Strange Brew by Magnolia822.pdf

Strange Brew by Magnolia822

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6536802/1/

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." –Benjamin Franklin

Chapter One: Hangover

"What the fuck do you mean the hops've gone off, Emmett?"

It's seven o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday—way too early for this shit. And

it's kind of an emergency since we have a giant batch of sweet wort ready for the

boil, and if we don't have hops, we won't have beer. It's already mid-April, and

we're in the middle of making our summer Three Frog IPA, one of Cullen Creek's

most popular brews. We still need to boil, ferment, condition, and mature the

mash, and we only have two months. This should've been taken care of weeks

ago.

"Yeah, man. Fuck." Emmett's scratching his head like a dumbass. I love my

brother, but he's really fucked up this one.

"I thought you just bought that shit from Petersburg... good, fresh hops, you told

me."

"That's what Rick said, I'm telling you."

"And we had it in the freezer?"

"Yes. Dammit, I had no reason to think it'd gone bad. I didn't even know hops

could do that."

I glare at him, and he takes a step backwards. "They can."

"Well, shit. I'll get him on the phone, Edward."

"Yeah, do that," I snap, grabbing a handful of what should be small, green

leaves—they're spotted and brown. Yep, it's moldy. No way that shit is going in

my beer.

The brewery floor is pretty dirty, and I make a mental note to have Seth clean

things up later today. I didn't expect everything to fall apart in the two days I'd

been gone.

It's been busy, especially with the expansion and the new tasting room. We've

got new contracts coming in, more sellers wanting to distribute our beer, and

that's meant a lot of work. Not that I mind; there's nowhere I'd rather be. It's

stressful as hell, though, especially at this point in my life.

At least the new tanks are installed and running. Now we have six, which means

we've almost doubled our production in the past two months. Still, we're nowhere

ready for our May first opening. I want everything running smoothly on the first

day the facility is open to the public.

What I really need is someone to work the taps in the tasting room, but we

haven't had any luck yet. Burlington is a college town, and all the kids who've

come in have been either unqualified or underage. I'd really like to hire somebody

who's worked in the business. Of course personality is important too, but the

person we hire for the tasting room should be, first and foremost, someone who

knows and appreciates beer.

I toss the hops back into the sack and dust my hands off on my pants, still

grumbling in disgust as I exit the storeroom. Emmett better be getting medieval

on Rick Chafferty's ass when I get back to the front office. When I walk in, I catch

the tail end of the conversation—way too civil.

"Okay... okay. No later than tomorrow. Alright, man. Thanks." He hangs up the

phone and turns to me, looking sheepish. Even though Emmett has a good four

inches on my 6'2," he's still my little brother.

"It's all good. He's giving us a full refund and a new supply. They'll even deliver—

tomorrow by two at the latest."

I do a quick calculation in my head and it seems alright... we've still got time

before we need to boil.

"Okay, but shit, Emmett. This can't happen again. We've gotta stay on top of

things now, you know? If one thing goes wrong, everything does. You know this—

"I know, I know. I should've checked before. I just never..."

"Yeah, okay." I'm too tired to be mad at him, and I slump down in my chair,

rifling through the piles of bills and invoices that've built up over the past couple

days

"You know what we need?" he asks. "Coffee. Like, a shit-ton of coffee. I'll tell

Jazz to bring some over when he comes."

"Sounds good." Jasper is the bartender at our pub in town and also a longtime

friend. He's also a fantastic handyman and has been helping out with the

renovations over the past couple months. His contracting experience has saved

us thousands of dollars, especially since his connections have gotten us discounts

on building materials. I owe him big. Emmett pulls out his cell and dials Jasper as

I sit and consider the mess in front of me... the mess of my life.

"And how 'bout some food? You hungry?"

I shake my head and wave him off, but then I'm distracted by a note for payroll

stuck on the cork board near my desk.

"Who the hell is Isabella Swan?" I ask as he flips his phone shut.

"Oh... I forgot to tell you. She's the new hire for the taproom. Came in on Friday

just after you left. She's a cute girl... perfect for the job."

I'm surprised and more than a little irritated he's hired someone without my

approval, especially since he seems to have done so for all the wrong reasons.

We need more than just a pretty face to flirt with customers.

"Oh yeah? What kind of experience does she have?"

"She was a waitress down at Newton's..." His voice trails off.

"A waitress? A fucking waitress, Em?" I knew it. He's gone and fucked this up,

and now I'm going to have to deal with this bullshit.

"She's not just a waitress. She goes to Saint Mike's. She's just finishing up her

junior year."

St. Michaels is the Catholic school in town. So not only is she a waitress and a

college student, but she's probably a stuck-up, religious prude as well. I groan

and shake my head.

"Are you kidding me? You've gotta be kidding me." I can't have a girl like that

work the taps; I need someone that customers can relate to, someone laid back

with a knowledge of beer... someone who can sell the product and help people

have a good time. This girl will probably end up preaching about the dangers of

overindulgence while she's working, which will go over real well.

"Dude, relax. I swear, you're gonna have a heart attack before you're thirty if you

keep getting stressed out over shit like this." Emmett crosses his arms and stares

me down. "We needed to hire someone to work the tasting room, and now we

have."

