Page 19 of Love Is Brewing

Kayla was working part time nights right now somewhere but ready to start her career.

Phoebe got references and was going to call them when her brother and his boss walked in the door.

“She probably got extra points for just showing up on time,” Ben said. “You’re a ball buster on that.”

“There is nothing wrong with timeliness,” she said primly. “It’s a lost art that many need to learn to create again.”

Mason laughed. “I hear you. I’ve got enough staff running in the door exactly on time or a few minutes late. They don’t seem to care that their shift starts at eight but they aren’t actually working for another fifteen to twenty minutes. Punch in, put their food away, get a drink, chat with some people, thenfinallyget on the floor.”

“That would drive me insane,” she said. She was almost shivering over it.

“Loosen up, Phoebe,” Ben said. “Some things in life aren’t so strict anymore.”

“Tell that to a judge,” she said. “You don’t have to deal with those things like I do.”

She had to get to know more people in the community too.

Officials, legal, and professionals. Get her name out there so they knew the reputation of her firm and the kind of attorney that she was.

Talk to more people than those who only seemed to want to gossip.

Urgh!

In Charlotte, she didn’t have that worry. The Kelly name spoke for itself.

She told herself she wasn’t going to rest on her family name though.

She was going to put the work in and she would.

“You’ve got a point,” Ben said. “Which is why you are worrying about that and all I care about is if my next batch tastes good enough to drink it all when I get to sample it.”

Mason snorted. “You make it sound as if you have no stress,” he said. “You get just as frustrated as me if something goes wrong. And half the time if something does we don’t even know what it was.”

“How can you not know?” she asked, frowning.

“Because sometimes it could be the temperature was off one degree. Or an ingredient wasn’t good. Though not spoiled, it failed to meet our standards. One minor change can have a large effect on taste and many don’t realize that.”

“Are you two going to get mad if I say it all tastes the same to me?”

“Yes,” they both said at once.

“Well then, guess you know where I stand. Are you sure you have to get on the road now? I’ve got a few things to do, but would love to take you to dinner.”

“We need to get back,” Ben said. “We’ll already be fighting traffic by the time we get into Charlotte on a Friday night.”

“You both just want to get home to your family,” she said.

“I see my wife all day long,” Mason said. “Which I have to admit works for us, but it might not for many.”

She knew Mason met his wife when she was in college and worked for him doing brewery tours. It was kind of a fun romantic story now, but Phoebe would never admit that she had a romantic bone in her body.

That might show a weakness to someone. At least in her professional life.

And that was about all she had going for her now.

Pathetic, but at least it was something.

“I wouldn’t have a problem working with Eve,” Ben said. “But I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t want to work with me. She’s more straitlaced at work. Just like you, Phoebe.”

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