To be fair, though, he’d been wonderfully attentive all evening, so she couldn’t complain. She just wished things could be different between them somehow. If only she had made some better choices along the way.
But that was ancient history. It was time to stop whining and apologizing about the past. She wanted to enjoy the evening and the rest of the festival. She wanted to savor every minute spent with Connor. And then she would go home and get on with her life.
“How do you like the wine?” Connor whispered next to her.
“It’s wonderful,” she murmured, reaching for her glass. “Everything is so nice. What do you think? Is it going well?”
Maggie followed his gaze around the table. Other than his brothers and their dates, the rest of the guests were Wellstone family members. Jonas, his son, Paul, and Paul’s wife, Dana, and his daughter, Christy, and her husband, Steve. There were several small conversations occurring at once along with plenty of munching and savoring of the delicious stuffed pastry appetizers. Jake and Paul were debating the results of a recent football game.
Connor grinned at Maggie. “I think Jonas looks pretty happy, don’t you?”
Maggie glanced over at the man holding court at the head of the table. “He’s a kick, isn’t he?”
“He’s a great guy,” he said quietly. “I wasn’t sure I would like him because of all these hoops he was making us jump through, but I’m glad we did this tonight. I think everyone’s having a good time.”
So far, business had only been discussed on a general level. The state of the industry, the latest gossip, who was making waves, who had burned out. There hadn’t been a mention of anything specific about the buyout.
Of course, Maggie hadn’t expected any real business to be conducted tonight. The purpose of this get-together was to see if everyone got along and to make sure Jonas Wellstone approved of the MacLaren men well enough to sell them his multimillion-dollar brewery business.
The whole scene should’ve made Maggie unbearably nervous, but it didn’t. After spending so many years faking the social niceties with Ashcroft and his snooty high-society crowd, tonight Maggie was dining with real people who laughed and drank wine and enjoyed food and each other’s company. It was such a refreshing change. No wonder she felt so happy.
It dawned on her that this was the first time she’d actually been out with a group of people, any people, in over three years. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that odd little fact.
“Are you okay?” Connor asked. “You looked a little dazed there for a minute.”
“I’m perfect,” she said, smiling up at him. “I’m happy to be here. Thank you for including me.”
“I’m glad you’re here with me,” he said simply.
As Maggie took another look around the table, Jonas’s daughter, Christy, caught her gaze. “I’ve met a few successful female brewers, Maggie, but it’s still pretty rare, isn’t it? How did you get started in this business?”
“My mom and dad owned a brewpub for many years in Point Cairn. The same one the MacLarens own now, by the way.”
“Hey, we couldn’t let it close down,” Connor said in defense of his brothers.
“Absolutely not,” she said, chuckling. “Anyway, to supplement the brewpub, my father built a home brewery in our barn and I used to follow him around like a puppy, begging to help him. He would give me odd jobs every day, like sorting bottle caps or sweeping the room. At some point, I wound up doing every job there was to do.”