When Eli and I got back to California, we started to get things packed so we would be ready for our move to Georgia. As soon as we got to work on Monday, we both gave our two weeks’ notice to our bosses. My boss was disappointed to lose me, which made me feel good. He also told me that I would always have a job if the brewery didn’t work out. Eli’s boss told him the same thing, although both were a little surprised with our new career paths.
We pulled out our lease to see how hard it would be to get out of. Eli came home from work the next day with a solution. Cloe, one of his coworkers, was looking for a place to move in with her new boyfriend. She was living with another girl, and her boyfriend was living with his parents. Both had just graduated from college in the last year and had just started their jobs. Our landlord allowed them to take over our lease and since this was their first place, they needed furniture. We worked out a deal to sell them our furniture, since we had everything, we needed in grandpa’s house. This was going to make our move so much easier. I sold my car, since I now had grandpa’s truck, Eli would drive us to our new home in his car. We boxed up the few things that didn’t fit in Eli’s car and shipped them. They would be waiting for us when we arrived back in Waynesboro.
We wrapped up our final projects at work over the last two weeks. We changed into shorts and flip flops after our last day of work to start our journey east. We drove until after midnight on Friday, grabbed a hotel room and were back on the road by 5 am. We repeated the drill on Saturday and were pulling up to mom’s condo on Sunday night. We were going to spend the night there and finish our drive to Waynesboro in the morning, mom and John would be following us.
We again got an early start and were pulling up grandpa’s, or I should say, my house by mid-morning. We helped mom and John carry their bags into the house, I told them they could use grandma’s and grandpa’s bedroom, Eli and I were already settled in our rooms.
We decided we would unload Eli’s car later, we were both anxious to get to the brewery. I opened the garage and found my truck, Joey had even washed it and left me with a full tank of gas. After we had mom and John settled in, we left to go to the brewery. I stopped at Subway to pick up sandwiches for the guys, I wanted us to talk about what they had done over the two weeks when Eli and I were gone, I thought we could do that over lunch.
We walked into the office as Hal was walking in from the production area. I stopped and looked around the office in surprise. Hal smiled as he greeted me with a handshake, and I introduced him to mom and John.
He said, “I hope you don’t mind, but we kind of cleaned the place up a bit. I figured since we were going to be a fully running business again, we should look a bit more professional.”
I smiled, “yeah, of course. It looks great.”
Hal had moved the three desks that we had used when we were here last. The one that he was using was now near the front door, making it look more like a reception area. He had moved the two desks that Eli and I had used behind that, he said that when the brewery was running, the women that handled the accounts payable and receivables used those desks.
He led me down the hall and turned the light on in grandpa’s old office. He said, “again, I hope you don’t mind, but Dianne came in and helped me go through your grandpa’s office. We filed all the old invoices and sorted through all the trade magazines he had cluttering up the desk. They are all in boxes in the storage room, if you want them. I didn’t throw anything out in case you want to sort through it.” I sat my laptop bag on my desk as I followed Hal back out into the hall.
He turned on the light in the next office and said, “this was Scott’s office, I figured Eli could set up here. I had Brad hang the big white board on that wall, I got the feeling that Eli would have a bunch of ideas that he might want to write out for all to see.”
I chuckled as Eli said, “wow Hal, this is perfect, thank you.” He set his bag on his new desk.
Hal smiled, “I took the office next to the breakroom, it has a window that looks out over the production line. I thought I could keep an eye on things from there better.”
I nodded, “of course, we actually resemble a professional office, thank you for all your hard work.”
He said, “Rick, Ed, and Joey all helped too. We even talked our wives into coming to help with all the cleanup. The conference room has been cleaned too, Ed and Rick have samples of our light beer and new summer ale set up, ready for us to taste, whenever you are ready.”
Hal and I had talked everyday while I was away. We decided on what parts and upgrades to do first and he had started to get the supplies that we needed and had Brad already working on them. I also had told him to see about getting a second load of bottles each week, so we could build a bit of inventory. We would need some extra stock on hand so we could bottle our new beers and still meet existing orders. We also talked about hiring a few more people so we could ramp up production.
