Page 96 of Tricked in October
“How’s life?” Davis crossed his arms, gripping his forearms.
“Groovy. Can’t complain.” Kai tipped his hat. “What about you? The show? Is it over yet?”
“Just wrapped up tonight.”
“Awesome, I’ll catch you on my tv then.” He held out his hand.
“Yeah, sounds good.” Davis found himself in some strange secret handshake he wasn’t privy on the details of but managed to make it through.
As Kai strutted away, he called over his shoulder, “If you need a job in your downtime, come see me.”
Heat flushed through Davis’s body in an instant. “Wait…are you serious?”
Kai eyed him curiously. “I mean, brother, not really. I don’t have a job, my last opening has already been filled. But I am looking for a partner. Think you might be interested?”
Davis tilted his head, his skin tingling as a thrill shot through him. Kai was looking for a partner? Something like this felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity.
“Hell, yeah.”
Kai’s thin lips pulled into a wide smile. “Well, all right then. Man, I don’t know how I keep getting so lucky. First Kelsey, then you.”
All at once, it felt as if his heart slammed against his chest and the air sucked from his lungs.
“Kelsey?” her name came out like an exhale.
“Yeah.” Kai frowned at him. “You two are friends. You didn’t know?”
Davis shook his head solemnly while mixed emotions ran through him.
“She’s in the brewpit. C’mon.” Kai waved him inside the door that led to the brewing area.
His legs felt like wet noodles, his steps unsure. She’d made it clear she didn’t want to see him. And yet, he had a strong desire to see her.
When they turned a corner, Davis saw her. She stood on the ladder in front of one of the giant kettles as the steam rose, pouring hops into the boiling brew. With a determined expression on her face, Davis felt an adrenaline rush move through him.
Kai nudged him in the side. “She’s a natural.”
She looked it.
She was beautiful.
Davis had admired her as a mother, and a bar owner, as a daughter, and as a friend. But in that moment, as he stared at her doing something she was passionate about, it shook something loose inside of him. This was to her like woodworking was for him. It calmed her. And he wanted to stand there and watch her for the rest of the day.
But after she closed the kettle and turned around on the top of the ladder, she saw him and the two locked eyes. He sucked in a breath and she froze. For what felt like forever, they held eye contact neither giving away how they might be feeling. Until finally, she gave him one nod with her chin, her lips curving into a smile, the one he fell asleep imagining every night. And then she climbed down the ladder and went in the opposite direction.
Kai cleared his throat.
Davis swallowed and tore his eyes off her.
“When can we discuss this partnership?” he asked eagerly.
“Celebrate and party first, business later,” Kai assured him.
With purpose in his steps, and hope in his heart, he followed Kai back into the restaurant to find Garrett and theRenovation Dudes’crew.
* * *
The fall seasonhad nearly ended, and Davis hadn’t taken his canoe out to the lake once since it began. Between Renovation Dudes, the side projects, and helping Kelsey, he’d been busier than usual. Cooper ran up ahead as Davis dragged the canoe across the terrain and to the embankment.
