Page 53 of Getting Lucky

“Dustin? The guy who lives off blue cheese Danishes?” he asked in a panic.

“He never eats them while he’s wearing the beard,” Maisie said. A wicked smile teased her lips. “At least not that I know of. But the dogs were especially fond of him the last time he wore it. It could have been the cheese.”

Jack made a face and tugged off the beard, tossing it back into the cracked plastic bin from which Iris had pulled it.

“It’s for the dogs, Jack,” Iris said again as she snatched it back out. “You know we got a crazy good response when I posted that photo of you with Ruby last week. This is bound to kick up the social media reach.”

He gave her a skeptical look. “I thought you hated the attention that post got.”

“Fine,” she said with a groan. “I did and still do. Women were drooling over you, and it was totally gross, but I’m also a pragmatist. It got shared like five hundred times. If we can keep that up, imagine how many people will come in and adopt dogs or donate to the shelter.”

“My little protégé,” Maisie said, her voice full of pride.

Jack couldn’t help thinking her plan had been influenced by Adalia. A week ago, Adalia had told Iris about her marketing campaign for the brewery. She took artsy photos of customers in the tasting room and paired them with simple comments about what they were drinking and why they’d come in. The campaign was simple yet effective—it made Buchanan Brewery seem approachable. Friendly. And one of the hashtags she’d created had gotten pretty big (#HomeSweetBrewery). They’d seen a gradual increase in visitors to the tasting room, a significant number of them out-of-towners, which suggested her efforts were working. While Iris hadn’t completely thawed to Jack’s Buchanan half-sisters, she at least respected Adalia enough to follow her advice. She’d applied what she’d learned to that photo of Jack holding Ruby.

Nevertheless, there was no disputing Iris had latched on to Maisie’s attention in particular. She’d started off by working two afternoons a week at the shelter and then added shifts on the weekends. She’d even recruited several other high school kids and, thanks to a Nextdoor ad, a couple of retirees to help out with various projects.

All that volunteering had left her with little time to spend with Jack. But he’d found a solution: last weekend he’d started volunteering at the shelter too. He told himself it was because he wanted to be with Iris, and that was true, but he’d also hoped to see Maisie—and to his relief and consternation, he had.

His first day had been Sunday, and Maisie had arrived soon after they did. One of the volunteers had commented that she rarely came in on Sundays. Jack wasn’t a fool. He knew she was there because of him.

Not that he’d complained.

He and Maisie had spent the afternoon cleaning out a storage shed. Alone. Innuendo had flown back and forth as they sorted through the boxes of junk that had sat in the shed since her parents had acquired the property. It was more fun than he’d ever thought he’d have in a dirty shed. They’d spent three hours talking about anything and everything, including his dysfunctional childhood and her idyllic one. But she’d avoided talking about her parents’ death or what had come afterward, including the shelter’s early days. Still, he’d picked up on some things. She’d taken time off college to finish raising her little sister, and she’d never gone back.

Jack was used to glossing over his past too, but for some reason he didn’t want to do that with Maisie. Maybe it was because he was letting his seventeen-year-old sister hold his romantic life hostage, but he wanted Maisie to understand his need to put Iris first.

She’d listened, intently, with a gaze that made him think she was seeing into the depths of his soul. When he finished, she put down the rusted bicycle pump and took his hand, staring up into his eyes. The gold flecks in them had mesmerized him.

“You’re a good brother,” she’d whispered softly, her face cast in shadows in the dimly lit shed.

But he wanted to be so much more than that. Especially when Maisie’s hand was cradled in his, and she was close enough for him to smell the green apple scent of her shampoo. He felt a closeness to her that he hadn’t felt with anyone since his grandmother had died, and he didn’t want to lose it. She was friends with River and Finn. Maybe she could be his friend too. At least for now.

It had taken everything in him to pull his hand free. “I want…”

“I know,” she said with a weak smile. “I have the worst luck with timing.”

Then she’d walked out, and he hadn’t seen her until this afternoon, four days later, when she’d greeted them both, all smiles, and convinced him to play Santa for the dogs. And sure, he would have done it for Iris. But he was doing it for Maisie too.

“Okay!” Maisie exclaimed as she clapped her hands, shaking Jack out of his stupor. “When River does this, he usually squats next to them and we get a quick photo.”

“No,” Iris said, shaking her head emphatically. “That won’t work.”

“Why not?” Maisie asked with a laugh. “We’ve been doing it like that forever.”

“My point exactly,” Iris said. “Hardly anyone has seen them. Sure, you put some on social media, but taking photos and putting them up with hashtags isn’t enough. People want pretty pictures now.Artisticpictures.”

“You mean photos of hot men,” Maisie said dryly, but her gaze shifted to Jack for a split second in a way that made his blood boil.

“Gross,” Iris said with a shudder. “Stop saying that about my brother, but…” A pained look crossed her face. “Itistrue that the subject matter is almost as important as the quality of the photo. Addy gave me some pointers on how to get good photos with my phone, plus a couple of filters that will help with lighting.”

That information caught Jack by surprise, but he was smart enough not to comment. Adalia’s efforts were apparently paying off. She’d gone above and beyond to include his little sister, showing a level of patience that had surprised him. Iris saw much less of Georgie but seemed more tolerant of her than she’d been in the past, perhaps because Georgie had asked for her input with the bridesmaids’ dresses. Both of those developments were surprising, but most shocking of all was Iris’s acceptance of spending Christmas in Asheville instead of going back to Chicago as she’d originally pleaded.

Maisie crossed her arms over her chest as she gave Iris the side-eye. “It sounds like you have something in mind.”

“That’s because I do. Dustin was kind enough to get the backdrop set up.”

Jack laughed as Maisie dropped her arms, obviously caught by surprise. “Hewhat? You just got here, and he’s not officially on duty today. When did you talk to him?”

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