Eli and I stopped at the convenience store on our way to the brewery. I picked up enough coffee and doughnuts for everyone at the brewery. I wanted to talk to the crew this morning. Hal greeted us as we walked into the office.
He said, “good morning, I have started to make a list of needed repairs. I haven’t had time to start calling to get costs yet.”
I said, “that’s ok, we can help make some of those calls, if you get us a list of the vendors.”
He nodded, “yeah, no problem.”
I sat my laptop on one of the desks and said, “I think I would like to meet with all the guys first, if that’s ok.”
Hal said, “sure, they are just getting started on the vat sanitation right now. We can use the conference room down the hall.”
While Hal went out to get the guys, Eli and I went to the conference room and cleared the table. It was obvious that the room hadn’t been used in a while. I sat the boxes and papers that were on the table on the floor along the wall. Eli found a roll of paper towels in the storage closet and wiped the table down.
A few minutes later, Hal led the crew into the room.
I said, “good morning, guys, please have a seat. I brought coffee and doughnuts if you are hungry, please, help yourself.”
One by one they each grabbed a cup of coffee, and each selected a doughnut and sat around the table. Hal introduced them as they got settled in. Hal appeared to be in his mid-fifties, about the same age that my dad would be. His light hair was starting to go grey around the temples, I could tell that he was a good-looking man in his earlier years.
As I shook hands with Brad, a large black man, I felt the callouses of a man that works with his hands would have. I guessed he was in his mid-to-late forties. He had jet black hair and dark eyes, he was in good shape, again, as to be expected for man with a physically demanding job.
Rick was maybe in his late thirties, with strawberry blonde hair and steel-grey eyes. He had the start of what I would call a beer-belly.
Ed looked to be around the same age as Rick and had what appeared to be a rapidly receding hairline. He was a bit stockier than Ed, with a classic dad bod.
Joey walked in just as the others had taken their seat. He was about the same age as Eli and me. He had his shoulder length brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. His brown eyes sparkled when he smiled as he shook mine and Eli’s hands. I noticed Eli held onto his hand a little longer than was necessary. His button-down shirt was only buttoned about halfway, revealing a muscular chest with just a small patch of hair in the center.
I sat at the end of the table and Eli took the seat next to me.
I said, “first of all, I really want to thank all of you for your hard work in keeping the brewery running this last month or so. I know grandpa would be proud and grateful as well.”
Brad responded in his rich baritone voice, “Mr. Charles helped me out a bunch, and I know he helped the rest of these guys at some point too.”
The others all agreed with nods of their heads and added, he sure did.
I said, “Hal has told me a bit about himself and how grandpa helped him. If you would care to share, I would love to hear a bit about each of you.”
Brad nodded, “I’ve been here almost 20 years, your grandpa hired me a week after I was released from prison,” He hung his head slightly, then continued, “I guess I fell in with the wrong crowd, we got high one night and robbed a liquor store. Your grandpa said he would hire me if I promised not use drugs again, I swear, I haven’t even looked at any drugs since the day he hired me.”
I smiled, “I believe you Brad.”
He said, “Mr. Charles did right by me, and I have done my best to do right by him. He gave me a chance when no one else in town would.”
I said, “thank you Brad, I’m sure grandpa knew that and appreciated you.”
I looked to Ed next, he took a sip of his coffee and said, “well, I guess me and Rick kind of have the same story. We both started here about 15 years ago.”
I nodded, “ok.”
Rick said, “yeah, Ed is my brother-in-law, we married sisters. I met Carla at the trade school I attended, she was a nursing student, and I was doing the autobody program.”
Ed picked up the story, “yeah, I was in the same program as Rick. Carla introduced me to her sister Cindy one weekend when she came to visit, and we started to date. We were both married about a year after we finished school.”
Rick nodded, “we both got jobs at different shops, but we had always talked about opening our own shop together, we wanted to specialize in restoring classic cars.