Hal continued, “we have a load of bottles showing up this afternoon, in addition to our regular Wednesday load. Brad will have the line ready to go so we can start filling them tomorrow. I have about 10 applications lying on your desk, there is a good one for another maintenance guy that Brad really likes. I think that should be our first hire.”
I nodded, “sure, I’ll take a look at those right away. Do we have any that would be a good fit for the bottling line?”
Hal said, “yeah, we have about five, and there are two more that could help in the warehouse.”
I sighed as I looked at Eli, who had a big silly grin on his face. I was feeling pretty good about my decision to keep the brewery and that I had a good core group of employees.
I said, “I brought lunch for everyone, would you like to go get everybody and we can have a talk while we eat.”
Hal smiled, “sure thing, I think Joey should be back by now.”
I could see Eli smile when Hal mentioned Joey. I asked, “where was he?”
Hal said, “oh, I forgot the best news. Joey went to see his cousin in Portal on Saturday. It’s about 40 miles south of here. He took a few cases of Malloy with him, and he and his cousin went to a couple of the bars there. He gave the bars a free case and sat and drank with the regulars, by the time he left they each ordered 6 cases, he went to deliver them this morning.”
Eli was suddenly beaming with pride as Hal told us the story.
I said, “so we picked up a couple of new customers?”
Hal nodded, “it looks like it. We had only gone out about 30 miles around Waynesboro because that would get rid of all of our product. Now that we have added the extra load of bottles each week, and the upgrades we are doing, we have a little more beer to sell. Joey said he would hit all the bars within 40 miles and work out to 50 miles as long as we could meet orders.”
I sighed, “wow, you guys just keep surprising me, that is great.”
Hal smiled, “I’ll go get the guys.”
Eli said, “and you didn’t want to keep your brewery, now aren’t you glad you did.”
I nodded, “yeah, we do have a great group, I hope I don’t let them down.”
John said, “I’m very impressed too Caleb, I wish I had employees as dedicated as yours seem to be.”
Brad, Ed, Rick and Hal all came to the breakroom and welcomed me back. After I thanked them for all of their hard work, I introduced them to mom and John. I asked, “is Joey coming?”
Brad said, “yeah, he said he wanted to finish loading the rest of the beer in the van for his in-town deliveries, he should be here in a minute.”
Eli jumped up, “I’ll go get him.”
They returned a few minutes later, I’m not sure, but I think their lips were a bit red. I wonder if it had anything to do with the stubble on their faces. Oh, who am I kidding, I’m sure they had been kissing.
I congratulated Joey on getting us our new customers and he told me about his plan to keep expanding his circle around Waynesboro in search of even more customers.
Joey said, “if we could get into South Carolina, I know I could get some bars in Graniteville and Jackson, they are both about 40 miles from here, and I have some buddies that live there. They always take a case of Malloy home with them when they visit.”
Eli asked, “why can’t we sell in South Carolina?”
Hal said, “we don’t have permits to sell across the state line, we need to get a distributor for that.”
Eli nodded, “I’m working on that, I’ll move that up on my priority list.”
Brad updated me on the upgrades he was working on, production was already increasing. Rick and Ed were anxious for me to try their new beers, we would do that after we finished our lunch.
Once we were done eating, we gave mom and John a tour of the plant, Hal was showing us all the work Brad had done. I noticed that they had done some serious cleaning in the plant and warehouse as well. Things were really taking shape.
We then all went to the conference room to sample our new brews. Rick poured a sample into a glass for each of us to taste. There were three samples of the light, and three of the summer ale. We tried the light samples first. After we each had tried all three samples, Rick asked, “well, what do you think?”
I said, “they are all actually pretty good, but I really like the second one the best.”
Eli said, “yep, definitely the second one.”
John added, “that’s my choice too.”
Rick and Ed had a big smile on their faces, Hal said, “that’s the one we all liked too.”
