Love in a Nutshell - Janet Evanovich [67]
“If you could amble on in here before I take any more guff about giving you special treatment, I just might forgive you,” Matt said.
He sounded amused, and Kate’s smile grew into a grin.
“Let me take a shower and give Stella her morning walk, and then I’ll be right there.”
Matt laughed. “So, like noon, right?”
“No later than ten, I promise.”
“Hey, and find Bart when you get here, okay? Laila’s ready to come back, so you’re going to be assistant to the assistant brewers.”
“Sounds filled with responsibility,” Kate said. But really, she didn’t care what Matt had her doing so long as she was earning and snooping … and getting to see him. She had fallen for him, and the ginger poodle had sealed the deal.
* * *
AT PRECISELY ten o’clock, Kate found Bart the brewmaster by a large wipe-off board where he was scribbling dates and other random things. Floyd, his assistant, stood to his right. The older man possessed a rather impressively sized beer belly. Kate had to appreciate a guy who showed that much love for his chosen career.
Next to Floyd was Nan O’Brien, assistant brewer number two. Nan was an Amazon of a woman, at least six feet tall, and fit. A hunter, triathlete, and seasoned sailor, Nan could whip any television survival show dude with one arm tied behind her back.
“Hey, Bart,” Kate said. “Sorry I’m late.”
“Let’s talk before we get started,” he said. He waved off his assistants, telling them they’d finish later.
Kate joined him at the whiteboard. “So tell me what you’re going to be doing back here today.”
“I’m going to be getting another batch of Dog Day ready to boil, which means that you are going to be cleaning the brewhouse for me.”
She looked around. “The whole place?”
He laughed. “It looks like you’re in need of a little more training, eh?”
Bart led her across the room and patted a big, almost bullet-shaped, tank that stood seven or so feet tall. “This is the brewhouse. A thirty-barrel brewhouse, to be exact. And those other tanks attached to it are the fermenters. After the boil, the wort is sent through the pipes to its left, and into those fermenters, where the yeast is added.”
Really, the brewhouse was kind of pretty, all copper and stainless and shiny. And it looked very clean already, which she pointed out to Bart.
“It’s not the same picture on the inside, and that’s what you’re going to be concerned with,” he said.
“Hang on. You mean I have to get in there?”
“Yes. And believe me, it’s a much easier fit for someone your size than it is for me or Nan or Floyd.” He hitched his thumb toward the two assistant brewers who were now in conversation by the door to the large keg cooler room.
Great, Kate thought. She’d panicked in the walk-in a few weeks ago, and that room had nothing on this bomb-like capsule.
“I’m not a huge fan of dark, enclosed spaces,” she told Bart.
“Who is, other than bats and mushrooms? You’ll have a flashlight. And you won’t be in there long. It’s just a matter of doing a wipe-down to get rid of any leftover debris from the last batch before we quick-flush the system.”
“Right, then,” she said over the scared slamming of her heart.
“You’ll be fine. I promise. I’ve got to get a couple of things lined up for a meeting with Matt, but Floyd and Nan will get you set up and keep a good eye on you.”
He called them over, and Kate began to reconcile herself to this process. All the same, she was no longer impressed by the brewhouse’s shiny rivets and copper accents. And its pressure gauges, valves, and pipes freaked her out.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Nan said. “We’ll help you get in through that hatch at the top and then hand the supplies to you.”
“How about I just watch you this time and I do it the next?” she asked Nan.
The other woman grinned. “Let me think about it. No.”
It had been worth a shot.
“I’ll be right back with water, towels, and a flashlight,