Read Online Trouble on Tap by Avery Flynn - Free Book Online Page B

certain short movie star with cultish leanings that you’d rather eat nothing but broccoli for the rest of your life than audition to play the part of his real-life wife.” Miranda laughed. “Face it, Olive Breath, you aren’t known for keeping your tongue.”
    She shivered at the memory. That had been one of her better escapes. One of the benefits of growing up a Sweet was being able to spot the unhinged from ten-thousand paces. “True, but I mean come on. Mateo acts like he’s still pissed he bailed Luciana and I out of jail for egging the principal’s house.”
    “He did bail you two out for that,” Natalie said.
    She threw up her hands in the air. “A decade ago!”
    Obviously unimpressed with her dramatics, her sisters just shrugged.
    Okay maybe she deserved that, but Olivia knew she could do this. She could put together a fundraiser that would knock Salvation back on their heels, raise money for a good cause and help promote the brewery—no matter what Grumps Garcia said. “I’m not a unicorn-loving flake.”
    Miranda squished up her face in confusion before letting out a deep breath. “No one said you were. You’re just…free-spirited.”
    “Well, I come by it naturally. I am a Sweet, after all. The last in a long line of moonshiners, cattle thieves, and ne’er-do-wells.” The words didn’t come out as confident as she’d wanted. Her conversation with Mateo had obviously torn off the scab from a wound she thought was long healed.
    She and her sisters had different defense mechanisms for dealing with Salvation’s massive ’tude about the Sweets. Miranda had become a super-achiever and Natalie had compartmentalized everything, but Olivia had embraced the crazy—at least on the outside. The one who never backed down from a dare. The kid who would try anything once. The girl most likely to do…well…anything. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder what life would have been like if she hadn’t been a member of one of the most despised and yet gossiped-about families in town.
    “Speaking of our long and illustrious line.” Miranda turned a soft shade of pink. “I’m pregnant.”
    The words sank in slowly, like a feather in quicksand.
    Baby? A niece? A nephew? The idea settled, took root and filled her up, making her chest expand with love until it nearly burst. A baby!
    Miranda’s grin was wide enough to show every tooth in her mouth. “Well, aren’t you going to say anything, aunties?”
    Everything sped back up to normal speed and she launched herself at Miranda, wrapping her arms around her sister and hugging her close and jumping up and down. Natalie joined in a second later. Dogs three counties away had to have heard the Sweet triplets’s squeals because within a minute, half the brewery’s staff was spilling in through the doorway.
    Sean elbowed his way to the front of the crowd. “What’s wrong?”
    “Absolutely nothing,” Miranda said. “I’m pregnant.”
    “Congratulations.” He gave her a quick hug. “Now that’ll give ’em something good to talk about at The Kitchen Sink.”
    Ice washed through Olivia’s veins. Talk? Oh yeah, there’d be tons of talk, and everyone in town would be watching. The baby’s last name would be Martin, but Salvation had a long enough memory to still think of him or her as a Sweet.
    Olivia couldn’t let this baby grow up like she and her sisters had, in a town where his or her heritage was despised.
    She had to change the way Salvation looked at the Sweets, and the veterans’ center fundraiser would be the first step in that. It would show the town that the Sweets really could be a power for good. But first she had to get Mateo on board and involved for real. If she couldn’t convince him that the Sweets could help the community, then she’d never get the rest of Salvation on board and the baby growing in Miranda’s belly would pay the price. Olivia refused to let that happen.
    Operation Grumps Garcia would commence as soon as she moved