“Tell me about it.”
“Sully, people have been having babies since the beginning of time. You need to relax. Everything doesn’t need to be perfect before this kid comes. You can do plenty of stuff on your to-do list once the baby is here too.”
“Yeah, I know.” He stared off through the windows and into the brewery. Shaking his head, he grabbed a beer. “Let’s try this and see what we think.”
We each took a sip and sat with it. Putting my glass down, I looked at Sully. “Fucking perfect, man.”
Sully’s smile made the exhausted look he had moments ago fade away. “It is. Now, let’s get down to it. Name?”
I groaned, looking up to the ceiling. I was shit with names, no matter how often we did this.
“Come on, it isn’t that hard.” Sully laughed. “Think. We typically go with a song, album, band, or something to do with this place.” He waved his arm around the brewery, housed in the old barn. “Let’s think what we’ve got to work with. Pine flavor, West Coast, winter, Reds of Christmas event…”
“Good Lord, I have no idea.” I thought of the holiday. What did I listen to? Watch? “Something fromChristmas Vacation? Um… It’s All Part of the Experience? Her Eyelids Are Frozen?”
“That scene rocks. What about Tree Through the Forest?”
“For when they cut down the tree?”
“Well, and the taste of pine. Or we could do something about fire.” He mused.
“Fire?”
“Yeah, we talked about dedicating this one to Drew. Stepping in and partnering with us on the canning, it’s been huge. We could do something about Colorado, firefighting.” He looked out the windows that looked into the brewery, seemingly lost in thought.
An album from childhood came to mine immediately. My parents loved James Taylor. His greatest hits record was on constant rotation in our house, and one of my mom’s favorite songs would fit the bill. Looking to Sully, I asked, “What about Fire and Rain?”
He tilted his head for a moment, then nodded. “James Taylor?”
Taking another sip, he looked back to me and raised his glass. I tapped my glass to his.
Savoring his beer, he knocked on the table and looked back at me. “Fire and Rain. I think it will be a hit.”
“Me too.”
I finished off my beer and held my hand out for his glass. We had a small sink area set up for when we had tastings back here.
Moving over there, I washed the glasses and raised my voice to be heard over the water. “So you’re really okay with Drew coming here to work?”
Sully walked over to the beers we had on tap at the wall. Pulling a pint of Barn Owl Stout, he turned to me. “Of course I am. Want anything?”
I rinsed the glasses. “Evolution,” I replied as I moved the glasses to the drying area.
Sully brought the beer over to a high-top. I looked out on the brewery, Adam did a chin lift and I noted the music filling the brewery. I nodded back my thanks.
“‘Hurricane’?” Sully asked, listening to the music. “Damn, haven’t heard any Bob Dylan for some time.”
“Hell, none of us were even born when this came out,” I said. “Listened to it this weekend and told Adam about it. Working on his music education.”
“Hell of a song, or album for that matter,” he said. We sat, letting the music wash over as the first customers of the night began to fill some tables. Sully looked over at me. “Drew say any more about why he’s leaving the hotshots?”
“Nope,” I replied, thinking over the attempts I’d made to get him to open up before he headed out. “He took off Monday around the same time Steph did. I’m not thinking good things.” My gut clenched, wondering what could have caused the change in direction for him. “Said he was headed back to pack up, wrap up everything with his boss. Since it’s the off-season, they weren’t requiring notice, just that he’s able to talk to his replacement when they’re hired. Then he was going to come back here.”
Sully mulled that over. “Margot must be over the moon.”
“Understatement. Both my parents are relieved, I imagine, that he’s out of the line of fire, no pun intended. But I think they’re worried too.” I thought of the looks they exchanged after Drew shared his news. They knew—we all knew—there was more to it, but didn’t want to push.
I looked over to Sully to see him watching me.
