Sassy Blonde - Stacey Kennedy Page 0,43
out a plan. Maisie clearly wasn’t going to be the one to fix all this.
Amelia agreed with a nod and then said to Maisie, “You did really well on those first two festivals. It could be enough. Especially if we get some awards too. We just won’t know until all of that comes in.”
Maisie felt the ground slowly dropping out from under her. She hadn’t wanted this. She wanted to do her part. Be one of the reasons the brewery became a success. To actually finish something she started. To come out on top.
Clara rose from her chair, pushing it back under the table. “We’ll just have to take this day by day. Let’s get some sleep. We can talk more in the morning.”
Maisie stayed put, resting her hand in her chin. “I’ll be right behind you.” First, she needed to wallow with a bag chips.
“Okay,” Clara said, then gave a soft smile. “Please leave us some of the chips.”
Maisie snorted. “I wasn’t—”
Clara lifted her eyebrows.
“Fine,” Maisie hedged, “I’m totally eating all the chips because I need to eat my emotions. I’ll buy more tomorrow.”
Clara smiled, moved in close and kissed Maisie’s cheek. “Good night.”
“Night.”
Once Clara strode off, Amelia took Maisie into one of her warm hugs. “It’s all going to be okay, Maisie-Moo. Promise. You’ll see.”
Maisie highly doubted that but kept the thought to herself as Amelia smiled. “Besides, the good thing here—”
Maisie lifted her brows. “There is a good thing that happened tonight?”
Amelia gave a crooked smile and an easy shrug. “The worst has already happened. What more could go wrong?”
A loud thump banged against the window. The sound they’d heard many times over the years in this house. A bird hitting the window hard enough to kill itself. Maisie sighed and gave Amelia a knowing look. “Great. Now I’m killing things.”
Amelia cringed. “Okay, that is the worst thing. What else—”
“Don’t say it,” Maisie cut in. “Just don’t. We both know that when I’m involved, anything and everything can go wrong.”
Amelia didn’t respond to that. She just did what she did best, threw her arms around Maisie tight. “Don’t stay up too late.” She grabbed the bag of ketchup-flavored chips and tossed them at Maisie before she blew her a kiss. “Night, night.”
Maisie ripped open the bag and shoved a handful into her mouth. “Night.”
Between the crunching sounds, she heard little footsteps. A quick look behind her had her smiling. “You’re supposed to be in bed,” she told Mason.
“I’m not sleepy,” he told her. “And you have chips.”
“Chips for me,” she said firmly. “Your mother will kill me. Get that cute butt back up to bed.”
He turned and wiggled that cute butt at her then ran toward her, jumping onto her lap. “Please, Auntie Maisie, I won’t tell. I’m so, so hungry.”
She frowned at all that sweetness coming her way. “You know that I am the expert at giving puppy-dog eyes.”
“That’s because we’re alike,” he said with a big grin. “That’s what mama always says.”
Maisie kissed his cheek. “That’s because we’re awesome, and awesome people should eat all the chips.” She turned the open bag to him. “If your mother asks, this never happened.”
He shoved a hand into the bag and chomped away. “Deal.”
Across town, Beckett pulled his dark gray Ford F-350 Super Duty to a stop outside the police station after they’d dropped off Maisie at home. The River Rock Police Station had moved into the old courthouse on Main Street long before Hayes had worked there. The skies had opened twenty minutes ago, a downpour settling over the town, bringing sheets of rain from the west. Beckett’s headlights caught the droplets, the windshield wipers set to high, unable to keep up with the hammering of the rain.
The front door was right there, and Hayes fought against his churning stomach at the thought of walking through the doors.
Obviously sensing his hesitation, Beckett said, “I can take you home. It’s been a long day. Why don’t you sleep on this?”
Hayes glanced at his lifelong friend. The only man he’d ever admit his weaknesses to. “I did this to Maisie. I need to fix it.”
Beckett threw the truck into park. “Oh, yeah, you stole your own truck and set it on fire?”
Hayes snorted. “I should never have agreed to stop at that damn amusement park.”
“That’s idiotic,” Beckett spat. “For one, you sounded fucking happy when I called. Second, you had no idea that stopping there would lead to someone stealing your truck and Maisie’s trailer.”
Hayes thrust his hand in