My jaw clenches, and I glare at the paperwork on my desk. He seems

determined, which worries me even more.

He huffs out an exasperated breath. "I know exactly what you're thinking. You're

wrong. She's a cool chick. Hot too. Not at all what you're thinking a Catholic

chick'll be like."

Even though I can tell he's annoyed with me for worrying about his piss-poor

judgment, he's smirking. Maybe she really won't be so bad, but still.

"Sure, but does she know anything about beer?"

"She drinks it," he jokes, and, not for the first time today, I want to punch him.

"Shit. And you told her she was hired?" This just confirms my original fear. She's

gonna need extensive training and we only have two weeks. Damn, Emmett.

"Yep. She's coming in today to fill out her paperwork and get shown around."

"And who the hell has the time to do that? I have a vat of wort stuck in the tun,

and we're bottling the Hefeweizen today. I have all this damn paperwork to take

care of..."

"See? This is what I mean. Look at you." Emmett gestures towards me and sighs

in frustration. "Ever since Victoria left you've been an uptight prick. You need to

relax. Things are getting taken care of. The bottler is working fine; you don't

need to supervise that shit. Seth, Garrett, and Ben'll be in to help with packing.

And I'm here. Jasper is too. Just chill."

"I don't have time to teach this chick about beer," I protest, but he's right... I'm

sounding more and more like an asshole every damn day. Victoria's gone but she

still has my balls in her hand.

"Believe me," he assures with a smirk, "when you see her, you'll make the time."

"Emmett..."

"Dude, I know you're going through a rough patch right now with the divorce. But

it wouldn't hurt you to have a little fun."

"God, is that why you hired this girl? For me to fuck? You're a shady pimp."

He shakes his head, but his grin gives him away. He's a pimp and a shitty liar.

"Well, when's the last time you got laid?"

Victoria left four months ago, but even before then, we hadn't been on the best of

terms, and our sex life had faded to pretty much zero. Before we were married,

there was never a lack of willing females, but now... I wasn't exactly the best

company. And there's no way I'd ever get involved with someone who worked for

me. There's definite truth in the saying "you shouldn't shit where you eat."

My silence is apparently funny. Emmett's laughing his ass off.

"Exactly. Listen, just give her a chance. She's a nice girl—seriously. And if she

doesn't do well, you can fire her."

"I'd rather hire someone qualified in the first place," I grumble.

"She'll catch on fast."

"That remains to be seen."

Emmett punches me in the shoulder before he heads out to the floor, and I sit

down at my desk again. My head is pounding. Since I had to drive home from

Montpelier early this morning, I hadn't had more than four hours of sleep.

Victoria, of course, insisted on a nine a.m. meeting on Monday, and so I'd spent

the past twenty-four hours meeting with lawyers, seeing my bitchy soon-to-be-ex

wife, and getting drunk off my ass in a shitty bar in the capital of Vermont.

It was the first time I'd seen her since she left back in January, and it pissed me

off how good she looked; I'm sure I looked like hell. And there she was, playing

the victim, as always. I could see right through her passive-aggressive bullshit,

but I wondered if the judge would. That was Jenks' main concern. Our family

lawyer didn't exactly specialize in divorce proceedings, but his retainer was

reasonable. And right now, with all my money invested in the expansion, I

couldn't afford much else.

"Coffee?" Jasper's voice interrupts my thoughts, which is probably a good thing. I

take the cup gratefully, removing the lid and blowing before taking a tentative

sip. The dark roast is just what I need. Perfect.

"Thanks, man."

"So, how was the she-devil?"

"How the hell do you think?"

"That bad, huh?"

"Worse."

Jasper sighs and takes a seat in the chair opposite me, leaning back and kicking

his feet up on Emmett's desk. If it were mine, I'd tell him to get his dirty-ass

boots off, but since it's Emmett's and he's annoying me, I don't.

"So, you probably don't want to talk about it."

"Nope." I take another swig of my coffee, then replace the lid.

"I hear that. Okay then—what's on the agenda today?"

"Apparently, Emmett hired a new girl for the taproom... Isabella something-or-

other."

"Swan."

"What?"

"Her name is Bella Swan. She used to work down at Newton's before they closed.

You don't remember?" Jasper picks up a pencil and starts drumming it against his

cup in an irritating rhythm. "Cute girl, brown hair. Used to work nights."

I wrack my brain, trying to conjure an image of her face, but I can't. I shake my

head. But then something else occurs to me.

"You knew about this shit?"

"Yeah, I was here when he hired her."

"Traitor."

"Aww, come on. Bella's a cool girl, and she's friends with Alice."

"And that's a recommendation?" Even though she and Jasper have been together

forever, Alice Brandon continues to annoy the living crap out of me. She's okay at

times, but when she started to talk about decorating the taproom in mauves and

neutral tones, I almost lost it.

"Dude, shut up."

"Kidding."

"Sure."

"I am. But seriously, how does Alice know her?" Like Jasper and me, Alice is 29.

This girl Bella can't be more than 21 or 22 if she's a junior in college.

"Alice was her T.A, if you can believe that."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"They weren't dating, idiot," he says with a laugh. "Alice T.A.'d for Bella's Art

History seminar last year, and they kinda became friends. And then, once she

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