Page 9 of Bad Luck Club

“Adalia’s marinara sauce,” Finn said.

“Hope you’re hungry,” Adalia said as she chopped lettuce on the cutting board.

“I’m getting there.”

Finn turned to face him. “Addy tells me you’re going to try your hand at sales. That’s great, Lee!”

Lee tried not to grimace. “Well, I’ve screwed up everything else…there’s not much left to try.”

Finn released a hearty laugh. “That’s the spirit.”

Adalia shot Finn a dark look.

Oblivious, Finn continued, “I know River’s around to give you advice, but he was always more interested in the creative side than the business end. While I was never a beer rep, I know how they operate. I can give you some pointers or even hook you up with a few of the reps at Big Catch. They’d be happy to give you advice.”

Finn and River had started Big Catch Brewing six years ago, after meeting at a beer festival. River had the brews, and Finn had the cash. They’d built it from the ground up, and then Finn had sold it for several million to Bev Corp, a corporation notorious for buying craft breweries and turning them into mini Bev Corps. He’d made the arrangements without consulting River, figuring the raise Bev Corp had promised to give him would help him overcome his hesitations about working for such a large company. That had been a misfire. River had quit and joined Buchanan to help Georgie revitalize the old, tired brewery. Finn had opened a consulting business that helped start-ups get off the ground.

It had worked out tidily for both of them in the end. They both had jobs they wanted. Actually, everyone around Lee had jobs they wanted. Georgie and River. Finn. And Adalia was enjoying the social media drudge she did for the brewery, while her art career took off.

And then there was Lee. Selling beer he couldn’t bring himself to try. Which circled him back around to what Finn had just said.

“Why would your sales reps help me? I’m the competition.”

“Well,” Finn said, “first of all, they aren’tmysales reps. Not anymore. And second, the beer industry’s pretty laid-back. Quite a few sales reps from different breweries meet for lunch on Friday afternoons.”

Lee found that pretty hard to believe, but Finn would know better than he did. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Did you hear about Dad?” Adalia asked quietly.

“There are quite a few things going on with Dad,” Lee said dryly. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

She lifted her face and held his gaze. “He’s trying to make a plea bargain. He asked Georgie to be a character witness.”

“Georgie?” he asked in disbelief.

She shrugged. “Of course she said no. I think he knew I’d never do it and…well, before all of this, he would have run straight to you.”

“Yeah. I guess it’s not a good idea to ask your son to be a character witness after he turned state’s evidence on you and gave the FBI permission to raid your office.”

A grin lit up her eyes. “So I’ve heard.” Her smile faded. “You did the right thing, Lee.”

“I thought so at the time. I knew turning him in would change things, but I didn’t realize I was blowing up my life.”

Leaning over the island, she looked up at him. “I know this hurts right now. But itwillget better. I promise.”

He inhaled and turned to look out the back windows into the back yard.

“Lee.” She reached out and clasped his hand.

He turned back to face her.

“I was really broken when I got here too, but I got better.”

Lee’s gaze flicked to Finn, who had slipped out of the room and was setting the table in the dining room.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Finn was part of it, but not all of it. In fact, Dottie was the one who started me down the road to healing. You’ll find your way there too.”

Dottie had made plenty of noise about trying to help Lee “find his way,” but he’d managed to hold her off.

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