I laugh and shake my head. “I know you’re not. The problem is that we don’t carry this in the pub, and if people see they might want to know what it is and you’ll be drinking the only one ’cause you brought your own beer into the bar.”

“Well, start serving it and I won’t have to bring my own.”

I shrug. “I don’t have enough space to brew it in large batches yet.”

“I already said I’d cut you the check,” he grumbles.

I lean an arm on the bar. “When’d you say that?”

He waves a hand around in the air. “I’m old, how am I supposed to remember when. After you won that Best Bar award, I said I’d cut you a check for the start-up cost.”

“Are you sure you said it out loud?”

Gramps gives me a look and turns to Blaire. “Are you listening to this? Giving this old guy a hard time, making me question my memory. It’s ageism is what it is!”

“Maybe you already cut him the check and he’s messing with you to make you think you didn’t,” Blaire teases.

I lean on the bar and fight a smile. “Whose side are you on?”

She grins up at me. “I’m not taking sides on this.”

“Sounds like she’s taking my side.” Gramps gives her a wink and an affectionate smile. “When you putting a ring on Blaire’s finger? Everyone’s waiting for it, ya know.”

“Yeah, Gramps, I know. Everyone needs to find some chill about it, too.” I kiss Blaire on the temple. We’ve only been together for a few months, but I can’t see my life without her. “And I’ve been thinking about the brewery situation lately.”

“I’ll miss driving in to work with you.” Blaire gives my arm a squeeze.

“Well, that’s the thing…Lars is a good kid, but he isn’t anywhere near ready to take over this place, and I kinda like what we’ve got going on here.” I put my arm around Blaire’s shoulder and pull her in closer. “People really love what we’re doing, and I figure I can put the brewery on hold until we can settle on a location.”

“But that’s what you’ve been working toward,” Blaire says.

Gramps nods and sips his beer, a hint of a smile there, like maybe he knew this was coming. “The McCurdys next door have been thinking about selling. At least that’s what Bertie says pretty much every time I go over to buy some cold cuts.”

“If they decide to sell we could look at what it would take to convert it. Wouldn’t take much to make a doorway to connect the two,” I say.

“Things to think about.” Gramps shifts his attention to Blaire. “Might be a good time to mention that thing you were thinking about. Pretty sure you might be on the same page.”

Blaire gives him a meaningful look. “I’m not sure now is the time.”

I look between them, unnerved that Gramps and Blaire are having conversations about whatever, apparently behind my back. “Now isn’t the time for what?”

Gramps wears an expression that looks a lot like a smirk and then turns away as a couple of his friends walk through the front door—they’ve taken to coming out at least once a week for beers and wings—and he slips off the stool. “I’ll leave you two lovebirds to talk.”

“Are you going to explain what that’s about?” I motion between Gramps and Blaire as he ambles over to one of the four-tops.

He’s been in such better spirits lately. So happy with how the bar is doing, glad to see it full of life and people again. And honestly, so am I.

Blaire slips her arm through mine. “Come on, let’s go talk in your office.”

“Are you going to try to distract me with sex?”

Blaire laughs. “I could, but I won’t. Especially not while Gramps is here.”

I slip into the office first so I can quickly shuffle some of the papers around on the desk, hiding the ones I’m not sure I’m ready for Blaire to see yet. I close the door and sit on the edge of the desk, giving her the new executive chair. As much as Gramps loved the old one, it was falling apart. Literally. One of the arms fell off two weeks ago and it was really all the encouragement I needed to buy something comfortable.

“So what have you and Gramps been talking about behind my back?” I go for light, but I’m not sure it comes out that way.

Blaire reaches up and takes one of my hands in hers, skimming along the design on my wrist. “It was just something I mentioned a few weeks back, more as a joke than anything.”

“Okay.” I wait for her to elaborate, but after a few seconds of quiet, I press. “Blaire? Are you gonna tell me?”

“I just made a comment that it would be a lot easier to run all of our cohosted events if we put a doorway between B&B and The Knight Cap.” She laughs, but it’s high and nervous.

I have to give it to Gramps; he really knows how to force a conversation I wasn’t sure I was ready to have. I lace my fingers with hers. “Oh yeah? And what did Gramps say about that?”

She waves her free hand in the air. “Oh, you know Gramps.”

“So you were just joking about that? About a doorway between our places?”

Her expression is somewhere between embarrassed and nervous. “I’m already moving in with you. It’s not like you want me in your face all day every day, too. Besides, Gramps has had to manage enough change with all the renovations this year.”

Last month I suggested she move in with me. It’s maybe five minutes farther from the bars, but my place is also twice the size of hers and nicer, and my bed is bigger. And she actually kind of lives in a shithole, not that I would say that out loud. But it isn’t great. So she’s been driving stuff over by the carload.

“I’d be more than happy to have you in my face all day every day and every night.” I raise our twined fingers and kiss the back of her hand. “But I totally understand if that would be too much of me for you.”

“I can’t ever get enough of you, Ronan. You know that. Anyway, it was just a silly idea I threw out, because it was cold and rainy and I didn’t have an umbrella with me.”

“What if I said I didn’t think it was that silly of an idea.”

She blinks up at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean what if we joined forces permanently? I love you and I love this place, and I think we work really well together.”

“So do I, and I love you, too.” She gives me a gentle, inquisitive smile.

“I know how important it is for you to do this on your own, and I don’t want to take that away from you, but my favorite nights are when we cohost events. And the thing I look forward to the most every day are the times I get to see you.”

Blaire’s fingers go to her lips. “You’re serious?”

“I think we make a great team.”

“Me, too.” She smiles, and then her expression turns serious. “We’d have to open up a wall.”

“The adjoining wall doesn’t have anything but electrical to worry about, and that’s easy to shift around.”

She cocks her head to the side, considering. “What about the booths and the wall of photos?”

“We’d only have to lose one booth to put the doorway in, and we could have a host stand between the two.”