Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set

by Grover Swank, Denise

  Once inside, they ordered a flight along with some appetizers. They discussed what they liked and didn’t like about each of the beers, and what qualities they should reach for with their own version, River taking notes on his phone. She glanced at his screen, smiling at what she saw: Georgie plus chocolate=happy, in beer and in general; Georgie plus bitterness=only if balanced; Georgie plus coffee=not too heavy.

  “I’m okay with coffee in the morning,” she said in an undertone. “Plenty of coffee. Maybe you should add that to your list.”

  “Maybe I will,” he said, looking up at her. “I like to make my boss woman happy. Now, about that porter…”

  She was still such a beer novice, but he took her feedback and advice so seriously, as if it were as important as his own. She loved that, loved how excited he got over the whole process. It made work feel fun, which it never really had before, she realized. Fulfilling and rewarding, yes, but never fun.

  At the end of their lunch, a big burly man with a beard came out of the back to greet them, heading straight for River. He pumped his hand almost aggressively and thanked him for coming in. He was the owner, it turned out, and River introduced Georgie as one of the new owners of Buchanan Brewery.

  “She has great things planned for Buchanan’s future,” River said, beaming. “I’m excited to be part of it.”

  “I heard about Big Catch,” the owner said. “You did the right thing, jumping ship. Finn let us all down, inviting those sharks into town.”

  River looked a little conflicted about that, like maybe he thought he should defend Finn, but he just shrugged. “I was lucky the opportunity at Buchanan opened up when it did.”

  “Truth be told,” the owner said, running a hand over his beard, “I always figured you’d be the one to inherit Buchanan.” As if realizing what he’d said, or rather whom he’d said it in front of, he turned to Georgie. “No offense, it’s just common knowledge that Beau taught River the ropes about brewing—it’s kind of a local legend—and Beau never talked about his family much.”

  Georgie felt like she was going to throw up. She’d almost forgotten about the will, or maybe she’d let herself forget. River still didn’t know, but she’d have to tell him now. The sooner she did it, the less of a betrayal it would be.

  Not yet, she told herself. Not until you sort everything out with Adalia, Jack, and Lee.

  She forced a smile. “Grandpa Beau was full of surprises. All I know is we’re very lucky to have River.”

  “It was great seeing you, River,” the man said, clapping him on the back. “Glad to hear you’re staying in Asheville.”

  “Me too, man. I wouldn’t leave for the world.”

  Georgie’s guilt amplified. What if her brothers tried to enforce the no-fraternizing policy and the noncompete?

  But she was being weak, thinking like that. It was time for her to show her brothers that she was in charge of things.

  * * *

  Georgie left the brewery at five to meet the contractor for her walk-through. Adalia would arrive at the airport at seven thirty, so she had a little time to move in and get settled before her new roommate arrived.

  It looked like a different house than the one she’d walked into two weeks prior. The living room had been fastidiously cleaned and freshly painted, and it looked great despite being completely empty. And the new granite counters, appliances, and freshly painted cabinets in the kitchen gave the house an updated look.

  After the contractor left, Georgie went upstairs to prep her sister’s room. She’d just started changing the bedding when she heard a knock on the front door. Jezebel was still missing, so she knew there was a possibility it could be one of the neighbors. She went down to answer the door with no small amount of trepidation.

  But it was River, standing there with a pizza box in hand, a bottle of wine under one arm and Hops squirming under the other. “Thought you might like some help putting the house back together.”

  With a grin, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him through the door. She’d told him her plans for the evening, so she hadn’t expected to see him until tomorrow. Was it crazy that she’d missed him?

  She took the pizza box from him, mostly because she wanted to kiss him, and she didn’t see it happening without something falling from his hands or out from under his arms. River was skilled in a lot of things, but as far as she knew, he didn’t know how to juggle. Pizza in hand, she leaned in and kissed him, inasmuch as they could manage with the box between them.

  When Hops released a mewl of protest, she stooped down and kissed his head.

