Page 95 of Bad Luck Club

After a goodbye that lasted a good ten minutes, which only ended because the older woman next door had come out on her porch with a pair of binoculars and a mug of tea, Blue headed inside.

Buford was in his pen, but he instantly started nudging the side upon seeing her, trying to bust his way out. She ran up and lowered herself to the floor, not wanting to startle him, and lifted him from the pen. Adalia had hand-drawn two valentines and taped them to the wall. They were good, of course—Addy had made them. One featured a sketch of Buford with a bow tie, hugging a carrot, and saidLove at first bite, and the other was a sketch of Blue and Lee, arms wrapped around each other.Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m glad you’re boning my brother, because I love you!

She caressed Buford’s silky ears, trying not to smile, and grabbed her phone to text Addy, both to tell her that violets were purple, something she should know as an artist, and that she’d better not have glitter-bombed the studio in her absence. When she picked it up there was already a message on her screen, from Harry.

The Anti-Valentine’s Day party will be in full swing tonight. Coming? I got some dead flowers to add ambiance, I’m making Stupid Cupid punch, and we’re going to hate-watch the movieValentine’s Day. It’s going to be delightfully horrible.

She answered him first.Can’t. I’ve decided I’m pro-Valentine’s this year. You can blame Sleeper Agent. Talk soon. I have a LOT to tell you.

Then she went back to her message list to find Adalia’s last text, and Remy’s popped out at her again.

He’d said he had a surprise, but no package had arrived. What did he want now?

Chapter Twenty-Seven

On Tuesday night, they all got together, Blue included, to give Adalia and Finn a big send-off before they left for the airport. Adalia had wanted to leave early to ensure she would have plenty of time to get her pieces arranged and ready for opening night, although why she needed two days for that, Lee’s non-artist’s brain couldn’t comprehend. The rest of them were on the same flight on Thursday morning.

After the pizza arrived—Dottie had somehow arranged for it to be heart-shaped as a nod to Valentine’s Day, which she was overjoyed to be spending with her “grandchildren”—Lee and Jack sat everyone down for a PowerPoint presentation they’d put together over the past week, complete with samples and figures he’d drawn together from his tastings, to shill for Home Sweet Home as the brewery’s Brewfest contender. He and Jack had put it together mostly remotely, given he’d been doing a lot of traveling for sales meetings.

Through it all, he felt Blue beaming at him, clapping and laughing when he drew up the final slide: Buford with a beer photoshopped next to him.Everybunny knows this is the right choice.

The others had all cheered too, Dottie throwing in a well-timed wolf whistle. River and Georgie exchanged a look, communicating in that silent way that some couples did, and nodded.

“Consider us convinced,” Georgie had said. “Home Sweet Home for the win!”

Soon afterward, they shuttled Finn and Adalia out the door in a haze of glitter, thanks to a glitter bomb Maisie had solemnly presented to Adalia, concealed in a little heart-shaped package. The burst of colored glitter had sent Tyrion running, but Jezebel, who’d been perched on the back of the sofa, yowled and jumped at the cloud of glitter, batting her paws as if to attack it. Then the cat turned to glare at Maisie, as if she knew exactly who the perpetrator had been, and stalked off after Tyrion.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.” Maisie gave her a wicked grin. “I know Finn got you enough chocolate to please Wonka, but I figured this would be your first glitter bomb of the day.”

“We’re going to be cleaning it out of the hallway for weeks,” Adalia said, but she sounded sort of happy about it. Which made Lee less annoyed by the whole thing.

“You’re the one who gave me the idea.” Maisie winked. “I already have a super elaborate one planned for Molly.”

Her younger sister was visiting for Brewfest, apparently. She was some kind of dating blogger, God help them, and apparently she’d come up with a concept for her blog so she could make it a work trip. The working title was “Brews and Boys,” and he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. A gesture Maisie spotted, unfortunately. The narrow-eyed look she gave him made it clear she was as protective of her sisters as she was of Jack.

After the glittery send-off, the rest of them stuck around, reluctant to end the fun, and to Lee’s surprise, River sought him out in the kitchen. “Can you talk privately for a minute?”

Given that Blue and Dottie were deep into a conversation about crystals—one Blue somehow didn’t seem desperate to escape—and Maisie and Georgie were sweeping up the glitter while Jack cleaned the glitter off Jezebel’s coat, the cat amazingly allowing him to do it, he didn’t hesitate to say yes.

They put on coats and headed out to the back deck, Lee gravitating toward the chair he’d since learned had belonged to his grandfather Beau.

For a moment they were quiet, both of them looking into the dark, steeped in their own thoughts. “Thank you for doing that,” River finally said. “I realize I was wrong about you, Lee. You might be leaving, but you still put in all this effort. You really do care about the brewery. Or if you don’t, you at least care about your family. And that’s more important.”

“You weren’t wrong,” he said. Because he didn’t want to lie anymore. Not to anyone. “You got it exactly right. But I’ve realized what’s important, River, and I’m not turning back.” Swallowing the shards of his ego, he added, “It’s good. All of your beer. It’s really good, but especially Home Sweet Home. I was a stubborn fool for refusing to see that for so long.”

River grinned. “You don’t have the monopoly on being a fool. I misjudged you. I guess I looked at you and saw your father.” Which was exactly what Lee had wanted people to see, once upon a time. River tilted his head. “But I don’t see him anymore. Blue’s good for you.”

“She is,” he acknowledged. “She makes me want to be a better man.”

Another grin. “I know a thing or two about that.”

They exchanged back claps and headed inside to join the others. Georgie was talking about the preparations for her wedding, which would hopefully not be quite so colorful as the engagement party had been, and Blue reached for him in a natural, easy way that made him feel wanted. Like he belonged. Like this was exactly where he needed to be.

Except he needed to get that job in New York, didn’t he?

The push-pull was more powerful than he’d expected. He didn’t like the thought of ducking out of the brewery before the competition. It felt like he was abandoning his family before they’d reached the finish line.

So he changed his return flight to Asheville to Friday morning in order to get back to work sooner. If he was offered this job, he didn’t want to leave his siblings in a lurch. He’d do everything he could to make sure the brewery was back on track, from a sales angle, and to spread the word about Home Sweet Home.

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