And thehopefully someday soonjust kept echoing around in her head. Mallory had been right. Case was ready to settle down. He wanted to start a family and not just someday, but somedaysoon. And he wanted that family to live in this house—the house he’d grown up in. She couldn’t let herself forget that.
Over the next two weeks, Gwen crossed the street to visit Case almost every night, though she always went home before his bedtime. He got upveryearly and she definitely did not. And she didn’t want him staying up late, either, because he had a dangerous job and he needed to be able to focus on what he was doing.
But the evenings belonged to them. They’d watch television, and play with Boomer in the backyard. One night they’d forgone their time in bed to take the dog back to the river, and she hadn’t minded at all. While she definitely liked having Case in bed, she liked spending time with him outside of the bedroom, too.
Much to her surprise, neither her mother nor her sisters had said a word. Oh, there were speculative looks and a few knowing smiles, especially from her mother, but they kept their opinions about it to themselves. As much as she’d like to think they were actually minding their own business, she knew better. They didn’t want to push too hard and have her pull back from Case.
She didn’t care why. All she cared about was them leaving her alone and giving her that space. She and Case knew there was no pressure, like he’d said. They were enjoying each other’s company. And they were enjoying it alot.
That was all that mattered.
Shortly after he got home from work on a Thursday that felt like a Monday, Case was surprised to look out his window and see that Lane sitting in a rocker on his front porch was the reason for Boomer’s excited woofing sounds. He was even more surprised to see a fat three-ring binder on his cousin’s lap. A small bottle of Captain Morgan was sitting on the table beside him.
He wasn’t sure what was up, but he knew how to do his part. After splitting ice and a can of cola between two glasses, he opened the door and joined Lane on the porch. While Boomer greeted his other favorite person, Case added some spiced rum to each of the glasses and settled into his rocker.
“Are we celebrating or commiserating?” he asked after taking a cautious sip—yes, another accidental strong pour. He rarely made mixed drinks and wasn’t very good at judging how much alcohol to add, so it was a good thing they usually stuck to beer. He should probably never get roped into playing bartender at the tavern if they ever added mixed drinks, either. Happy customers, but not so happy alcohol budget.
“Celebrating,” Lane said as Boomer sprawled at his feet, ready to resume his predinner nap so he’d be well rested for the postdinner nap he had to fit in before bedtime. “I have more certificates and stamps and signatures and permits than I know what to do with, but all of our i’s are dotted and our t’s are crossed. Sutton’s Place Brewery & Tavern is officially allowed to open.”
“Congratulations,” he said, reaching over so they could clink glasses. That explained the rum. Knowing a bureaucratic hiccup could keep them from opening the doors despite all the time and money—to say nothing of plain old hard work—they’d sunk into it had to have been hard on the nerves.
“Thanks. I just left the town hall with the last piece of the puzzle.”
“And you’re not letting it out of your sight?” Case asked, gesturing at the binder on Lane’s lap.
“Nope. I’m keeping my hands on this stuff until it’s home and in the safe.”
“Have you told them yet?” Case asked, nodding his head toward the house across the street.
“Not yet. I will, but today’s Evie’s birthday, and they’re doing a family dinner and cake thing. I’m surprised you didn’t get invited.”
They couldn’t really invite Case without inviting Lane, so keeping it strictly family was the easiest way to get around Evie’s ex-husband being at her birthday party, but Case didn’t feel a need to say that out loud. “This news would add to the celebration.”
“I know Ellen’s been worried about it, but I know their relief will be short-lived and give way to a million more things that need to be talked about or done, so I’ll let Evie have her cake in peace. And getting through all this paperwork and red tape is the hardest thing I’ve ever accomplished, and right now, I just want to relax and enjoy it.” Lane snorted and gave a quick shake of his head. “I might even sleep tonight.”
He did look the most relaxed he’d been in so many months, Case couldn’t even count them, he thought. And it wasn’t just in the lines of his face. Lane’s entire body was less tense, and it wouldn’t have surprised Case any if his cousin didn’t even wait to get home to sleep, but just nodded off in the rocking chair. If he made a second round of drinks, there wouldn’t be any doubt about it.
“Besides a celebratory drink,” Lane said, “I wanted to stop here so I could say thank you. I know I don’t say it enough—hell, I don’t know if I’ve said itat all—but I’m aware this hasn’t been easy on you, and I appreciate that you’ve taken on so much to help make this happen for me.”
Case almost waved off the gratitude as unnecessary, but it was actually nice to hear Lane acknowledge it. “Thanks. Some days it’s tough, but we’re going to get through it. The tree service was chosenforus, and I’m okay with that, but I’m not going to begrudge you wanting to do something else.”
“That’s just it, though. I don’t want to walk away from the company. I know it would probably be easier if I did because then you could straight up replace me, but I want to cut treesandbrew beer.” He waved a hand toward the carriage house—which they should probably start calling the tavern all the time, but old habits were hard to break. “It’s all the rest of it that’s necessary to support the brewing that’s a pain in the ass.”
“At some point, that’ll all be settled. Eventually there’s going to be staff to handle all the rest of it, so you can cut trees and brew beer. That’s probably close to a year down the road, but we’ll all make some sacrifices and do some compromising and get through it.”
Lane gave him a long, somber look. “Just promise me that if you get near a breaking point, you’ll tell me so I can make adjustments before it blows up. I don’t want this to come between you and me.”
“I’ll say something, because I don’t want it to, either. And it won’t.” He took another sip of his drink, managing not to wince this time. “And since we’re talking about feelings, what’s going on with you and Evie? It’s obvious things have settled for you since Old Home Day, but not quite all the way.”
Lane shrugged. “That day we ended up crossing paths behind the fire department’s booth, which has had that huge wooden truck ever since the year there was a fire and the real truck had to plow through evacuated booths to get out. We had our first kiss behind that booth and we were laughing about it and then...yeah. Things were getting heated and we went with hot tempers instead of a hot kiss.”
“And since then?”
“Pretending it didn’t almost happen. Trying to keep busy. We haven’t been alone together since, which is for the best.” He took a long swallow of his drink and Case noticed his cousin didn’t wince at all. “As much as having Gwen and Evie home has helped, it would be a hell of a lot easier on me if Evie moved on to wherever she’s going to next.”
Case tried to focus on Evie, but thinking about her leaving made him think about Gwen leaving, so he strongly disagreed with that sentiment in a knee-jerk kind of way. But he knew having his ex-wife not only back in town, but a part of his everyday life, thanks to the brewery, was really hard on Lane.
“Speaking of Gwen,” Lane said, “I’m not keeping you from anything, am I?”
