2. Family Dynamics
FAMILY DYNAMICS
E lias stomped the snow off his boots at the back entrance to his brewery. He had a large box in his hand that he was thankful to even get.
The place was massive and it was his.
A dream for years.
Thanks to his older brother, West, that dream became a reality. One that was making not only him extremely wealthy, but his brother who fronted the money for the business the same.
“What are you doing here?” he asked his brewmaster. “Did you even go home last night?”
“Nope,” Kyle said. “I knew last night there were going to be people that wouldn’t come in because of the weather. Those that are here are going to stay until the next crew comes in.”
“Thanks,” he said. “I was hoping I could convince some to do it, which is why I came in bearing food.”
Not as warm as he would have liked at this point since he’d been stopped at the light where a cute frustrated woman tapped his bumper.
Maybe he shouldn’t have flirted with her, but he’d been in a dry spell lately and his bumper was the only thing in his life that had been tapped.
“Smells good,” Kyle said. “I get dibs first.”
He handed the box over and then reached in to grab one of the egg sandwiches at random.
“I’m not sure what everything is,” he said. “I just ordered forty sandwiches and told them to put them in there randomly.”
“They must love seeing your truck coming,” Kyle said.
“In a town this size, they know me. There are only a few fast-food places around.”
Not that he ate at places like that often, but he was known for picking up large quantities of food for his staff who seemed to enjoy the free meals.
He’d rather cater food for them and did if he could plan it better.
But on a last minute snowy day, he wasn’t going to get breakfast any other way than what he’d just done.
“They appreciate the business just as much,” Kyle said. He opened one sandwich and took a bite.
“Got anything to report?” Elias asked.
“Nope,” Kyle said. “Things are still on track for Fierce to come this week, right? Just Mason and Ben?”
“As far as I know it’s only them,” he said. “I’ve got a call scheduled later today to verify. I want to make sure the place is as pristine as it can be.”
This was going to be huge for his business.
His first collaboration. Go big or go home.
No way he was going home.
That left only one other thing—going big!
The biggest brewery in North Carolina once he expanded.
But for now, he was going big with the first beer collaboration with Fierce Brewery.
“The mess from this storm isn’t helping any, but it will all be gone by this afternoon.”
“I’ve got maintenance working overtime,” he said. “You focus on those three brews to be ready. The rest is good to go.”
It was more about showing Mason Fierce and Ben Kelly his operation. He ran just as tight a ship as they did, although his business operated differently.
He was direct to customers. Fierce also did direct to customers, but the bulk of their business was retail stores and restaurants.
This beer would go out for distribution only. His customers wouldn’t be happy, but they’d be getting their chance months later with another one only sold here. Those were details he and Mason and their attorneys would work out.
That meant his brother Braylon and Mason’s brother Cade.
He’d been told that was the big appeal for Fierce to do their first ever collaboration with Fifth Kid Brewing too.
The family dynamics of it.
Hey, whatever worked.
“I’m on it,” Kyle said. “Just like I’ll be on sandwich number two in a minute.”
Elias smirked and went to his office. He’d be on the floor soon enough, but being the owner meant more responsibilities than just brewing his beer or working on new products.
By the time he was turning on his laptop and finished with his sandwich, he noticed it was close to eight and gave his brother a call.
His brother Braylon to be exact, since he had five brothers total. Two sisters too. He’d be talking to both women today also.
He closed his door and pressed the button to dial on his desk phone.
He enjoyed being hands-free on the phone and not always having earbuds in either.
“Elias,” Braylon said. “I thought you would have called before now.”
“I planned on being here earlier, but we got some snow last night.”
“That has never stopped you before,” Braylon said. “Not like it does any of us.”
He snorted. “You don’t drive in this. You get a taxi or West’s driver brings you in. Otherwise you work from home. I don’t have that luxury here.”
“You can work from home and you know it,” Braylon said. “Don’t give me that sob story.”
He laughed. “No sob story here. I’ve got a good crew, but those that worked last night are going to cover until the next shift can get in. You know very few drive in this down here. You’d think the world was ending from a few inches of snow.”
“The way people drive in the South when it snows, it’s better that they don’t come out. It’s one of those things I don’t miss and will never forget.”
He laughed. The last place they’d lived as a family before his father died was in Fayetteville, North Carolina. They’d seen snow a few times in their life. Nothing major but enough to keep people in the house as if aliens were landing.
And those that ventured out drove white knuckling the steering wheels while praying to Jesus and tapping the gas and then the brake and alternating back and forth the whole time.
“You’re right. Had someone slide into me this morning.”