Rick excitedly poured the summer blend samples into glasses and pushed them in front of us. Again, we tried all three.
I said, “I could drink all three, but I have to say, I like the third one best.”
Rick beamed, he hit Ed on the shoulder and said, “I told the extra citrus was the right move.”
Ed nodded, “and I told you I agreed.”
Eli and John agreed, and mom even added, “I’m not really a beer drinker, but I could drink a bottle of that one on a hot summer day. It’s very crisp and refreshing.”
Hal said, “it looks like we have our new brews.” He looked at Eli and Joey and said, “now it’s up to you two sales and marketing geniuses to sell it.”
They both grinned and unison said, “we got it.”
I sighed, “God, they are starting to think alike.”
Eli elbowed Joey, “come on redneck, I already have sample labels mocked up, tell me what you think.”
Joey slapped Eli’s ass and said, “right behind you, city boy.”
Hal looked at John, and said, “so, you said you had some suggestions on our line layout, you care to go talk about it with me and Brad?”
John said, “absolutely, lead the way.”
Rick and Ed gathered their samples and, Ed said, “we better get that line running again, glad you’re back Caleb, and it was nice to meet you Mrs. Malloy.”
Mom said, “please call me Kristi, and it was my pleasure to meet you all too.”
Mom turned to me and smiled, she said, “so far, I’m very impressed, Caleb. They seem like a great bunch of guys, and I think they respect you already.”
I smiled, “yep, and I respect them too.”
She looked out the door and whispered, “is there something going on with Eli and Joey?”
I laughed, “they really aren’t trying to hide it mom, yes, they have something going on.”
She asked, “but what about you and Eli?”
I sighed, “I keep telling you mom, Eli and I are just friends, we tried the dating thing for a while. It just didn’t work out.”
She shrugged, “that’s too bad, I always liked Eli and thought you guys were good together.”
I said, “we are good together, but just as friends. I’m very happy for Eli and Joey.”
She sighed, “I just want you to be happy, Caleb.”
I gave her a hug, “I am happy, mom. I’ll find someone someday.”
I went to my office and remembered my grandpa and dad as I took my chair behind the big desk. Mom saw me deep in thought and said, “you look natural behind that desk, your dad and grandpa would be proud to see you sitting there.”
I smiled, “thanks mom.”
She said, “your welcome sweetheart, I think I’ll go back to the house and make us all a nice dinner. John can ride home with you, right?”
I nodded, “of course. I really appreciate the help that you both are giving us.”
She smiled, “I’ll see you back at the house.”
I spent the rest of the afternoon looking over the applications that Hal left for me. I called and set up interviews with what I thought were the best applicants. In between the calls, I joined Hal, Brad and John in the conference room. They had drawings of the plant laid out across the big table and were discussing ways to lay the lines out more efficiently. I stopped at Eli’s office and looked at the label designs he had worked up. He updated me on his progress with finding a distributor, we would still need a lot more sales for one to show any real interest. Things were moving quickly, and I was becoming more excited by the minute. We wrapped up our day and John, Eli and I went home to a great home cooked meal.
The next day, I dropped Eli and John off at the brewery to continue their work from the day before. Tom Henderson had finished all the paperwork to officially make me the owner of The Mallory Brewery and I needed to sign it. Once that was done, I told Tom about wanting to have Hal, Brad, Ed, Rick, Joey and Eli as shareholders.
He said, “wow, that is very generous of you Caleb. I guess you inherited that generosity from your grandfather. I worked with him a long time, and this is something that would have done.”
I nodded, “those guys have worked hard to keep things going since grandpa died, they deserve it.”
We talked for a while longer and Tom suggested that Hal, Brad, Ed, Rick and Joey each have 1% of the company and Eli would get 10% since he actually had money invested. I would retain 85%, well technically mom, John and I would have 85%.
I shook his hand as he told me he would get the partnership paperwork drawn up, so everything was legal.
