Page 25 of Any Luck at All

Georgie needed all the help she could get, but perhaps she’d pandered to the wrong sibling. Too late to change it now.

She was a few minutes early, but she spotted Lee as soon as she entered the restaurant lobby. To be fair, he was hard to miss. At six foot two, he stood half a head over almost everyone else, and his short, stylish blond hair and bright green eyes had always garnered attention from women. It wasn’t until Georgie was within a few feet of him that she noticed Adalia next to him. If she’d shared that thought—something she couldn’t imagine doing—she could anticipate her sister’s response.That’s because I’m always overlooked. It’s what happens when you’re the afterthought kid.

“Good morning, Lee, Addy,” she said, keeping her voice light and cheery as she took off her glasses. “I hope you both slept well.”

Adalia simply frowned, but Lee looked irritated. “Maybe it would have been better if you’d actually called me back last night.”

“Sorry,” she said, genuinely meaning it. “I needed some time to process everything.”

“Thank God,” Lee said in a breath of relief. “I knew you were logical enough to come to your senses.”

His comment pissed her off, but she needed to keep him relatively happy, so she let it roll off her back as she walked up to the hostess and checked in for her reservation.

The hostess led them to their booth, and Georgie gestured for Lee and Adalia to slide in first. She didn’t want to risk being flanked by them; she needed to see them face-to-face.

Adalia scooted in first and Lee sat next to her, leaving Georgie the side opposite them, and she felt a sense of relief that things were already going well.

She was truly desperate if she was calling the seating arrangement a win.

“What did you both do last night?” she asked as she picked up a menu.

“Are you really resorting to chitchat?” Lee asked in a snide tone. He’d always been a touch bossy, but this seemed over the top, bordering on their father’s level of high-handedness.

“Don’t mind him,” Adalia said as she opened her menu. She beamed when she saw the choices. “Victoria left with Dad last night, and it wasn’t pretty.”

Lee frowned and picked up his menu.

Adalia leaned over the table a few inches and mouthed:She was pissed.

Georgie could only imagine, and she had to wonder if Lee partially blamed her for his almost fiancée abandoning him. Georgie wasn’t sorry she’d voted for Victoria to leave the meeting. That woman held far too much sway over Lee and their father, particularly considering she’d known neither of them a year ago—or maybe that was her own bitterness speaking. After all, neither man ever seemed to listen toher.

“My flight is early this afternoon, so I won’t be able to sign the papers at the attorney’s office,” Lee said. “The attorney says you can sign for all of us. Addy got her flight changed so we can go back to New York together.”

Georgie couldn’t hide her surprise. Lee and Adalia had never been particularly close. She was usually the bridge between them, although she’d be the first to admit it was a shaky wood bridge with a few loose planks. Was this his attempt to sway their sister to his side?

“That’s fine,” Georgie said, pulling herself together. Once her business got off the ground, she’d gotten herself a present: a good therapist. The doctor had helped her understand that she’d shifted from trying to gain her father’s approval to seeking her brother’s, an equally impossible task. Logically, she knew she only needed one person’s approval—her own—but knowing it and living it weren’t always the same thing. “The business side of things won’t take long, but we haven’t all been together in at least a couple of years. I thought it might be nice to share a meal, just the three of us.”

The way Lee pursed his lips as he studied the menu suggested he didn’t feel the same, and Adalia seemed unsure of how to react.

“Addy,” Georgie said enthusiastically. “What are you working on right now?”

A war played out on Adalia’s face, but excitement won out. “A gallery wants to display some of my work next month, so I’ve been busy prepping for that.” She held up her stained hands. “Hence the reason I look like I have the nail beds of a mechanic.”

“You’re working with ink now?” Georgie asked in surprise. The last she’d heard, her sister had been working on mixed media sculptures.

“I’ve been dabbling with screen printing,” Addy said, becoming even more animated. “The gallery owner saw one of my prints hanging in someone’s home and reached out.”

“You should see her pieces,” Lee said, his gaze still on the menu. “They’re amazing.”

Lee had seen her screen prints? Her siblings only ever saw each other at family events—like funerals—or when Georgie arranged it. What had happened to draw them together? And why hadn’t they included her?

But she shook off her hurt feelings, telling herself that she should be happy Lee and Adalia were making an effort. Even if they weren’t making an effort to spend time withher.

“That’s so exciting!” Georgie said, truly meaning it. She’d be the first to admit that her younger sister’s waywardness had worried her. She had no doubt that Adalia was talented—she’d seen plenty of her work—but she also had a tendency to float from one art medium to the next. And while Georgie hated to agree with their father about anything, one of his favorite sayings about Adalia made a sad sort of sense: talent didn’t pay the bills, and a successful career in the art world was just as difficult as an actor making it on Broadway. There were plenty of uber-talented actors waiting tables across the city. “Does the exhibit have a theme?”

Addy’s smile wavered for a moment, then became more serious, but now pride filled her eyes. “Yeah. Isolation.”

The theme hit Georgie in the face. Art was an expression of the artist’s psyche. Adalia always seemed so happy with her life and her friends. Had things changed? Regardless, it sounded like she was doing well professionally, which probably meant she wouldn’t want to move to Asheville. Adalia and Lee would probably remain remote partners.

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