Free To Brew or Not to Brew by Joyce Tremel

if they’d seen anything. They couldn’t very well see anything if they weren’t there. I thought I might have to rethink my strategy.
    â€œI can ask around. Some of my early morning customers are out and about all night. Maybe one of them saw something.”
    â€œThat would be great,” I said.
    The door opened just then and Kristie got up. “We can talk about it tonight—if you’re still coming.”
    I’d almost forgotten. Thursday was our monthly book club meeting at the Lawrenceville branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The group included Candy, who always supplied the goodies; Kristie’s mother, Pearl; Amanda Morgan, the children’s librarian; and Elmer Fairbanks, the only male in the group. I wasn’t quite sure how Elmer had gotten involved other than that he was ninety-two years old and practically lived at the library. He’d attached himself somehow.
    On the way to the counter, Kristie turned back and grinned. “If worse comes to worst, we can always stake out your place. I’m always up for an adventure.”
    I finished my mocha thinking about her suggestion. It wasn’t a bad idea at all. As a matter of fact, it might be just the thing. The more I considered it, the more I liked it. I left the coffee shop with a plan in my head and a smile on my face.
    The rest of the day passed quietly. The kitchen staff interviews went well. Jake seemed to know the right questions to ask and in the end decided to hire one of the two candidates. The other one had no cooking experience at all—I was reasonably sure he was just hoping for free beer. He smelled like he’d already had more than his share.
    After that, I checked the beer I had fermenting but put off starting a new batch of anything. I couldn’t delay it much longer, but I still couldn’t bring myself to use the mash tun. I told myself I’d brew tomorrow. Back in my office, I sortedthrough some waitstaff applications and made a few phone calls to schedule interviews. We’d hired a few people already, but we needed to hire more. I couldn’t put it off any longer.
    I’d just finished up when Jake poked his head into my office. “How about we both call it a night and I take you out to dinner to celebrate my first full day as a chef?”
    The idea was tempting, even if it did sound too much like a date and Jake didn’t mean it that way. If I didn’t have book club, I’d probably have taken him up on it. “Can I take a rain check? I already have plans tonight.”
    â€œHot date?”
    â€œNo such luck, unless your idea of hot is an evening at the library with four other women and a ninety-year-old man.”
    â€œWell, now. That would depend on the women.”
    I laughed. “I guess it would.”
    Jake perched on the edge of my battered desk. “What about tomorrow night? I’d really like to celebrate.”
    In all the conversations we’d had, he hadn’t once mentioned his fiancée in New York. I leaned back in my chair. “You mean you don’t have a hot date on a Friday night? I thought you were engaged.”
    The smile left his face. “Not anymore.”
    Nothing like putting your foot in your mouth, Max. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
    â€œSo was I.”
    â€œDo you want to talk about it?” Yikes. Now I sounded like Kristie.
    â€œNot really. Let’s just say it didn’t work out, like a lot of other things.”
    Like hockey?
    Jake stood. “You didn’t answer my question. How about tomorrow night?”
    I didn’t have any reason to turn him down, so I said okay. After he left, I tried to push my second thoughts away. Just because Jake had no romantic interest in me was no reason not to go out with him. We were friends and coworkers. People who worked together went out all the time. We were just two friends having dinner.
    By the time I got home, I had almost