Rightley looked to the duo with a short nod as he handed off the gla.s.sware to Ellie before turning with purpose. Ellie pointed the flashlight in her hands down so she could see the spilled liquid pooling around her. She made a note that this place also needed a through cleaning and light fixture installation. It was fantastic, but also faintly nauseating. Ellie bade Henry closer to the different types of alcohol. "Isn"t it spectacular? I"m sure this is the nicest place in all of Stanford Hall.""The best place?" Henry smirked as he moved closer to her. She could smell whatever cologne he had put on. Ellie"s eyes were locked onto his smile as he spoke. "I"m from the city that never sleeps, you can"t say that such a thing is possible. I can agree, however, that this is an excellent selection. I didn"t think we"d find something like this outside of a major city."
Ellie agreed with him that it was true. When she had been a young child she had found the area to be dark, dank, and full of monsters. She could see all of the large openings which had frightened her as a child really had no s.p.a.ce for someone to hide inside. The slots were all filled with wooden planks which were slanted to display bottle after bottle of gently aging whiskey. On each plank was glued a whisp of paper which had the typewritten ingredients, sealing dates, and the winery each bottle had come from. The planks were hammered diagonally into the wall so the wine inside could keep the corks wet. Ellie could see strung to the wall was a pouch with the same supplies she held in her hands in addition to equipment needed for maintenance.
Henry let his finger bounce along the corks as he walked down the rack of bottles. His steps echoed against the hollow interior which made Ellie look to his approaching face as he spoke. "You know this place is so well-kept that it rivals my own office in cleanliness. Not even, it"s more like the way my father would insist his office be as sterile as a nursing home. I don"t know if that is true, but it is something that he prided himself on."
"I don"t know if I would agree that it"s a good thing." Ellie traced the markings with her fingers as she felt him hovering over her. "It"s all too strange to me that this would be maintained this well. I don"t understand all the fuss. I didn"t know it was in vogue to be a wine seller. It"s strange that they would set up and try to run a company when neither of them has worked a day in their life. This is all professional quality such that it much have worn Rightley to the bone to take care of this all in addition to his manager job."
"I"m not too familiar with the process by which the whiskey comes to be?" Henry touched her shoulder softly. She was wearing an off the shoulder white lace dress which his fingers were brushing against. "In my head, I always imagined that it would be the same as making sour cream or cheese."
Ellie looked at him and laughed. "Whiskey is made with barley or grain. Sometimes to make the taste better it is good to add different things. I"m not sure what taste was the goal here—bitter or sweet or oaky. It"s going to be quite a surprise when we try it. I"m hoping for sweet."
"I"m surprised that you know so much about making alcohol." Henry said slowly as he looked over the labels. His hands settled on a Scottish Malt that was dated from 1880.
"It was never really something that was taught to me. It was just around my family as my parents did go to wineries and vineyards a lot. This place did exist before my sisters expanded it. It was already pretty huge before then. My father loved the process so much that he would talk about it with friends while I would listen. He knew everything there was to know about making alcohol." Ellie remembered her father"s hands with a warm longing. It had been so long that she had been young enough to have her hand enveloped in his. However, she couldn"t help flinching as a darker memory was coupled with this lighter memory.
Seeing her shiver, Henry grew concerned. "Is everything ok? I should have brought a covering in case you felt the temperature. I didn"t consider how cold it would get down here."
Ellie sighed. "It"s ok. It"s nothing. I was just remembering that once I ran down here to hide when my sisters were home from boarding school. Priscilla pushed a chair against the door which made sure that I couldn"t get out. She told everyone I ran away which resulted in a search. But then one of the maids knew that something was off. She knew the truth about Priscilla and checked to see where she had gone. Then she heard what she was whispering to me through the keyhole. She disciplined her before getting me out. Priscilla made sure she got fired sadly."
Henry"s mouth opened in shock. "What kind of child would do such a thing? You were her own flesh and blood. I can"t believe that your father allowed that to continue for as long as it did."
"Flesh and blood? We were half siblings. Having such animosity in my experience is not that uncommon with n.o.bility or even people with second families. For me, I didn"t know anything else so it wasn"t that traumatizing. I just learned to deal with it and move on. It made me tougher. It was nice that Nolan had left his gaming console in here earlier so I just played Mario Kart until someone came to get me. It wasn"t too bad." The light from the small screen had lit up the surrounding area to give her some light after she had b.u.mped her head. It had stopped her from stepping on broken gla.s.s as well. This was actually where the inception of trying a racing career had come. She had kept her ambitions secret so as to avoid sabotage by her jealous siblings. They would do anything to stop her from feeling happy