After we finished eating, Eli and Joey said they would clean up the dishes, Dylan and John offered to help as mom and Jackie each poured another glass of wine and went to the living room to catch up. The last time they talked was at dad’s funeral and that was just a quick hug and Jackie offering her condolences.
I grabbed a couple of beers and motioned for Scott to join me in my office. Scott nodded as he followed me down the hall.
As we sat in the big chairs and opened our beer, Scott chuckled, “I remember sitting on the floor, with your dad, right over there as your grandpa and my dad sat in these chairs talking about everything under the sun.”
I smiled, “yeah, if these walls could talk, I’m sure it would be very interesting.”
Scott nodded, “your grandpa was a good man, I see now that it was hereditary.”
I smiled, “thank you, I hope I am making him proud.”
Scott smiled, “I’m sure you are, Caleb.”
I said, “thanks Scott, I hope dad is proud too.”
Scott sighed, “I know he is. Mike was a good man too.”
I asked, “did you have the same feelings for him as he had for you?”
Scott looked a bit surprised at my question, he took a deep breath, “yeah, I suppose I did. I think I was afraid to admit it back then. I have given it a lot of thought over the last week and if we had not already been married when we… um… shared our time together, things might have turned out much differently. You have to understand, things were different back then, my father would never have accepted me and your dad being together. I think your grandpa was a bit more accepting, it may have been hard for him, but he would have wanted Mike to be happy. I always admired your dad, he was so much braver than I ever was, I think he would have told the world about us, if I had let him. If I hadn’t been married and had Dawson and Dylan, I may have been braver too, but I couldn’t throw all of that away.”
I nodded, “I guess I get that, dad was pretty upset when you broke things off. I talked to mom about it, and she said they tried to work things out, but dad’s drinking got to be too much.”
Scott sighed, “yeah, it took me and Jackie a little while to work through things too. Your mom and Jackie are great women, they certainly didn’t deserve to be hurt. I wish I would have tried to help your dad with his drinking, but I just didn’t want to lead him on and think that I was helping so we could be together. I was a mess when he died, and I was drunk every night for a week after the funeral. Your grandpa saw what I was doing and we a long talk, and he made me see I would head down the same road as Mike if I didn’t get my shit together.”
I said, “I wish he could have gotten through to dad.”
Scott said, “he did try Caleb, many times.”
I chuckled, “stubbornness does run in the Malloy genes, doesn’t it.”
Scott laughed, “oh yeah.”
I asked, “what made you decide to tell Dylan everything?”
Scott took a big swig of his beer and said, “you did.”
I asked, “what do you mean?”
He said, "that day I stopped here to talk to Dylan, and you wouldn’t let me. I saw how protective of him you were. You told me that you knew about me and your dad, but didn’t tell Dylan. It would have been easy for you to tell him everything right then. After you told me that Dawson hit Dylan, I was pissed and wanted to kick Dawson’s ass. As I was driving home, it hit me. Dawson should be protecting Dylan, not you. I decided I must have done a pretty shitty job raising my boys. I flashed back to the time I spent with your dad and how much you reminded me of him. I spent the rest of the week thinking about everything and realized how badly I had handled things with my boys. I never really listened to them and what they wanted. Dawson was easy, he seemed to genuinely want to work at the brewery. Dylan was always different, he never seemed interested, I guess I thought he would grow into it, but I know now he never did.”
I nodded, “I guess I was a lot like Dylan, I never wanted anything to do with the brewery either. It might have been different if dad hadn’t died, he might have pushed me as I got older.”
Scott shook his head, “I don’t think so Caleb, after your folks split up, Mike and I had a few talks about our boys taking over the business. He told me he knew you weren’t interested, and he was going to let you find your own way. I should have listened to him and done the same thing with Dylan.”
I smiled at the thought of my dad, and said, “well, you are doing the right thing now.”
He smiled, “thanks, I am going to have the same talk with Dawson this weekend. I am also going to make it clear that he is to never lay a hand on Dylan again. If I had done my job as a father, Dawson would have never felt like he needed to do that.”
I sighed, “good for you Scott, I’m sure Dylan appreciates you and I think Dawson will be better off knowing everything as well.”
