“Just so long as you’re not cuckolding my ‘sister,’” Iris said with air quotes.
“He’s like a brother to me,” Maisie said, waving a hand dismissively.
“I’ve learned people have really loose interpretations of family around here.”
Maisie shook her head a little, a smile playing on her lips, and followed Finn into the kitchen. But the smile didn’t last, because Finn could only want one thing. And God…he was not the person she wanted knowing her secret. But he did, and she needed to talk him off a ledge before he did something stupid like announce to everyone at the Thanksgiving table that Maisie had massively confusing feelings about the groom-to-be.
“What are you doing?” she hissed, pulling him to the back of the kitchen. It smelled worse in here, like singed hair. Lurch’s eyebrows maybe.
“What are you doing?” he hissed back. “River says you’re going to be co-best man. You still haven’t told him.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Have you told Adalia?” she asked, dreading the answer.
“No,” he said, surprising her. “But I want you to. This is driving me nuts. Do you know how hard it is for me to keep a secret like this?”
She did. And it wasn’t really fair of her to ask it of him, so she just nodded. “I haven’t had a girls’ night with her and Blue for a while. Maybe I’ll talk to both of them.” She’d met Enid “Blue” Combs through the animal shelter, but they hadn’t really become friends until Adalia brought them together. She saw Blue a little more frequently now, what with Adalia spending so much time with Finn, but she hadn’t told her about the River situation. Maybe it would feel good to unburden herself.
“Good,” he said with obvious relief. “Now let’s go back out there, together, and you can congratulate them.”
“Okay, bro, but only because you went full boss man on me,” she said, giving him a little nudge. But she went with him willingly enough, smiling a little when she saw Iris had taken her advice and retreated to places unknown.
The rest of the party had returned to the table, although River, Georgie, Adalia, and Dottie were gathered around what looked to be Georgie’s cell phone. Like before, Jack sat at a slight distance from the others. She was tempted to physically push his chair closer. Or maybe sit on his lap. He met her eyes and shifted slightly, as if inviting her to do just that. But instead she linked arms with Finn and hustled up to River.
“Co-best men at your service.”
River cut his attention away from the phone, from which a handsome man with hazel eyes and dark blond hair was gazing at the Lurch portrait in horror. The Post-it had fallen off. That had to be their other brother, who sounded like he had a real stick up his behind, from everything she’d heard. But River was smiling at her, his expression hopeful, and he deserved her attention much more than some stuffed shirt in New York did.
“Congratulations, River,” she said, all jokiness falling away. He hugged her, and she ignored the slight pricking of tears in her eyes and pulled back first. Georgie was holding the phone, which gave her the perfect excuse to just nod her congratulations to the bride-to-be.
Her nod was returned.
“And when do you plan on getting married?” came the brother’s voice through the phone speakers. Even over the crappy phone speakers, he had a nice voice, Maisie would give him that. But she felt a prickle of defensiveness for River. This jerk clearly would have preferred to ask Georgie, in private, whether she had any second thoughts.
“As soon as possible,” Georgie said, gaze locked on River’s. “Just after Brewfest, we were thinking.”
March. That was just a few months away.
“But I’ve already started planning the engagement party,” Dottie said. “Early January would be a lovely time of year.”
It would certainly be a cold time of year.
Georgie’s eyes rounded with alarm, which was completely understandable given the smell of smoke still hung in the air from Dottie’s last attempt to co-opt the planning for a family event. River took her hand and opened his mouth to let Dottie down gently.
But he didn’t need to.
“I think we should plan it at the brewery,” Jack said from behind everyone. His eyes glimmered with the idea. And he pushed his chair a little bit closer to the others. Turning to Dottie, he added, “I’ll take care of the logistics, but I’ll need your help, Dottie.”
River gave him a slight nod, a silent thank you, and Georgie actually mouthed the words.
Turning back to the screen, she said, “You’ll come, won’t you, Lee?”
