Page 17 of Eternal Hoptimist

Ty:Awww, man, I love that place. Best carnitas ever

Dom:Ethan’s not with you? He never passes up Mexican food

Ty:[Detective emoji]

Austin:He split off to meet with someone

Ty:ETHAN PERCY SAMUEL L. ANDREW PETER JACKSON

Dom:You don’t know Ethan’s middle name?

Ty:I’m stressed! You can’t expect me to remember things

Ty:Who is he with????

Austin:We ran into someone he knew when we were at the food trucks

Ty:That’s all you’re going to give me???

Austin:I’m sure if you keep texting so his phone buzzes in his pocket every two seconds while they’re out, he’ll be super excited to give you all the details.

Dom:Lol

Ty:Why you gotta back me in a corner like that?

Austin:Why are you still texting?

CHAPTER 6

ETHAN

Team Tap That Group Text

Austin:Seth’s doing a great job with brewing. Damn it’s nice to have help

Ty:Of course he is. My brother is a genius

Ethan:He’s been awesome in the taproom too

Dom:Do you think he’s going to stick around a while?

Ty:Million-dollar question

* * *

I grabbed a box of cans and followed Seth from the storage room to the corner we’d dedicated to retail sales with two coolers and shelves for six packs.

“How’s it going working with Austin? Getting the hang of all the brewing stuff?”

Seth, Ty’s younger brother, had been working with us part-time for a while. He’d arrived unexpectedly in Dahlia Springs last summer after something happened on his cruise-ship job. He’d been quiet about it, and it wasn’t my place to push. Seth and I weren’t close since I hadn’t met Ty until college, but we’d been friendly over the years when I’d gone home with Ty for holidays.

After spending some time seemingly aimless and couch-surfing with friends well into the fall, he’d settled at his parents’ house. Ty suggested we hire Seth to pitch in around the brewery. Initially, he’d helped Ty with social media content, cleaning, and fixing food for our snack menu during the busy holidays.We’d been hesitant to ask him to take on more since we assumed he would take another cruise-ship job anytime, but he’d expressed no desire to leave. We trained him on bigger tasks. Austin had been teaching him the brewing process, and I’d trained him on serving and taproom operations. It would be nice to take a day off once in a while.

“It’s going great. Somehow it’s both easier than I expected and more difficult. There’s a lot of math.” Seth’s smile was wide. He’d been smiling more and more over the past couple of months.

When I looked at him, I couldn’t help but remember overhearing his late grandma pinch his cheek and call him her “cherubic baby” when I went to my first Thanksgiving with the McNeills. He had a round, boyish face matured by a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, thick black-rimmed glasses, a half-sleeve of tattoos on one arm, and an ever-present bow tie.

I laughed. “I only know the basics from doing some home-brew with Austin, but I totally agree.”

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