Georgie on His Mind (19 page)

"Georgie, I-"

"Love isn't in the cards for everyone," she said quietly.

How could she say that?

He wanted to demand an answer to that, but her baffling
statement, her poignant look, the whole situation left him
completely speechless.

She pried his fingers off of her wrist, then quickly walked
away to take a look at the kitchen. "So you're really staying
around? I mean, for good? I guess you must really like this
town"

Walt walked up behind her and rested his hands on her
shoulders. "I do like this town and a few other things here"

Her body tensed at his touch, but he wasn't about to let
her change the subject or get away so easily. Not when all
he'd been able to think about since they'd stepped foot in the
house was confessing his feelings and touching his lips to
hers again.

Georgie turned around, gazing up at him with tentative
eyes-as if she knew exactly where his thoughts were heading. Because of that, Walt half expected her to slip away and
start chattering about the house again. He would have let her
if she had, as much as it would have killed him. There was
no use forcing something she wasn't feeling. But she surprised him by reaching her hand around his neck and leaning his head down to hers. He didn't waste any time
analyzing her reasons for meeting him halfway. He only
wanted to lose himself in the heady spell Georgie had already cast on him. So he quickly cupped her face with his
hands and kissed her.

She surprised him again by kissing him back with an equal vengeance. The softness of her body brushed against
his, and he gathered her up against him. He wanted her to
know what she did to him, how he made her feel-praying
she felt what he felt. The sweet and airy scent of her skin
smelled like fresh summer fruit; he couldn't decide if he
wanted to just inhale her or take a bite.

He chose to come up for air instead.

"That's one of things I really like about this town too," he
said, smiling against her mouth.

She swallowed hard. "Yeah," she said breathlessly. "I-I
can see why."

He chuckled, even though he wanted her so much he
couldn't see straight. But he wasn't going to rush her. This
was new and different for him, and he was going to make
sure it was different to her too. Not a fling or something temporary. He wanted to take up permanent residence in her
heart.

Just like she had with him.

He leaned his forehead against hers and gazed into her
eyes. "I have something else I'd like to show you."

"Oh yeah?" Her lips curved. "What else do you want to
show me?" she murmured.

"The sign I made up for the diabetes expo. You're going to
love it. It's in the trunk of my car."

"The expo sign?" She blinked then laughed out loud. "After that kiss you're thinking about a sign? Oh, my gosh, Walt,
you're driving me crazy!"

Walt grinned as his fingers combed through the loose
curls of her long red hair. Crazy is good, he thought. Georgie
had drove him his fair share of crazy these last few weeks, so
it was only right that he inflict a little of the same torture. He
considered it a good sign that she was so easily frustrated
when it came to him. She might not have said she was in love with him, but crazy was definitely a start. And if she
canceled that ridiculous date with Clay Hayes, he'd consider
it a fantastic start.

He dropped his arms and forced himself to keep his hands
at his sides. "Maybe we should head back," he suggested.

"Back?" She cocked her head, her expression still half
dazed. "Back where?"

"To Kendall and Jake's engagement party. People are
probably wondering where we went off to"

Georgie sprang backward, alarm registering on her face.
"Oh, jeez, you're right. If Dee saw us leave, we're totally
busted. She and Kendall-you don't know them like I dothey're probably planning our engagement party as we
speak." She let out a nervous laugh. "If you could imagine
something as funny as that"

Walt could imagine that. But he didn't find it funny at all.
Maybe a few weeks ago he would have laughed at the thought
of he and Georgie engaged, but not now. Now that was all he
wanted. It seemed Georgie did not want the same thing.

Yet.

He extended his hand to lead her out and she took it, entwining her fingers with his. Their hands joined together felt
right, but he knew if he so much as mentioned that thought
to Georgie, he'd scare her away. For whatever reason,
Georgie wanted to avoid serious relationships. Convincing
her that they were meant for one another was going to be
tricky, but considering how comfortably she left her hand in
his, he felt he was heading along the right path.

