Brewin' Up Love, Paperback

My new adult life is going as planned . . . until my boyfriend gets drafted.

Luckily it’s just baseball, not war.

Although I’m fighting pretty hard to make a long-term relationship transition seamlessly into long-distance.

One minute Nate and I are headed to college. The next he’s joining a minor league team in Atlanta. The only part of my life not changing is my family’s apple orchard and good old Apple Cart, Alabama.

Mary’s Diner and Piggly Wiggly are still the hub of downtown, and the General Store is still selling “everything from a cradle to a coffin.” (A rather morbid marketing tactic if you ask me.)

Part of me is ready to spread my wings and see what the rest of the world has to offer. Like the chocolate coffee Nate and I discovered recently. But Nate’s the other part of the equation—the solution to the “x” that was missing in my life. One that I pray never becomes an “ex.”

When we were only sixteen, we made a promise to love each other forever. That’s a promise I know I can keep.But can that promise outlast us chasing separate dreams?

Chapter One

Nate

Tinsel slaps me in the face when we enter the gym. I duck and lead Brooke across the threshold. She’s wearing tall shoes and tall hair, and she cleared the entrance fine. 

I smile at the memory of the time I figured out we’re eye to eye when she stands one bleacher up from me. From then on, that’s how I kissed her after every football game. Even the last two years, when I stopped football to play year-round baseball. After the cheerleaders left the field, she’d meet me in the bleachers to carry on the tradition.

The last football game was bittersweet, but not nearly as much as the last baseball game. At least for me, the game will continue. The bigger question is where?

I’ve gotten an offer from Mississippi State, but some scout got my number and promised he’d call. 

I sigh. No use getting my hopes up over a dangling carrot. Most likely I’ll go to college. 

Brooke’s eyes light up at the dance floor. I’ve never been much of a dancer. Now that I think of it, the only times I’ve danced is with her. Not that I’m complaining. 

I’m beyond lucky to call her my girlfriend. She’s smart, sweet, and beautiful. And her family reminds me of what you see in movies. The kind where everyone is happy and working together, not some slapstick comedy with rednecks. That would be my story. 

Dad left when I was a toddler, so I was raised by a single mom who put me in baseball to keep me busy between school and her getting off work. I love my mom and my life, but it’s a far cry from Brooke growing up on a freaking apple farm her great-grandparents started. 

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I click the side to silence it and fall under Brooke’s spell as she wraps her little arms around me and gently strokes the back of my neck. The DJ plays that old song “Time After Time,” and my mind flashes to all our memories. 

We started kindergarten together, but didn’t start dating until beginning of sophomore year. That was about the time I considered anything other than baseball, which included how pretty some of the girls looked. 

Brooke was never the fanciest or flashiest, but she’s always been the most beautiful to me. 

The kind of girl who looks just as good with a ponytail and no makeup as she does tonight with her big hair and red lipstick. Once I started noticing her more, I learned she’s also kind and smart and fun. That’s all it took for me to decide I needed to ask her to the homecoming dance. 

We’ve been together ever since. 

I dip my head closer to her, and she smiles up at me. Her brown eyes twinkle in the crazy colored lighting. The gym has a retro thing going on. Maybe that’s why they’re playing some old songs, and possibly why we rode in a limo that probably looked the same when our parents went to prom. 

“Remember the first time we danced together?” Brooke’s smile stretches across her face.

“I do. I was actually just thinking of that.”

“Were you?” Her smile has a hint of mischief, and my toes curl. 

“It was in here after homecoming.”

“Yep.” She laughs. 

“I knew that night that you liked me a lot.”

“Oh, did you?” 

“Yes, because I stunk horribly and you still wrapped your arms around me and danced close.”

She blushes. “Am I that easy to read?”

I shrug. “For me, maybe.”

“Well, we were still in uniform, but at least you took your pads off.”

“At least we won after two overtimes.”

She sighs. “Yeah, why we played Wisteria on Homecoming that year is still a mystery.”

I laugh. “They’d have done better with me off the team.”

“Stop it.” She swats my chest playfully. “You were a good backup quarterback.”

“Meh.” I snarl. “Football’s more fun to watch. Baseball’s more fun to play.”

“To each his own. Football is more fun to cheer for.”

I chuckle. “Since there’s so many baseball cheer squads.”

“If there were, I’d gladly join to cheer for you.” She touches my nose and wrinkles hers at the same time. 

It’s those cheesy yet adorable qualities that will make her the perfect elementary teacher one day. 

“You cheer me on already, and you’re the only cheerleader I need.”

My phone buzzes again and I reach to silence it. The song ends and a fast song comes on. That Maroon 5 one about “Sugar.”