Scott drank the last of his beer and said, “thanks Caleb, and this really is good beer. I am glad that you are getting the brewery going again, you do have a good group of guys working for you.”
I said, “yeah, they have taught me a lot the last couple of months.”
Scott nodded, “I also need to apologize for that stunt I pulled with the bank. I’m glad that Russ was able to help you. That was Dawson’s idea, that was the last red flag to me that I was teaching my boys the wrong things.”
I smiled, “that means a lot to me, I know Dylan appreciates knowing the truth and I think Dawson will too.”
Scott drank the last of his beer and said, “I hope so, now we should get back to the others before they think we are killing each other in here.”
I laughed, “you’re probably right.”
We joined the others and had another beer. Mom and Jackie were enjoying their time together and were making plans to have lunch before mom and John returned to Atlanta. I noticed Dylan looking at his dad and for the first time saw more joy than sadness in his eyes. I think he saw his dad in a whole new light after their talk. I know I was now viewing Scott completely differently after our talk. I’m not sure how Dawson was going to react, but I was hoping he would understand.
Dylan gave his parents a hug as they left to go home, he had a big smile on his face as he turned around.
Mom said, “it was nice to see your parents again Dylan.”
Dylan nodded, “it was good for me too Kristi.”
Eli patted him on the shoulder, “good for you Dylan.”
Joey said, “yeah, I’m glad things worked out. Are you ready to go to bed city boy?” He gave Eli a slap on his ass.
Eli grinned, “right behind you redneck.”
John smiled, “how about you Kristi? I think Caleb wants us all to get an early start tomorrow morning.”
Mom said, “good night” as they headed to their room.
Dylan and I turned out the lights and went to our bedroom. Dylan said, “thank you for talking me into seeing my dad tonight.”
I gave him a kiss, “you’re welcome, I am so proud of you, and I am proud of your dad too.”
He smiled, “yeah, I’m proud of him too. So, what did you guys talk about when we were doing dishes?”
I said, “we talked about a lot of things, my dad, my grandpa, your grandpa. All of this happening was good for your dad, it made him take a long hard look at his life. I think he is in a good place now.”
Dylan wrapped me in a hug, “I think you’re right.”
We crawled into bed, and I pulled Dylan into the small spoon position, and we quickly fell asleep. I woke up the next morning alone in bed. I walked out to the kitchen to find Dylan busy making a big breakfast, he already had a big stack of pancakes next to the griddle. He also had bacon and eggs frying, the coffee was already made. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around him, kissing the back of his neck.
I said, “you are going to spoil us with all this great food.”
He said, “it’s what you do for someone you love.”
I squeezed him tighter, “I love you too.”
Mom and John walked in, and mom asked, “what can I do to help Dylan?”
He smiled, “you can set the table, I think I have everything just about ready.”
Eli and Joey arrived, and we soon made our way through the entire pile of food that Dylan had made. John, Eli, Joey and I got ready to go to the brewery, we were going to spend the day setting up for BoroFest. We had to get our tent set up and coolers in place, plus we had set up our sample area. We had our fall and Christmas samples ready and were going to give all the festival goers a sneak preview.
Mom stayed at the house with Dylan to clean up after breakfast. She was going to help Dylan make lunch for everyone at the brewery. Geno always closed the restaurant down during BoroFest, so Dylan was going to help us all weekend. By the end of the day, Thursday, we were all set up. We would just need to fill the coolers and ice down the beer first thing Friday morning.
The gates would open at 10 am for the festival goers, the first concert would start at 11. We got to the brewery at 7 am and started to load up all of our trucks. We arrived at the grounds at 8 and started to load the coolers. Of course, Patefield arrived with one of his big delivery trucks with their beer. We were all ready by the time the first concert started, the crowd was still a little sparce. Joey said there would be a lot more people by the end of the day as a lot of the businesses in town were going to close at noon. He was right, by late afternoon, the place was packed, and the weather was perfect for drinking beer. The Summer Ale was a big hit, and Hal was running back to the brewery to bring another load to keep up with sales. Saturday was even busier with all the people from out of town showing up to enjoy the concerts. I saw a bunch of old classmates that I hadn’t seen since graduation, they all welcomed me back to town and were glad that Malloy beer was back. Eli and Joey were working the crowd like a couple of pros and sending a lot of people into our tent. The samples of our new fall ale and Christmas brew were also well received.