"So ... anything delightfully naughty happen when you
and Walt disappeared from Kendall and Jake's party the
other night?" Dee asked, propping her elbows on the counter
and giving Georgie her one hundred percent full attention.

Georgie walked into work not surprised by Dee's keen interest in her love life. After all, she had assumed Dee had
seen her leave the engagement party with Walt. So, naturally,
Dee would assume that there was something more going on
between them than friendship-which there wasn't. There
couldn't be. Now the only problem was trying to convey that
to her friend before half the town-and especially Bradheard otherwise.

"So?" Dee prompted eagerly. "You gonna spill the juicy
details or what?"

"Oh. Well, let's see. . " Georgie put on her lab coat and
pretended to find Dee's question amusing. "Um, he did hold
my hand. Twice."

Walt had kissed her twice too, but Dee didn't need to
know that, or that he had talked about marriage and starting
a family and ... Good Lord, she suddenly couldn't breathe.
Why, oh, why had Walt mentioned all that stuff to her? Did
he want more than friendship? Was he now thinking about
getting back together with his fiancee?

Ugh, why was she even thinking about it?

Because she was a mess. That's why. She didn't have Fruit
Loops for brains like she'd thought the other day. Nooooo.
Her mental status had slithered down a notch.

She was now officially cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

And it was all Walt's fault.

Dee made a face. "Walt held your hand? That's it? You
guys were gone an awfully long time for just some simple
hand holding to be going on."

"He only wanted to show me the house he's buying. Nothing sordid or naughty whatsoever."

"I know. That's the problem."

Georgie rolled her eyes. Leave it to Dee to want her soap
opera stories to come to life. "Sorry to disappoint you, but Walt and I are just friends. Good friends." Good friends who
had held hands. Good friends who had kissed. No big deal.
At least she was trying to convince herself it was no big deal,
and that she could treat Walt just like she had any other man
she had briefly kissed or held hands with-and continue to
keep him at arm's length.

Suddenly a tall older man with a full head of wavy gray
hair stepped up to the counter and caught Georgie's attention. She walked over and immediately greeted him.

"What's this about some diabetes thing you're having?"
he asked, holding up one of the flyers they had distributed
a few weeks ago.

"Oh, we're going to have a diabetes expo set up here in the
center of the pharmacy," she answered proudly. "There'll be
a pharmacist and a diabetes educator on hand all day to answer questions about the disease, and we'll be giving away
some free samples of various products and raffling off a few
glucose monitors. Are you interested in setting up an appointment to talk with one of the health care professionals?"

The man thought it over, then nodded. "My wife has diabetes. I know she'd like to come in and get some help with
that. Do you have to get your medications here to come to
the expo?"

"Not at all," Georgie said, smiling. "The health fair is
open to anyone in the community who wants to get educated
on the disease."

He dug into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. Lifting out a crumpled prescription that was folded between his
money, he smiled, then held it out to Georgie. "Well, I think
I'd like to start coming here to get my prescriptions filled."

"That's wonderful, Mr."-Georgie took the slip of paper
and glanced at the name-"Mr. Sheppard. I'll just need your
insurance card. Dee over here will need to ask you a few questions so we can put all your information into our computer."

As she handed the prescription over to Dee, Georgie saw
Walt enter the store. She couldn't wait to tell him that the expo
was already attracting customers and raced down the aisle
toward him.

"Guess what?" she prompted, smacking him in the
shoulder.

Walt watched her bounce up on tiptoe with amusement.
"Let me guess. You've entered Brad in another date contest?"

"Of course not" She laughed, then quickly frowned. "Wait.
Is there another date contest?"

"Georgie . . " he said with a hint of warning.

"I'm kidding! Seriously, I just wanted to tell you that I've
already had someone want to transfer their prescriptions to
our store and all because of the diabetes expo. We have two
clipboards full of appointments for the diabetes educator
too. How's that for progress?"

