Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93453 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 312(@300wpm)
I keep my head forward as I walk, not making the mistake I did yesterday. I take the keys out to the bar and open the door, locking it after me before making my way to the distillery office. Switching on the lights, I see the whole floor light up as I walk to the office. Putting my purse in the chair in front of the desk, I pull out the desk chair and sit down.
I flip open the laptop and turn it on as I pull off a piece of donut and pop it in my mouth. The sugar hitting my tongue makes me smile before I flip open the little tab to take a sip of the coffee. “Good morning,” I tell myself before turning to the side, taking the ledger book off the cabinet, and opening it.
The white envelopes are all stacked one on top of each other, all of them stamped with the red past due mark. I close my eyes and take a deep inhale before pulling out the white paper and unfolding it. Seeing the amount past due, I grab a pen and write down the amount. I do the same thing when I go through the whole stack, then look at the total. “Fuck.” That’s the only thing I can say, leaning back in the chair.
I pull up my bank balance and see I have just enough to cover it all, but then I won’t have anything left to help do all the things I want to do to bring new people in. As I go through the stack of bills again, I hear footsteps coming from the back and look out the window to see Brady coming in.
“Hey,” he says, picking up my purse and putting it on the corner of the desk before sitting down in the chair. “What are you up to?”
“I’m up to these.” I pick up the stack of white papers. “It’s a lot worse than I thought it would be.” He just nods. “I’ve been thinking.”
He puts his head back and groans, “That is never a good thing.” I fold my arms in front of me.
“Well, you don’t even know what I’m thinking.” I tap the desk. “But here is what we are going to do. I called the Morgans.” I mention the distribution company we used to use some ten years ago.
“They dropped us,” he reminds me.
“Yes, but that was then, this is now. Time has passed, and I found out the old man has retired, and his son is in charge.” I tilt my head to the side. “Then I think we should offer a tasting menu for businesses.” His eyebrows pinch together. “We have that room off the bar. We can get some tables in there. Have companies come in and do their parties here. Get bachelor parties and bachelorette parties. Couples’ night with the chef. There are a bunch of things we could do.”
“I never thought about that,” he admits.
“Then there is bringing a cook in from five to ten every night.” He shakes his head. “Too bad, it’s happening and I have interviews next week. Small menu, I’m thinking burgers, fish and chips, a good cut of steak with a side, and a sample of whiskey. We can work on the menu with the cook we hire.” He leans forward. “We also do a five-to-seven two-for-one. After work people drop in before going home.”
“They have to come in.” His voice goes high.
“If you offer them two-for-one, trust me, people will come in. Maybe not in droves, but as time goes on, word of mouth.” He puts his head back, looking up at the ceiling. “Listen, we have to try. If we don’t try, then they win. Also, Brady, I was thinking since my samples were such a hit, I think we should add whiskey flights to the drink menu. It’s relatively inexpensive to order a few flight sets for now. If business picks up, we can invest in more.”
“What are you going to tell Dad?”
“I’m not going to tell Dad anything,” I admit. “He has other things to worry about than worrying about this.” He nods. “I also am going to be working nights. You need some time off to sleep. You look like shit.”
He laughs. “Wow.”
“When was the last time you slept eight hours?” I ask him, and he smirks.
“When was the last time you slept eight hours?” He raises his eyebrows. “You look like shit.” He gets up from the chair, and we both burst out laughing. “I’m going to test the last batch we made, see if it’s ready.”
“Good, Bryan should be here any second anyway.” He turns to walk out, and I look down at the bills, going through them and making a spreadsheet to see which ones are the oldest to the newest.