Jamie looked at it but didn't understand. This meant nothing to him. At first it was just a flat brown rectangle with a white square in the middle of it. Then he saw the Donovan Brothers logo inside the square. Then the black stripe of fabric that ran up one edge of the book.

Jamie raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

Eric looked...surprised? "I understood that this was yours."

"I've never seen it before," Jamie said.

Yes, he definitely looked surprised. "You're sure?"

Tessa reached for it. "Look." She opened the book and laid it back down.

Jamie's heart jumped so hard that he nearly choked on it. It was the menu. Olivia's menu. "Where the hell did you get this?"

"Olivia brought it in," Tessa said softly.

His head jerked toward her. "What?"

"Ow!" Tessa complained, wriggling her fingers free of his. "That hurt."

"What do you mean? She gave this to you?"

"She gave it to Eric," Tessa answered.

Jamie couldn't believe his ears. He shook his head to try to clear them. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"She came in today," Eric said. "She brought me this. Told me I needed to give you a chance."

"Well, I didn't know a damn thing about it!" His eyes were drawn to the laminated menu, which stood out in contrast to the thinner pages behind it. "She had no right to give you this."

"You didn't recognize it," Eric said. "She told me it was your work."

"It is my work, and that's why it's none of your business." He started to reach for it, but Eric slid it back. "Hey!"

"We need to talk about this," Eric insisted.

"Like hell we do." Jamie surged forward and snagged the book from his brother's hand. When he stood, Tessa stood too.

"We like it, Jamie."

He glared at her.

"We like it."

"Oh, yeah?" he snarled.

"We like it?"

She nodded. "Eric. Tell him."

"I was...surprised."

"Eric!" Tessa snapped.

Jamie rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not interested in watching you twist his arm, Tessa. Just let it go."

"I was surprised," Eric repeated, "because it's really, really good."

"Gee, thanks." But even as Jamie fell back on his normal tone with his brother, his pulse sped with something far less cynical.

"If we were going to serve food here-if-then this would be a good idea."

He didn't like the way his pulse leapt with hope, so he tamped it down with a snarl. "Let's not pretend you can change your mind that quickly, Eric. Let's not pretend you could take one look at this portfolio and see the light."

Eric arched an eyebrow, but Tessa was the one who answered. "We want to talk about it, Jamie. If you can give me some time to go through the numbers, if you can let Eric and I have some input, then-"

"No. I'm not going to let you lure me back here with scraps like a damn pet. You're right. This is a good idea. It's my good idea. And I'm not interested in having Eric smash it down until it's safe enough for him. I'm not interested in giving up bits and pieces of it while you orchestrate a negotiation between us, Tessa."

"We're partners," Eric snarled. "We all get a say."

"You mean you get a say. You always get a say. When have you ever asked for my advice or permission?"

"I always run things by you-"

"Don't pretend you don't know the difference, Eric. You run things by me and Tessa on a fast train with no brakes. You keep us notified for courtesy's sake. You don't ask us shit."

Eric leaned forward, his mouth opening on a response, but Jamie cut his hand through the air to stop him.

"If you deny it, brother, you're a goddamn liar and we both know it."

He watched the anger creep up Eric's face in a tide of red. His hands turned to fists. But he didn't deny it. He was too honest for that.

"If I come back-if-then this is going to happen." He slapped his palm against the cover. "It's going to happen my way, and I'll be in charge of it. All of it."

"Jamie," Tessa cautioned.

"No, Tessa. No. I'm not going along this time. I'm not worried about keeping the peace. This idea is solid. It hardly requires any investment at all, and there's no significant remodel. It's a goddamn gift, is what it is."

Eric huffed. "You can't really expect us to make a decision like this on the spot."

"Of course not. And the same goes for you. I meant it when I left here. If I'm coming back, then I have to be sure."

Eric's eyes slid to Tessa. They stared at each other for a long time. Finally, Tessa's hand curved over his arm. "You're serious? You'll think seriously about coming back?"

"I will."

"All right. Then Eric and I will go through this line by line. We'll need at least a few days to consider it."

Jamie recognized that tone. He heard it every day while Tessa was on the phone with suppliers or distributors. It was the voice she used when she meant business.

Suddenly, this was real. It wasn't another family argument. There was a deal on the table. His deal.

"All right," he said quietly. "Call me when you want to meet."

Tessa reached for the portfolio and Jamie stepped back, nearly falling back into the chair.

"We'll need to review it."

"Oh, right." His hands tightened on the rough texture of the cover. He hadn't even seen it yet. Olivia had done this. His mind couldn't figure out what he felt about that. "Would you mind if I take it to my office for a minute? I haven't seen it like this yet. There were only loose pages before."

"Sure. Of course."

Jamie walked slowly to his sparsely furnished office and closed the door behind him. He collapsed into his chair before he finally let out a shaky breath. He'd stepped into a rabbit hole. None of this made any sense. Maybe he'd been thrown from his bike and was still lying up there on the mountain with a giant lump on his head.

