Page 53 of Bad Luck Club

Her disappointment was evident in her tone, and to his surprise, shame filled him.

“Jack’s a good man,” Dottie said, reaching across the table and covering Lee’s hand with her own. “And he needs you as much as you need him.”

Lee bristled. “I don’t need him.”

A sad smile filled her eyes. “Someday, you’ll see that you do.” She patted his hand and slid hers off the table and onto her lap. “I realize Beau’s orchestrations seem very manipulative—”

“Because they are.”

“True,” she acknowledged, her shoulders sagging, and for the first time since Lee had met her, she looked like the eighty-some-odd years he knew her to be. “Where do you think your father learned it?”

That was like a gut punch. His father was a master manipulator, and while Lee barely remembered Beau Buchanan, he was becoming generous with his feelings toward him. “Like father, like son,” he said dryly. “Like grandson.”

How much manipulating was Lee guilty of? Trying to coerce River to sign that prenup agreeing to waive his rights to the brewery. Trying to convince his sisters to sell the brewery. Coercing Adalia to give up her art. Suggesting to Georgie that her first company was destined to fail. God, how far back did it go? Although he’d been his father’s puppet in some of those instances, it didn’t absolve him. He was an asshole.

A soft look washed over Dottie’s face. “There’s a difference between manipulating someone because you feel they need a push in the right direction, and doing it for your own gain.”

Hadn’t Blue said something similar? But she’d only approached him because of Bear’s challenge. Their relationship—if he could call it that—was nothing but a game. “Manipulation is still manipulation, Dottie,” he muttered, “and it still hurts.”

She nodded. “I know.”

They were silent for a moment, and the waitress slowly edged closer to the table. “I would have come over sooner, but you two looked like you were talking about something very heavy, so I waited. Is now a good time to take your order?”

Dottie gave him a questioning look, as though she didn’t expect him to stay. Turned out she knew him pretty well. He wanted to know more about Buchanan Brewery in its prime, but Dottie’s knowledge came at a heavy price.

“I have to go,” he said as he tugged his wallet out of his pants pocket. He pulled out a twenty and set it on the table. “But this should cover her tab.”

Dottie glanced over at the waitress. “Come back in a few minutes, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.” She scurried off, leaving just the two of them.

“You’re a good man, Lee.”

Lee released a harsh scoff.

“But Prescott dug a hole so deep for you it will take a scoop shovel to get you out. Maybe a few.”

He let out a bitter laugh. “Thanks for the assessment.”

“But you don’t have to do it alone,” she said. “Your siblings want to help you. Even Jack.”

He didn’t say anything. He knew she was right. It was Lee’s own feelings that held him back from connecting with Jack.

“And Blue,” she added carefully. “Did you go to the club with her?”

He inhaled deeply, surprised at how much his heart hurt, telling himself it was only his pride that was wounded. “Yeah. I should have recognized a sales pitch when I heard it, so shame on me for falling for it.”

“It wasn’t a sales pitch.”

“She admitted it to her group, Dottie. She only invited me because she’d been challenged to help someone. It was basically a dare.”

Several people seated around them turned to stare, and he realized he’d raised his voice.

“Things aren’t always as they appear, Lee.”

He closed his eyes, and a mushroom cloud of emotions worked its way up his chest, clogging his throat and making it difficult to breathe. A bone-deep weariness covered him like a wet blanket.

“Is it wrong to want them to be?” he whispered.

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