Page 9 of Any Luck at All

Adalia turned to her in outrage. “You knew his name too?”

“Not now, Addy,” Georgie said, keeping her gaze on Jack.

He nodded slightly. “Guilty as charged.”

“I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances.”

He didn’t respond.

Georgie turned back to her other siblings. “Obviously, we need to figure out how to sell the brewery and the house.”

“Agreed,” Lee said in relief.

Now that their father had left, it was natural for Georgie to fall back into the take-charge mode she’d assumed when their mother had become sick her sophomore year of high school. Their father had never been around and their mother had quickly become too ill to run the house. That responsibility had fallen on Georgie’s shoulders, and her siblings still let her jump back into that familiar role in times of crisis.

“I don’t want to sell,” Jack said in a firm tone.

Georgie turned back to face him, sure she’d heard wrong. “What?”

His dark eyes held hers. “I don’t want to sell.”

“Now, look here,” Lee said, his face turning red. “If you think you can just waltz in here and start pilfering from my grandfather’s carcass—”

“Our grandfather,” Jack said in a calm voice. “He’sourgrandfather. And I’m only here because I was told to be here. I’ve known about all of you for years and never once tried to make contact.”

Lee sat back in his chair, the fight draining out of him.

“Because you were biding your time,” Victoria said in an icy tone.

Jack cracked a slight smile, neither a denial nor confirmation.

“Why areyouhere?” Adalia asked, turning her wrath on Lee’s girlfriend. “You aren’t any part of this.”

Shock covered Victoria’s perfectly chiseled face. (Georgie would bet money she’d had work done. Surely, no one was so lacking in emotion naturally.) “I’m here to support Lee.”

“You’re hisgirlfriend,” Adalia said. “You have no business here.”

Georgie was inclined to agree. The two had only been dating eight months. “She’s right.”

“Georgie…” Lee cringed as he snuck a glance at his girlfriend.

“I have every right to be here,” Victoria said, her gaze pinned on Georgie. “Howdareyou suggest I don’t.”

“You’re not married,” Adalia said. “You’re not even engaged, which means this has nothingto do with you.”

Victoria squared her shoulders as though preparing for a fight. “We are eight months into our three-year plan.”

Dottie, who’d been steadfastly focused on her project, lifted her gaze. “What’s that, dear?”

Lee’s girlfriend scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something disgusting, giving the older woman a look that suggested it was none of her business, so Georgie was surprised when she said, “Our three-year plan. First year is a committed relationship, the second year we get engaged, and the third we get married and buy a house. We’ll have our first baby at the end of year three.”

“Let me guess,” Adalia said in a dry tone. “You’ve not only got the wedding venue booked, but you’ve already picked out your first child’s name and commissioned monogrammed bibs.”

Victoria let out a huff. “You have no idea how far ahead you need to plan to book the Brookside Country Club for a reception, but I havenothad bibs monogrammed.”

“No, but you did commission that tapestry,” Lee said, his mouth twitching a little.

Victoria shot him a look so cold Georgie couldn’t believe he hadn’t turned into a block of ice. Why did Lee always go for women like that? Their own mother had been nurturing and sweet—funny too—an odd fit for Prescott, or so everyone used to say. But Lee’s girlfriends always looked like they’d just as soon stab you with a stiletto heel as look at you.

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