Bait (Wake, #1)(24)
“Actually, that sounds really good.” She smiled, prideful.
“So what’s new, baby boy? Where did you fly in from again?” She busied herself with making the sandwich and I waited patiently on the barstool opposite her.
“Phoenix. Marc has me traveling a lot more since we've been so busy. We're actually buying the warehouse across from our building now. It's crazy.”
“How exciting.”
“Yeah, it's pretty awesome. He said that we're hiring a few more people, too. Ten, I think, for now.” She nodded, listening.
Marc's dad started Bay Beer Brewing Co. about fifteen years earlier, and had been slowly gaining clout. I didn't know what would happen to it if—when—Marc decided to retire. I was sure he'd leave it to Aly, but she wouldn't know what to do with it. I'd been thinking of talking to him about possibly buying into it somehow. I just needed to do it the right way since I wasn't family, and wasn't planning on becoming family either. Marc and I were pretty close, though, and he knew how much I loved it.
“That's great news,” she said and took a plate from the cupboard and sliced the sandwich in half, then passed it across the bar.
“So, I've been doing a lot of the traveling over the past couple of weeks. I'm actually doing a pretty good job selling.”
“Of course you are. Look at you. That face. Your charisma. You know everything there is to know about that brewery. I'm excited for you.”
“I kind of want to own it. Or part of it. Someday. I don't know. I need to talk to him about it more.” I bit into the pastrami sandwich and closed my eyes. There's nothing like a sandwich made by your mom. She had a secret to making them taste better than I did and we used the same shit. Moms.
“You should do it. You've worked your way up this far.”
It was true. I'd worked in the brewery, the docks, and recently moved into sales. I loved hearing her say she thought I could manage it. It was reassuring, even though she was my mom and she thought I could do anything.
“We'll see,” I told her while chewing. My phone beeped and I pulled it out hoping it was Blake. She must have seen my face change from excited to something else.
“Not who you were hoping for?” she asked.
I said, “Not really.” It was Aly. Again. Yeah, I'd broken up with her a month earlier, but working for her father's company sort of kept us in close proximity. Especially that she was doing a lot more in the office. She knew where I was almost every f*cking hour of the day. Don't get me wrong. I cared about her, but f*ck. The spark—the bait—wasn’t there with us. Not like it was with Blake.
“Hey, I was thinking,” she said. “You know how you have all of that brewing stuff in the basement?” she asked tentatively as she cleaned up the mess from sandwich making. “Can you show me how to use it? I think I want to make my own.”
I laughed and almost choked on my last bite. “You want to make beer?”
“Ale, Casey. I want to make ale. Will the stuff you have downstairs work for that?” She looked hopeful, like she'd already thought it through.
“It will. What kind of ale, Momma? Are you trying to run me out of business?” I joked.
She sat beside me on the barstool to my left and slapped my arm with the wet rag she was had. “No, don't be stupid. I just want to see if I can make it. I have lots of things I can use in the garden and I thought it would be fun for you to show me how.” She nudged me. “You'd have to come over a little more than you do, and I know you're busy now, but I think if you showed me I could do it.”
She was the coolest mom in the world. Not that Carmen was awful or anything, but I wish my mom were Audrey and Morgan's mom, too. They were totally missing out.
“You're damn right you could. You have a brewing prodigy for a son.”
After we talked a little more, she prodded for more information on the person who I wanted to be calling me.
We went downstairs and I showed her how to set up the siphons, fermenters and carboys. She wrote everything down.
I had fun and she said it sounded easy enough. I told her to stop by Bay the next day and I'd make her up a little starter kit with a few other things she'd need. She agreed and told me she'd buy me lunch for my help and instruction.
To be honest, it made me proud to see her interested in doing it. That was the first brewing kit I'd used and it was how I made beer for all of my friends back in high school. I couldn't buy beer when I was underage, but I made a shit ton of money making it. My dad had left that set up when he left my mom. Cory and I found it in the storage room down there when we were about fourteen. It was amazing what a little research and juvenile mischief led to.
She'd immediately caught me on my first batch, but she'd just laughed and said that at least I was smart enough to get around the system. She'd stored my yields in a refrigerator that she locked so that I couldn't get into it whenever I wanted. I eventually found the key, but was quick to replace what I took. I think she drank more of it than we did, so she never got on our asses about it.
Being there with my mom that day took my mind off Blake for a while, but it all came back when I got to the apartment and heard Micah on the phone with her.
Micah said, “That's great, I knew you'd get the job. Congratulations!” Then she covered the receiver, which never fooled anyone, and said “Hi, Casey,” to me as she watched me walk in. There was no way for her to know that I'd sent Blake a text the day before, so I didn't let my true excitement show.