Trouble on Tap

by Avery Flynn

  One eyebrow went up and she snorted. “Sure seems like he is.”

  “Appearances can be deceiving.” The dog’s fat tongue lolled out of his mouth. The fuzzy bucket seemed happy enough, but he wasn’t about to become a dog owner. His plate was full already and with the Sweet triplets back home in Salvation, things were only going to get worse.

  Chapter Four

  Still slightly waterlogged from the night before and sore from sleeping on a pullout couch, Olivia opened the door to her new office at Sweet Salvation Brewery, squeezed her hand between a giant cardboard box and the wall and flicked on the light switch.

  She immediately wished she hadn’t. Brown cardboard boxes started at the green vinyl floor and went up to the ceiling. Stretching her neck, she peeked around the stack closest to the door and spotted a green metal desk covered with more boxes. The musty scent of old papers and forgotten information filled whatever pockets of space weren’t taken up by boxes. A defeated groan escaped before she could stop it and she slumped against the doorjamb.

  “I’m really sorry about this.” Miranda gave her a quick squeeze around the waist. “We’ve been using this as storage because we thought we had another couple of months before you came home to become the brewery’s marketing chief.”

  “So did I,” Olivia muttered as she slipped from her sister’s grasp and slid sideways through the maze of boxes to the opening in front of her desk.

  No one would confuse this mess for the tenth-floor offices of Matrix Public Relations in Los Angles, but she could make it work. She had to. It wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go. The family brewery was all she had left. She pushed a box on top of the desk with her finger. It didn’t budge. Maybe she needed to take a lesson from the box.

  Her uncle had left her an equal share in the failing brewery, along with her sisters. They’d done their part to get what had been a doomed business back in order, now she just had to figure out how she could be a part of the Sweet Salvation Brewery’s turnaround.

  Executing a quick spin, she came nose-to-nose with her oldest sister.

  “Are you ready to spill?” Miranda gave her a total big-sister-knows-best glare. “I know you were holding back last night.”

  “You know you’re only a few minutes older than me. I don’t think that’s enough to call seniority.”

  “It’s six minutes and I’m not pulling rank so much as trying to figure out what’s going on with you. Last time we talked, it sounded like your boss was insistent on two months’ notice before you could leave for good. It wasn’t something that loser you were dating did, was it?”

  And wasn’t that just like Miranda to examine all the angles until she came up with a likely scenario. Salvation was lucky Miranda hadn’t been the wild Sweet triplet or the busybodies would have spontaneously combusted from all the gossip she would have generated. As it was, Olivia had caused enough trouble on her own. She’d have to explain everything to her sisters eventually, but not yet. Her sisters had spent a lifetime helping her clean up her messes, this time she wanted to do it herself.

  Olivia shrugged off her sister’s question. “It’s a long story and more appropriate if there’s a bottle of wine handy.”

  “You better not let Sean hear you say that.” Miranda giggled. “This is a beer-only zone.”

  “I’ll remember to watch it.” Relieved the deflection worked, she scanned the room again, hoping it wouldn’t look as bad since the shock had worn off. No such luck. “So where are we going to put all this stuff?”

  Natalie poked her head in the room, her glasses askew and her lips swollen. “Give me ten minutes. I just have to grab the charts I made outlining how to label each box and where we’ll store them.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “Some things never change.”

  Sean crossed in front of the open doorway, tugging Natalie along with him. “Make it thirty.”

  Natalie turned about ten shades of red and waved her fingers at her sisters as she disappeared down the hall.

  Or maybe they do. It took a couple of seconds and several slow blinks to get past this latest shock. Who’d have thought the uptight middle triplet would be sneaking off for a little afternoon delight at nine in the morning?

  “Close your mouth or you’ll gather flies.” Miranda shoved a box into Olivia’s arms. “Come on, we’ll load up one of the delivery vans and take everything over to self-storage.”

  She snapped her jaw shut hard enough that her teeth clinked. Was nothing the same anymore? Because everything sure looked different. Following her sister out into the hall, Olivia ignored the misgivings making her stomach clench.

