Bet Me, page 1
BET ME
A KANFIELD BROTHERS NOVEL
ALLIE EVERHART
CONTENTS
1. Sawyer
2. Sawyer
3. Gina
4. Gina
5. Sawyer
6. Sawyer
7. Gina
8. Sawyer
9. Gina
10. Gina
11. Gina
12. Sawyer
13. Sawyer
14. Gina
15. Gina
16. Sawyer
17. Gina
18. Gina
19. Gina
20. Sawyer
21. Sawyer
22. Sawyer
23. Sawyer
24. Sawyer
25. Gina
26. December
Sawyer
Crash With Me - Sneak Peek!
Also by Allie Everhart
Bet Me
By Allie Everhart
Copyright © 2022 Allie Everhart
All rights reserved.
Published by Waltham Publishing, LLC
Cover Designed by Marisa Wesley of Cover Me Darling
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, things, and events are fictitious, and any similarities to real persons (live or dead), things, or events are coincidental and not intended by the author. Brand names of products mentioned in this book are used for reference only and the author acknowledges that any trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.
The author holds exclusive rights to this work and unauthorized duplication is prohibited. No part of this book is to be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.
1
SAWYER
“How’s business?” Brody asks, coming into the brewery.
“Look around.” I motion to the empty bar. “Does that answer your question?”
“It’s four o’clock. You just opened.” He takes a seat at the bar.
“Yeah, and just last week the place was full at this time.” I huff. “It’s that damn brewery opening up. I swear she did it just to piss me off.”
Brody laughs. “Yeah, she moved here and invested all that money to open a brewery just to piss you off.”
“Okay, maybe that’s not the reason, but why didn’t she open a place somewhere else? Why did it have to be Haydon Falls?”
“Because she inherited the building. She doesn’t have to pay rent.” Brody points behind me to the row of taps. “I’ll take the stout.”
“You’re already drinking?” I fill a glass with the new fall stout I created. It’s one of my best brews, if I do say so myself. The color is a dark chocolate brown and the flavor is rich with a hint of spice.
“I’m done working for the day.” Brody leans forward, scanning the taps. “What’s the Skullhead Lager? Is that new?”
“Yeah, I’m trying it out, seeing if people like it. I think it still needs some work. It’s supposed to be my Halloween brew, but the way things are going, the place might be closed by then.”
“C’mon, it’s not that bad.” Brody takes a drink of his beer. “Business has only been slow a few days.”
“It’s been a week.” I roll my eyes. “Since Gina’s place opened.”
Gina Slater is a girl I met at camp when we were seven years old. I couldn’t stand her because she beat me in every competition. Swimming. Archery. Fishing. Canoe races. You name it, she beat me, and to this day, I’m still pissed about it. I’m extremely competitive. I get angry when I lose to a guy, but losing to a girl? It was shameful, to the point that I begged my parents to let me come home. They wouldn’t, so I was stuck there, with Gina humiliating me with her constant wins. And now—twenty-there years later—she’s back in my life, in my hometown, opening a brewery just months after I opened mine.
Why is she doing this? Does she hate me? Or is she just trying to prove once again that she can beat me? If so, she’s done it. She has customers and I have an empty bar.
I shake my head. “How the hell does she do it?”
“Do what?”
“Beat me in everything. First camp, and now this?”
“She didn’t beat you. There’s enough people in town to have two breweries. Once everyone’s checked out Gina’s place, they’ll come back here.”
“That’s what I’m hoping, but look around. She’s been open a week and people still aren’t coming back here.”
“They will. Just give it a few more days. You’re a townie. She’s not. And you’re a Kanfield. People will support a Kanfield any day over an out-of-towner.” He sips his beer. “You get any info on her grandpa?”
“Yeah, he’s not from around here. He grew up in Green Bay and never left, or that’s what I heard.”
“Then how’d he end up with a building in Haydon Falls?”
“He won it in a poker game.” I roll my eyes. “Apparently he has the same good luck as his granddaughter. Must be a family trait. Or maybe they’re witches. Maybe they put hexes on people so they lose.”
Brody laughs. “Now you’re talking crazy. Maybe you need to get away from here for a day or two. Clear your head. You want to go to the cabin? Go fishing?”
“And leave my business when it’s about to go under? Yeah, I’ll pass.” I grab a glass and go over to the pitcher of hard cider, pouring a small amount and bringing it to Brody. “Try this.”
“What is it?”
“The hard cider I’m working on for the competition.”
He takes a sip, then shoves the glass back at me as he shakes his head.
“What? You don’t like it?”
“Too sour, and it’s got some kind of weird aftertaste.”
“I know,” I say with a sigh. “I can’t figure it out. I think it might be the spices I added.”
“Keep working on it. You’ll figure it out.” He takes a big gulp of his beer, like he’s trying to wash away the taste of the cider.