Ed said, “a while later, Carla and Cindy’s older sister, Candy, brought Dennis home. He seemed like a decent guy and was a mechanic. We all decided to join up and open our dream shop, Dennis would handle the mechanic work, Rick and I would do the body work.”
Rick jumped, “yeah, we even got our father-in-law to pitch in some money to get us started. Things went great for the first two years. That was until Dennis and Candy were on their second vacation of the year and me and Ed started getting phone calls from a bunch of our vendors asking why we quit paying our bills.”
Ed’s face turned red, “that fucking Dennis had been pocketing our money for over six months. By the time we figured out what happened, Dennis and Candy had drained our bank account and skipped down.”
Rick shook his head, “we had to close the shop and we ain’t seen those assholes since, your grandpa gave us both a job and even loaned us some money so we could feed our kids. He gave us as much time as we needed to pay him back too. It took me two years and Ed about three, but we paid back every penny.”
Ed nodded, “so we kind of owe him too.”
I fought back the lump in my throat, it was clear that they all respected grandpa and were grateful for the help he had given them.
I turned to Joey, he took a deep breath, “I’ve only been here about 7 or 8 years I guess.”
I said, “ok, so you must have started right out of high school.”
He nodded, “yep, the summer after I graduated, I was getting ready to go to college. I um… was with a friend of mine and my old man came home from work early. He sort of… walked in us. He got pissed at me and kicked me out of the house.”
I asked, “what were you doing, that it pissed him off enough to kick you out of the house?”
Joey hung his head as his face turned red. I said, “it’s ok, you don’t have to tell me, it’s really none of my business.”
He shook his head, “no, it’ ok. Me and my friend, Blake, were having sex.”
I said, “ok, I understand.”
He took another deep breath, “your grandpa caught me sleeping in one of his old beer trailers in the back lot. When I told him I just got kicked out my house, he gave me a job and let me stay at his house until I got my own place.”
I smiled, maybe I should have spent more time with grandpa. I knew he was a decent man, but I was learning he was much better than I ever knew.
I felt a tear run down my cheek, I wiped it away and said, “thank you, all of you for sharing such personal stories with me. I wasn’t as close to grandpa as I should have been but hearing you all makes me wish I had spent more time with him. And, since you have all been so open with me, I will share a little bit about me with you. I think you all know about my dad, well, except for you Joey, you started at the brewery after he died. I currently live in California and work as a computer programmer, and like you Joey, I am gay and I would like to think that my grandpa helped you because about the time you lived in his house, was the same time as I had come out to my family. Maybe that was his way of showing support for me, so I am glad that he did what he did for you.”
Joey smiled, “I’m sure that had something to do with it.”
Eli said, “Caleb and I are good friends and roommates, and I work in marketing.”
I interrupted, “just to be clear, Eli is also gay, and no we are not a couple, we are just best friends.”
Chuckles filled the room as Eli rolled his eyes.
I said, “I still haven’t decided for sure if I am going to keep the brewery going, but I have talked a bit with Hal, and over the next couple of days, we are going to see what it will take to get things back in order around here. Once I have an idea of how much money will be needed, then I will make my final decision. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I will tell you that I will do my best to do right by you guys, especially after hearing all of your stories. Whether that means selling to another brewery or investing in getting this one back running at full speed.”
Ed said, “just promise you won’t sell to that asshole Patefield.” Again, this comment met with groans of agreement from all the others.
I nodded, “I understand, I think grandpa would prefer that that didn’t happen as well.”
I spent the next hour and a half listening to what they thought we needed to do to get the brewery back in shape. It was clear they all cared, and all knew their jobs very well, if I was going to do this, at least I had a good crew.
Hal gave them all instructions on what he wanted done for the rest of the day. He told them to have the line ready to go for when the next shipment of bottles arrived in the morning.
Eli, Hal and I went back out to the front office and went over the list of questions I had compiled the night before. He brought out the drawings of the machinery and we made a list of all the parts that we need and listed them in order of priority. We had four lists, need now, need soon, need later and nice to have at some point. He gave us a list of vendors and we divided the list between the three of us and we began to make phone calls. Holy cow, it takes a lot of money to run a brewery.
