Georgie on His Mind (15 page)

Walt's mouth went dry thinking of Georgie-and his own
good hands on her. No, not good. Wrong. His hands weren't
going to be anywhere near Georgie. She had made that perfectly clear to him after he'd kissed her. "Yeah. Well. No
problem." He averted his eyes and jerked his thumb behind
him. "I'll go alert the media out there that Georgie's going to
make a statement. I'll try to get a little more information
about the date too"

Brad gave him a thumbs-up. "Good thinking. You're a
great help."

Help. Right. He was being helpful. He tried to smile, but
when it didn't happen he ducked outside before Brad offered
any more appreciative comments. Walt was already doubting
his involvement in all this. The things he did for his friend.
As he marched over to the media, his mind wandered to
Georgie and the desire he saw marked all over her beautiful
face after he'd kissed her in the parking lot.

Why had she rejected my offer of a serious relationship?

The question was eating at him even though he told himself to forget it. He should have known better than to think
that someone like Georgie could so easily be purged from
his thoughts. But he assured himself that his decision to stick
to her had nothing to do with his attraction to her. Nope, not
at all. After all, he was not going to get in the habit of pursuing a woman who wasn't interested in him.

Unfortunately, he hadn't been in the habit of lying to himself either.

Walt just hoped if Brad ever found out he'd understand.

You know, for someone who just won the most coveted
date this side of the Mississippi, you sure managed to wake
up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Georgie shot Dee an evil glare-unfortunately only affirming Dee's statement-then went back to cleaning the counting
tray.

Yes, she darn well was feeling grouchy today. The worst
part was she didn't even know why. She'd just won a dream
date with a famous television star. Clay Hayes! Nearly every
woman in town was probably green with envy by now. So
what the heck was wrong with her?

She had her suspicions. Namely, one Walt Somers.

Walt was getting to her. One minute the man kissed her
like she was the only woman on the planet, and then the next
minute he was practically throwing her into the arms of another man. True, she had rejected him first, but still. It was a
callous thing to do to her, and it bugged her. Which only
bugged her more. Gosh, if anyone knew how depressed she
was, they'd think she had Fruit Loops for brains.

And maybe they'd be right.

Dee waved a hand in front of Georgie's face. "Yoo-hoo,
anybody home?"

"Just me and my Fruit Loops," she muttered.

Dee scrunched her brows together and checked her watch.
"You're hungry already?"

"No, no, I was just ... thinking." Thinking about Walt, who
just so happened to have made it plainly clear that he was
looking to start a serious relationship with her. Also thinking
about why in the world she was so down in the mouth about
him quickly moving on with his life after she had told him
she wasn't interested.

Checking for and seeing no customers lurking around, Dee
pulled up a stool and sat down. "I'll bet. So tell me, were you
thinking about your upcoming date with Clay Hayes, or were
you thinking about your date last night with Walt?"

"Dee! I told you Walt and I were not on a date last night."

"Okay, okay," she said, holding her palms up. "Sheesh, for
someone who didn't go out on a date, you sure are touchy
about it."

Georgie reached for more alcohol swabs and began cleaning the mortar and pestles. For the third time this morning.
"I'm not touchy about it." Too much. "I just wish you'd stop
calling it a date"

"But I don't understand. A date with Walt is good. He's a
nice guy, you know him, and although he tries his best to
hide it for whatever reason, I think Walt is crazy about you.
If you're worried that Brad-"

"I'm not worried about what he thinks," she snapped.
"Walt and I aren't right for each other. That's all. Besides,
he's too much like Brad. We both want different ... Oh, I
just feel ... Did you know he was engaged?"

Dee's brows rose. "Brad was engaged?"

"No," she said with a sigh. "Walt was engaged."

"Oh. No, I didn't, but I consider that a good sign."

"A good sign? How so?"

"Well, for one thing, Walt knows his feelings. That's rare
in a man. And second, he's not afraid of commitment. Also
rare in a man."

Georgie lowered her eyes, suddenly feeling queasy and
overwhelmed. Walt was the type who looked for commitment in a relationship. But a good thing? No, not for her. For
another woman, yes. But not her. She wasn't looking for
that. A date with a celebrity who'd only be in town a short
while sounded much more her speed. After all, a casual
night out was all she'd really been hoping for from the beginning. Nothing serious. No chance for any kind of attachment to form. It would be perfect.

So get yourself together and be happy about it then.

A gruff groan caught their attention. Randall slowly approached from the back room, carrying a large bulky box. He
managed to maneuver it through the swinging doors, finally
stopping by the coatrack, where he let it drop with a loud
thud.

"Hey, what's in this thing?" he asked, taking out a handkerchief from his back pocket and mopping the top of his lip.

Georgie rolled her eyes. Wouldn't it have been nice to ask
that before dropping it to the ground? "Three glucose monitors, some test strips, and a case of Glucerna," she answered,
not hiding the annoyance in her tone.

Randall scratched his head. "Why did you want me to
bring it out here? Does Walt want us to put that stuff on the
shelf or something?"

"No, I just wanted to keep it separate from our regular
stock. Didn't Walt tell you about the Diabetes Health Expo
we're having?"

His dark brows pulled together like a giant hairy caterpillar. "Expo? Why are we going to have a diabetes expo?"

"Because of this." Georgie made a sweeping gesture of
the store with her hand. "Look how dead we are. We need to
do something to perk business up, and poor Al can't be worrying about his store while he's recovering."

Randall sniffed. "That sounds like an awful lot of work
for no guarantee of success. I don't think it's such a good idea.
Besides, Al wouldn't want you getting his store involved in
one of your crazy schemes"

Georgie set a hand on her hip, banking down her resentment toward Randall's condescending attitude. "It really
doesn't matter what you think, because Walt thought it was
a great idea. Didn't he, Dee?"