I stopped at the bank to see Russ Swanson next. I filled him in on the upgrades we were making and about our new products.
He said, “you have certainly made a lot of progress, I’m happy to tell you that we were able to get your line of credit approved. You have $25,000 that you can use as you see fit. As your sales grow, we may be able to increase that. It sounds like you’re working on your sales, so keep me posted.”
I deposited the checks from Mom and John and made a quick stop to update Jeff Thomas on that money as well as my line of credit.
I conducted interviews over the rest of the week. The first was with Jim Hanson, the man we were considering for our open maintenance position. Hal and Brad sat in on the interview. Jim had just moved to town from Atlanta, his wife had recently been hired as the superintendent of Waynesboro’s school. He had worked in the Coca-Cola bottling plant, so he had bottling experience, and we basically hired him on the spot, he would be starting on Monday.
Hal and I talked to four more people about the jobs we were adding on the filling line. We selected the two we wanted to hire, they would both be starting over the next two weeks. With the upgrades we have already completed, our production was beginning to ramp up, so we may need to add the other two applicants soon as well.
By the end of the week, we had also added a guy to work in the warehouse to help free Joey up so he could concentrate on adding more new customers. Eli had finalized his designs for our new beer labels as well as the redesign on our flagship brand. I was really excited to get changed over to our clear bottles, in the pictures Eli had shown us, the new labels really popped.
Friday came and we went out for dinner with mom and John, they were headed home first thing Saturday morning. Joey joined us for dinner, and we toasted the successful first week we had.
After we saw John and mom off on Saturday, Eli said, “so, how about we start to clean that pool today? I really do want to go skinny dipping.”
I shook my head and chuckled, “you have a one-track mind, but I guess it would be nice to be able to use the pool.”
He grinned, “I’ll call Joey, I’m sure he will come over to help.”
Twenty minutes later, all three of us were busy in the pool. I’m not sure how long it had been since grandpa had any water in the pool, but it certainly was time for a good cleaning.
As the sun warmed the day, we were soon all shirtless as we worked. I noticed the tattoo on the back of Joey’s shoulders.
I asked, “was Blake a good friend?”
Joey nodded, “yeah, he was the guy my old man caught me with when he kicked me out.”
I said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
He said, “no, it’s ok.”
Eli put his arm around Joey and said, “he was killed in a bar fight in Atlanta.”
I saw the sadness in Joey’s eyes, I said, “I’m sorry Joey.”
He smiled, “thanks, but it wasn’t really a bar fight.”
Eli said, “but you told me…”
Joey sighed, “yeah, I know, but there was a bit more to it than what I told you.”
Eli asked, “what do you mean?”
Joey took another deep breath, “me and Blake went to Atlanta to see some friends. We all decided to go to a club, we were drinking and dancing and having a good time. Just before we were getting ready to leave, I had to go to the bathroom, the others said they would wait for me by the bar. When I came out of the bathroom, I couldn’t find them. I looked all around the club until I heard a commotion outside the front door. By the time I got out front, the cops were already there and all three of my friends were laying on the sidewalk, they had the shit beat of them.”
Eli held him tighter as he said, “God Joey, I’m so sorry.”
Joey wiped the tears from his eyes, “I guess these guys saw us dancing, when Blake and my other friends were waiting for me, they made some comments about fags and dragged them outside. There were six of them, Blake died on the way to the hospital, Adam and Tyler made it but still have scars on their faces.”
We were all crying now, I said, “Joey, that is terrible, I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
He forced a smile and ran his hand across his nose, “thanks y’all, but it’s over now and I have to move on. I have Blake’s hand on my shoulder to help guide me when I need it.”
We tried our best to offer more words of support, but there isn’t much to say to comfort anyone who has had that experience.
Joey took a breath and said, “alright, enough of this sad shit, it’s time to get back to work city boys.”
Eli gave him a hug and said, “anything you say, redneck.”
We were soon back at work, it took two more trips to the hardware store for scrub brushes and cleaners. By late afternoon, we had made good progress. We weren’t quite ready to fill the pool, but we paused to have a beer and admire our hard work.
