AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s not like I’ve got anything else going on,” he said.
“Don’t let our mother hear you say that,” Mason said. “She’ll tell you all sorts of things you can do on your time off.”
He turned and made eye contact with Kendra, she put her head down, and he laughed and addressed Ella. “It’s never a problem. Kendra told me she showed you all the costs that I outlined? She’s been a great help getting me everything I’ve needed.”
“I’d be lost without Kendra,” Ella said with her hand on her belly. “I’ll feel so much more comfortable being out on maternity leave this time knowing that she is holding down the fort for most things.”
“You never walk away completely,” Jessica said.
“Neither did you with the twins. You were in the brewery with Mason talking brews all the time.”
“I needed a break from the boys. You are only having one. And Madison is an angel compared to my two hooligans.”
He knew that Mason and Jessica’s twins were wild. More like active. So was Brody’s son, Evan. Aiden’s son, Anthony, followed along, but he could sit quietly at times too. He learned there weren’t a lot of quiet times in the Fierce household though. Not when everyone got together.
“I’ll need a break too,” Ella said. “I can do a few things from home, but I know Kendra is on top of everything else.”
He glanced at Kendra again and saw her looking at Ella and smiling. “I appreciate that. I love working here. You’re not that hard of a boss no matter what Cade says about you.”
“Oh,” he said, laughing. “Guess she’s fitting right in.”
“It’s taken time for her to be that way,” Mason said. “But you have to speak up when you work here or hurricane Jolene bares down on you.”
“Your mother is a very lovely woman,” Kendra said.
Ivan watched as his cousins all started to laugh. “Let’s get to work, as I’m sure you are all busy. I’ve laid out cost projections based on my research of bourbon and whiskey sales. When it’s high. When it’s low. How long it might take for a project to gain traction.”
“Damn,” Cade said. “I need to talk to you about that and where you are finding that information.”
“We can chat. I’m used to looking for these things.”
Everyone had the sheets that Kendra had printed for him. “So starting slow seems like the best option,” Mason said. “I’m okay with that, as I want to age things longer. I’ve got several barrels that are over a year old at this point.”
He hadn’t realized that. “You’ve been at this for a while.”
“Longer than you think,” Jessica said. “But we’ve got enough to try to sell in the store locally. Here at the pub too.”
“Then on page five, you can see how it would look if you start that way. The more marketing you do the better, but you want to have the product.”
“That’s the harder part because of the aging process,” Mason said. “Which is why I’ve got what I do. Some I’d like to keep longer and see how it goes. It’s trial and error, but I’ve got a good blend to start with.”
“Then I think we know the next step,” Ella said. “Cade, it’s on you to come up with labels with Mason and Jessica. A name. Kendra will put those numbers together once you get that information. We can continue to distill at the brewery for now and not expand until we see how it looks in let’s say six months or so? Do you think you’ll have it released by then?”
“I’d like to do it by spring,” Mason said. “When the tours start to pick up and people are traveling to the area. Get it out there and push then.”
His cousins were on every pulse of every vein of the business.
He sat there for another thirty minutes, they talked about a variety of things and then everyone left.
“Ivan,” Ella said. “Can I see you quickly?”
“Sure,” he said, going to her office.
“Shut the door.”
He did. “Everything okay?”
“Yes,” she said. “Let me know how many hours you worked this month so I can pay you before the end of the year. I’d like to transfer that on Friday.”
