Page 101 of Any Luck at All

Adalia rolled her eyes. “And I thought thatIwas the dramatic one. You’re supposed to be the voice of reason.”

And ordinarily she would be, but she’d held it together for hours, and all she wanted to do was go home, open a bottle of wine, and drown her sorrows. Of course, the only bottle of wine she had in her possession was the second bottle River had left, which made it even more bittersweet. She stopped, then took a slow step backward. “I think I’m going to just head home.”

“No,” Adalia cried out. “You’re already here. You should at least come in and make an appearance.”

Georgie cringed. “No…I think it would be better if I just go.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Georgie. Just come inside.” Adalia grabbed her arm and started to tug.

“Georgie!” Lurch shouted from behind her, and she turned to see him riding on a donkey down the center of the street. “It’s your turn for a ride. You can enter the party like Jesus.”

Georgie squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again, worried the stress of the day was causing her to hallucinate, but sure enough, Lurch was sitting on top of a donkey while a man in a cowboy hat tugged on the reins, leading them both.

Bursting out laughing, Adalia exclaimed, “This party just keeps getting better and better. How could you eventhinkof missing this?”

Ignoring her sister, Georgie scrambled to get out of the way just as she realized what Lurch had said. “Oh, no, no, no, no.” She shook her head vigorously. “I’m not getting on top of that thing.”

“She really can’t,” Adalia said. “She has to go inside. I’ve heard the statue of Beau is in there, and I need to see it.”

The man led the animal to the side of the driveway.

“Not yet,” Lurch said, sliding over the side of the pack animal, but his foot got caught in the saddle. He hung precariously sideways while the animal handler watched in fascination.

Without giving it a second thought, Georgie rushed over to help. “Oh my goodness! Are you okay?”

Just before Georgie reached him, Lurch fell to the ground in a heap, landing in a bed of flowers. “I’m okay!”

But the flowers weren’t. Especially after the donkey dug his back hooves in as if to say,I thought that guy would never get off.

Adalia’s eyes narrowed and she pointed to Lurch. “Uh…why does he have a smiley face drawn on top of his bald head?”

“I have no idea,” Georgie said under her breath, although she wasn’t exactly surprised. There was just no end to the crazy when it came to Buchanan Brewery. Edging closer, she asked, “Lurch, are you sure you’re okay?” She resisted the urge to wave her hand in front of her. He reeked of sweat and beer.

“Yep,” he said as he struggled to get to his feet. He grabbed her arm for help and nearly tugged her over on top of him.

“Whoa,” Georgie said, bracing herself to pull him up.

Once on his feet, Lurch fell sideways and pressed her back into the side of the donkey, which, unbelievably, stood stock-still.

“You’re the best, Georgie,” Lurch said, his face in front of hers, blowing out a cloud of beer breath. “You’re gonna be great at Buchanan.”

“Um, thanks,” she said, trying to push him away, but the next thing she knew he was shoving her up onto the saddle, his hand on her butt.

“There you go,” he said. “Upsy-daisy.”

“Addy!” Georgie called out in a panicked voice. She was straddling the donkey with her dress hiked up high on her thighs, nearly showing her underwear. “A little help?”

Adalia started to say something, then stopped and grinned. “I don’t have any experience riding donkeys, but I think you kick them in the sides to make them go faster.”

“Not that kind of help!”

“She’s right,” Lurch said, staggering in place. “Like this.” Then he grabbed Georgie’s leg and pushed it hard into the donkey’s side.

The donkey released a loud bray of protest, then took off running—or at least skipping really fast—toward the gate to the backyard, leaving its handler behind.

Georgie shrieked as the donkey ran through the open gate, tearing a paper banner that read,Enter at the risk of excitement!which had been strung across the opening. Tearing through the paper sent the animal into overdrive.

Once they were in the backyard, the donkey ran around the periphery of the fenced space, knocking over a metal tub of beer cans. A few people shouted in surprise, which scared the donkey even more.

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