Page 21 of Something’s Brewing

“Your server will be right in,” Ruth said. “Enjoy yourselves!”

And then she vanished.

Garrett huffed a quiet laugh before saying, “Think she’s hiding behind the door?”

“Probably,” Madison said brightly, sitting down. “Should we give her something to gossip about?” Eve hadn’t been exaggerating when she’d told her the women in this town were matchmaking ninjas.

He ignored her question, sitting across from her with a sigh and reaching for the menu.

A waitress appeared almost instantly, all sunshine and sparkles—literal sparkles along her upper eyelids. She held a notepad in one hand and wore a practiced smile that somehow still felt genuine. “Welcome to the Blue Ox! I’m Tessa and I’ll be taking care of you tonight. Can I just say, you two make a ridiculously cute couple.”

Garrett gave a tight smile, saying nothing. Madison wanted to comment but held her tongue. May as well let him squirm a little.

They ordered. Garrett went with the steak and roasted vegetables, and she chose the maple-glazed salmon, intrigued by the caramelized crust the waitress described with dramatic flair. Tessa jotted it all down like it was the most exciting part of her day, then bounced off to put in their order, promising to be back with fresh bread and butter “faster than a Minnesota snowstorm.”

Madison sipped her water. Garrett took a long pull of his own brew, Loon Lager.

“So,” he said eventually, “what’s the angle?”

Madison blinked. “Angle?”

“You bidding on me. Getting me out of the brewery. Enduring my charming company.”

“I told you. I wanted your undivided attention.”

Before they could continue their conversation, their food arrived, and the first few bites passed in silence. Comfortable, not awkward.

It was Garrett who broke the silence.

“You served in the Navy?”

Madison nodded and dabbed her mouth with her napkin. “Intel, for about six years. Then NCIS. That’s where I spent most of my time—figuring out what didn’t quite add up.”

“That tracks.”

She studied him for a moment. “You know, you’re not the closed book you think you are.”

Garrett didn’t respond, just cut into his steak.

“And you started out in architecture?” she prompted.

He nodded. “Worked in Minneapolis for a few years. For my ex’s father’s firm.”

Madison blinked. “Wait. The ex?”

“The one who dumped me when I quit and started a brewery with Mason? Yeah. That one.”

“She left because you opened a brewery?”

“She left because I stopped fitting into her father’s five-year plan.”

Madison was quiet a moment. “Her loss.”

Garrett shrugged. “Maybe. But it taught me not to mix business with pleasure.”

She decided not to push. But she smiled, just a little.

“I heard from Chloe that you help coach Roman Reynolds’s twin girls,” she said. “Hockey, right?”