Page 42 of Getting Lucky

It had been one of the more eccentric tenets of their grandfather’s will, along with his decision to include Jack, the unacknowledged Buchanan child.

River reached over and grabbed his upper arm. “I understand, Jack. No hard feelings.”

“It’s just…” He paused, then decided to plunge forward. “I don’t trust easily, and I thought you knew about the will situation and possibly planned to sabotage us to get the brewery. The whole Lurch thing didn’t help.”

River grinned. “No, I imagine it wouldn’t. You know, Aunt Dottie told me Stella’s more inspired by him than ever now that he has scars. Of course, by scars she means one long mark on his right hand. Apparently, all of the animals in her paintings have scars now too.”

“Huh,” Jack said, wishing he could tell Maisie. She’d be amused. Probably. He doubted she’d gotten over the whole Diego thing. He and Adalia still had the Thanksgiving painting hanging up in the dining room. He’d wanted to superglue Georgie’s Post-it over Lurch’s junk, but his artist sister had disagreed on principle. (She didn’t believe in ruining art.) Instead, she’d painted a single perfect fig leaf over it. He fully expected a conniption fit if Stella ever darkened their doorway again.

“Anyway, I digress,” River said. “I’m just a lucky man. Turns out I got the woman of my dreamsandmy dream job.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I could accuse you of putting the moves on Georgie to hedge your bets.”

River’s shoulders tensed.

“Relax,” Jack said. “I was kidding. I know you’re in love with her, otherwise I never would have offered to plan your engagement party.”

River offered his hand and Jack shook it.

“Is everything okay?” Georgie asked as she emerged from the hallway, slipping on her jacket.

“Yep,” River said.

“Sure is,” Jack responded.

She glanced between the two of them with a frown. “You ready, Jack?”

Jack grabbed the cake plate and lifted it. “Sure thing. Thanks again for dinner and dessert.”

“Glad to have you,” River said.

Jack headed for the door, and Georgie followed him out. They got into her car and drove in silence for a couple of blocks before his sister said, “You know, I was surprised when you offered to plan our party.”

“Oh?” Jack asked, shifting in his seat. “Don’t feel obligated to accept.”

“Oh, no,” she said. “It’s just that you’re closer to Addy.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that, because they both knew she was right.

“I admit that I’ve held back,” she said quietly. “It’s been busy with the brewery and River, but I could have made more of an effort to spend time with you. I haven’t, though, and a large part of that is because I’m embarrassed and ashamed.”

He nearly asked her what she was ashamed of, but she beat him to it.

“I knew you existed, Jack, and other than a small attempt to find you on social media, I never really tried to reach out to you.”

“It’s okay, Georgie,” he said, even though he only half meant it.

“No, it’s not. I should have found a way to get in touch with you. But I messed up, and then you left Asheville, and part of me worried you were running off on me. And when youdidcome back, I didn’t know what to do about any of it. So I didn’t do anything.”

He stayed quiet.

“So for you to offer to plan our engagement party…”

“It’s okay, Georgie,” he said, feeling better after hearing her apology. She obviously meant it. “I knew about you three, but I was legally bound from approaching you. Or at least my mother was. I could have defied the order and tried anyway—”

“No,” she said emphatically. “My father would have legally pounced on your mother. You did the right thing. I have no such excuse.”

“It’s already done,” he said. “We can’t change the past. We can only move forward.”

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