  “Don’t worry, after we get home tonight, we’ll find a way to give you some privacy there,” Miranda said. “Maybe we can convert the living room to a bedroom with some standing screens. If only Ruby Sue hadn’t rented out Sean’s old house, but as it is, we’re five people in a two-bedroom farmhouse.”

  “No big deal.” The box in her hand felt ten pounds heavier, weighed down by embarrassment about what had brought her to Salvation and elbowing her way into a house filled with couples in love. “I’m sure I’ll be able to find some place in town to rent.”

  Now, how she’d pay for it, that was a whole new problem. Until she figured out a way to tell her sisters how her entire life had gone straight to hell in a designer handbasket, laying all of her humiliations bare, she had to act like money wasn’t a problem.

  Boob sweat was the worst sweat. After almost two hours of moving boxes from her office, beads of perspiration slinked down between Olivia’s considerable assets, which just happened to be covered by a bazillion nerves. It took everything she had not to stuff a pound of paper towels down the front of her shirt to end the torture. Only the near-constant presence of Sean kept her from seeking relief. Of course, there was a good chance he’d never notice with the way his eyes stayed glued on Natalie.

  “Looks like these are the last two,” Natalie said, nodding toward the box she held and the one Sean had. “We’ll get out of here and let you get yourself sorted.”

  “Put that on mine,” he said

  “I can carry it,” she replied.

  “Never said you couldn’t.”

  They stared at each other for a moment.

  Natalie sighed. “It is more efficient for only one of us to make another trip to the truck.”

  “Yep.” He winked and let loose with the grin that had sold millions of movie tickets before he’d run away from Hollywood and found Salvation and Natalie.

  She stacked her small box on top of his and followed him out of the office. “It’s not fair when you use my methods against me.”

  The conversation—at least Natalie’s part of it—continued as the couple walked down the hall.

  The brewmaster might not say much out loud, but his actions spoke volumes. Olivia pursed her lips together and blinked away a few happy tears. Living life as a Sweet in Salvation meant being thought of by most of the town as the craziest of crazy. Most of her family had seen the inside of the Salvation County Jail on more than one occasion. Her grandparents because of prohibition—the brewery, after all, had been started after prohibition as a way to capitalize on their moonshining success. Then there was the time her dad had single-handedly brought the high school homecoming football game to a halt with a protest in the middle of the first quarter. The fact that her sisters had both found love in Salvation was nothing short of a miracle. Even if it meant she’d turned into the fifth wheel, Olivia wouldn’t change a damn thing about it.

  “Hey, Olivia.” The intercom in her office buzzed. “You have a visitor.”

  “Who is it?”

  “What, you too good for an old friend?” Luciana’s teasing tone lightened her words. “Get on out here or I’m busting in.”

  There was no way Luciana needed to be on the other end of the intercom to hear Olivia’s squeal as she sprinted down the hallway. E-mails, texts and calls between them tended to be sporadic but as soon as they connected,
it was as if a day hadn’t passed since high school graduation. Rounding the corner, she spotted Luciana before the other girl saw her. Long brown hair, big brown eyes and enough bright red lipstick to make a Ferrari jealous, Luciana hadn’t changed a bit. She squealed again. Luciana did a happy shimmy. Before Olivia knew it, they were hugging it out in front of a bemused Hailey, Sweet Salvation Brewery’s office manager.

  “I thought you were visiting family.”

  “Girl, you know I’m good for three days tops with my in-laws.”

  “Is this Amalie?” Olivia squished her face and made coochie-coo noises at the twenty pounds of chubby baby in the carrier.

  “I should smack you for that. This…” Luciana pulled a doe-eyed two-year-old from behind her, “…is Amalie. This…” she nodded toward the baby, “…is Benito, and his machismo demands a proper apology.”

  “It is lunchtime. How about a giant slice of Ruby Sue’s pecan pie for mommy to make up for it?” Olivia dropped her gaze to the little girl. “Big enough to share.”