"Hey, that's great. After we see how the expo turns out, we
should brainstorm some more ideas. I think if we put our
heads together, we might be able to keep this store afloat. We
make a good team, you and I"

Georgie beamed. She didn't even have her pharmacist
license yet, and Walt was already considering her part of the
team. His team. Funny, but she didn't mind the way that
sounded at all. It was so easy to think of herself as part of his
team when it came to the pharmacy, but when it came to
being on his team for anything more ... her stomach did a
backflip.

"Where's Randall?" Walt asked, looking over her head. "I
made the new schedule and I wanted to go over it with him
before I go to settlement."

"He must be in the break room. Uh ... you're definitely moving out today?" She tried to smile and remind herself
that distance from Walt would actually be a good thing.

"Got my bags packed and everything." He cocked his
head and gave her a thoughtful look. "You know, if you're
not busy tonight, you could always swing by my place and
keep me company as I unpack. You think you could spare to
spend your free time with me?" His question surprised her so
she hesitated, and his expectant face suddenly fell. "Oh, sorry.
Do you have other plans?" he asked.

Her only plans were watching her brother polish his shoes
and gun for work tomorrow. But even if she had other plans,
she'd still consider hanging out with Walt a much better
option. And a far more dangerous option.

"I'll have dinner waiting, and I should have some furniture for you to sit on by then too," he added.

"You went furniture shopping already too?"

He chuckled. "No, I had some stuff in storage from my
place in Philadelphia. The movers should be there by two
this afternoon. So what do you say? Actually, I still want to
go over some things for the diabetes expo. We can do it
while I unpack."

"Well . . ." Business, Georgie. He just wants to talk business. Don't be such a chicken. "Okay, I guess I could come
over then"

"Great," he said, looking relieved. "I was hoping you'd
come"

For a long moment their eyes met, and neither of them
said another word. It hit her then how adorable he looked,
standing there in his Phillies baseball cap and surfer board
shorts, just like how she remembered he'd looked back in
high school-only now he had muscular legs. She couldn't
help but wonder what he saw when he gazed at her. Did he
still see Brad's little sister?

"I'll go give the schedule to Randall now," he said, jerking
his thumb behind him. "I'll order a pizza tonight. And wine.
I won't order the wine, just the pizza. I have some already.
We can drink it. The wine, that is." He winced and shook his
head. "I'll see you tonight." With that he cut himself off and
walked away.

For a second there, Walt almost seemed unsure of himself, and she had to grin. There was definitely a sweetness
about him when he lost the highhanded attitude like her
brother's. She didn't want to analyze why she found that so
appealing-or why she was suddenly looking forward to tonight so much.

Randall's voice boomed through the store pager. She'd
been standing alone in the pharmacy aisle way too long, and
he needed help. Seeing a few customers head toward the
pharmacy department, she whirled around and ran smackdab into Dee. Georgie staggered backward, rubbing her
chest. However, the collision hadn't changed Dee's militant
posture of folded arms and feet planted two feet apart.

"I can't believe it," Dee said with disgust.

"Wha-huh? Can't believe what?"

"That you've been holding out on me"

Georgie quickly hid her attack of guilt and thrust her chin
up. "I don't have the foggiest idea what you're talking
about." She brushed by Dee and continued her way back to
the pharmacy.

"Georgie, if you saw what I just saw between you and
Walt back there, you wouldn't be playing dumb with me
right now," Dee charged from behind. "What's going on? I
thought you said you and Walt were just friends."

Georgie stopped and slowly faced her friend. "I...
Well ... We are"

Dee gave her a mini eye roll. "Ugh. Believe me, there wasn't an ounce of friendship in the way Walt just looked at
you. Or the way you looked at Walt for that matter. Does
Brad know?"

Georgie bristled at the mention of her brother. "Know
what?"

"That his best friend and his only sister have the hots for
one another." Dee began to laugh. "And it happened right
under his nose. Actually, it's perfect if you really think about
it. I'd like to see Brad interfere with this relationship."