Joey said, “I’m free tomorrow if you want help finishing up.”
Eli smiled, “of course, the sooner we get this cleaned the sooner we can…”
I sighed, “yes we know, you want to go skinny dipping.”
After another hour, Eli said, “what do you say we call it a day.”
Joey said, “sounds good to me.” He turned to me, “hey Caleb, me and city boy here are going to go out for a bite to eat and hit Sidelines, a sports bar downtown, you want to join us?”
I smiled, “no, you guys go ahead, I’m going to finish this spot, I just about have it whipped.”
Eli said, “ok, we’re going to take a quick shower here, if you change your mind, you know you’re welcome to join us. Oh, and I probably won’t be home tonight”
Joey grinned as he winked at Eli.
I said, “thanks, you guys go have a good time.”
Twenty minutes later, they checked with me again, just to make sure I hadn’t changed my mind. I assured them that I was fine, I went back to work as I heard them drive away. About ten minutes later, I heard them pulling back into the driveway. I assumed they had forgotten something as I waited for them to walk into the house. Just as I was climbing out of the pool to go check on them, I heard the gate of the fence that surrounded the pool open.
I was surprised to see Dylan Patefield walk in, holding a six-pack of beer.
I said, “hey Dylan, what’s up?”
He looked at the ground and said, “I heard you were back in town to get the brewery running, so I thought I would stop by and welcome you home and wish you luck.”
I said, “thanks.”
He said, “I brought some beer, but I see you are kind of busy, I can just leave this and come back another time.”
I said, “no, I was just about ready to call it a day, please come on it, have a seat.”
He walked onto the patio, and he handed me a beer, he said, “I know it’s probably not your brand, but…”
I took the bottle of Patefield beer and said, “I’ll try one of yours, if you try one of mine.”
He smiled, “it’s a deal.”
We both took a seat at the umbrella covered table and as we opened our beers, Dylan asked, “so how are things going at your brewery?”
I paused to consider my response carefully, I said, “things are going well so far.” I was still trying to figure out why Dylan was here, did his dad send him to gather information?
He said, “sorry, I’m sure you don’t want to talk about that with me, being the enemy and all.”
I nodded, “it’s ok, maybe we can talk about something else. Why don’t you tell me what you have been up to since I saw you last. I think it’s been over ten years.”
He nodded as he took another drink of his beer, “yeah, that sounds about right. I guess after high school I went to college for two years and then the old man made me move back home to work at his brewery.”
I wanted to ask about his role in his dad’s company, but decided we weren’t going to talk about that, so I said, “that makes sense, are you married, or do you have any kids?”
He chuckled, “no, no wife and no kids. What about you?”
I shook my head, “the same, none of the above.” I was still not sure how much I should share so I left it at that.
I said, “after I graduated from Georgia Tech, I moved to California to work as a software developer. I guess grandpa dying has changed my plans.”
We talked a bit more about my old job as we finished our first beer.
I drank the last drop of my Patefield beer and said, “not bad, per our deal, it’s time for one of my beers. Come on into the house and I’ll get us one.”
He smiled as he followed me inside. I realized I wasn’t wearing my shirt as we walked into the air-conditioned house. I grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and handed one to Dylan. I said, “I’m sorry, I’m all dirty and sweaty. You try that beer, and I’ll go take a quick shower, make yourself comfortable in the living room.”
He opened his beer and sat on the couch as I went to my bedroom. I undressed and jumped into the shower, quickly soaping up. Just as I was starting to rinse off, I heard Dylan say, “Caleb?”
I said “yeah, what’s up?”
He said, “I was wondering, and if it’s not ok, just say so, and I’ll leave, but could I join you?”
