Hearts on Tap

By Kelly Papyrus

In "Hearts on Tap," Miriam is pouring her heart into her craft brewery, nestled beside a quaint stream in a quiet town. In the pursuit of her dream to turn her tranquil haven into a bustling wedding venue, she finally strikes gold – a booking for her first wedding. Her joy, however, turns into a shocking realization as she discovers that her ex-boyfriend, Wade, is the groom-to-be.

Her unconventional response? Pretend to date Kenny, a charming local minority businessman who has been helping greenify the brewery with his urban gardening classes. Kenny, nursing a secret affection for Miriam, agrees to play her pretend boyfriend, hoping that through their shared endeavor, she might glimpse their potential as more than just friends.

As they join forces to transform the brewery into a wedding wonderland, Kenny finds himself in a quiet battle of the heart, trying to make Wade jealous and win Miriam over. But she's oblivious to his deep feelings.

As the wedding draws closer, Kenny decides it's now or never – he must confess his love. But a wrench is thrown into his plans when Wade suddenly appears, declaring his intention to call off the wedding and reunite with Miriam. A sight that breaks Kenny's heart.

However, Miriam is not swayed by Wade's emotional plea. Instead, she realizes where her heart truly lies. In the heart of the garden, beneath the twinkling stars, she makes her confession to Kenny, admitting that she's fallen for him.

"Hearts on Tap" is an intoxicating tale of love, second chances, and craft beer. Will love be poured freely, or will it go flat before it's served? The only way to know is to get your own hearts on tap.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryant Street Shorts
• Release date: May 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9781094462363

Kelly Papyrus

Kelly Papyrus is a writer whose stories feature diverse characters and people of color. She loves learning about new cultures and writing about them. She lives in Florida and loves dogs.

Book preview

1

Miriam

There are a lot of advantages to container gardening, especially for city dwellers who live in small apartments or have limited outdoor space.

Kenny’s voice boomed throughout the open area. Succulents are a great way to get started and build some confidence in your ability to tend to plants, he went on. Once you get the hang of it, you can move on to growing your own herbs or vegetables. Believe it or not, that’s how I got started, and now I have my own organic garden-based business.

There were more people than usual; that was what mattered. The turnout for Kenny’s monthly succulent class had grown steadily, and it was going to keep trending upwards; I knew that. More people than ever were interested in the kinds of things the class highlighted, like eating a plant-based diet and living a responsible, earth-friendly life. Kenny was passionate about these topics, and it was evident. I just wished it would grow faster, the same way I wished the rest of the place could.

I call myself an urban hippie, and I know that sounds cringey to some people, but it really is the best way to describe my passion and philosophy. Kenny was hitting his stride, the way he always did around ten minutes into his class. I shot him a little thumbs up and watched for the little nod of acknowledgement. Doing these workshops here at the Rebel Heart Brewery is important to me because I want to help other people understand how easy it is to grow your own food. You can reduce your dependency on corporations, ingest less pesticides, and of course save money.

My mind was already zoned out again, my eyes darting from face to face, trying to memorize them so I could take notice of if and when they came back in; whether the class was bringing in regulars or just one-off visitors. I’d always known that opening a small craft brewery would be hard, but I was confident I could do it. That is, until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, shortly after my grand opening.

Since then, each month had been a struggle; the stress washing over me in waves all day and at night when I tried to sleep. It was one thing for me to have imagined the problems I’d have as a small business owner and dismiss them by telling myself I’d figure a way out. It was quite another to actually be faced with vendors who demanded payment for overdue invoices and the need to replace the motor on my commercial dishwasher. The money hadn’t appeared from nowhere, and I found myself overly preoccupied with how many people came into every happy hour and special event, how many drinks they had, whether they seemed likely to come back. It had turned me into someone I wasn’t sure I liked.

Focus, I told myself, zoning my mind back in on Kenny’s voice. Gardening is supposed to be soothing, if you do it right.

You all selected a container before the workshop started, and now you’ll choose the plants you want to use as part of your arrangement. Yes, we have a question in the back, he said, and I turned along with the rest of the class to look. A girl I’d seen around the bar a few times grinned at him and took a long breath before starting her question. Clearly she was loving the attention.

How do we know how many plants our container can take? The breathy way she delivered the question and how her eyes stayed fixed on his, made me wonder if she’d only signed up for the class to be around Kenny and have an excuse to flirt with him.

Sometimes it was hard for me to see why women found him attractive. Yes, he was conventionally good-looking and moderately successful, but we’d been friends for too long for me to envision him as sexy. But women seemed to love his whole urban hippie thing, the way he cared about something besides sports and video games, unlike most other men our age.

That’s a great question. You want to give your plants enough space…

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and turned to see Emma, the brewery’s event coordinator, with her eyes bright and the corners of her mouth turned up high.

Is it going well? I blurted the question before Emma could say anything. Her face didn’t really give me any clues. She was happy, but then, she always was. No matter how many tours she gave and special events she tried to book without success, she never wore a frown for longer than a minute or two. It was why I loved and hated her all at once.

"It’s going amazing. They love the layout indoors; they’re just looking around the patio and they’re about to come over and meet you. I just need you to bring it home. I can feel it, Mir; they’re going to sign and we’re going to be on the map," she said, squeezing both my hands in hers.

I didn’t want to get ahead of myself since we’d been this far down the road before with no success, but her excitement was too precious for me to want to crush it. Plus, I loved the idea of having a wedding at Rebel Heart and highlighting the beauty of the place in a different way. With the right decorations, the inside could be a romantic, intimate space for the ceremony, and the patio and garden would make a beautiful backdrop for pictures. It could be a dream space for a bride who wanted something bohemian and natural on a budget instead of a princess who wanted the same generic thing as everyone else.

I’ll try to close the deal. Are they into the whole mission, the vision behind it?

Emma was nodding even before I could finish the question. I reminded myself not to get overexcited. This was a good sign, but I couldn’t take it too seriously.

The bride is a personal chef for some pretty big names; she’s passionate about sustainability, natural foods, farm to fork— all the stuff that we highlight here, she said. I’m telling you, it’s a perfect match. Plus, they’re so good looking and they have just— like, I don’t know, a natural kind of synergy. You can tell they were meant to be together. They’d be perfect for posting on our socials and stuff, she said. It sounded too good to be true, but I knew Emma believed every word she was saying.

Okay, you don’t need to hard sell me. I know how important this is, and I want them to sign too. I’ll do everything I can, I said, laughing.

Behind me I could hear Kenny’s class progressing, the sounds of chairs scraping against the ground as people got up to walk over and select the right plants for their containers. There was a low level of chatter that faded over and under the music that set the mood in the garden; today it was Erykah Badu. The whole vibe felt mellow and chill, like the vision was finally coming together to be what I wanted it to be.

Maybe this is the start of real success for us, finally. I let myself believe it for just a second. Just think positive for once, Mir.

The gate between the garden and the patio opened, and I looked up to see the couple that was going to help set us on the path to making it all happen.

The bride said something over her shoulder as she crossed the threshold, then turned to take in her new surroundings. Emma was right; she was gorgeous, with clear brown skin and thick,