I took all the costs and started to put them all together in a spreadsheet. Hal was working on how many more employees we would need and Eli was researching distributors and of course, thinking about marketing.
After we ate lunch, Hal went out to check on the crew and help them for a bit. I was still working on my spreadsheet.
Eli said, “so we have a good logo, we just may need to tweak it a bit.”
I asked, “don’t you think it’s a bit outdated?”
He shook his head, “no, not at all. Look at all the big boys, they have all had the same logos for a hundred years. All the Malloy drinkers already recognize the diamond shape in the background, and the rectangle box on top, with Malloy script in the center. Bud has that distinct red and white can and that bow tie behind their name. Miller and Coors each have their own distinct script. Everyone in the world knows those brands, they’re just like the golden arches for McDonalds or the Nike swoosh. I think we just need to add “Established in 1975” or “Since 1975” somewhere around here. Just to let everyone know we have been around for 50 years.”
I shrugged, “yeah, I guess that does make sense. But don’t you think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves. We need to figure out how much money we need, then we need to find that money.”
He waved his hand at me, “I’m the marketing guy, I don’t worry about such things.”
I chuckled, “and you think I am some business genius?”
Eli giggled, “you’ll figure it out.”
I shook my head as I went back to my spreadsheet. Eli started to make phone calls to distributors in the area so we would know what we needed to do if we happened to find the money to get things going.
After he ended his last call, he asked, “so what do you think about Joey?”
I looked up from my laptop, “he seems like a nice guy and sounds like he is capable of doing his job.”
He sighed, “that’s not what I mean.”
I asked, “then what do you mean?”
Eli sat back in his chair with a big smile on his face, “I think he’s hot.”
I rolled my eyes, “oh God.”
He chuckled, “what?”
I said, “what if we can’t get the money we need? Are you going to quit your job and move out here? I don’t think there is a big call for marketing guys in this town.”
Eli shrugged, “maybe he would want to move back to California with me.”
I laughed, “did he even notice you while we were in our meeting?”
He grinned, “oh he noticed me. As soon as you told them we were gay, he couldn’t take his eyes off me.”
I shook my head, “are you sure?”
Eli said, “of course, I know he was checking me out, because I was staring at him the whole time.”
I laughed, “maybe he was staring at you because you were staring at him.”
He sighed, “a guy can dream, can’t he?”
We went back to work as Hal came back into the office. He continued to educate me how the brewery equipment worked and what we would need to get things running smoothly. Eli and I stayed about an hour after the rest of the crew went home, going over what we had learned today. We stopped at the grocery store and picked up what we would need to make ourselves dinner. As we pulled into the driveway of grandpa’s house, I paused as I put the car into park.
Eli asked, “now what are you thinking about?”
I said, “we didn’t go in the garage last night.”
He nodded, “yeah, so?”
I shrugged, “grandpa’s truck is probably still in there.”
We got out of the car and entered the garage, just as I thought, grandpa’s truck was there and so was grandma’s car.
Eli asked, “ok, you have a truck and car, what are you going to do, sell them?”
I said, “I don’t know, maybe the car.”
He chuckled, “but you want to keep the truck?”
I nodded, “well. we are in Georgia, everyone else around here drives trucks, so…”
Eli shook his head, “oh God, you’re going to want to buy a pair of cowboy boots next.”
While Eli was cooking our dinner, I went into grandpa’s office and found the titles to the vehicles. Grandma’s Cadilac was a 2010, and the pickup was a 2012. I always remember them trading their vehicles regularly, I guess after grandma died, grandpa never bothered trading cars. 2012 was about the time things went downhill at the brewery, so he must have decided not to trade his truck in either.
We spent the rest of the evening talking about plans for the brewery and once again, brainstorming how we could raise the money that we would need. Shit, I guess I have decided to keep the brewery and try to make a go of it.