He was silent for a few moments, as if trying to consider whether there was any way out, and then he nodded. “I will.”
“And I’d like you to stand up with me in the wedding party,” River said, glancing back at Jack. “Jack’s already agreed to do the same.”
He had? Maisie glanced at Jack, only to find him watching her, a gaze that seemed almost electric. A small nod. He knew she was co-best man, then, and that they’d be thrown together for this wedding. But it was hard to tell whether he thought that was a good thing—and even though her attraction to him had, if anything, grown stronger, she wasn’t so sure either. She thought that maybe she needed to get through this, to see River married, before she could really move on.
A pained look crossed Georgie’s face, but she said, “And I’d be honored if Victoria stood up with me. I know you two are getting serious.”
A knock sounded over the phone’s speakers, and a cold voice said, “Lee, are you on the phone in there? Your dad is about to make a speech, and it would look very odd if you weren’t at the table.”
A speech about what? Gratitude? That seemed rich.
Lee had the grace to look embarrassed, but he called, “I’ll be right out,” before he turned back to the phone. In a voice little above a whisper, he said, “We’ll talk later.”
Then he signed off.
They were all silent for a moment, the effects of Lee’s disappearing act lingering like the stench of smoke in the air. Adalia was the first to speak.
“I hope that means Vic-tor-ia won’t want to come.”
“I want her to come for Lee,” Georgie said. She paused, glancing at River, and from the look in his eyes, it was obvious this was something they’d discussed. “And Dad should be here too.”
Adalia made a face. “I’d hoped to go the rest of my adult life without seeing him again.”
She meant it too. She’d said as much to Maisie on more than one occasion.
“He’s our father,” Georgie said simply. Maisie glanced at Jack, whose expression had darkened, and she was tempted to say something in his defense. To say that the man had simply lent them his genetic material. That doing so didn’t give him the right to torture them for decades. Then again, Maisie didn’t know firsthand what it was like to have a terrible parent. She only knew the loss of two good ones.
“Well, should we have pie?” Dottie asked.
Then Finn started collecting the dishes, with River helping, and Jack got to his feet and started looking around the room for Iris, like maybe she’d hidden under a pillow.
Maisie came up to him and put a hand on one of his arms.
“She’s upstairs,” she said. “I suggested it might be a reasonable time to leave if she felt so inclined.”
Jack swore under his breath, and it occurred to her that he was in a true predicament. He wanted to be with his family, but even though his sisters were all in the same house, Iris had isolated herself. It was either go upstairs and be with her or stay down here with Adalia and Georgie.
“I doubt she’d object if you brought her some pie,” she suggested. “My sister went through the whole teenage angst stage, but it didn’t do any harm to her sweet tooth. Bringing her brownies or whatever was always the best way to get her to talk.”
“You have sisters too?”
“Yes, and my sisters are literally the most different people possible, so sometimes I have to be
the go-between. Middle Child Duty, I call it.”
His mouth twitched. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for a peacemaker.”
She smiled at him. “Now you’re the one trying to put me in boxes. But you’re not wrong. They didn’t have much of a choice, though. Desperate times called for desperate measures.”
“Desperate times, indeed,” he said with a sigh. “This day didn’t exactly go like I hoped it would.” He met her gaze again, held it, and she felt tingles shoot through her body, like she had become effervescent. She had a feeling she knew what he’d hoped.
“It certainly didn’t go as Diego had planned.”
Jack barked a laugh, his gaze shooting to the Thanksgiving Dinner portrait. The Post-it had gone back up, but there was a little smiley face on it, which had almost certainly been Adalia’s work.
“I’m surprised to hear you joke about it.”
She shrugged. “Gallows humor. I think being Stella’s muse is basically a death sentence. My hopes are not high for Lurch’s future.”
“No kidding,” Jack said, leaning a little closer, his heat engulfing her. “I was looking forward to seeing you today.”