Dee gave him a smug grin. "That's right, Randall. We hate
to pull rank on you, but Walt wants to proceed with the expo
immediately. He already had me call the papers and draw up
some flyers to give out. He even told Georgie he's hoping the
publicity we'll get from the Clay Hayes contest will draw
new customers"

Randall shrugged and walked over to get his coffee mug
that was drying by the sink, signaling he was done with hearing about the expo and any further talk of her upcoming date
with Clay Hayes. Dee and Georgie exchanged aggravated
looks, then Georgie glanced out into the store just in time to
see Kendall bounce through the front doors.

"Hi, guys," Kendall chirped, giving them a little wave.
Georgie waved back, noticing how pretty Kendall looked
this morning with her brown hair down and curling slightly
underneath her chin. She wore a bright red long-sleeved
tee-which Georgie could never pull off because of her
bright orange hair-and boot-cut blue jeans that were simple
yet still trendy. Used to seeing Kendall in her work clothes at the restaurant, Georgie had forgotten her friend's good taste
in clothes.

Georgie bounced over to the register. "Hey, Kendall," she
said. "What brings you by here? You're not sick or anything,
are you?"

Kendall shook her head, sending funky red beaded earrings swaying against her cheek. "Nope. Never felt better. I
came by for two reasons. First, I wanted to congratulate you
on being the lucky lady who's going out for a night on the
town with one super hottie Clay Hayes"

"Yeah. It's ... it's all very, um, exciting."

Kendall and Dee exchanged frowns. "You don't sound
very excited," Kendall commented. "I thought you'd be
happy about the news"

"No, I'm happy. Really." Sort of. "The funny thing is I
didn't even enter myself. I only entered Brad. Yet I'm the
one who won. Don't you think that's a little weird?"

Kendall looked uneasy for a moment, then she perked
up and smiled brightly. "Well, maybe there was a mix-up
with the names. I wouldn't worry about it. The outcome is
much better this way anyhow. Rae Roberts isn't Brad's type
at all. Did you see her on the cover of People? If her blouse
was any smaller, my six-year-old niece could wear it."

Georgie chuckled. "Something tells me Brad wouldn't
have complained if Rae Roberts had shown up on their date
wearing that blouse."

"Yeah," Dee agreed. "I think any man could endure that
kind of hardship."

Kendall folded her arms and harrumphed. "Well, I still
can't see him going on a date with her."

Georgie cocked her head at her friend. Kendall almost
sounded jealous, which was just about impossible considering
Brad was her next best friend after Georgie-and that Kendall was less than a year away from marrying the love
of her life, Jake Grisbaum.

"Okay, so besides wanting to congratulate me on my suddenly enhanced social calendar, why else did you stop by?"
Georgie asked.

Kendall's expression softened, and she began digging into
her purse. "Ah, to give you two these" She held out envelopes, and Dee and Georgie each took one.

"Oooh, an engagement party!" Dee squealed. "How fun.
Do you need me to bring anything?"

Kendall's face lit up. "Well, actually, I was hoping you'd
make that monkey bread of yours. Jake loves that stuff. You
have to give me the recipe too" She turned to Georgie with a
look of amusement. "I already had these invitations printed
up, otherwise I would have one for Walt. So be sure to bring
him, okay, Georgie?"

Dee elbowed Georgie. "That's right. You know, you really
should bring him. You don't even have to call it a date this
time."

Georgie didn't let their joking rile her. Or rather, she
didn't show that their joking around riled her. They also
didn't know she and Walt had kissed, or how much it was
obviously affecting her.

The phone rang, but Randall didn't make a move to answer it. Dee stuck her tongue out to his back. The phone
continued to ring. Dee hesitated another moment, looking
torn between her job and not wanting to miss any of Georgie
and Kendall's conversation, but she went over to answer it.

As Dee walked away, Kendall pointed her big, inquiring
brown eyes at Georgie. "Oh, are you dating Walt? I didn't
know that or else we wouldn't ... I mean, is he okay with
you going out with Clay Hayes?"

Georgie thought about Walt and his enthusiasm over the possibility of any benefit that her date with Clay Hayes
would have on the pharmacy and had to squelch her desire
to snort. "Oh, he thinks the whole date idea is just hunkydory."

Kendall bit her lip. "Oh. Well, I guess that's good. I don't
know if Jake would be so easygoing about me going out with
a rich and handsome celebrity, even if it is for charity. But
I'm so glad you finally found someone. You know, I thought
you and Walt looked like you were dating."

"No. Walt and I are not dating. We're not doing ... anything." Not that she hadn't tried to feel him up in one of her
Fruit Loop-type conditions the other night in the parking
lot. But that would never happen again. She would make
sure of it. "We're not right for one another."

Kendall snorted. "Oh, pish posh. Honestly, Georgie, Walt
is the first man I've seen you with who actually has some
potential."

Georgie worked up a look of mild surprise, and although
she knew where this conversation was heading, she asked
anyway. "What do you mean by potential?"

"You know, he looks like a guy who sticks."

Georgie swallowed hard. A guy who stuck didn't sound
all that great. In fact, it sounded downright frightening. People you love rarely stuck. They always left. She had loved
her boyfriend, Matt, but once he graduated from college he
didn't want to stay around and wait for her to finish her degree. He had left to go back to his own town, telling her it'd
been fun but he didn't want to pursue a long-distance relationship. The pain wasn't as deep as what she went through
when she'd lost her parents, but her heart hadn't truly recovered.

She couldn't risk that kind of pain all over again.

"Look, Kendall, I'm not interested in a guy like-"

"I knew it."

Georgie drew back and blinked, surprised at Kendall's
haughty tone. "Knew what?"