  “Sounds good. Let me drive. I have the car seats.”

  The twenty-minute car ride into town was filled with the kind of stream-of-conscious conversation filled with constantly changing subjects and giggling ferociously that only happened with great friends or her sisters. By the time they arrived at The Kitchen Sink Diner, Olivia was up to speed on everything Amalie-related and every last tidbit about Benito’s dedication to putting everything in his mouth.

  The lunch crowd had begun to peter out by the time she and Luciana strolled through the door with their mini-me-sized entourage. The Kitchen Sink Diner’s proprietor, Ruby Sue, sat behind the cash register, her tight-curled hair a tribute to Aqua Net and old-lady perms. She also happened to make the best pecan pie on the face of the earth and had a soft spot for all things Sweet and sweet. A hole inside Olivia that she hadn’t realized was empty filled up at the sight of the woman always armed with the sweetest tea this side of the Mississippi. Seeing Ruby Sue was almost as good as seeing her sisters.

  “Lookie what the cat dragged in.” Ruby Sue slid down off her high perch and came bustling around the counter, smelling of cookie dough and sounding like a six-pack-a-day smoker. “It’s about time you showed back up in Salvation. The town was starting to get boring.”

  As quick with a juicy tidbit as she was with a well-timed barb, Ruby Sue was the living, breathing center of all things gossip-related in Salvation. The town, like all small towns, thrived on knowing everything about everyone, which made The Kitchen Sink Diner the place to be. For the Sweet triplets, it had been a refuge from the town that always looked down on them and their family. Ruby Sue had always been there with a slice of pecan pie and a gruff piece of advice.

  Olivia bent down and hugged her own fairy godmother. “Meaning you’re looking for fresh gossip.”

  She cackled and grabbed two menus before making a beeline toward the back of the diner. “Something like that.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” Olivia said.

  “Expect nothing less from you. Come on, I have the perfect table.”

  She, Luciana and the kids followed Ruby Sue’s trail through the last vestiges of the lunch crowd. It was hard to miss the pointed stares and whispers from the handful of folks polishing off pie and coffee. She caught snippets of hushed conversation.

  “Shouldn’t have come back.”

  “Those Sweets are nothing but trouble.”

  “She’s the trashiest of the whole bunch.”

  Those who didn’t know her better thought it was the cut-throat modeling world that had given her skin as thick as an elephant. In reality, it was having to hold her head high among Salvation’s disapproving citizens, most of whom had never met a Sweet they liked or trusted. Her sisters had both fought the crazy Sweet moniker. Olivia had embraced it, which had seemed like the best choice at the time. Now all she could see was the leftover baggage of her decision.

  “Damn straight you will liven things up.” Ruby Sue made a sharp left around a table of men dressed in head-to-toe camouflage. “Your sisters have gotten downright dull and you always were the wild child.”

  Olivia glanced over at Luciana, who was half listening to the conversation as she carried Benito and herded a distracted Amalie toward the back corner booth. “I don’t know. It looks like my partner in crime may have other commitments.”

  Her friend nodded. “Yep, these two wake up early and keep me running all day. I’m dead on my feet by nine.”

  Ruby Sue stopped at the booth. Amalie clapped her hands together, raced forward and clambered across the seat, stopping once she reached the welcoming arms of the man already occupying the booth. Mateo gathered the girl up and gave her big squeeze. The girl disappeared under the table, only to reappear on the booth seat on the opposite side, where she promptly took out her crayons and went to work on The Kitchen Sink’s kids’ menu.

  Olivia’s pulse took a nosedive before ramping up to warp speed. She’d never been one of those girls to lose their shit over pictures of hunky guys with cute kids, but damn if he didn’t make it look good. Better than good.

  While she was in the process of reining in the hottie-inspired overreaction, Mateo looked up. She nearly fell down. The man was fucking lethal. The scars? Once the initial shock had worn off, the attraction had come back as meltingly hot as ever, because it had never been about Mateo’s looks. It had been about him. At least, the man she’d known during their hotel nights together.

