Chapter 32
32
When I get Kennedy Distillers, I am met by brother-sister duo, Paul and Kat, who run the place. They took it over from their parents a couple of years ago and have been working to reinvigorate the brand ever since. I am interested in learning more about their process and what it is they want from me.
“Jack, thank you for coming,” Paul says in greeting. “Welcome to Kennedy.”
“Paul, Kat, thank you for inviting me. I can’t wait to see how the sausage is made.”
“Let’s not waste any time, then,” Kat replies. “I know you have a tight schedule today since you play tonight.”
“We’ll try not to give you too many samples so you can put on a good show,” Paul jokes. “This tour will be fairly informal. If you have any questions, ask away. We love talking about the product and history.”
“Y’all have been around for over a hundred years, right? ”
“One hundred and thirty,” Kat answers. “The Kennedy family has a long legacy of making whiskey in Boston, but some of the original recipes date back to our time in Ireland. The building we are in right now has been used as our family’s distillery since 1933 when prohibition was lifted and we could make it on the up and up again.”
“And before then?”
“Here, there, everywhere they didn’t get caught and a few places they did.”
The siblings go on to tell me about the evolution of their brand, process, and how their product is made today.
The tour concludes in the rickhouse, where we sample their different offerings and they answer all my burning questions. Wanting to support the brand, I pull out my phone to post on social media, but it won’t go through.
“Service is terrible down here,” Kat notes. “Adding Wi-Fi is next on our list for modernizing the building. Renovations have taken a backseat while we’ve been focused on the brand.”
“This has all been fascinating, but I am not sure what it is I am here for. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve enjoyed the hell out of this tour and tasting, but I figure you uninvited me for a reason?”
Sharing a loaded glance with his sister, Paul takes the lead on answering me. “Our father ran the business alongside his father for twenty years and then twenty years on his own after that. As much as he created a great product and held true to the brand, marketing and innovation weren’t his forte.”
“Paul and I spent years in school learning the finer details of business and then more years under Dad’s tutelage,” Kat supplies. “One thing we both agree on is that while Kennedy’s is a favorite among the country club elite, we aren’t reaching many others. There are millions of whiskey drinkers who don’t even consider us when making a purchase and we want to change that. ”
“And that is where I come in?”
“That’s where you come in.” Pulling out her tablet, Kat shows me a mockup of an updated Kennedy’s design that features my name.
Paul explains the meaning. “We want to partner with public figures that have a genuine love of whiskey. We want more than simply a spokesperson. We want to work with you to create a signature recipe that encapsulates the essence of you and your favorite elements. You’d have a say on the ingredient ratio, barrel type, age, design, and more. Together we would create a truly unique drink to co-brand-slash-market it.”
Damn. That is a cool idea and an amazing opportunity. I have always had a passion for whiskey, but outside of drinking and collecting, I didn’t know how I could get involved in the industry. This would be a great foot in the door and give me the chance to be a part of a cool project.
As Kat and Paul name other celebrities they’ve invited to be a part of their collaboration line, I can’t help but wish Ellie was here. I'd love to hear her thoughts on all this. Since I wasn’t sure what they wanted, I didn’t bring her with me. Plus, she had a video call before . . . oh, shit.
Today was lunch with Ellie’s grandmother. That is what she had going on this afternoon. Checking my phone again, I see it is well past the time we needed to leave. I scramble to text her, but remember there is no reception down here. And based on what time it is, we have been down here longer than planned.
“Thank you both for thinking about me for this opportunity and I am going to consider it seriously. Send all the details to my management team and we’ll review it. Unfortunately, I forgot there was somewhere I needed to be and I am already running late.”
Paul and Kat appear slightly startled by my sudden need to leave, but they agree to send the details to G&K and show me the exit. Hoping in the SUV, my driver guns it back to the arena .
On the way, my phone is flooded with missed calls and texts from Ellie. They start off calm, asking when I’ll be back and turn more concerned the longer she goes unanswered. The last one informs me she is leaving without me. I can’t tell from the tone if she’s mad, sad, or homicidal. Whatever way she is feeling, I deserve it.
The messages I send her go unread. When we make it back to the arena, I sprint onto the bus, but she isn’t there. I search for her all over until Trent tells me she hasn’t made it back yet. I order him to come and find me as soon as she is here. I hate that I am having to rely on this fucker to get information on my girl, but with soundcheck in fifteen minutes, I don’t have any other options.
After the longest soundcheck of my entire career, I open my phone to a picture from an unknown number. Context clues tell me it is from Trent since it is an image of Ellie at the merch booth. I double check that she hasn’t responded to my texts but see nothing. She’s big mad.
Making my way to the booth, I don’t have long until I need to get with wardrobe. The opening band kicks off at 7 p.m. and the doors to the arena will open an hour before that. I can’t be out and about when that occurs.
As I slowly approach, her eyes shift in my direction before returning to the t-shirts she is aggressively folding. With volunteers milling around, I don’t want to make a scene and draw attention to myself. We are still keeping our relationship under wraps until we have the chance to tell our friends and family, especially Lainey.
“Baby,” I coax quietly when I am within earshot. The rise of her shoulders tells me that she heard me, but that she is ignoring me.
“Ellie, sweetheart. Look at me. I’m so sorry. I completely forgot about our plans today and my morning meeting ran long, but that is no excuse for missing lunch.”
Her angry glare lands on my face and the hurt beneath the surface is enough to gut me. I can tell from the sheen of her baby blues that she is holding back tears.
“The meeting that was so important you didn’t tell me about it and had your phone off during it?” she questions.
