Page 52 of Bad Luck Club

Can we meet for breakfast? It’s important. 8:00 am? You name the place.

* * *

He wasn’t surprised when she responded at around six thirty. She seemed like an early-to-rise type of person. She sent the name of the restaurant Georgie had taken him and Adalia to the morning after the reading of Beau Buchanan’s will. It was a vegan place and ordinarily he’d ask her to suggest someplace else, but this morning he had other priorities. He also wasn’t surprised to discover she’d arrived first, gracing him with a warm smile as he approached the table.

“Dottie, thanks for agreeing to meet with me.”

“I always have time for you, Lee. I’m delighted you asked.”

He sat down opposite her and folded his hands on the table. “I’m sure you’re wondering why I invited you to breakfast.”

She shook her head. “Not at all. We had such a delightful lunch and afternoon on Friday, I figured you were eager to reconnect.”

He grinned despite himself. He wouldn’t call their lunch delightful—he’d been an asshole—but he wasn’t surprised she thought so. She came across not only as a glass-half-full-type person, but one who subscribed to the philosophy that the extra room in the glass allowed for more blessings. Surprisingly, he didn’t mind it as much as he would have expected.

“That too,” he said surprising himself. “Actually, I wanted to ask you some questions about how Beau ran the brewery.”

Remarkably, he seemed to have caught her off guard. “Oh.”

“Phil told me that we’ve lost business since the shutdown, but he seemed to think it was a long time coming because there hadn’t been any new products for a long time. I’d like you to tell me what the business was like before it started failing.”

She drew in a breath, then pushed it out. “It was a slow decline,” she said carefully. “It didn’t happen overnight.”

“That’s fair,” Lee said. “I think most things work that way. You don’t see it when you’re in the thick of it, but once you remove yourself from the situation, it becomes a lot clearer that you were like a frog in a pot slowly brought to boil.”

She gave him a knowing look, acknowledging that his description fit his situation too but not outright commenting on it. He could handle that a lot better than pity.

The thought gave him a flash of Blue’s face—her eyes wide and pleading as she asked him to talk to her before she dropped him off at the Buchanan house. But Blue had only been upset because she felt sorry for him. Because she didn’t like to see people upset.

“You have to understand that I wasn’t there at the beginning,” she said. “I came along after your grandfather started the brewery, but the business was still relatively young. Buchanan was one of the first breweries in Asheville, and it got going before there were tasting rooms. The business wasn’t nearly as competitive as it is now, but people weren’t as hungry for craft beer either.”

“Don’t you mean thirsty?” Lee asked with a slight smile.

She laughed. “Touché. But it was a different environment. Beau and those of us who did tasting events were trying to convince buyers to purchase local beer, not their usual mass-manufactured beers like Coors and Anheuser-Busch. Beau Brown has been on the menu since the very beginning. It’s always been a favorite. Beau only had about six beers on the line back then, but it’s grown and shrunk with the times. As you know, Georgie and River kept the three most popular brews, and River’s expanded our offerings, although he’s bringing back another old favorite for the spring. My old favorite.”

“It sounds like most of the clients we lost used the closure last summer as an excuse to drop us, but Phil said a few of our customers were upset that their favorites were no longer being offered.”

Dottie’s lips pressed together. “Sometimes people need a push to change. It was up to Phil to make our customers see that.” She studied him for a moment. “I take it you’ve decided to fill in for Phil after all.”

He nodded. “I’m not going to leave Georgie and Addy in a lurch.” Then he added, “And Jack too, of course. I’ll get the company’s sales back up to speed, and then we’ll see what happens next. If they place well at Brewfest, they may get all the publicity they need to get the sales situation sorted.”

He planned to play on Addy’s social media campaign about the tasting room being a second home, promoting the sense of belonging and family, only he would extend it to the bars and restaurants that had Buchanan beer on tap. He’d intentionally avoided learning anything about his grandfather’s business, but it was time for him to take a deep dive. To understand the brand and its roots within the surrounding community.

“I want to know what it was like in the early years,” Lee said. “The camaraderie with the employees, the atmosphere of the tasting room. What made Buchanan Brewery different from the other breweries in town?”

Her smile left her face, and she placed a hand on the table. “It was an exciting time. The state raised the legally allowed alcohol level from six percent to fifteen percent, and it was like hanging out a welcome sign. There was a boom of breweries, and Buchanan was in the thick of it. Beau was so happy, but there was always a part of him that was sad. I knew it was because he wanted more of a relationship with your father and you and your siblings. He wanted to be part of your lives, but he’d come to a place of acceptance. Plus, your mother’s letters helped.”

Lee’s stomach dropped. He’d known about this. He’d heard it on the tape Jack had played for him.

“Your mother sent him letters about what was going on in your lives. Photos too. She wanted Beau to have a relationship with you and your sisters—and even your brother. Your mother knew about Jack. But Jack’s mother wouldn’t allow Beau in Jack’s life any more than your father would allow him in yours.” She gave Lee a weak smile. “The situation broke Beau’s heart, but he respected everyone’s wishes. So while he was happy, there was always an underlying sadness to him. I think that was part of the reason he took to River. They were two lost souls looking for family.”

“So why didn’t Beau give River the brewery outright? Why play games with the will?”

“I think he always intended to leave the brewery to River, but then he saw how happy River was at Big Catch and how he and Finn had built a beautiful thing together. I think Beau was afraid he’d take that from River. He knew how the boy had struggled to find his place. River would have taken Buchanan, of course, and he’d have put his all into making it healthy again. The boy is loyal to a T. But saddling him with the brewery would have been a curse, not a blessing. He didn’t have the capital to make the needed improvements.”

“So he decided to curse us instead?”

She gave him a wry smile. “Perhaps you see it that way, and I know he wrestled with the idea. He even considered selling it before he died, but then he invited Georgie for a visit. He was so proud of our girl, and he wanted to connect with her. I don’t think he actually expected her to come, but she did, and…” Her eyes lit up, and unshed tears filled them. “He wastrulyhappy. For the first time in all the years I’d known him, there was a spark in him…” Dottie’s chin trembled. “Georgie, of course, was Georgie—warm, giving, accepting. I think she enjoyed seeing him nearly as much as he loved seeing her. But Beau knew that none of you were close, and Georgie confirmed it. He didn’t want the three of you to lose each other like he’d lost Prescott, and he hated that you didn’t even know about Jack’s existence…” She gave him a weak grin. “Although I guess you and Georgie knew and didn’t act on it.”

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