  River grinned as he lowered the puppy to the floor.

  “I really am here to help,” he said, taking the box back from her and heading for the kitchen, “and I figured you probably hadn’t picked up anything for dinner.”

  “You know my habits all too well,” she said as she walked with him. “Although I admit I’m surprised by the wine.”

  “I remember you mentioning you drank wine before you got caught up in brewing beer. And I figured you might be in the mood for something different. Should be enough time for you to have a glass before you need to leave for the airport.”

  “Well, thank you.”

  “Are you hungry?” He set the pizza box on the counter and glanced around, his mouth parted. “Wow. This place looks great.”

  “But it doesn’t look like Beau’s house.” She wondered belatedly if that would bother him. Hops was wandering the floor as if doing his own walk-through, his little tail wagging.

  He shrugged and turned to face her. “But it’s not Beau’s house anymore. It’s yours. And you don’t have as many memories here, so there’s no nostalgia for you. Just a clean slate.” He made it sound like a good thing, but she still felt a little guilty. According to Dottie, Beau had considered giving River his house too. Georgie suddenly felt like Beau’s grandkids had taken everything from him. Like she had taken everything from him.

  Would he see it that way too?

  “Hey,” he said, wrapping an arm around her back and pulling her close. “Adalia should be on a plane by now. She’ll be here before you know it.”

  She buried her face into his chest, feeling even worse. How could she ever make it up to him? The only thing she knew to do was stick to her original plan and buy out her siblings in a year so she could make him an official partner.

  But even so, she had to tell him before that, didn’t she? How else would she live with the guilt?

  He held her and gently rubbed her back. “Do you want to eat or work? Or just stand here and let me hold you?”

  What she needed was to get herself together. Leaning back, she cocked her eyebrows. “What kind of pizza?”

  “I wasn’t sure what you’d like, so I got a half cheese and half pepperoni.”

  “I say you open that bottle of wine while I open the pizza.” Then, with a dramatic flourish as though her task was as hard as his, she opened the box and pulled out a slice of pepperoni. She took a bite and moaned. “This is so good.”

  He grinned. “Well, if that impresses you, wait until you get a look at what I got for Jezebel.”

  “So you brought both of your girls some treats?”

  His wink sent a bolt of lust and remembered pleasure through her. “I promise you’re my favorite.”

  Turned out he’d brought some groceries too—some milk, coffee, eggs, another bottle of wine, along with some cheese and bread, and a few tins of sardines to lure Jezebel. Georgie put her pizza on a plate and helped bring them inside.

  “I can’t say I approve of this plan,” she said, scrunching her nose. “It’s going to smell terrible if we leave that out.”

  “And that awful aroma is sure to draw her home,” he said with a grin. “Beau used to give her these for a treat. It’s the devil cat’s version of catnip.”

  “If this is such a slam dunk, why didn’t you try it before?”

  He made a face. “I was worried she might show up and attack the contractors. As yo
u’ve seen, she doesn’t take kindly to finding people in ‘her’ house.”

  Which surely didn’t bode well for Georgie and Adalia.

  Soon they were sitting out on the back porch, like they had that first night, eating pizza and sipping wine. A feeling of peace stole over Georgie. It felt like this was how it was supposed to be all along, like she’d spent the last two weeks fighting herself for no good reason at all.

  “I didn’t know you drank wine,” she teased, nudging his shoulder. “Isn’t that kind of sacrilegious?”

  He nudged her back. “You’re right. It’s sacrilegious for either of us to drink it. I guess I should bring the other bottle home with me.”

  When they finished eating, River set out an open can of sardines on the back porch. Georgie had given him permission to try it once, with the agreement that he would be the one to remove the smelly fish if Jezebel (or worse, something else) didn’t get to it first.

  “Maybe the neighbors will stop texting me at all hours,” River said. “The latest rumor going around is that Jezebel is a black panther escaped from Beau’s backyard exotic zoo.”

