Page 72 of Call It Serendipity

Sure enough, there they are. A flurry of sparkling white flakes falling from the overcast night. Her smile fills her face as the snow drifts down around us. And when she closes her eyes and sticks her tongue out to catch a flake, I feel my own grin stretching wide.

“A fall girl that likes winter.”

“A fall girl that loves snow,” she corrects, opening her eyes to peer over at me. “I normally take a walk in the first snowfall of the year, and look! We’re already out here.”

“What do you say we loop around the block?”

She slips her arm around me as well. “I say yes.”

The block we walk isn’t the typical one up by her house and back over to Washington. Instead, we head across Monroe, towards the animal shelter before turning along the river. It’s beautiful, with the swirl of snow above the water and the mountains a dark backdrop against an indigo blue sky.

Taking this path, we are led right back to none other than the vacant brewery. “Have you ever been inside?” I ask, nudging my head towards the towering, timber filled structure.

“No, it never made enough progress for anyone to get a glimpse inside before the shutdown.”

“Do you want to?”

Lucy raises an eyebrow at me. “I thought the Carpenter Collection didn’t own it yet.”

I shrug, pulling her towards the keypad box on the front doors. “We don’t. But the fine Trustee Mitchell didn’t hide the code when he brought me through.”

“This is breaking and entering,” she hisses, glancing over her shoulder to the empty streets.

My fingers hover above the numbered buttons. “I thought we were partners in crime?”

“It’s a big leap from escaping a corn maze, Jake.”

“Then I’ll let you in on a secret—not only did he give me the code, Mitchell also granted me permission to come back as needed.”

I stifle a laugh as her eyes widen in understanding then quickly narrow at me. “You could have led with that.” She motions to the keypad. “Let’s check this place out.”

At her request, I quickly type in the numbers and unlock the door. It creaks as I push it open and we step inside.

“Does the power work?”

Streaks of streetlight pass through the spaces between paper window covers, and I use them to make my way to the bar. Ducking behind it, I feel around until I find the series of switches and flick them up.

In an instant, half the light fixtures come to life.

“Wow,” Lucy breathes from across the room. Her voice is a delicate echo around the empty space, and I lean forward on the bar to watch her admire everything. “It’s gorgeous in here.”

From the real wood walls to impressive ceiling beams and iron wagon wheel chandeliers, it really is something. The perfect balance of rustic and refined.

“And what’s through there?” She points at the glass barn doors.

“That’s the actual brewery part.”

“Can we go in there too?”

I come around the bar and hold my hand out for her to lead the way. “Yeah, actually you’ll love the view from the back windows.”

Our steps are loud against the brick flooring, the sound resonating off all the empty metal tanks. It really is a shame none of this has been used. This could have been something special.

“This seems like a lot of serious equipment to supply drinks for our little town,” she says, stopping in front of the boil kettle and looking it up and down.

“Actually, there’s only one holding tank.”

She spins to face me. “You know what all of this is?”