I closed my laptop and said, “I’m going to bed, I have an early meeting with Tom Henderson in the morning. The bottles are supposed to arrive at about 10, and I want to be there to help start the line up and see how the bottling process works.”
Eli asked, “what time are leaving?”
I said, “I’m meeting Tom at 7, you don’t have to go along if you don’t want to.”
He nodded, “yeah, you probably don’t need me there. You can just pick me up after your meeting.”
I thought for a moment and said, “why don’t you just take the rental car whenever you’re ready to go in, I’ll take grandpa’s truck.”
He chuckled, “we’ve only been here a couple of days, and he’s already turned into a redneck.”
I smiled, “good night, Eli.”
He closed his laptop, “good night, Caleb Bob.”
I got up early the next morning and climbed into my truck to meet Tom Henderson. He had invited Jeff Thomas, our accountant, to join us, so he could give me a clear financial picture of the business. Jeff and Tom were arriving just as I pulled into the parking lot.
Tom said, “I see you found Charles’s truck.”
I nodded, “yeah, I figured since I own it, I might as well use it.”
Tom poured us a cup of coffee as he introduced Jeff and me.
Tom asked, “so have you made a decision yet Caleb?”
I sighed, “not quite, I still have a lot of questions.”
He nodded, “I figured you would, go ahead, ask away.”
I said, “first of all, I want to make sure we have all the proper permits and licenses to be selling our beer.”
Tom, said, “yes, you still have all the proper permits in place to self-sell. There would be some additional paperwork if you are able to find a distributor to sell for you.”
I said, “ok, good to know. Now I just have to come up with plan to get the money that we need to get the brewery back in shape.”
Tom said, “that’s why I invited Jeff, maybe he can give you a better picture of what you have.”
Jeff nodded and began to hand me a pile of papers. Page by page he went over everything. Cash on hand, inventory and equipment values, assets and liabilities. Luckily, grandpa didn’t like to borrow money, so we had no loans, just current expenses. Utilities, insurance and payroll being the main ones.
Jeff said, “as you can see, Hal and the guys have been doing a good job of operating on a shoestring budget. The business account has a little over 6000 dollars after we pay for today’s bottle shipment. You have enough to meet this week’s payroll and this month’s utilities. Hal just sent over about 1500 from last week’s sales, so you probably have this month covered, as long as you maintain your current sales.”
I said, “and as long as we don’t have a major breakdown.”
Jeff chuckled, “that has been the case for the last year, Caleb.”
I asked, “for the last year? You mean grandpa was just running from month to month too?”
Jeff nodded, “yep, here is your grandpa’s personal financial statements. For the last couple of years, he has been funding any major breakdowns from his retirement account. About every six to eight weeks, he would transfer 5-10 thousand dollars to the business. He has about $25,000 left.”
He showed me how much utilities and other expenses for the house were, so now I had a little clearer picture of what I had to work with.
I sighed, “ok Jeff, thanks for all the information. So, in your professional opinion, what should I do with the brewery?”
He shrugged, “my professional, analytical brain says to cut your losses, sell everything and go back to California. My heart says, beg, borrow and steal to find the money to keep the brewery going, anything to keep that prick Scott Patefield from getting his hands on it.”
I chuckled, “that seems to be the consensus of everyone else too.”
Tom said, “so, if you want, I have some papers for you to sign. They will give you access to all your grandfather’s bank accounts and give you the authority to sell any assets that you see fit. You just need to present these documents to the bank, and they will add you as the owner of all the accounts.”
Jeff said, “I am currently a signer on the checking accounts, I will be happy to continue keeping the books until you are ready to take them over. I will stay on as your accountant in whatever capacity you chose.”
I sighed, “ok Tom, show me where to sign, and Jeff, I would like to continue just as you have been, it may be a while before I’m ready to take over some of those things.”
We wrapped up our meeting and I drove straight to the bank to sign documents there. I also met with Russ Swanson, the bank’s senior loan officer. He expressed a similar opinion of Scott Patefield as everyone else and was glad that I was considering keeping the brewery going.