  After cleaning up their dishes, they went upstairs and started changing the beds together, Georgie more than a little tempted to pull him onto one, but she checked the time and realized she had to go to the airport.

  “You go get your sister,” River said, leading her to the bedroom door. “I’ll finish up here.”

  She hesitated. While she absolutely loved that he’d dropped by to help, she didn’t want him to be here when she brought Adalia home. She and Adalia had too much ground to cover, plus she needed time to tell her sister about him first.

  He grabbed both of her shoulders and held her gaze. “I promise that Hops and I will be gone when you get back.”

  She looked away, feeling ungrateful. “River. I’m not ashamed of you.”

  “I know. But this isn’t the way to tell your sister. You need to focus on her and what happened. We have time.” He gave her a soft kiss. “I’m not going anywhere.” Then he smiled. “Except for tonight, obviously.”

  She laughed and rested her hand on his chest, savoring the feel of him.

  Maybe love itself wasn’t toxic at all. Maybe her mother had just picked the wrong man.

  She left River on Beau’s front porch, but not until after he kissed her so thoroughly her body ached to stay with him and finish what they’d started. He gave her a wave while Hops chewed on his shoestring, and then the two of them went back inside.

  What would it be like to come home to River?

  The thought caught her by surprise. But it was even more surprising how right it felt.

  When Georgie got to the Asheville Regional Airport, she waited outside the security exit, nervous about seeing her baby sister. While she’d talked to Adalia twice during the day, both calls had been short, and they hadn’t talked about anything of substance. The unspoken understanding was that they’d do all their sharing once they saw each other. Besides, there’d been plenty for Adalia to do as she packed and squared things away to stay in Asheville for the indefinite future.

  A group of people began trickling out of the doors, and then Georgie saw her. Adalia’s short blond hair was a mess, and she had red puffy eyes underscored with dark circles. She carted a rolling carry-on suitcase behind her, and something about her gaze searching for Georgie in the crowd made her look like a lost child. As soon as Adalia saw her, she took off running, barely stopping before she threw her arms around Georgie and began crying.

  Georgie stumbled backward a few feet, absorbing her impact, then held on tight, her worry for her sister growing exponentially by the second.

  “I’m so sorry,” Adalia cried into her shoulder.

  “Hey,” Georgie said as she pulled back and smoothed the hair off Adalia’s cheek. “We’re gonna fix this, okay?”

  Adalia looked up at her with hazel eyes so wide with hope Georgie couldn’t help but wonder what it was she’d done.

  They collected her two large suitcases and wrestled them into the back of Georgie’s Lexus—which had been delivered a few days prior—then headed back to Beau’s house.

  Five minutes of silence ticked away before Georgie asked the obligatory How was your flight? question, and Adalia announced she’d sat next to someone with terrible B.O. Finally, her sister asked, “Aren’t you going to grill me about what happened?”

  Georgie started to answer, then stopped, darting a quick glance at Adalia before returning her attention to the road. “You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

  They got home, and each of them rolled one of the suitcases to the house. Georgie had learned her lesson after the disaster with Josie. Thank God, River had saved so much of her stuff. A smile came to her lips.

  “Who is he?” Adalia asked with narrowed eyes.

  Georgie’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest, but she managed to hide it, she thought.

  “What are you talking about?” she asked as she unlocked the front door.

  “Okay, I’ll let it go for now,” Adalia said as she followed her in. “But expect an interrogation later. Just like I’m waiting for mine.”

  Georgie stopped and turned to her sister. “There will be no interrogation from me later. I meant it, Addy. You tell me when you’re ready. I’m just glad you’re here.”

  They carted the bags upstairs, and Georgie showed her the bedroom she’d picked out for her, a room whose windows looked out onto the backyard. River had turned on a lamp on the bedside table, giving it an inviting look.