Everyone cheers and starts dancing in ways I don’t know how. My phone buzzes again, and this time I reach for it. Brooke is already dancing with Kristie and her date beside her. I raise my phone, and Brooke nods. 

Great excuse to not embarrass my clumsy self. 

I freeze when I see the name on the screen. 

Wally Guy . . . the scout who came to two of my games. 

Even with shaky hands, I somehow manage to answer it. “Hello?” I hurry off the dance floor at the sound of Wally’s voice. 

He’s loud, but the people screaming and laughing are louder.

“Are you there, Nate?”

I jog to the edge of the gym and stop in the hallway. “Yeah, I’m here.”

Two people peek from around a locker. Sonny is sharing one of those electric cigarettes with a girl named Aniston. He runs away when he sees me. She winks at me. I roll my eyes and keep walking. 

“I know you’ve been talking to MSU, but have you given any thought to going pro?”

Have I? Only every waking moment since I was about seven.

Once the shock wears off, I pinch myself. 

“Nate?”

“Sir, uh, yes, sir.” I clear my throat, not liking how eager I sound. 

I’ve secretly practiced a conversation like this so I could play it cool. But the real deal isn’t as easy as staring in the bathroom mirror. 

“I wanted to check before you start any college classes. If you don’t go in the draft now, then you’ll have to wait three more years.”

I swallow. Three years. 

A lot could happen in three years. I could be almost done with college and have collegiate baseball experience. 

Or I could go pro, help Mom with money, and go back to school anytime. Besides, I’m at the peak of my physical ability. My brain has more time than my arm. 

“I’d be a fool to waste an opportunity like that.”

“I knew you were a sharp young man.” 

I smile as Wally briefly describes some of the process and when I would need to decide. 

“Can I talk to my mom about it?”

“Of course, son. I’d be worried if you didn’t.”

“Okay.” I take a deep breath, then exhale. 

“We’ll talk soon. Enjoy your weekend.”

“Yes, sir, you too.”

I slide my phone in my pocket and rake my hand through my hair. My life could change drastically in the next few months. 

“Nate!” 

I turn to Carolina yelling my name from the gym door. She motions for me to come back. 

I jog toward her, silently worried something happened to Brooke. No matter what goes on in life, my biggest fears are something happening to Brooke or my mom. 

Carolina grabs my arm and jerks me through the tinsel. For someone small, she has quite a grip. “Everyone is hunting you.” 

My eyes find Brooke in the front center of the dance floor with a crown on her head. One of the junior cheerleaders stands beside her with a more goofy-looking crown. 

“And there’s our prom king,” Kevin says over a microphone. 

I don’t see him, but I know his voice. He’s class president, does debate stuff, and emcees a lot of things at the school. He’s pretty much the Ryan Seacrest of Apple Cart County High.

People clap, but it’s muffled behind my thoughts of Brooke and the phone call with Wally. I march toward her, and Emma slaps the crown on my head. She smiles at us, then moves back. 

“Time for the king and queen to have their dance,” Kevin announces. 

I fumble with the stupid circle shoved on my head, then take Brooke in my arms. Try and pretend nobody is watching us. I’m used to people staring at me while I pitch, but this is different. I’m wearing a monkey suit and a plastic crown, and we’re dancing. 

Brooke smiles. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d stood me up.”

“I had to find a quiet place to talk.”

Her face falls. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah.” I shake my head. “Actually, it’s great.”

One side of her mouth lifts.

“That was Wally.”

“Wally?” 

“Yeah, the recruiter guy who came to watch me a few times.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widen. “He called you?”

“Yeah.”

“What for?”

I take a deep breath and look her in the eye. I can’t wait for her reaction.

“He wants to put me in the draft.”

Her forehead wrinkles. “Wait, draft? As in to play professional baseball?”

“Well, it isn’t to be in the military.” I laugh. “Of course for baseball. Isn’t that great?”

She looks away and frowns. Not the reaction I was expecting, and certainly not the one I was hoping for.

“Brooke? Isn’t that great?”

Her eyes cut back to me, a little glossy. Please don’t cry!

“Where will you go?”

I lift and lower my shoulder. “Dunno yet. Could be anywhere, really. Most likely I’ll have to start out in the minors, and there are a lot of those teams around.”

She gives me a forced smile. I’d rather her frown again, since I know when she’s faking. I close my eyes for a second to refocus. The “Thinking Out Loud” song is playing. 

If I think out loud right now, I might break Brooke. Instead, I pull her closer and dance like we have plenty of times before. 

This is the only kind of dancing I like. The only kind I do well. Holding her tightly and moving super slow like this moment will go on forever.