He said, “your grandpa had a small line of credit with us. If you fill out this paper, giving me a little insight to your personal financial position, I will see if I can extend that line with you.”
We talked for a few more minutes, and I said, “I will get this back to you before I head back to California on Friday.”
I made one more stop on my way to the brewery, the car dealership that sold my grandpa his Cadilac.
He said, “yes, I was so sorry to hear that Charles had passed away. He had been a loyal customer for many years. He traded his car or truck every two years. I can make you an offer on the Cadilac right now.”
I asked, “don’t you want to look at it first?”
He smiled, “you gave me the milage, Charles always brought his vehicles here for servicing, and I checked our records. The Cadilac was serviced right before your grandma died, I already know what kind of condition it is in.”
He made me a fair offer and we made arranges for him to pick the car up the next day. I had a little more money and decided to deposit it in the business account.
I arrived at the brewery just as the truck with our bottles showed up. Eli and I pitched in and helped unload the truck and get things ready to start filling the new bottles. Hal explained how the beer was batched and how long each batch was aged. He walked me through the entire process as we began filling. I learned how the beer was tested to maintain a consistent flavor and quality. I realized how much we all take for granted how food and beverages are prepared before we consume them. There are many more steps than I ever imagined. I had spent the previous day looking at drawings of all the equipment, but today I was able to see all that equipment in operation. Thankfully everything ran fairly smoothly, and we met our production target for the day. The guys did their clean up tasks as Eli and I went back to the office to check our emails, getting some more prices from the vendors we had talked to earlier. Everyone said goodbye as they headed home. We answered a couple of emails and decided to head back to the house too.
We walked out to the parking lot to see Joey with his head under the hood of his truck.
I asked, “having problems Joey?”
He nodded, “yeah, this dang starter has been giving me fits for the last week, I usually just give it a few taps and it will turn over. I guess I pushed it too far, it ain’t working today. My buddy and I were going to change it out this weekend, he has an old truck that we are parting out.”
I said, “I can give you a ride home, if you want. I just have to drop some papers off at Tom Henderson’s office first.”
Eli said, “you go drop those papers off, I can give him a ride.”
Joey smiled, “thanks y’all, I sure appreciate it.”
I chuckled as I got in my truck and watched Joey and Eli pull away in the rental car. I’m going to let Eli tell you what happened next, since, well, he was there and knows what happened better than I do.
Eli
I was thrilled when Joey agreed to let me give him a ride home. I had wanted to spend some time alone with him since he walked into our meeting this morning.
As we pulled out of the parking lot, Joey said, “I sure appreciate y’all trying to figure out how to keep the brewery running, I means a lot to me and all the other guys.”
I said, “Caleb is a good guy, and he really was moved by all you have done to keep things going since his grandpa died.”
Joey nodded, “like we said, his grandpa helped all of us out a bunch.”
Joey gave me directions to his place as we talked a little bit more. When he said we were just a few blocks away, I saw a convenience store.
I said, “how about I grab a six-pack, we can talk some more at your place.”
He smiled, “sure, I could use a beer.”
I ran in and grabbed a six-pack of Malloy beer, and we soon pulled up in front of Joey’s trailer.
He sighed, “it ain’t much, but it’s the best I can do right now.”
I smiled, “any place can be home.”
He smiled as he led me inside. It was a typical trailer, with a small kitchen area next to an old recliner and a small love seat. A narrow hall led to a small bathroom and a single bedroom.
I handed Joey a beer as we sat next to each other on the love seat. I was glad there was a pile of clothes on the recliner.
He held up his bottle so we could clink them together, he said, “cheers.”
After we each took a drink I said, “I am really sorry that your dad kicked you out of your house.”
He shrugged, “it’s ok, he was a bastard anyway.” He took another big drink of his beer.
I said, “I guess I was lucky, when I told my parents that I was gay, they were very supportive.”
Joey sighed, “that would have been nice, but I’m doing ok, I guess.”