  “It reminded me of a tree house. I remembered how you always wanted one when we were kids,” Georgie said, now feeling foolish—then horrified when Adalia’s eyes filled with tears. “We can exchange rooms, if you like. Or you can have one of the other two.”

  Adalia shook her head. “No. I love it.”

  Relief rushed through Georgie’s body and she sagged against a dresser. At least she’d gotten this one thing right. “Okay. Good.”

  Adalia set her suitcase down at the end of the bed and stared out the window. “Why aren’t you yelling at me? Or telling me what a screwup I am?”

  “Because you are not a screwup,” Georgie said insistently. “You made a mistake. We’ll fix it.”

  “Dad would be furious. And Lee…” She released a sob and sat on the bed, still looking out the windows. “He knew what was happening, but he would never understand this.”

  Georgie bit back the urge to ask why Adalia hadn’t come to her before, but she must have had her reasons and Georgie’s hurt feelings had no place here. Besides, River was right—when it had mattered, Adalia had come to her. “Well, I’m glad you noticed I’m not like Dad or Lee,” she said with a small laugh. “We may all be in business, but I handle things very differently than they do.”

  Adalia turned back to face her with bloodshot eyes. “I know. I realized that when the three of us had breakfast. You were so passionate about the brewery. Dad and Lee might be good at what they do, but they’re never passionate about it. But you…” She cringed and her gaze lowered to the vintage white chenille bedspread, her fingertips rubbing absentmindedly over the bumps. “I figured you were like Dad, all cold and businessy. I guess I was wrong.”

  Georgie couldn’t suppress her laugh. “Businessy?”

  Adalia looked up with a grin. “You know. Like you have a stick up your ass.”

  Georgie nodded, still laughing. “Okay.” She sat on the bed next to her sister. “You usually see me when I’m with Dad and/or Lee, and I guess I’m different when I’m with them. I act like I think they want me to act. That’s not the real me. It’s maybe who they want me to be.”

  As she said the words, she knew they were true. How had she never realized that before?

  Adalia reached over and took her sister’s hand. “That’s sad, Georgie.”

  “I know,” she whispered.

  “Seeing the light in your eyes when you talked about the brewery made me realize you were much more like M
om and me than I gave you credit for.”

  Georgie’s eyes flew wide. “You think I’m like Mom?”

  The thought made her equally elated and terrified. Her mother had been warm and open, the kind of person people gravitated toward. She’d also become their father’s doormat.

  Adalia nodded. “More than I realized. I’m sorry.”

  Georgie shook her head. “No. I tried to be the kind of person Dad would find impressive, but it doesn’t fit me well.”

  “So maybe you should stop trying,” Adalia said. “Just be you and to hell with what anyone thinks.”

  Didn’t she know it. She was getting there, but it was so much easier said than done.

  Adalia turned serious. “You’re still not going to ask me what happened?”

  Georgie rubbed the back of Adalia’s hand with her thumb. “No. You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”

  “I’m ready,” she whispered.

  “I’m listening.”

  Adalia poured her heart out. Alan Stansworth, her mentor from art school, had invited her to work in his large studio since she had limited space in her small apartment. Soon after she started working in his studio, he started taking a special interest in her mixed media sculptures. They worked together and eventually slept together, and the closer they got, the more controlling he became.

  It was then some of her pieces started disappearing. He told her that space was so limited in the studio, he’d had them moved to his storage unit. He was doing her a favor. Why was she picking a fight when he was just trying to help her? It continued for a couple of months, until Adalia was missing over twenty pieces of art. She’d sought advice from Lee, who had been helpful and encouraging, but he’d told her that he couldn’t really help unless she ended things with Alan. She’d tried, but their relationship had become a vicious cycle, just like their parents’ marriage had been. Alan would fall all over himself to apologize to her, then he’d shower her with gifts and attention, until a few days later he’d shift to being berating and controlling. He’d cut her off from her friends in New York and had pitched a fit when she’d come to Asheville for the funeral, saying she was losing precious time she should spend focusing on her art.