By mid-afternoon on Sunday, I considered our first BoroFest a big success. I hadn’t added up our sales yet, but we had a lot more empty cases than we did full ones in the back of our trucks. There was a lull in the activity as we were waiting for the final big-name concert to start. I was talking with Rick and Ed as I noticed Dawson walking toward our tent, he was headed straight to Dylan. I took a deep breath, not sure how things were going to go. I walked toward Dylan, Eli and Joey did the same, one on each side of Dylan as Dawson stopped. I could see that Joey was ready to kick Dawson’s ass if he needed to.
Dylan noticed Eli and Joey and said, “it’s ok guys.”
Dawson said, “hey, how’s it going?”
Dylan nodded, “going good, and you?”
Dawson sighed, “look Dylan, I’m sorry for everything… I should never have hit you. It’s just that I thought that was what dad would have wanted me to do. All I have ever heard about the Malloy Brewery was that dad thought they screwed him over. When I saw you coming out of Caleb’s house, our sworn enemy, I guess I just lost it. Dad finally explained that Caleb’s grandpa paid him a fair price for his share of the brewery. He was blinded by greed and only ever wanted to take the Malloys down. I see now that it is not a good way to run a business, and you sure as hell don’t treat family like I did. Dad told me that you really like to cook and are doing well at Geno’s and I should be happy for you.”
Dylan smiled, “I am, Dawson, I have never enjoyed working at the brewery, and you should know, I never went out with Caleb to hurt the brewery, I really have feelings for him.”
Dawson said, “I know dad told me that too, he told me everything… that went on between him and Calebs’s dad. He said that you and Caleb do care about each other, and I should understand that. I think I do, and I am happy for you.”
Dylan wrapped him in a hug and said, “thank you Dawson, that means a lot to me. Just because I don’t want to work at the brewery, doesn’t mean I don’t want be part of our family.”
I think I saw tear start to form in Dawson’s eye, “I want you to be part of the family too, I’m sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t.” They hugged each other again.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I walked toward them, and Eli and Joey stepped back.
Dawson saw me and held out his hand, “congratulations Caleb, it looks like you are having a good weekend.”
I smiled, “thanks Dawson, yeah, things are going well. BoroFest is a big success for all of us.”
He nodded, “yep. The bands are great too.”
He said, “I just told Dylan I had a long talk with dad and I want to say that I’m sorry for some of the things that happened since you’ve been back in town. I’m mostly sorry that I hit Dylan.”
I said, “thanks Dawson, I appreciate that.”
He smiled, “and you better take care of my little brother, so I don’t have to hit you.”
I put my arm around Dylan and said, “I promise, I will take care of him.”
Dylan and Dawson exchanged another hug as Scott joined us. Scott said, “your beer is a hit Caleb, congratulations.” He looked around and said, “I’ll buy the next round.”
The small crowd of 15 to 20 people that were in the area all cheered as Hal and Brad handed out the beers.
The last concert of the weekend was the best one of the weekend, and by the end of the night we were all beat. We cleaned up what we needed to, and I told everyone to take the morning off, we could finish taking down the tents and moving the coolers on Monday afternoon. We all got back to the house after midnight, we immediately went to bed, all exhausted. Mom and Dylan were first up in the morning making us another big breakfast.
After we had things back to normal, I was able to get our sales tallied, and we had done even better than I thought. After I paid the planning committee the money I had promised, we had had enough to pay back the loan that I had taken to buy the ingredients. I even had enough to give everyone a small bonus, it wasn’t a big bonus, but I wanted to show all my employees that I appreciated their hard work. Within the next week, we had two distributors calling wanting to sell Malloy beer. We were off and running, there was no turning back now.
Eli met with Gene Adams, he was Patefield’s marketing guy, and they were already working on a new beer garden for next year’s BoroFest. Because we were so successful this year, Patefield decided to not make the committee buy his beer. We would both set up in the new beer garden and sell our own beer and give the committee a share of each sale. Not only did the festival earn an extra fifty cents for every beer sold, so did both breweries, it was a win - win for all of us.
