Page 53 of Fall is Brewing

She goes perfectly still.

A faint smear of dust comes away on my thumb. "There," I say quietly. "You had some dirt on your face."

For a second she simply looks at me. And the bottling room seems to shrink under the weight of her gaze. I can hear Jace humming to himself somewhere behind us. A bottle clinks softly into a crate. Outside, the wind stirs through the orchard.

And all I can think about is how impossibly soft her skin felt beneath my thumb.

She clears her throat first. "I could've gotten that."

"I know."

There’s another beat, a moment of heady silence as we hold eye contact. "Well… um, thanks." It comes out quieter than I expected. Then she turns abruptly toward the tasting room. “I uh, I need to use the restroom.”

She disappears through the swinging door before either of us says another word.

The silence she leaves behind lasts approximately two seconds before Jace whistles, long and slow.

I don't look at him. "Don't,” I snap.

"I didn't say anything,” my youngest brother retorts.

"You were about to."

Evan slides the final crate onto the pallet before dusting off his hands. "Well, I like her."

Both Jace and I whip our heads around to look at him.

Evan merely shrugs. "What?"

“You don’t like anyone,” Jace says.

Evan responds with an eye roll. “That’s ridiculous. I like people.”

I put my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes at Evan. “No, he’s right. You called the UPS driver 'adequate' last week and we celebrated."

"Well he was adequate."

Jace turns back to me triumphantly. "See? Even Evan likes her. That has to mean something.”

"I said I like her," Evan corrects. "I didn't say she's not a threat."

“Eh, baby steps,” Jace shrugs.

"But..." Evan continues, glancing toward the tasting room, "she knows what she's doing. She works. Doesn't complain. Doesn't act like she knows better than everyone else."

I can't argue with any of it.

Before I can respond, movement through the large interior window catches my eye.

Willa. She's behind the tasting bar now, talking to a couple I've never seen before. The woman holds one of our Calder Cider Apple Cinnamon Crisp bags of coffee in her hands.

Willa opens the bag, encouraging them to smell it.

Even through the glass I can see her smile—easy, genuine. She gestures animatedly, miming someone wrapping cold hands around a steaming mug on a crisp October morning. The couple laughs.

The husband reaches for a second bag as Willa hands him a bottle of cider. And some maple candy.

By the time she walks them to the register, they're carrying nearly twice what they'd originally picked up.