“I didn’t have my phone off. Reception was terrible there,” I defend.
“I thought something terrible happened to you!” she whisper-shouts, aware of the surrounding audience. “It wasn’t until Eliza told me you were with Kennedy and that security said you were okay that I even knew you weren’t on the side of a ditch somewhere.”
Something about the way he says ‘Kennedy’ sounds wrong to my ears, but I don’t have the luxury of time to analyze why. In the wings, my security team is motioning me to get back into the restricted area as the venue is about to flood with fans.
“Come to the dressing room. We can talk about this. Let me make it up to you.”
“You can’t ‘make this up to me’ in the dressing room, Jack. Besides, I have to work and, unlike you, my commitments mean something.”
“Ouch.” I rear back. I’ve never seen Ellie this angry, not with me or anyone else.
“I have a job to do. Why don’t you go do yours?”
Security is on me now, and I know my time is up. “We’ll talk after the show,” I grit before running back behind the barrier as I hear the first, “Oh my God, is that Jack Ryder?”
I don’t know how I’m going to get through this show with our problems unresolved, but it seems I don’t have a choice.
Despite my foul mood, the show goes off without a hitch. Declan sends me a few worried glances throughout the set, but I shrug him off. In addition to my nerves being raw due to the fight with Ellie, this is also the first show in recent memory I performed without a hat. I held out hope that Ellie would stop in and bring me one but by the time we went on stage, it was too late. It was surprisingly vulnerable performing with nothing on my head.
Gathering in the green room, the last thing I want to do is a meet and greet. I collapse onto the couch, pulling out my phone to exactly what I expected, no missed texts from Ellie. Fuck.
Hanging my head in my hands, I miss Eliza entering the room. “Boys, we need to talk.”
“Now is not a great time,” I mutter, not able to deal with her negativity right now.
“It can’t wait. I got some information about someone trying to manipulate you on the tour and I think it needs to be addressed ASAP.”
“Who is that?” Declan asks with a hard tone.
“Ellie.”
“No way!” I shoot up, pissed at the insinuation.
“I know you two have something going on, Jack, but I heard it with my own ears.”
Grayson wears a skeptical expression to rival mine, but Declan’s face is blank. “What did you hear exactly?”
“I was on your bus earlier trying to find something a brand sent you that needed to be featured on social. While I was there, I overheard Ellie on the phone with her father. They were discussing a plan to get him installed as the tour manager. ”
“Ellie hates her dad,” I say. “No way would you be helping him get a spot on the tour. Plus, she loves Tim.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Gray adds. “The tour is literally almost over.”
“I’m telling you that’s exactly what she said. He asked her to talk to you guys about replacing becoming the tour manager and she said she would. I don’t know why you’re surprised. It’s not as if she plans to stick around Nashville much longer if she’s offered that job in New York.”
“What job in New York? She’s not interviewing in New York.”
Eliza sends a pitying glance my way. “It sounds like she already did with a friend of her father’s. Maybe that’s why she agreed to help him. A job for a job.”
I sink back down onto the couch totally dismayed. I can’t believe Ellie would do that. I know not having a position lined up was making her anxious, but I didn’t think she’d cash in on her connection with us to get ahead.
“I don’t know what the two of you talk about, but I would be careful what you say around her moving forward. I’d hate to think she’s giving her dad some sort of insider information.”
“Thank you for letting us know, Eliza,” Declan says. “We’ll talk it over and figure out what to do. How long till we have to be at the meet and greet?”
“I need you there in twenty minutes.” Before heading out the door she adds, “I know it’s not my place but I think it would be better for all of you if she wasn’t here anymore. You shouldn’t have to watch your back on your own bus. Let me know if you want me to arrange a flight back home for her.”
“This is bullshit!” I yell throwing my bottle of water across the room as soon as the door closes.
“I don’t know what to think,” Grayson replies, sounding dejected.
Observing us both Declan takes a seat, clearly mulling something over. “As much as Eliza can be a snake, it’s in her best interest to look out for us. I don’t think she would lie about this. There has to be at least some truth to it. Jack, why don’t you go talk to Ellie and see what she has to say. I’m sure it’s probably a misunderstanding.”
“No way was our Ellie Bellie trying to pull one over on us. Fifteen years is way too long of a con,” Grayson agrees in her defense. I hope he’s right. I don’t know what I’ll do if she’s been lying to us—to me—this whole time.
My mind is reeling from Eliza‘s accusations. Nothing makes sense. Not Ellie helping her dad, not Ellie interviewing for a job in New York. I know we hadn’t explicitly talked about what would happen next, but I thought we were both under the assumption that we would be in the same city. Does Lainey know about this? She’s going to be crushed if it turns out to be true.
“I’m gonna go wait for her on the bus. Give us some time, yeah?”
“You got it,” Declan says. “We’ll cover for you at the meet and greet. Let us know what you find out .”
As I walk back to the bus to wait for Ellie, my mind replays everything that happened not just today but the last few weeks. Being able to call her mine has seemed like a dream. Now I’m worried it is turning into a nightmare. The idea that any part of this has been fake is soul crushing. I thought I’d gotten smarter about who to trust.
Thanks to our disagreement earlier, the situation is even more intense. We’re both going to enter this conversation with emotions high. I pace the length of the bus trying to get a grip on mine. Checking the time, I’m annoyed at how long Ellie is taking to get back. I know it’s a reaction to my misstep this morning, but it’s pissing me off. I’m about to search for her when I hear the door click open and she emerges up the stairs.