Lee sat back in his chair, the fight draining out of him.
“Because you were biding your time,” Victoria said in an icy tone.
Jack cracked a slight smile, neither a denial nor confirmation.
“Why are you here?” Adalia asked, turning her wrath on Lee’s girlfriend. “You aren’t any part of this.”
Shock covered Victoria’s perfectly chiseled face. (Georgie would bet money she’d had work done. Surely, no one was so lacking in emotion naturally.) “I’m here to support Lee.”
“You’re his girlfriend,” Adalia said. “You have no business here.”
Georgie was inclined to agree. The two had only been dating eight months. “She’s right.”
“Georgie…” Lee cringed as he snuck a glance at his girlfriend.
“I have every right to be here,” Victoria said, her gaze pinned on Georgie. “How dare you suggest I don’t.”
“You’re not married,” Adalia said. “You’re not even engaged, which means this has nothing to do with you.”
Victoria squared her shoulders as though preparing for a fight. “We are eight months into our three-year plan.”
Dottie, who’d been steadfastly focused on her project, lifted her gaze. “What’s that, dear?”
Lee’s girlfriend scrunched up her nose as if she smelled something disgusting, giving the older woman a look that suggested it was none of her business, so Georgie was surprised when she said, “Our three-year plan. First year is a committed relationship, the second year we get engaged, and the third we get married and buy a house. We’ll have our first baby at the end of year three.”
“Let me guess,” Adalia said in a dry tone. “You’ve not only got the wedding venue booked, but you’ve already picked out your first child’s name and commissioned monogrammed bibs.”
Victoria let out a huff. “You have no idea how far ahead you need to plan to book the Brookside Country Club for a reception, but I have not had bibs monogrammed.”
“No, but you did commission that tapestry,” Lee said, his mouth twitching a little.
Victoria shot him a look so cold Georgie couldn’t believe he hadn’t turned into a block of ice. Why did Lee always go for women like that? Their own mother had been nurturing and sweet—funny too—an odd fit for Prescott, or so everyone used to say. But Lee’s girlfriends always looked like they’d just as soon stab you with a stiletto heel as look at you.
“Nevertheless,” Georgie said in the motherly tone she took on when bossing her siblings around. “You can’t stay for this discussion. We can vote on it if you insist, but I suspect that’s a waste of time.”
“You have no authority to do that, Georgie!” Victoria snapped.
“No, but I do,” Mr. Manning said. “You have to go.”
“Henry!” Victoria protested, as if a dear friend had betrayed her.
“He’s right, dear,” Dottie said as she leaned over her knitting, concentrating on her next stitch. “You have no reason to be here.”
“But you do?” Victoria asked. “You don’t even know these people.”
Dottie’s face lifted. “I know Georgie, and I’ll be getting to know the rest of them soon enough. Your bad energy is clouding my chi.” She made a waving motion. “Off with you now.”
“Lee!” Victoria protested.
He shrugged. “Sorry, Victoria.”
She got up and slung her Louis Vuitton handbag over her shoulder, then stomped out. Georgie could swear her brother looked relieved as the glass door closed behind her.
“Dottie’s right,” Mr. Manning said. “She is supposed to be here. Beau specifically requested she stay the whole time.”
Lee pushed out a breath, then leaned both arms on the table. “Look…Jack. I don’t know what you’re up to, but none of us know squat about running a brewery. Do you?”
“No, but—”
“The practical thing to do is sell the house and the brewery. We can get an estate company to sell off the furniture, then the four of us will split the profits.” He gestured toward Adalia. “You can use the money to pay off your art school student loans, and maybe have enough to pay for a studio for a few years.” His expression softened. “It’s the smart thing to do, Addy. If you think about it, after our phone call last week, this is a godsend.”
Lee and Adalia had talked last week? Georgie hadn’t talked to either one of them in over a month. Not even after the sale had gone through. Part of her had hoped they’d call to congratulate her, but it hadn’t happened.
Adalia sighed, which Lee must have taken as an agreement because he turned to Georgie next. “Georgie. You can take this money and add it to your pot and do…what are you planning to do now that you sold your business?”
Something bristled in Georgie, and she couldn’t keep herself from snapping, “Now you ask what I’m planning to do?”
Lee groaned. “Georgie…”
She shook her head. “No. We’re not deciding this now.” Her grandfather had asked her to visit for a reason, and there had been so much pride in his eyes when he’d shown her around the brewery. Beau had known Prescott would sell the place, and instead he had willed it to his grandchildren. That meant something. “We need to think about this before we make a decision. Jack doesn’t want to sell, and I’ve got nothing going on right now. Maybe Jack and I can run it.”
Lee’s eyes bugged out of his head. “You can’t be serious. You were the first one to suggest selling it.”
She lifted her chin. “Maybe I am serious. It’s Buchanan Brewery. It has our family name in it, and obviously Grandpa Beau wanted us to take over.”
“What? You have one visit with the old guy and suddenly you want to assume the family mantle?” Adalia asked.
“I don’t know, Addy,” Georgie said, overcome with exhaustion. “But I do know I’m not making this decision right now. We should at least consider it.”
“Be practical, Georgie.” The condescension dripping from her brother’s words made her cringe. He sounded just like their father.
“I am being practical,” she said, getting to her feet. “Just like I was being practical when I started my company ten years ago. The one that started in my kitchen and ended up employing fifty people. The one I just sold for five million dollars. So forgive me if I don’t buy into your idea of practicality, Junior.” She sucked in a breath and turned to Jack. “Obviously, we need to talk, but I’m not in the frame of mind to discuss business right now. Get my cell number from Mr. Manning, and we’ll talk in the morning.”
Surprise filled Jack’s eyes, and there was a one-second delay before he shook his head. “Yeah. Okay.”
She nodded. “Okay, then.” She started to walk out the door, then glanced over her shoulder. “Oh, and Jack? Welcome to the family.”
Chapter Four
River didn’t know where he was going at first. He just started walking and didn’t stop. Finn shouted something after him, but he didn’t respond. He didn’t respond when his phone started ringing either. Everything that needed to be said had been said. The path he’d been walking on had ended. Now he needed to figure out what the hell he was going to do next.