I pulled back the curtain just enough to look out, I saw Dylan standing there completely naked. I saw the fear in his eyes and his chest was heaving as he waited for my reply. I scanned his body, God he was gorgeous, his hairless chest was well defined, not overly muscular but toned. His six-pack abs contracting with every breath he took, a sexy treasure trail led from his outie belly button to the blonde bush that surrounded a six inch fully erect cock, two plump nuts clung tight under that cock. His legs, like the rest of his body, weren’t overly muscular, but he didn’t have chicken legs either.
I moved back to his frightened eyes and said, “um sure, you can join me if you want.”
I saw a look of relief washing over his face as he climbed in the shower. He moved close to me and started to run his hands through the hair on my chest. He stepped under the water with me and his wet curls began to straighten and fall over his eyes. I reached up to push the hair away, staring into those eyes, God those eyes were beautiful. I put my hands on the sides of his face as I leaned forward until our lips touched. We pushed our tongues into each other’s mouth as Dylan wrapped his arms around me. Our hard cocks were now engaged in a sword fight for the ages. We broke our kiss as we looked into each other’s eyes again. Dylan swallowed hard and sank to his knees in front of me. He looked up at me one more time as he started to stroke my aching manhood. He stuck his tongue out and licked the sensitive head of my love pole. He opened his mouth, and I was soon balls deep in his warm, wet mouth. Within seconds, he had me close to cuming, I quickly pulled Dylan to his feet for another kiss. I said, “why don’t we take this to my bed?” He nodded as I turned the water off and found a couple of towels. We got onto the bed and soon had each other’s cocks in our mouths. Again, it didn’t take long before we were both close to climax. Dylan let my cock fall from his mouth and panted, “I want you to fuck me.” I managed to nod my agreement as he pushed me on my back, and he straddled me. I put my hands on his hips as he lowered himself onto my pole. He took a deep breath once he was fully impaled, and he began to bounce up and down. He closed his eyes as I watched his perfect cock bouncing, leaving precum all over my stomach. Dylan began to breath hard as he opened his eyes, he said, “oh God Caleb, you feel so good inside me.” He reached down and gave his cock a single stroke and erupted, sending his seed flying, one squirt even landed on my chin. His ass muscles contracting on my cock, pushed me over the edge and I started to flood his guts with my semen. When my spasms stopped, Dylan leaned forward for another kiss. He licked his cum from my chin and fed me his sweet nectar, it was delicious. Once we caught our breath, we took another quick shower, and I invited him to spend the night. As I drifted off to sleep, I began to worry about if this was a trick by Scott. Dylan wrapped his arms around me, I sighed, God, I hope this wasn’t a trick.
I woke up the next morning with Dylan snuggling tightly against me. This really did feel right, I certainly could get used to waking up like this. I felt Dylan stir and he turned his head toward me.
He smiled, “good morning.”
I said, “morning, did you sleep well.”
He nodded, “yes, I did.”
I asked, “would like some coffee?”
Dylan smiled, “sure, that sounds good.”
I crawled out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and t-shirt, Dylan watching me as I walked to the kitchen. When I had the coffee made, I poured two cups, and I heard the door from the garage to the kitchen open and Eli and Joey walked in.
Joey said, “hey boss, we thought we’d get an early start on the pool, so we could finish it today.”
Eli looked at the two cups of coffee and said, “are you expecting company?”
Before I could answer, Dylan walked into the kitchen, fully dressed, he said, “I’ll have to pass on the coffee, I should get…”
He stopped when he saw Eli and Joey standing there. Joey said, “hey Dylan, what’s up?”
Dylan’s face turned red as he replied, “hey Joey.”
Dylan said, “I got to go Caleb, thanks for the beer, it was really good. I can see why dad wants the recipe.” He quickly walked out the front door.
Eli asked, “ok, what the hell just happened?”
I said, “relax, he came over after you guys left last night. We had a couple of beers, and he spent the night. It’s no big deal.”
Eli said, “you better be careful Caleb, you heard him say his dad wants our beer. Are you sure this isn’t some ruse to get you to sell him the recipe?”
I took a drink of my coffee and said, “I’ll be careful, and I have already thought about all that. I’m still not sure what any of this means.”
To be Continued…
