Page 56 of Accidentally in Love

“Do you want to use your words this time?” she asked in her teacher’s voice. That shouldn’t be sexy to me, but it was. I had always been hot for my smart English teachers.

I swallowed and asked again, “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” she said. “But okay. Are you gonna head over to the brewery?”

I nodded. “Unless you need me here?”

She shook her head. “No, Nol. You gotta go to work. I have papers to grade and a lesson plan to create, anyway. Will you be home for dinner?”

“Dinner?” I asked, confused.

She rolled her eyes at me. “Yeah, you know that thing you eat before you go to bed?”

“You don’t have to make me dinner.”

“I gotta eat anyway. If you’ll be home, let me know, and I’ll have it ready for you. If not, I’ll leave you a plate in the fridge.”

Kath and I never did dinners together, mainly because we were never on the same schedule. It was weird that Avery wanted to do that for me.

“It’s not a big deal,” she reassured me.

Instead of saying ‘okay, sure’ like a normal person, I blurted out, “Why haven’t you told your dad about the baby?”

She sighed. “Yeah, I got an earful about that right before you got home.”

“Why haven’t you told him?” I asked again.

Her brow creased, and I knew I was bugging her. “Nolan, can we talk about this later? You gotta get to the brewery. I’m not keeping you from your work. Go.”

I didn’t know how she did it, but she forced me to make my way out the door and down the block to the brewery. I hung my coat up in the office and put on my apron as Declan walked in.

My brother gave me a toothy grin. “Well, look who showed up.”

“Not gonna completely ditch my work,” I snarled at him.

He raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry, dude. What’s got your panties in a twist?”

I rubbed my beard. “Nothing. I got beer to brew so we can stay in the black.”

My brother nodded. “Bro, we’re doing well. Winter’s good for us. You brew that holiday beer everyone loves.”

“We had to dump that last batch. That cost us a lot,” I reminded him.

“I didn’t forget, but we can make it up.”

“Dec, I have a baby on the way.”

“Dude, I know! What does that have to do with us being in the black?”

I sighed. “I’m worried.”

My brother sat in his desk chair and steepled his hands in front of his face. “Dude, sit down.”

I huffed but slumped into the chair in front of his desk.

“Spill.”

I sighed. “Avery has a teacher’s salary.”