Watching his own hands carefully, he slowly opened the cover of the portfolio and began to review it. She'd done an amazing job. That night at her apartment he'd barely been paying attention, but now every page stood out in vivid detail. It was all here, every idea he'd gathered. Every number he'd researched, plus some of the things he hadn't gotten to yet. It was all there in full color on glossy pages. By the time he turned the last page, his hands shook.

Why had she finished it? More important, why had she given it to Eric instead of Jamie?

Before he could overthink it, Jamie pulled out his phone and dialed her number. The phone rang five times before it went to voice mail. Jamie hung up. He had no idea what to say. Was he thankful or pissed? Had she violated his trust and privacy or had she done something amazing?

Jamie had no idea. But when he stood up, he felt stronger than he had in years. He felt...proud.

Tessa was waiting for him when he stepped into the hallway. He handed over the book without a twinge of reluctance. "Let me know if you have any questions. I'll be in touch in a few days."

This time when he walked out, he didn't look back because he knew he'd return. It was a good idea, and they'd be fools not to go with it. They might drive him up the wall 365 days a year, but his brother and sister weren't fools.

In a few months, Jamie would be running a restaurant.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX.

WHEN THE DOOR OF HIS OFFICE opened, Jamie held up a finger and pressed the phone harder to his ear. "Well, I'm glad you're doing well enough to be busy, but I need you out here to give me an estimate tomorrow. If you can't do it, I'll find someone else."

The electrician sighed. "How late are you guys there?"

"It's a brewery, man. If you can make it before nine, we're good."

"All right. Let's say six-thirty."

"Perfect. And another guy is coming at one, so if you want the job, you'll be sure the estimate is competitive." He hung up, glad he'd overheard so many of Eric's phone calls over the years. Jamie was damn good at being the nice guy, but nice didn't get you anywhere in the world of electricians and plumbers and equipment salesmen.

Someone cleared his throat, and Jamie glanced up to see Henry standing there. "Oh, hey. Thanks for coming in, man." He stood up to shake Henry's hand, which seemed to make the young guy nervous. "Sit down. I heard you filled in at the bar a couple of times while I was gone."

"Yeah."

"Did you like it?"

"Sure."

"I want an honest answer about that, Henry. Enjoying what you do is really the number one qualification for tending here. There are no mixed drinks to remember. There aren't a lot of complicated bills. You've just got to be friendly and happy to be here. Did you really like being at the tap?"

Henry's Adam's apple bobbed up and down when he swallowed. "I was a little nervous, but I liked it."

"Okay. You can work with Chester tonight. Close down with him. See how it feels. If Chester give you the thumbs-up, I'll give you a couple of day shifts this week so I can keep an eye on you. How does that sound?"

"Great!"

Henry scrambled up from his seat and headed back out the door. "Hey, I'm glad you're back," he added before he slipped away.

Yeah, Jamie was, too. It felt good. It felt great.

Before he could forget, Jamie opened the Twitter application on his phone and began to type. We've got a new guy behind the bar. Come meet Henry tonight. But be gentle. He's just a pup. He retweeted a couple of kind posts about the new wheat beer, then tweeted that the new apricot hefeweizen would debut next month.

He was actually having a good time, getting things done. In fact, he would've been in heaven if thoughts of Olivia hadn't been niggling at the back of his mind. She hadn't returned his calls for five days. She hadn't come to book club. It seemed she hadn't even been home for the past week. According to the school, she'd canceled class on Thursday due to "an unexpected personal development," and she wasn't expected back until to morrow.

Unexpected personal development. What the hell did that mean? He refused to believe it could have anything to do with Victor. Whatever that man wanted from Olivia, she'd been clear that she wanted nothing from him. Hadn't she?

Jamie cracked his neck. He just wanted to see her. Any sense of betrayal over what she'd done had disappeared. It'd been pretty half-assed in the first place. Now he was back at the brewery and it seemed like last Tuesday was a hundred years ago.

Still, he couldn't do anything more than drive by her place each evening to see if she'd returned. Jamie forced his mind back to the tasks at hand.

They were still scrambling for more bartending coverage as Jamie would be spending a lot more time behind the scenes for a while, so the next thing he did was pull out his list of fill-in bartenders and the file of applicants he'd never brought in. Most of them were probably out of the job search by now, but you never knew.

"Anthony," he said when the first guy answered the phone. "It's Jamie Donovan. I know it's been a few months since you filled in, but I wondered if you were looking for any work this month."

A soft knock on the door distracted him from writing down the days Anthony could work. Jamie looked up to see Eric leaning against the doorjamb, his arms crossed. Jamie held up one finger. "Sorry, Anthony, did you say Friday night, too? Great. Why don't you come in Thursday and Friday from four to close? I'll see you then."

He hung up and raised his eyebrows at Eric. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I can hear you working in here and it's distracting."

"Oh. The door's closed. Do you-?"

"I'm just kidding, man." Eric dropped into the chair and leaned back as if he were settling in.

"Are you gonna watch me like a movie or something?"

"Maybe. I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see what you do next."

Jamie finally smiled. "The cliffhanger of the season?"

"Yeah." Eric's mouth turned up the tiniest bit. "I'm glad you're back. No one wants to be alone with me sixty hours a week. Not even me. I think my arm is bruised from Tessa punching me in the same spot a thousand times."