Page 91 of Saison for Love

At seven, he headed for the brewery. Even if Bec was still asleep, which was a good bet since it was Sunday morning, he could undoubtedly find something to do there until she woke up. If nothing else, he could have another taste of the saison.

As it turned out, he worked on the red ale. After all, they had orders. The sooner they could get the ale into barrels, the better.

An hour or so later, Bec emerged, yawning, from her bedroom. “Oh, good. I figured it was you rather than some insanely industrious burglar.”

He shrugged. “Thought I’d get an early start. Is Wyatt here?”

She nodded. “He’s still sleeping. Lucky him.”

Liam gave her a totally insincere smile. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.” Bec sat down on the top step of the stairs that led to the brewery floor, sipping a cup of coffee. “How did the closing night at the tavern go?”

Liam paused. Amazingly enough, he’d managed to forget all about the bar closing down the night before. “Okay, I guess. We closed down early.”

“No party?”

“Nope. Stanton never showed and the rest of us didn’t feel much like celebrating.” He turned back to the red ale. He refused to let the fate of Black Mountain Tavern bring him down from his Ruth-produced high.

“What’s next?”

“Well, there’s the offer to run the bar in Park City. That’s about it.”

Bec gave him a stricken look, lowering her coffee cup. “You’re still moving to Utah? Right away?”

He shook his head. “I don’t want to, but it’s a good job.”

“What about Antero Brewing?” She paused. “What about Ruth?”

Good questions. “Like I said, I don’t want to. I’ve thought of something else that might work, but I wanted to go over it with you.”

“Something else? Like what?”

He squared his shoulders. He’d been tossing the idea around for the last day or so, and it had finally begun to take firm shape. He wasn’t sure whether it was logical or insane, but he had to at least try it out. “Is Wyatt still looking to open a pub here in town?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Once he finalizes the sale of his half of Quaff. He’s already lining up backers.”

“Has he found a place yet?”

“Not that I know of. He hasn’t really started looking yet.”

He gave her a long look. “What about Black Mountain Tavern?”

“What about it?” Her eyes widened. “You mean as a pub? Our pub?”

He nodded. “It’s a good space. Stanton let it go downhill, but it could be brought up to speed pretty easily. The bar is first-rate. If he wanted to go the whole gastropub route, the kitchen would need an upgrade, but it’s decent, too.”

She frowned. “What about the rent?”

“The place belongs to Tag Murphy. I talked to him for a while yesterday. Stanton left him in a bind when he pulled out, particularly since the place needs to be refurbished. He was pretty stoked about the brewpub idea. He said he’d work with us on the rent—he might be interested in investing. I’d leave that to Wyatt.”

Bec paused for a long time, thinking. “It’s an interesting idea. The tavern’s got a good location.”

“It’s prime. Right downtown. With a little work we might be able to have it ready by ski season.”

She nodded. “Maybe. Depending on how long the negotiations take. Are you thinking of this as a brewpub for Antero Brewing?”

“Absolutely. We could do some small batch brewing that would be exclusive to the pub, along with our main lines, like the red ale. We’d have to bring in some other beers along with ours to fill out the menu, but ours would be in the spotlight.” He took a breath. “I could tend bar.”

She shook her head impatiently. “Don’t be ridiculous. We can hire a bartender. You’d be manager. One thing I picked up from watching Wyatt at Quaff—you need a couple of people to make a large operation succeed. You could work with Wyatt and his partners to get everything set up. The two of you would make a good management team. He’s got a lot of experience from managing Quaff, but you’ve got a lot of experience with the tourists who visit Antero.”

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