  His hazel eyes narrowed and he looked away, but not before giving her a quick once over that left her weak in the knees.

  There had to be something in Salvation’s water supply that turned people crazy. That was the only explanation for her Jell-O-kneed reaction to a man who had less than no interest in her and acted as if he couldn’t stand her.

  Ruby Sue pulled herself up to her full height of five-foot, two-inches and in her best stage whisper, said, “Looks like you need a new partner.”

  “Don’t get any ideas,” she shot back. If there was anything that would send her last bit of sanity flailing into a black hole, hanging out with Mateo Garcia would be it.

  “I’m always full of ideas.” Ruby Sue all but rubbed her gnarled, arthritic hands together like an old-time villain. “You know that.”

  Her stomach sank like an iron balloon. “And that is exactly what I’m afraid of.”

  Mateo had never cut and run during a firefight, but the sight of Olivia and his sister together again had him thinking of beating feet out of there. Fast.

  Luciana had a solid head on her shoulders and was an outstanding mom, but add Olivia into the mix and God knew what would happen. Hopefully he wouldn’t have to bail them out of jail. Again.

  Still, the sight of her in a V-neck Sweet Salvation Brewery T-shirt that followed the famous curves that had landed her magazine covers taped to CHU walls from Iraq to Afghanistan had his thoughts turning to another direction totally. A few years ago, when he was nothing but a horny pretty boy who thought the world was his for the taking, he’d almost fallen for it. He’d learned better.

  “Hey sis.” He dropped his gaze to the menu he knew by heart. “Olivia.”

  “You don’t have to say her name like it’s a dirty word, you know.” Luciana rolled her eyes and settled Benito, still snug inside his carrier, into the high chair Olivia had moved to their table. “And hello to you, too.”

  She slid into the opposite side of the booth next to Amalie, who was going to town on the kids’ menu. That left Olivia standing awkwardly at the end of the table. There wasn’t enough room for her to sit next to Luciana, and he, because someone upstairs held a grudge, happened to have an empty seat right next to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her hesitate, taking in the way she pressed her pale pink thumbnail into the pad of her pointer finger. Press. Release. Press. Release.

  The woman should never play poker.

  “You gonna sit or you planning to eat standing up?” Ruby Sue asked and poked Oli
via’s upper arm with the corner of a laminated menu. She dropped the menus on the table. “I’ll be right back with some sweet tea.”

  Rubbing her arm, Olivia sat down beside him. They weren’t touching, but in the tiny booth it didn’t matter. His whole body went on hyper-alert. The flick of her head as she flipped her hair back. The way she nibbled on her bottom lip as she read the menu. How she relaxed back into the seat as if his presence didn’t even register.

  Not that it should. And not that he gave a flying fuck.

  Sure you don’t, Garcia.

  He tossed down his menu in disgust. He’d lost his ear, not his balls. Time to man up.

  “I didn’t think you knew she was back in town,” he said to his sister.

  “It’s Salvation.” Luciana shrugged. “My phone started ringing last night with the news. So how did Marna Simons’s granddaughter like the rescue dog?”

  The image of the six-year-old frozen with fear as the dog snored as loud as a Ma Deuce .50 caliber machine gun flashed in his mind. He and Simons had stood in the middle of the police department’s front lobby for twenty minutes trying to get the little girl to approach the dog. All the while, the furry beast slept blissfully unaware that his fuzzy ass was still homeless and probably would be for some time.

  “Not at all. The mutt is hanging out at the station until I figure out what we can do about it.”

  Along with the stench of wet dog. The things he did for his sister and her pet projects. Of course, he’d learned as a child that while he may be the older sibling, it was no use arguing with his baby sister once she made up her mind.

  “Maybe you can train him to be a service dog for the police department.”

  Luciana’s voice didn’t carry a trace of cunning, but his big-brother FUBAR alert was already blasting an alarm. When he’d started picking up stray dogs from the kill shelter for her, he’d told her in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t about to keep one.