“Were?” she asked. “Did that change somewhere between the fire and the most awkward video chat in history?”
“No,” he said, “it didn’t change at all. It’s just…with Iris. It’s not a good time for me to get involved with anyone.” He looked at her again, regret in his eyes. “Today proved that. I told myself she’d get adjusted, that it wasn’t selfish of me to bring her here, but I’m not so sure that’s true.”
The disappointment that washed through her was stronger than it should have been. After all, hadn’t she decided they shouldn’t pursue this attraction between them? Except she’d sought him out again, and here they were, standing much too close for two people who’d decided they didn’t think it wise to start anything. Or continue anything.
“I get it,” she said. “I don’t know why you brought her here, but I expect you had your reasons. I was my younger sister’s guardian for a little over a year after high school, and it’s not easy. It consumes everything.”
He gave her a look, like maybe he wanted to ask questions, but he didn’t. He just reached for her hand and squeezed it.
“Wait,” Dottie said, drawing their attention back to the dining room table. Maisie had a split second to notice Adalia was looking at her hand, which was clasped with Jack’s, before she pulled away.
Then Dottie continued, “We didn’t finish our discussion of what we’re grateful for. Let’s do it over dessert.”
She sounded genuinely excited over the idea, but Maisie didn’t feel like taking part. Suddenly, she itched to leave. To be with the dogs at the shelter. She’d already told a horrified Adalia that she would take the platter of Diego off her hands. She hated the thought of anyone eating him, but he’d already been cooked, and it would be more awful, to her mind, if he went uneaten. So the dogs would have goose this year instead of turkey.
“Iris is definitely not going to come down for that,” Jack muttered, which gave Maisie an idea. He had to find a way to get Iris engaged in Asheville so she’d want to stay; Maisie constantly needed help at the shelter. Win-win.
Except she knew what Molly would say. She’d roll her eyes and say something like, Having feelings isn’t going to be your hamartia, you know. You want to see him too. This’ll give you the chance…without everyone else around. Her sister had learned that word in high school English—hamartia, a fatal flaw leading to one’s downfall—and it had appealed to the drama queen in her. Of course, Molly wasn’t one to talk. Her longest boyfriend had lasted all of two weeks.
She looked at Jack, saw the worried way he was eyeing the stairs.
“Does she like dogs?” she asked.
Chapter Ten
“Why are you determined to ruin my life?” Iris asked in the petulant tone Jack had, unfortunately, grown used to hearing.
“I had no idea you’d taken drama classes the first quarter of the year,” Jack said nonchalantly as he drove toward the dog shelter, refusing to let his sister see she was getting under his skin. “You really should consider getting a talent agent.”
“Hardy-har-har,” she groaned, but he caught the hint of a grin before she went back to scowling. “And you should take that stand-up act on the road.” Then she quickly added, “But I refuse to watch any of your acts. I don’t need more embarrassment. Thanksgiving may have been a week ago, but the memories will last a lifetime.”
“That’s okay,” he said, making sure his voice still sounded breezy. “I’ll stick to karaoke.”
“Karaoke?” she asked, swinging her head around to face him.
He’d had a feeling that would pique her interest. “Addy took me and Georgie. You should have seen Georgie singing Bruno Mars’s ‘Uptown Funk.’”
Iris started to grin, but it didn’t stick the landing. She remembered she was supposed to be mad and scowled again.
Seeing her struggle to keep the chip on her shoulder reassured him that she’d eventually come around.
“I can’t see Georgie doing that unless she was drunk. She seems uptight.”
While Iris was partially right, Jack still felt the need to defend his other sister. “Georgie’s got a lot on her mind.”
“Her wedding?” Iris scoffed.