We talked as we finished that beer and each had a second. We both finished that one and I asked, “should we finish off the six-pack?”
He shrugged, “I was thinking I could use a shower, maybe, if you want… I mean it might be…”
I sat my empty bottle down, “I would love to take a shower with you, if that is what you are hinting at.”
He grinned, “yeah, I guess I was.”
We started stripping right there in the living room, I threw my clothes on the love seat and Joey added his to the pile on the recliner. He gave me a quick kiss and then took my hand to lead me to the bathroom. My eyes immediately went to his ass, the baggy jeans he had been wearing were covering the most magnificent butt I have ever seen. My eyes went up and down with each cheek as they bounced with every step that Joey took. Once we were in the bathroom, he pulled out the rubber band that had been holding his hair in a ponytail, and he shook his head slightly to shake it loose. He turned the water on and turned back to me while it warmed up. His hair now framed his face, his eyes somehow sparkled even more, and I suddenly thought the whisp of whiskers that adorned his chin looked a little bit sexy. He leaned toward me and our lips met. I felt the electricity run through me as our tongues twisted together. I reached around and cupped his ass, God it felt better than it looked. Joey broke our kiss and said, “we should get our shower taken, I never know how long the hot water will last. We stepped in and I started to wash his chest and stomach, admiring every inch. Joey turned around and I began to wash his back. I paused to look at the tattoo on his left shoulder. It was a handprint with Blake K. 5-26-2001 to 8-27-2023, RIP under the handprint. He felt me run my fingers over the ink. He said, “Blake was my buddy, he was killed in a bar fight in Atlanta, the funeral home took his handprint for me, he will have his hand on my shoulder, guiding me, for eternity.” I said, “I’m sorry.” I moved my hand to his right shoulder and ran my finger over the eagle tattoo. He rolled his shoulder, and the eagle looked like it was flying, he said, “also in honor of Blake, he is free to fly free now.” I kissed his shoulder, and he turned back toward me as our lips met again. I broke our kiss to get a look at the cock that I had been stroking. It was thicker than mine and even thicker than Calebs. I felt myself smile when I noticed Joey was uncircumcised, it was my first time with an uncut dick. Just like Caleb had described, I found myself playing with the foreskin. I fell to my knees and wasted no time in getting a good taste of Joey’s manhood. I fondled his nut as I bobbed up and down, and Joey was moaning sounds of approval. Just as I was really getting busy with my new favorite cock, the water started to run cold. Joey shut it off and we quickly dried off and moved to the bedroom. Joey pushed me onto the bed on my back. He crawled between my legs and sucked my aching dick into his warm, wet mouth, causing my toes to curl. I pushed his hair away from his face so that I could watch him as he sucked me. Those big brown eyes sparkled again as he smiled up at me as his tongue did its magic. Joey released my cock as he got a big grin on his face. He grabbed my ankles and pushed my legs up to my chest, exposing the most intimate spot on my body. I sighed as Joey once again put his talented tongue to use, this time on my hole. I made sounds that I had never heard myself make before as his tongue penetrated me. Once my hole was good and wet, Joey aimed his love stick at my pucker. He kissed me as he slowly pushed in until his cum-filled nuts were resting on my ass. Within seconds, the sounds of slapping skin filled the thin walls of the trailer. Our moans and groans were soon drowning out those sounds. We broke our kiss and stared into each other’s eyes, we both knew we were getting close. Joey pushed in one last time and we both sent our seed flying at the same time. We fell into a heap, trying to catch our breath.
Joey smiled as he rolled onto his side, he said, “I have always wanted a city boy, you were definitely worth the wait.”
I laughed, “well, I have always wanted a redneck, and you weren’t half bad yourself.”
We chuckled as we snuggled together, we dozed off for about an hour. When I woke up, I jumped out of bed and said, “oh shit.”
Joey asked, “what’s the matter, I was hoping you would spend the night.”
I said, “yeah, I’d love to spend the night, but I better text Caleb to let him know I won’t be home.”
To be Continued…
