Page 106 of Any Luck at All

River huffed a laugh. “And this was your favorite book?” He pulled one of his hands away, but only so he could gesture toward the window. “Don’t worry. All my crazy is out in the open, and if you still want to be with me after seeing all of this…” The donkey wandered by, chewing on some of Aunt Dottie’s flowers, as if to punctuate his point. “…I’m all yours.”

She kissed him then—a soft kiss that quickly turned fierce, and by the time she pulled away she was panting.

“I love you, River.”

The surety with which she said it, the fire in her eyes…he’d never felt happier and fuller than he did in this moment. Than he did with this woman.

“Hey,” he said, running his fingers down the curve of her cheek, “I was going to say it first.” Then he sucked in a breath, bolstering himself for the words he’d never said to a woman before, other than his near brush with Blanche. “I love you, Georgie.”

He kissed her first this time, savoring the taste of her, the closeness, knowing he never wanted to pull away. He tugged Georgie the rest of the way onto his lap, hands on her hips, her curves, any part of her he could touch, and she slid a hand under his shirt, running it across his abs.

He went to take it off, which was when he saw Lurch giving him a thumbs-up from outside the window.

“Um, I think we should probably get out of here,” he said to Georgie, pulling back a little.

Her gaze shot to the window, and she jumped a little in his arms. “Yes, please. Immediately.”

“Should we look for your other shoe?”

She glanced down at her foot and shook her head a little. “No. Let’s not chance it. Maybe Josie will find it.” A side of her mouth ticked up. “She’s good at collecting my clothes.”

He stood up and pulled her up with him, Georgie’s eyes widening as he lifted her into his arms.

“I’m pretty sure there’s probably at least a dozen abandoned crystals on the floor out there,” he explained, “and I don’t want you to hurt your feet.”

She tipped her head up and kissed him at that, and he almost forgot Lurch was at the window, and there were people outside the room waiting for fortune readings, and this whole party was a massive disaster unfolding around them. But when he edged back toward the bed, she poked him.

“No, we need to get out of here before it’s too late. If we don’t hurry, there’s going to be a fire or a flood, or who knows what, and we’ll never have the chance.”

He opened the door, ready to sneak out—although how he was supposed to do that with the boss in his arms, he didn’t know—only to find everyone gathered in a semicircle at the end of the hall, Aunt Dottie standing next to the Beau statue, Adalia grinning at them from Beau’s right-hand side, in front of an enormous cake. It had been decorated with surprisingly accurate renditions of Georgie and River.

“Surprise!” Adalia said. “Dottie spenthoursworking on it. It was my idea! Want to make the first cut?” She held out a knife, and it was only then River caught sight of the computer set up in the corner, Jack watching everything unfold with a look of fascinated horror, as if wondering what he was in for if, or when, he did move to Asheville.

“Sure,” he said, because why not.

He exchanged a look with Georgie, who said, “You better not cut off my nose.”

The moment was weirdly, wonderfully perfect. He had a feeling they’d remember the day Buchanan Brewery closed down for years to come. That one day they might tell heavily edited versions of this story to their kids.

He leaned down to kiss Georgie again, in front of everyone, and they all whooped and cheered.

Epilogue

“Oh, my God,” Adalia groaned. “If I’d known you two would be so disgusting, I never would have orchestrated getting you back together.”

Georgie and River were sitting hand in hand in the wicker chairs on the back porch, watching Hops romp around in the backyard. Jezebel, who was surprisingly tolerant of the puppy, sat in a dry bird bath watching like a prison yard guard.

Laughing, Georgie said, “From what I heard, Dottie had a lot to do with it too.”

River raised his free hand. “I’m pretty sure I should be included on that list.”

Georgie shot him an ornery grin. “Of course you were.” She turned to her sister, who stood in the open doorway. “And we’re not even doing anything.”

“You’re holding hands.”

River chuckled, shaking his head as he turned to look at her. “You’ve never struck me as a puritan, Addy.”

Georgie smiled to herself. River had taken to Adalia’s nickname almost immediately, as had most of the staff at Buchanan, but Dottie was quite adamant about calling her Adalia, saying her name fit her too well to alter it.

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