Page 28 of Bad Luck Club

But if he wasn’t able to fix the dent on his car, he certainly wouldn’t be able to buy her new Valentino shoes, and she truly didn’t care. It was one less gift from Remy.

Since they were here to be truthful with each other—to form the bond that would be the bedrock of his work with Bad Luck Club, she decided to tell him so.

“They were a gift from my ex-husband. I wasn’t upset to throw them away.”

He grunted, like he hadn’t been expecting that. “You were married?”

“Twice, actually. To be fair, the first time was in college, and it only lasted for two months,” she said, surprised the words were coming so easily. It had taken her months to share her truth with Adalia and Maisie. But she was changing—Bear and the club had helped her accept her past. Plus, there was something about Lee that made it easy to tell him, even though she’d known it would shock him.

Taking in his dazed expression, she had to wonder what he was thinking. Did he think she was crazy again? With Buford and the brightly colored octopuses and her two ex-husbands?

Give him time.If he still thinks so at the end of the night, this might be a bust. But you’re kind of a lot, and he’s been through the wringer.

“Adalia didn’t say.”

“She wouldn’t have. I don’t like talking about it. Radical honesty, remember?”

He still looked like his mind had been blown, so she silently padded into the kitchen and took two beers out of the fridge, popping the bottle caps. Then she came back and handed him a bottle.

He studied it silently for a second, like the label was written in Latin, and then lifted it for a sip. His eyes widened even more.

“What is it?” she asked. “Haven’t you tried this one before?”

It was a seasonal beer, for the spring. Which made it a bit of a strange fit for winter, but Blue loved it. Which was surprising, because it was maybe the first beer she’d ever liked. It was lemony and…happy, and it made her think of sunshine and warmth. Home Sweet Home, they were calling it, and that’s how it made her feel. Like walking into the innocence of childhood—before she understood that her mother’s mood swings were more than that. Before her father started looking at her like he was a psychiatrist constantly judging her for signs of madness. Before she started looking at herself that way.

“You talked about radical honesty,” he said, tilting his head a little, studying her. “This is the first Buchanan beer I’ve ever tried. And it’sgood. Maybe good enough to win at Brewfest.”

Chapter Nine

Lee had wanted to turn down Blue’s offer of a beer for a couple of reasons. One, he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to drink in front of her. She’d met him twice at his worst, and what she’d seen had convinced her that he needed some kind of support group. (Not for alcoholism, presumably, or she wouldn’t be offering him a drink.) But also, because he’d dragged his heels for so long about trying a Buchanan beer that it felt wrong to drink one so casually. But maybe he was making too big a deal out of it. He could drink one without the pressure of his family looking on, waiting for a reaction, and just get it out of the way.

He hadn’t expected to like it, let alonereallylike it.

He also hadn’t meant to tell Blue that he hadn’t drunk one of his family’s beers before, but the words had spilled out.

Radical honesty, Blue had said. That was a brand-new concept for him. After his mother’s death, his family had thrived on the superficial…well, everyone except for Adalia, who’d always worn her heart on her sleeve. But even she had been whipped into submission. Or rather she’d learned to stay away from the rest of them so she didn’t have to live a lie.

While part of him was intrigued by the concept of honesty, if he was truthful with himself, he was more intrigued by the woman who’d suggested it.

She was the reason he was here, not the cult-slash-support group she wanted him to join. Well, that and the fact that Dottie had insisted Stella would know if he didn’t actually visit Blue tonight, thanks to her third eye and something about her chakra. (He knew a setup when he saw one. Too bad it was after the fact.) While Blue had the laid-back vibe he’d come to associate with Asheville, he saw something deeper in her blue eyes. He wanted to know more about her.

He wasn’t looking for a relationship. He’d only broken up with Victoria a month ago. And although he wasn’t sure, in retrospect, that he’d ever loved her, he had almost married her. Truthfully, he wasn’t sure he’d ever truly been in love with anyone. One more reason to take some time and figure out what the hell was wrong with him. Every thirty-two-year-old man had been in love at least once.

But when he looked into Blue’s eyes, he seemed to forget his commitment to swear off women. Which scared him as much as it intrigued him: hence the dent on the bumper of his car, something he would have fixed without hesitation if he’d had more than twelve hundred dollars in his bank account.

He was tangled up inside, no question about that.

Maybe her support group was exactly what he needed.

Still, he wasn’t fooling himself. He wasn’t here to evaluate attending her group. Radical honesty—the only thing that interested him about the Bad Luck Club was Blue.

But now she was staring at him like he’d just announced he’d killed the Easter Bunny and smashed all his eggs. On the other side of the room, Buford eyed Lee with an intensity that had him wondering if the rabbit had read his mind. Okay, it was a bad analogy. At least he hadn’t said it out loud.

“How is it that you’ve never had a Buchanan beer?” she asked in disbelief.

He lifted his shoulder into a lazy shrug. “I’m not much of a beer drinker.”

A soft smile lifted her lips. “Neither am I.”

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