“I’m running out of time. The competition is only a few weeks away.”
The hard cider competition happens every year in October. It was started by our parents as a way to bring people to their orchard while also supporting breweries in and around the area. Entrants can only be privately-owned microbreweries, not big commercial breweries. The competition itself is small, but it draws a crowd to the orchard because we also have a barbecue, food trucks, and live music, making it like a big party. It’s only been going on for five years, but it’s become so popular that it’s been getting a lot of press. And as a new business owner, a lot of press is what I need to make this brewery a success.
“Drinking already?” Nick says to Brody as he comes through the door. He’s got a huge smile on his face. It’s good to see him smiling again. When he lived in New York and came back to visit, he was always so serious, and always stressed, like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. But since quitting his job at the law firm and moving back, he’s like a different person, always smiling and joking around. It’s also Lyndsay making him that way. He lives with her now and the two of them are so in love it’s almost nauseating. Or maybe I’m just jealous. I’d like a girl in my life, but I’ve dated pretty much every girl in town who’s single, close to my age, and hasn’t dated one of my brothers. That’s the problem with a small town. I love it here, but finding someone to date is nearly impossible.
“I’m done for the day,” Brody says to Nick. “I thought I’d stop in and give Sawyer some business.”
“Thanks, but you’re not the kind of business I want,” I tell him. “I need paying customers.”
Nick walks up to the bar and takes out his wallet. He sets a twenty on the counter. “Give me the pale ale.”
“You’re not paying me,” I say as I go to get his beer. “You’re family. You get all the free beer you want.”
“Then call it an investment,” Nick says. “I’m investing in your business.”
“And expecting what kind of return?” I hand him his beer. “More free beer? Because that’s probably all you’ll get if business keeps up like this.”
“Works for me.” He takes a sip of his beer. “Sawyer, this is really good.”
“Yeah, I think it might be my best one.”
“Maybe Mom and Dad should change the contest to a pale ale competition instead of hard cider,” Brody jokes.
“Yeah, I know it sucks. I’m working on it.”
“You’re having trouble with the cider?” Nick asks.
“I can’t get the flavor right.” I grab the pitcher of hard cider and pour some in a glass. “Try it. Let me know what you think.”
Nick drinks it and coughs. Brody bursts out laughing.
“Thanks a lot, assholes.” I walk to the end of the bar where I have the list of cider ingredients I’ve tried that haven’t worked.
“It’s not horrible,” Nick says. “It’s just really sour. I wasn’t expecting that. It kind of burned my throat.”
Brody laughs again.
“Would you stop?” I walk over to Brody. “If you think it’s that funny, then you trying making it. It’s not the same as making beer. It’s like making wine. I even had to get a wine license to sell it.”
“Dude, I don’t think you want to be selling that,” Brody says. “You think this place is empty now…” He looks around at the empty room.
“I’m not selling it. I’m just saying.” I blow out a frustrated breath. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing. Why did I think I could open a brewery?”
“Hey!” Nick sets his beer down. “You better not be thinking of quitting after all the time and money you put into this place.”
“Why? You put time and money into law school and now you’re running the orchard.”
“I didn’t like being a lawyer. That’s why I quit. You don’t quit something you love, and you love this brewery. You love making the beer. You love bartending, interacting with all the customers.”
“What customers?” I point behind him. “The place is empty.”
“Yeah, so find a way to get them in here. Host an event. Advertise. Have specials.”
“An event only lasts one night and I can’t afford to be running specials right now. I can’t afford ads either, and I shouldn’t need them. Everyone knows the place is here.” I lean back against the counter. “I don’t get it. I thought the Kanfield name alone would be enough to get people in here. Is it the beer? I just switched to the fall brews. Maybe people don’t like them.”
“The fall brews are great,” Nick says. “Even better than the summer brews.”
“Then there’s just one explanation.” I sigh. “Gina Slater. She fucking cursed the place.”
“He thinks she’s a witch,” Brody says to Nick.
Nick laughs. “You’re joking, right?”
“Hey, it’s possible,” I tell him. “How else do you explain how she beat me at camp?”
Nick shrugs. “She’s just good at sports, I guess.”
“It wasn’t just sports. She beat me at the damn pie-eating contest!” I throw my hands up. “How is that possible? You saw how much I ate as a kid. I was bigger than her, and she beat me! And now she’s beating me at owning a brewery? I’m telling you, man, it’s pure witchcraft.”
“He’s losing it,” Brody says to Nick, trying not to laugh.
Nick looks back at me. “Have you been over there?”
“Where?”
“Gina’s brewery. Have you gone there to check it out?”
“Hell no. I’m not supporting the enemy.”
“Then how are you going to know how she’s getting customers?”
“I know how she’s getting them,” I huff. “It’s witchcraft.”