“Shit,” Braylon said. “Everyone okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Didn’t even know it happened. If it wasn’t for the screaming that I heard and the car going sideways behind me when I looked into my mirror, I would have thought my truck shifted when I took my foot off the brake.”
“You and that big ass truck,” Braylon said.
“I need it for work,” he said. Which was a lie. He didn’t really. But it was cool to drive and know he’d never get stuck anywhere.
“If you heard screaming, did someone get hurt?” Braylon asked.
“Nope. Just a woman swearing up a storm loud enough that I heard her in her car and mine.”
It still made him laugh, but he didn’t want to embarrass Phoebe by saying that he’d heard her.
“How much damage to her car?” Braylon asked. “We know it’d take a plow truck to hit you to cause damage.”
“Just a scratch. She’d been braking and slid into me more than anything. Nice Mercedes too.”
Braylon snorted. “She’ll know to brake earlier now.”
“Most likely. Anyway, I’ll be talking to Mason later this afternoon and firming up a time for them to visit this week.”
“Do you want me to fly there for the day?” Braylon asked.
“Nope,” he said. “You don’t know shit about beer other than what you like to drink. It’s early yet for the attorneys.”
“I’ll be there when you need me,” Braylon said.
“You always are,” he said.
“Speaking of being there,” Braylon said. “Is Talia really going to work for you?”
Their baby sister couldn’t figure out exactly what she wanted to do with her life right now.
Elias wasn’t even sure what Talia’s degree was in, and at twenty-four, Talia was working at temp positions to figure things out.
He wouldn’t ride her ass like everyone else in the family.
He knew what it was like to stand out on his own and do it his way.
If she was working and she was happy and he didn’t have to knock any guys’ heads together to stay away from his baby sister, then he was thrilled.
He’d done that enough when she was a teen since he was the closest one around until his younger brothers did the same.
Everyone left the area but him, so it seemed he was the one that dealt with his mother and sister the most.
He was good with it. Had the patience more than the rest of his siblings did in his eyes.
“She’s in between assignments,” he said. “She didn’t like the one they wanted to send her to and she doesn’t want to sit around. I give her credit for that. She can work in the offices here. We’ll figure it out.”
“She’s driving there daily?” Braylon asked. “It’s an hour away.”
“She isn’t a baby,” he said. “She can handle the drive if she wants, but she can stay with me too. I’m sure she’s going to a few days or at least during the week. Depends. I’ve got plenty of space.”
“You’re going to let Talia live with you?” Braylon asked, sounding more shocked than his mother did when he’d mentioned that option.
“She’s not living with me,” he said. “She knows she can stay if she doesn’t want to drive. We are playing it by ear. Who knows, it might not even last that long. She could get another assignment somewhere more enticing. I’m happy she is working and you all should be too.”
He might have felt as if he had to give his youngest sibling a hard time like the rest of them for years, but she was an adult and trying and everyone should cut her some slack.
He knew what it was like to be watched over and guided to the point he wanted to tell them all to back off.
That he could do it on his own and that was exactly what he was proving now.
“I know,” Braylon said. “It’s hard not to see her as the little brat she was.”
Braylon was laughing. “She was bratty there for a while, but she’s not that way anymore. She’ll figure it out like the rest of us have.”
“Like you’re killing it now,” Braylon said. “I don’t spend too much time looking at financial reports, but I heard I’ve got a nice check coming from Fifth Kid Brewing soon.”
He laughed. He knew Braylon, Laken, and Foster had shares in his company. West did that to the three of them since they didn’t own one company and did work for everything West had.
The shares were small, a few percent apiece with a bonus check given at the end of the year.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “And once this collaboration goes through, it’s going to be even more. Then we’ll talk about expanding.”
“What?” Braylon asked. “That’s news to me.”
“Just something I’m playing with. Lots of time yet. It’s a conversation for West first, but I don’t need him for this.”
Which he was happy to say.
He had more than enough money and wealth to do it on his own.
“I hear you gloating over that statement,” Braylon said.
“I was trying to,” he said, laughing.
“You keep killing it so that my next bonus check is bigger,” Braylon said. “I’ve got a meeting in a few. You know where I am if you need me.”
“Yep,” he said. “Bye.”
Elias hung up and went to make another cup of coffee at the small single cup machine in his office.
He might drink more than he should and didn’t always like to go into the break room where he’d get stuck talking to staff.
He shouldn’t think of it as being stuck, but when he wanted to work, he would rather focus on that rather than the guy that always stopped to give people the attention they deserved.
Everyone should be treated with respect and it was how he lived his life.
But sometimes it backfired on him too.