Page 16 of Any Luck at All

“Where did Buchanan place?”

He grimaced. “They didn’t. They haven’t placed for years.”

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to make of that, so she moved on to her next burning question. “And who is Bev Corp?”

A storm of emotion filled his eyes. “The devil.”

Chapter Six

Georgie looked taken aback, and well, okay, hehadsounded a bit melodramatic.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“It’s the biggest beer company in the world,” he said, “and they like to buy craft breweries so they can put other craft breweries out of business. Nice trick, huh?”

Her expression didn’t change, and it struck him that she’d just sold her company. Some big corporation had probably snapped it up, and they likely didn’t care about her vow to be eco-friendly.

Okay, maybe he’d looked her up after her visit with Beau. Moon Goddess still had information about her up on their website. She’d started the operation out of the kitchen in her small apartment in Boston, and it had grown into a company she’d sold for five big ones.

Menstrual cups, period panties, they were the kind of things that made most men cringe, but he admired her guts. She’d seen an opportunity to grow something—and she’d succeeded. Kind of like Beau when he’d opened Asheville’s first brewery years before the town became mainstream. No wonder the two had gotten along so well.

Still, the kind of person who’d sold out once might sell out again. Maybe she was just trying to buff Buchanan Brewery up so she could find a better deal.

But the thought refused to stick. He could tell meeting Beau had changed something for Georgie, just like it had for him. He could honor that. Hewouldhonor that.

“Sorry, Georgie,” he said, reaching out to touch her arm before he realized what he was doing. Her skin was soft beneath his fingers in a way that made him want to keep his hand there—or maybe stroke her—but he forced himself to pull away. Her lips had parted a little, and he found himself telling her everything. “I didn’t mean you. I’m just pissed because of what happened with Finn. Tonight, after the will reading, he told me he’s selling to Bev Corp. He’s throwing away everything we built together for a paycheck, and he didn’t even talk to me about it first. He made it out to be like he was doing me some big favor, because they wanted to keep me on and throw some money at me too. But he knows how I feel about staying local.”

“He told you tonight?” she asked, putting the emphasis ontonight. “That’s awful. He should have talked to you, first of all, and he definitely shouldn’t have landed this on you right after you lost Beau.”

He noticed she hadn’t said anything about Finn’s decision to sell, but it would be rude to comment on it. She was being sweet, and he liked it.

“Thank you. I think I needed to hear that.” He lifted his beer to clink it with hers, and realized it was empty. “How are you doing on beer?” he asked.

She gave her bottle a little shake and looked at it in surprise. “Empty. You know, you were right. It was pretty good. Do you have anything else we can try?”

“About six or seven something elses come to mind,” he said with a grin. “I have what’s almost assuredly a bad idea, but I’m hoping you’ll like it.”

* * *

Beau had about a dozen tasting cups from various beer festivals, souvenirs he’d kept in the way people hoard things they like, and River had arranged them in two rows on the dining room table—one tasting cup each for each of the beers he’d picked out. A few fruity ones since she liked wine and cocktails, plus a lager, a gingerbread Christmas beer, and a chocolate cherry porter he’d made for Valentine’s Day. She’d never experienced everything that was possible with beer, so he’d figured he might as well offer a wide selection to show her.

They’d made it through all of the fruity ones, which she’d liked more than the amber, plus the lager, which had made her scrunch her nose in a cute way, and the gingerbread. The chocolate cherry was the last one he’d chosen, and he did a drumroll on the table as she lifted it to her lips.

She held it back from her mouth, laughing a little. “If you’re not careful, you’re going to make me laugh when I’m drinking, and this one’s going to end up on your shirt too.”

“Maybe I want it to,” he said. “It might balance out the smell of the other one.”

She made a face and then sipped it, and from the way she kept drinking, he knew they had another winner.

“What do you taste?” he asked as she pulled it away from her lips, which glistened a little from the liquid.

“Mmm. That one was maybe my favorite, even better than the peachy one. Chocolate and cherries but not too sweet.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” he said, making a plus mark next to it in the little chart she’d made. Leave it to a businesswoman to carry around a notepad and pen in her purse. Amonogrammednotepad.

“Only one minus and five pluses,” he said. “Guess you like beer more than you thought.”

She grinned at him, a wider, looser grin than earlier. “I guess maybe I do. Although you’re being a little generous with those plus signs. I said the mango sour wasinteresting. That was a nice way of sayingI’m not going back for seconds.”

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