Page 53 of The Outsider

She spent the next hour listening to them talk about their favorite beers. She put it all together, synthesizing it and trying to figure out the right direction. She wanted something hearty. Not an IPA. A stout. Maybe wheat ale. Yes. That was what she wanted to do. She felt a surge of excitement. No, she wasn’t really a beer drinker, but she understood the clientele. And that was the key anyway.

“Bix,” said Denver, right before they began construction work for the day. “I might have Daughtry take you into town to buy the supplies for brewing.”

“Oh, that’s... I mean, I do know how to drive. I could do it.”

Though she realized she hadn’t done much of that recently.

“Yeah, I know. But he knows the place. He’s off again in a couple of days. So work on getting your list together.”

“Sure,” she said. She felt jittery, and excited about spending time with Daughtry, and she really shouldn’t, considering they lived together. But they often passed each other, not actually spending a significant amount of time together.

And she was still stuck on the town hall meeting. On the way his hand had felt against hers. When she should be thinking about her future. And brewing beer. So she shook that off.

“The other thing is I need to know if you need a crew.”

“I will. Eventually. If we’re going to bottle on-site then we are going to need some help. And managing different equipment... is just helpful. And if I can get a space in one of the unused buildings...”

“You’ve got it.”

They went back and forth, talking about what she would need. He offered to dedicate a crew of five to the beer-brewing endeavor. And she would be the boss.

She felt completely undone by that. Being somebody’s boss when she had barely been able to get a job until recently.

It was crazy.

When Daughtry came back from work that night, they ended up eating at his house. And over barbecued chicken, she excitedly told him about his siblings’ buy-in for the venture.

“Thank you,” she said. “He’s actually giving me a team.”

“Did he say how much he was going to pay you?”

She was stunned to realize that she hadn’t actually secured payment. It was very off-brand for her. Normally, that would be the first thing on her mind.

But it was the opportunity that was getting her now. Not the money. Yeah, she’d been able to put a lot away, but actually having work, having a purpose, that was worth more.

“He was saying that maybe we should go to town together and pick up everything on my list.”

“Sounds good,” he said.

Her palms got a little bit sweaty.

“Great.”

“But he should tell you how much he’s paying you.”

“Don’t you have the authority to mandate that?”

“I do. But I’d rather see how much he’s willing to give. It might actually be more generous, and in fairness, Landry is actually the one who knows more about the budget than anybody else. So, it’s probably going to need to be Landry.”

“Right,” she said.

“Denver got a little bit annoyed with me the other day,” he said.

“He did?” She couldn’t imagine being annoyed at Daughtry. Which was strange, since she had begun their relationship being pretty annoyed with him.

“Yeah. I think he doesn’t believe that I have a big enough commitment to the ranch.”

“He doesn’t? How can he think that? Everything that you do is... I mean, you...” Well, in fairness, he didn’t really work that much on the ranch. But she felt like his presence was an essential part of it.

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