Page 79 of Love Is Brewing

Ben laughed. “Nope. My sister is wonderful at taking care of herself. She’d kick my butt if she found out I gave you the talk.”

“My sisters would too, but I’ll still do it,” he said.

“If I didn’t know you and your character, you’d get it. But since I do, you get a pass,” Ben said. “We only care about Phoebe being happy. I have heard nothing to say otherwise.”

“She always seems happy to me,” he said.

“Which is funny because no one else she’d ever dated would have said that.”

He snorted. “I’m not like anyone else she’s dated. Or so she’s told me.”

“You’re not,” Ben said. “You’re more like my people and that could be why I’m chill about it. You haven’t met Matt yet.”

“Got it,” he said.

They walked down the hall to Mason’s office. Ben knocked and they entered to see Mason off the phone and a woman in there.

“Good timing,” Mason said. “This is my wife, Jessica. Jessica, Elias Carlisle.”

Jessica stood up. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard a lot of good things and I love your beer. I’ve had at least twenty different ones.”

“Really?” he asked.

“My wife has the same passion for brewing as Ben and I,” Mason said. “She does a lot of other functions in the brewery but keeps her hands in things too. Every time I bring somethingback from your brewery I have to make sure there is enough for her opinion.”

“That’s great,” he said, smiling. “Not any of the women in my family are beer drinkers.”

“Their loss,” Jessica said. “I’ll get out of your way. I’ve got a meeting with some of the staff now.”

“Our contracts are all set,” Mason said. “You’ve got your ingredients with you?”

“I do,” Elias said. “It’s in my truck that is out back. I walked around the front.”

“We’ll get it inside,” Ben said. “You saw the recipes of our test runs, correct?”

“I did,” he said.

They were going to produce his mash today with him overseeing it, then Ben and Mason would test recipes to get it exactly right before they started production.

“I’m excited about this,” Mason said. “Our first. I know it is yours too.”

“It is,” he said. “I’m not sure I’d do it with anyone else. I expect others might reach out after.”

It was one thing they hadn’t discussed. Elias had no right to tell Fierce they couldn’t collaborate with anyone else.

“The same,” Mason said. “We are committed to you for this first year. If things work the way we project they will, I don’t see a reason we can’t try it again.”

Neither one of them was going to promise anything. No one knew the outcome of this.

“I feel the same,” he said.

“I heard you had a new barley that you’re trying out,” Ben said.

He frowned, not sure how that was possible. No way Phoebe would say anything. That had only been a light conversation thetwo of them had. He didn’t even tell her how annoyed he was over everything.

“We are,” he said. No reason to lie. “We got the wrong shipment and someone didn’t catch it. I used it in two of my regular brews and two of my new ones. We dumped the regular one once we realized it. But we kept it in the new ones to see how it worked. So far everything seems fine, but we won’t know until the final product.”

“We’ve had shit like that happen here,” Ben said. “People just don’t pay enough attention to details like us. But one lousy thing can cause a batch to not taste right. Something could get contaminated or the wrong measurements. Drives me nuts.”

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