Page 91 of Better Luck Next Time

They got settled in their seats and he started the drive in silence. He was the one who broke it, although the question he asked was not the one on his mind.

“Did you have fun last night? Maisie’s good people, and I know you were excited about hanging out with Blue.”

“Yeah, I did,” she said, her posture relaxing—or so he thought from his peripheral vision. “Although it came as something of a disappointment that she didn’t bring her giant rabbit.”

“Naturally. Did she show you a picture?”

“I insisted on it. Get this, his name is Buford. She made a knitted doppelganger of him too, and he sleeps with it. How cool is she?”

He grinned. “I’m glad we met her. She’s going to be a great addition to the show. I like that we’re going to have so many mediums represented in one place.”

“Yeah, me too,” she said, her tone thoughtful. He wanted to ask what she was thinking about, but she beat him to it and asked him about his dinner with Georgie and River.

“They made lasagna,” he said, straight-faced.

She scowled and nudged his arm, her hand lingering on his bicep. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Didn’t Georgie tell you anything?” he asked.

“She may have texted me this morning, but I wanted to hear more about it from you.”

“Okay,” he said, glancing at her, “but we’re getting close. Can you slide your blindfold back up?”

She gave him an intent look before tugging the blindfold into place.

“This better be worth it,” she grumbled, but she sounded intrigued.

“I hope you think it is,” he admitted. “Because otherwise I have a feeling you’re going to makemewear the blindfold on the way home. And before you say it, yes, I will absolutely wear it for you on another occasion if you want me to.”

“That was exactly what I was going to say,” she said with a little laugh. “But you’re not getting out of telling me about last night.”

“Honestly, it went a lot better than I thought it would. River told me in confidence that he thinks they’re going to go for it. Which will make a big difference in terms of who else agrees to participate.”

“Yeah, Georgie confirmed it. I’ll be honest, I know I encouraged you to tell them, but I wasn’t sure how it would go. River, like, super hates Bev Corp.”

Hearing her confirmation bolstered something in him, and he felt more confident about his new plan. His new direction. Hewasgood at this, at helping businesses troubleshoot and grow and change. He was eager to tell Adalia about it, but not yet—he wanted this moment to be about her, about them.

“I won’t say that’s not good news. I’m happy it all worked out. I really think it will be to everyone’s benefit.”

She still had the blindfold on, but he felt her eyes on him, as if they were seeing through the fabric and skin, into his brain or maybe his heart.

“Georgie told me what you said about holding the festival before Brewfest. Did you do this for them?”

It would be easy to say yes—to pretend that his only motivation had been to help the friend he’d hurt. But it wasn’t the full truth, and he didn’t want to lie to her.

“Partly,” he said. “And partly because I want to repair my reputation. But I also like doing a good job. The idea came to me, and it was a good idea. I knew it would work.”

He pulled through the gates, joining a line of cars. Not too bad today, but it was a popular tourist attraction, so the fact that it was a Wednesday was basically meaningless.

He shot a glance at Adalia, but that blindfold made it impossible to read her expression.

“We’re here, aren’t we?” she asked.

“We’ve reached our destination, yes,” he said. “But we’ll be in the car awhile longer. Then I’m going to have to lead you on foot.”

He pulled up to the red-suited attendant, who greeted him, scanned the tickets on his phone, and wished them a good day, all without reacting to the fact that Adalia was blindfolded in the passenger seat. He supposed they’d seen all kinds.

“The suspense is starting to eat at me, Finn. I assume it’s some sort of attraction. Is it a zoo? No, a beer museum!” She paused. “A giant ball of yarn?”

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