Page 1 of Better Luck Next Time

Chapter One

“It’s going well, don’t you think?”

Adalia Buchanan glanced over her shoulder, smiling at the tremor in her sister’s voice. Only Georgie would worry that an event with a full house might be going badly. Adalia had been to art showings that had a grand total of four guests and Two-Buck Chuck in plastic cups. As far as she was concerned, the grand reopening of Buchanan Brewery was a major success.

“Georgie, stop worrying. There are people lined up outside, waiting to get in. Everyone loves the new brews. That guy from the Best Brews website is losing it over the Cesspool of Sin ale—”

Georgie’s eyes flew wide. “Losing it how?”

Adalia rolled her eyes. “In a good way. River made it, so how could it be anything short of amazing?” She leaned in closer and grinned. “And if you tell him I said that, I’ll deny it until my dying breath.”

While Adalia liked River Reeves well enough and thought he was the perfect man for her overachieving sister, she didn’t want to get his ego out of whack by giving him too many compliments for free. No one liked a man with an outsized ego.

Georgie nodded, anxiety still filling her eyes.

Adalia wished her older sister would learn to relax, but Georgie’s name might as well have been Georgie Perfectionist Buchanan. Relaxing wasn’t in her wheelhouse, especially on a night like tonight. To be fair, itwasa big deal, especially for Georgie. Buchanan Brewery might now belong to all four Buchanan siblings, but Georgie was the only one who’d put in the capital to refurbish the decades-old facility and pay the staff during a nearly three-month shutdown.

So yeah, Georgie had a lot riding on a successful relaunch.

“Don’tworry,Georgie. Everyone is loving everything about the place, from the beer to the updated décor, and even the new merch.” Adalia gave her a smug smile as she listed that last item, since she was the one who’d designed it. “And they love that you’ve still kept some of the past too, from Beau Brown ale to Dottie herself.”

Georgie’s eyes flew wide in horror. “I would never get rid of Dottie!” Then she added, “Even if I could.”

The Buchanan siblings had inherited the brewery from their paternal grandfather, Beau Buchanan, but the gift had come with a few stipulations, the least outrageous of which was that Beau’s longtime girlfriend, Dottie Hendrickson, couldn’t be fired.

“Why would we ever get rid of Dottie?” Adalia scoffed. “The woman is a national treasure.” She saw the older woman making the rounds, and Dottie looked up and smiled as if she knew she was being discussed. Maybe she did, actually. She seemed to have an uncanny way of knowing things.

Adalia felt a rush of warmth. Dottie was a hoot to have around, and she’d been around a lot. It seemed she’d decided to take the wayward Buchanan children under her wing. If she’d treated them like projects, it would have been insulting, but Dottie wasn’t like that. “Is it just me, or does Dottie’s hair look more lavender than usual?”

Georgie laughed. “She told River she used a new rinse. It looks good on her, I think.”

“Anything would look good on her,” Adalia said. “She could pull off bright orange without looking like a clown.”

Georgie gave her a soft smile, emotion practically oozing out of her pores, and Adalia restrained an eyeroll. She knew her sister was happy she was making connections in Asheville. Over the past few months, Georgie had poured her worry into two things: the brewery and Adalia. Which, to be fair, Adalia had shown up in Asheville a sobbing mess back in June.

Was it weird that the only friend she’d really made here in Asheville was the eighty-two-year-old great-aunt of her sister’s boyfriend? Probably, but Adalia either stayed at home or went to the brewery with Georgie, so it wasn’t like she’d had a lot of opportunities to socialize. Normally, that would have bothered her. Normally, she was the social one of the three Buchanan siblings—oops… fourBuchanan siblings, but Adalia knew absolutely nothing about her newly discovered half-brother, Jack Durand, other than he didn’t seem to have a sense of humor. Or at least he didn’t display one in the video business meetings he’d participated in with his sisters. Still, he was somewhat useful, and he’d played a big role in the opening party, even though he’d made all of the arrangements from Chicago.

Adalia had learned of his existence at the reading of Grandpa Beau’s will, and at first she’d had no interest in getting to know him. It had felt almost like a betrayal of her mother. Now, as of today, she was his roommate. He’d gone back to Chicago shortly after the will reading for undisclosed reasons—packing didnottake three months; Adalia had done it in an afternoon—but he’d shown up at Grandpa Beau’s house this morning in a small moving van towing a Prius.

Up until a couple of weeks ago, Adalia had been sharing the house with Georgie, but her sister had spent so much time at River’s apartment that he’d finally asked her to move in. Georgie had done some more worrying about Adalia, not wanting to leave her alone with their inherited devil cat, Jezebel, but Adalia had encouraged her to be happy and take her lovefest elsewhere. Something she’d regretted as soon as Jack set a move-in date. He’d dragged his feet for so long she’d kind of hoped he’d forgotten about it. Although she’d lived with plenty of Craigslist strangers, none of the others had been her brother.

“He’s not a stranger,” Georgie had admonished when Adalia had voiced her irritation. “You’ve talked to him in our video meetings.”

“Where he’s all business. Nothing personal. He’s like a robot. And besides, I’ve never met him in person.”

“He was at the will reading,” Georgie had reminded her.

“And we never said a word to each other.” But Adalia had flinched at the reminder. She wasn’t proud of the way she’d acted that day. She’d talked about him right in front of his face, like he wasn’t even there. Like he was an inconvenience rather than a person. She of all people should have known better, and she couldn’t help wondering if he held it against her.

She definitely would have.

Bright and early that morning—had he driven all night?—Jack had dropped off some of his belongings in Georgie’s old room. He’d said all of thirty-two words to Adalia (she’d counted), most of them conveying the message that he was dropping the rest of his stuff off at a prearranged storage facility. Then he’d promptly disappeared until a few hours before the opening, which had irritated Adalia to no end.

“Why couldn’t he have come into town yesterday?” she’d asked her sister while they were going through the final preparations. “He should be here helping.”

“He set a lot of things up remotely, Addy, and you know it. I don’t know why he couldn’t come to Asheville sooner, but he’s here now. Be nice.”

Benice.

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