Mom and John were married a few months later. They got married by a judge in Atlanta, but I insisted on a party in my back yard the following weekend. I invited all the guys from the brewery and the Patefields. Scott smiled as he showed up with a couple of cases of Patefield Beer, I returned his smile as I added his beer to the cooler with mine.
Dawson was the next to get married, he had been dating Ashley for several years and six months after the wedding they were expecting their first child. Joey and Eli had found a house of their own and had moved in right after the first of the year. Dylan and I loved having them around, but we were just as glad to have our house to ourselves. Eli and Joey would still spend a lot of time using the pool, but we were all ok with that.
Dylan and Geno had started to work out a plan for Dylan to take over the restaurant. Geno was ready to retire and slowly worked his way out of the business. Scott helped Dylan buy the restaurant as he would soon be turning the brewery over to Dawson. Dylan hired a cook and was able to take a few nights off, so we could spend time together.
About a year after mom and John were married, John received an offer on his business from a competitor. He wasn’t planning on retiring yet, but the offer was too good to pass up, so he and mom decided to retire a little bit early. They surprised me when they decided to move to Waynesboro. John’s two daughters lived in Seatle and Denver, so they had nothing to keep them in Atlanta. They built a new house, and it was nice having them close. Dylan and I had been joining his family for Sunday dinner every week and Jackie included mom and John as soon as they moved to town. We were soon taking turns hosting.
Eli and Gene Adams were working together on a cooperative ad campaign for both breweries. Dawson had taken over running the Patefield Brewery and we decided to stop competing with each other and go against the big boys. Within months, it was working, we were both gaining market share in our area and were taking it from Budweiser and Miller, not each other. I was soon working on an expansion at the brewery, we would need a third line to keep up with our new sales. John became a consultant to help me, and Hal come up with a plan for the expansion.
I got home after work one day to find Dylan already there. I gave him a kiss as I walked in and said, “hey, what are you doing home already?”
He smiled, “Dawson just called, he and Ashley are at the hospital the baby is coming. Mom and dad are already there waiting, can we go join them?”
I could see how excited Dylan was at becoming an uncle, so I grinned, “of course we can.”
We were soon sitting in the waiting room, next to Scott and Jackie waiting to hear if it was a boy or a girl. About an hour later, Dawson walked in and said, “it’s a boy, would you all like to come meet him?”
Of course, Jackie was already hugging Dawson and running inside to meet her grandson. Dylan and I stood back as Scott and Jackie surrounded Ashley, admiring the baby.
Dawson said, “everyone, I would like to introduce you to Michael Scott Patefield.”
Dylan grabbed my hand as I felt a tear start to form in my eye, Scott had to push a tear away as well.
Dawson smiled at me and said, “it was dad’s idea, and Ash and I loved the name, so I hope you don’t mind.”
I wiped my eyes, “oh hell no I don’t mind, I love it, and I think my dad would love it too.”
Dawson said, “he’ll be the next generation to run the brewery…” He looked at Scott and then at Dylan then he continued, “that is if he wants to. Who knows, he might want to be a cook.”
We were all laughing and crying as we wrapped each other in a group hug.
After we oohed and aahed over the baby for a while, Dylan and I went home. Once we were inside, I wrapped Dylan in a hug and gave him a deep kiss.
I smiled, “I’m really happy for Dawson and Ash, I think they will make great parents.”
Dylan nodded, “yeah, they sure made a beautiful baby.”
I said, “how could they not, it’s those good Patefield genes.”
He gave me another kiss, “speaking of jeans, let’s get you out of yours.”
I laughed, “if you insist.”