“The brewery. It was a mess when we took over, remember? She put a lot of her own money into it, and it’s just now starting to pay most of the bills, like the payroll. A lot of people need the brewery to work—you and me included—and it’s pretty stressful.” He still felt guilty about that. He’d put a lot of pressure on her not to sell, but they never would have made it this far if she hadn’t invested the capital from the sale of her new age women’s product company into the brewery. Sure, she’d met River because of it, but she’d gone through tons of stress those first few months while he’d flown off to Chicago to deal with a different kind of stress with Iris and his mother.
Iris was quiet for several seconds, then said, “So bringing me to this dog shelter is your lame attempt to make me feel like I belong in Asheville?”
“It’s my lame attempt to help you make up for those mediocre grades.”
“I already turned in most of my college applications,” she said with a huff as she looked outside. “So there’s no point.”
“News flash—they still look at your grades for the rest of your senior year, Iris,” he said, irritation bleeding into his tone for the first time since he’d picked her up after school.
She didn’t respond.
“You like dogs, and this will be a great way to get some community service hours. And yes, I know,” he added, “you’ve already turned in most of your college applications, but like I told you, they’ll see your second quarter grades. Doing some good for the community might help offset the dip.” And they needed her applications to shine. He’d saved up a little college fund for her, but it was nowhere near enough to pay for a degree at Northwestern. If she didn’t want to take out loans she’d be paying until she was forty, she’d need a scholarship. It took grades and extracurriculars to get a scholarship. But she wouldn’t thank him for saying any of that.
Jack saw the shelter up ahead, and as he pulled into the small parking area up front, he shot Iris a glance, asking her something that had been on his mind for weeks. “What’s a harridan?”
“What?” she asked, scrunching her nose. “Why are you asking me that?”
“Because you scored a 32 on your reading ACT. So what’s a harridan?”
She pushed out a breath in exasperation. “A mean, cranky woman. A shrew. Now why do you want to know?”
He’d gathered as much, but a slow smile lifted his lips. “I read it in a magazine.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Since when do you read magazines?”
He reached for his door handle. “Since I moved to Asheville. Come on.”
He got out, telling himself he only felt eager because, for al
l her objections, Iris actually looked a little excited as she got out of the car. The one-story building looked like it had seen better days, but he supposed most of the money they acquired went to the animals, not into beautification.
Iris joined him and they walked in together. A man with long white hair and a neatly trimmed beard sat at the front desk, his fingers flying over the keyboard of his laptop. He glanced up and smiled. “You must be our new volunteer.”
Iris hesitated, then said, “Yeah. I’m Iris Durand.”
Jack was relieved she sounded more like herself and not the changeling she’d become upon moving to Asheville. “I’m Jack,” he said, “her brother.”
“I’m Dustin,” he said, walking around the counter. “Former volunteer turned employee.” He said this last bit proudly, as if it were a new status. “So you know anything’s possible.” He winked at Iris, who responded with a flat expression.
Jack had been told he looked like that too, when confronted with something he didn’t know how to react to. It had happened a lot in Asheville.
“Maisie asked me to let her know when you two showed up,” Dustin continued. “Why don’t you follow me?”
He led them to a door with a sign that said Kennels.
“I get to start out with the dogs?” Iris said in a hushed voice, and Jack was thrilled to hear her excitement.
He had warned her that her first day might be an orientation, that she probably would not be allowed to play with the dogs yet, but he knew how much she needed some simple enjoyment and the soul nourishment that came from doing something good. Somehow Maisie had known it too. She’d been the one to suggest it, after all.
He’d been skeptical at first, thinking that Iris would presume he was trying to pawn her off for free labor, and while she’d made a few smart-mouthed comments about child labor laws—he’d pointed out that she’d aged out of them when she turned seventeen—her objections hadn’t been too adamant. Iris had always loved animals. She’d begged their mother for a dog for years to no avail, which Jack had secretly thought was for the best given their mother’s instability. And while Iris claimed she hated everything about Asheville, he’d caught her snuggling with Tyrion on the sofa while she watched TV (always when Adalia wasn’t around, of course).
Getting Lucky (Asheville Brewing Book 3) Page 9