“I guess what I’m trying to say here,” Amelia said, “is while this seems really bad right now, I’d like to think that Pops was right. Maybe all of this is happening for a reason because so
mething bigger and better will work out. I mean, it has to, right?”
Always the optimist. That was Amelia. Maisie couldn’t afford that luxury. “No, it doesn’t have to work out. It never does.”
Amelia frowned.
Clara drew in a deep breath and rubbed her eyes. Ignoring what Maisie said, she pressed on, “We’ve got to figure out a plan.”
She meant she had to figure 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.”