We were soon naked on our bed with each other’s cocks in our mouths. God, Dylan really was beautiful, and his cock tasted so good. I cupped his ass in my hands as I gobbled his dick down my throat. My toes curled as Dylan was using his extensive oral skills on my manhood and fondling my nuts with his free hand. I worked a finger around to find his warm tight hole. Dylan moaned and spread his legs when I found it. That was the response I was hoping for, so I pushed in and then added a second finger. I felt a finger or two start to probe my pucker as well, causing my head to swim. The longer that Dylan and I had been together the more he learned how to push my buttons. I was soon putty in his hands, he started to roll me onto my back. I happily complied and pulled my legs into the air, leaving my hole fully exposed. Dylan let my cock fall from his mouth and grinned at me as he moved down between my legs. His grin only got wider as he began to flick his tongue across my hole. I tightened the grip I had on my ankles as my head began to writhe back and forth as Dylan’s tongue poked at my entrance. I moaned out loud as he gave me one of the best rim jobs I have ever experienced. I couldn’t take it any longer, I gasped, “give me that fucking cock already.”
He had that grin on his face again as he came up for a kiss. I sighed when I felt the head of his one-eyed monster rub across my waiting pucker. I tried to swallow his tongue as he slowly pushed in until he hit my sweet spot. I wrapped my legs around his waist as he started to pound me. I had my arms locked around his neck so his lips couldn’t leave mine. I wanted us connected together in every way possible. I could feel Dylan’s breath begin to quicken as he pushed in as far as he could. I felt the head of his cock swell just as he released his seed deep inside of me. He went limp as we continued to kiss, and I loosened my grip on him. He slowly pulled his cock from my ass, and he quickly moved to stand above me. Before I even knew what he was doing, Dylan was lowering himself on my still hard love pole. He gave me that mischievous grin again and was soon fully impaled on my manhood. The only thing I liked better than his cock in my ass, was my cock in his. He put his hands on my chest as I grabbed his hips, he was soon bouncing up and down and my toes were once again curling. He had me so worked up, I knew I wasn’t going to last too much longer. I was right, I gave him one final thrust and let my baby batter fly.
We fell into a heap of heaving flesh, sweat and cum, our lips again locked together. Once we caught or breath, I pulled Dylan tight against my chest.
He asked, “did you like that?”
I chuckled, “oh yeah, I think your brother should have a kid more often, that was incredible.”
He laughed, “maybe I was trying to get you pregnant.”
I shook my head, “well, sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t think that is…”
I thought a moment, “wait, are you saying you want to have a kid?”
Dylan shrugged, “I don’t know, do you think you might want to have the next generation to run your brewery?”
I chuckled, “I hadn’t really thought about it, do you want someone to take over the restaurant?”
He smiled, “I do like kids, and we probably couldn’t screw it up any more than our parents did.”
I laughed, “you’re probably right. I guess we should talk about it.”
He smiled, “maybe. Call me old fashion, but shouldn’t we talk about marriage first?”
I raised an eyebrow, “do you want to get married?”
Our eyes locked on each other, Dylan said, “I love you and I feel like that is the next step. That is if you want to get married.”
I gave him a big kiss, “I love you too, of course I would love to marry you.”
We cuddled together and drifted off to sleep. When we woke up the next morning, Dylan asked, “so, I just want to be sure, did we decide to get married last night?
I laughed, “yes, it was not a dream, I want to marry you.”
We took a shower and got dressed and started to call our family and friends to tell them the big news. Mom was thrilled, as was Jackie, I think Scott was going to need a minute to get used to the idea. Us being together was one thing, but a wedding wasn’t something he had considered up until this point. He soon came around and was happy for us, as were Dawson and Ashley.
A few weeks later, wedding plans were underway, I was sitting in my office at the brewery thinking about how much my life had changed over the last few years. I grabbed my coffee cup and walked to the breakroom for a refill. I took a drink as I looked out the window to see the bottles flowing down the new line being filled and packed. Grandpa and dad would be pleased to see the brewery running like this.
Eli stepped beside me and smiled, “so, are you glad you decided to give this a try?”
I nodded, “yes, I couldn’t be happier, thank you for all your help.”
He gave me a hug and said, “that’s what best friends do.”
I burst out laughing as I looked down at his feet. He asked, “what?”
I said, “nice boots, redneck.”
Remembering our bet, he rolled his eyes and reached into this pocket. He pulled out a hundred-dollar bill and slapped it into my hand and said, “thanks, city boy.”
The End