“Sawyer, I’m serious. You have to go there and see what she’s doing. You have to check out the competition. You don’t think Dad used to go to other orchards when he was just starting out?”
“That’s different. He didn’t know the people.”
“It’s not different. You need to go check this place out.”
“And run into Gina? I don’t want to see that woman, or even talk to her. If she’s anything like she was when she was a kid…” I shake my head.
“What was she like as a kid?” Brody asks.
“A smartass,” I scoff. “Thought she was always right. Always assumed she’d win.”
“Sounds like you,” Nick says before swigging his beer.
“What the hell?” I stare at him. “I’m not like that.”
“You’re exactly like that.” Brody laughs. “She sounds like the girl version of you.”
“That was your last free beer.” I point to it.
“Hey, I’m just joking around.”
“I don’t know what you’re so worried about,” Nick says. “This woman may not even remember you.”
“Oh, she definitely remembers me. I was her only competition. Everyone else at camp didn’t care if they won or lost. They were just there to have fun.”
“Which is what you were supposed to be doing,” Nick says.
“And I did, but I also wanted to win. You know how I am. If I’m competing I’m going to win, or at least try to.”
“Sounds like this girl felt the same way,” Nick says. “So why is it okay for you but not her?”
I pause to consider that. “I don’t know. Maybe it was her attitude, assuming she’d win before the competition even started.”
“Don’t you do the same thing?” Brody says. “You didn’t start this brewery assuming you’d fail.”
“It’s not the same. You’re not getting it. You have to meet her to know what I’m talking about. She’s just… freaking annoying.” I take a breath, trying to diffuse the tension building inside me, the anger I felt when I was seven resurfacing.
“I think you should go talk to her,” Nick says.
I throw my hands up. “Did you not hear anything I just said?”
“What I heard is your whiny-ass seven-year-old self complaining that you lost to a girl.”
“That’s not what—”
“And now you’re just being a stubborn idiot and putting your business at risk because you don’t want to face her again.”
“I think he likes her,” Brody says, smiling at me.
I stare at him like he’s lost his mind.
“Shit, I think you’re right,” Nick says.
My gaze bounces back and forth between them. “Are you two serious? Did I not just make it clear how much I can’t stand this woman?”
“And yet you’re still thinking about her 23 years later,” Nick says.
“Because she opened a brewery in my fucking town!” I grab a rag and wipe down the bar, hoping it’ll calm me down.
“Did you guys make out?” Brody says, snickering.
I glare at him. “We were seven.”
“Yeah? So? I kissed a girl when I was six.”
Nick laughs. “That’s right. You got in trouble for it.”
“More from Mom than from my teacher. Mom said I couldn’t kiss girls until I was 16.”
“She told all of us that,” Nick says. “I’m the only one who listened.”
I set the rag down and look at Nick. “You seriously waited that long?”
He shrugs. “I didn’t have a girlfriend. Who was I going to kiss?”
“You can kiss a girl who isn’t your girlfriend.”
“He was holding out for Lyndsay,” Brody says. “He wanted his first kiss to be with her.”
Nick gets that smile on his face, the one he had when he walked in. “I dreamed that would happen, but it didn’t. I had to wait 15 years to kiss her.”
“I still can’t believe you two are together,” I tell him. “How’s it going living together?”
“Great! We’re already talking about buying a house.”
“Why don’t you take Carson’s old place?”
Dick Carson and his wife used to live next to my parents’ orchard. They moved into a nursing home a few months ago and sold their house and land to my parents. The house needs a lot of work but our cousin Nash agreed to fix the place up. He lives in Chicago and works for his dad’s construction and remodeling company.
“I’m not sure I want to live that close to Mom and Dad,” Nick says. “I love them, but Lyndsay and I need our space.”
“Have Mom and Dad said anything about staying in the house?” Brody asks Nick.
“What house?”
“Theirs, the one we grew up in. Maybe they’d give it to you and Lyndsay since you took over the orchard.”
Nick shakes his head. “I’m not taking their house. And if they ever decide to move, that house belongs to the four of us, not just me.”
“We’d give it you,” I say. “For taking over the orchard. Keeping it in the family. There’s no way I could’ve done that.”
“Me either,” Brody says. “I liked growing up there, but I didn’t want to run the place.”
“I love it,” Nick says, his face beaming. “I go out there every morning, breathe in the fresh air, look out at the fields. It’s a hell of a lot better than living in a crowded city and sitting at a desk all day, dealing with angry clients. Just wish I’d figured that out sooner.”
I’m relieved he figured it out at all. I thought Nick would live in New York forever. It took our dad’s heart attack for him to figure out he was unhappy and wanted a different life.
“What’s going on?” Jason asks as he comes in the brewery. “Why is everyone here?”
“Why are you here?” I ask. “I thought you had a teacher conference today.”
