mine, but it was David’s dream.”
Gwen wasn’t the only one who had to blink back tears for a few seconds, but they needed to keep this moving forward. “Mom, does that bother you, with Sutton’s Seconds and all?”
Ellen chuckled. “Sutton’s Seconds. Sutton’s Place. It’s practically a Sutton empire.”
They all laughed and then Evie held up her hand. “Do we vote? Or something? I want to nail this down so I can start getting the social media set up.”
Their mom’s eyes teared up again. “I like the idea of David’s friends gathering at the Sutton’s Place Tavern. When they get together and have a beer and relax, it’ll be a little bit like they’re with him, I think.”
“Okay, but whytavern?” Evie asked.
“It sounds homey. Bar sounds so... I don’t know, don’t you think?” Ellen said.
Evie scowled. “How can I agree with what you don’t know?”
“When I think of a bar, I think of a sports bar or a biker bar or something along those lines. Tavern sounds much warmer and welcoming.”
“What about pub?” Mallory asked.
“Aren’t pubs Irish?” their mother responded, and they all shook their heads. “Well, they seem Irish to me.”
Lane cleared his throat. “Technically, it’s a brewpub, since we brew the beer on-site. But, right or wrong, it doesn’t sound like the kind of place a guy goes after a hard day at work to kick back with a cold one in this town.”
“Tavern it is,” Ellen declared, putting an end to the discussion. “Sutton’s Place Brewery & Tavern.”
Her eyes got a little misty then, and they all knew she was thinking of her husband and how proud he would have been in this moment.
“To Sutton’s Place Brewery & Tavern,” Mal said, and she lifted her water bottle as if to make a toast.
“Wait! Hold that toast.” Lane practically jumped out of his seat. “Everybody just stay here for a minute.”
It was much longer than a minute, but Lane eventually returned, carrying a small glass bottle of amber liquid. “If we’re going to toast to Sutton’s Place, let’s do it right.”
Gwen didn’t like beer, but this was a big moment, so she got up and pulled some plastic cups out of the sleeve they used for picnics. Lane poured a little bit in each cup before sitting down and lifting his in the air.
“To Sutton’s Place,” he said, and they all echoed the sentiment as they reached in to the center of the table to touch their plastic cups together.
There was no satisfying clink, but as Gwen lifted her cup to her mouth, she thought it was finer than any champagne toast she’d ever been a part of. Pain that her dad couldn’t be here for this shot through her, but she rode it out and then refocused her attention on the happy faces around her, determined to live in the moment.
Shereallydidn’t like beer, though. Thankfully, she didn’t grimace, though she noticed Mallory struggled to keep the smile going. She wasn’t a beer drinker, either.
“This is actually good,” Evie said, taking another sip, and Gwen watched her sister’s gaze lock with Lane’s over the rim of her cup.
“Thank you,” he said, and relief washed over Gwen when the exes smiled at each other. Clearly Evie had been right and she just needed some time to process it. They’d be okay.
When Lane launched into an explanation of what kind of beer it was they were drinking and then went off into science, Gwen didn’t exactly tune him out, but he didn’t have her full attention, either. Case did. He was watching his cousin talk, occasionally nodding, and Gwen was looking at his profile.
She kept replaying that kiss in the carriage house over and over in her head. And remembering the way he’d looked at her before she’d walked away from him. The intense heat in his gaze had made a lot of promises that were probably best left broken.
Case wanted to do more than kiss her. Even though they were nothing alike and he knew she was essentially being held in Stonefield against her will, he still wanted her.
It didn’t make sense. And neither did the fact she wanted him just as badly.
“Nothing like going from one meeting to another,” Case said as he sank into his porch rocker and opened his laptop.
“That was a good meeting, though,” Lane said, leaning his head back and smiling.
