Georgie on His Mind (2 page)

"Oh, come on," he said. "How could I do that? I was off
from work all night, just sitting here minding my own business, cleaning my Glock." He held up the barrel of his pistol
and gave her an innocent smile. "See? Clean as a whistle."

She snorted. "Give me a break. I know how you operate.
You called in a favor, didn't you?"

He dropped his sandy-brown head, suddenly interested in
reassembling his gun. "I don't know what you're talking
about."

"Oh, you don't?" she mocked, rounding in on him. "Well,
allow me to fill you in. Hank and I just about made it to the
restaurant-which would have been a record for me-when
we were pulled over because one of your police officer buddies said Hank wasn't wearing a seat belt. But he was! And
you know what else, Brad? Lo and behold, the officer did a
check on his license and found a bench warrant out on him
for not paying a traffic ticket. The cop just left his car there,
cuffed him, and hauled him to the station. Hank tried to tell
him he had a good excuse for missing his court date, but
your friend wouldn't listen. It was so embarrassing. Now he
has to pay a fine, or they're going to keep him in jail."

Brad shrugged. "Boo-hoo, that's a real shame. The law's
the law."

"Admit it. You did this, didn't you?"

He stared at her for a long moment, his lips pressed together as if sealed with Crazy Glue. After what seemed like an
eternity, he finally stood. "Okay. Look, all I did was write down
his license plate number when he came to pick you up and
maybe-maybe-call it into the station. In my own defense, I
had probable cause for doing that. He had a taillight out"

"A taillight out? You're trying to ruin my life over a taillight being out?"

"Ruin your life? Ha, that's a laugh. You should have
majored in drama instead of pharmacy. I'm trying to save
your life. That guy had no business driving over here to pick
you up while there was a warrant out for his arrest. He's the
one who didn't pay his ticket. As far as I'm concerned, I just
did society a favor too. The mayor may even give me a Good
Citizen award"

After a quick prayer for serenity, Georgie flopped down
on the couch and covered her eyes with her hands. "I cannot
believe this. I wish Mom and Dad were alive, because I would tell on you big time. You're suffocating me. I can't
take it anymore" She sat up and shook her finger at him like
a windshield wiper on the fritz. "You know you're using
your position in law enforcement for nefarious reasons!"

Brad rubbed his hands over his face. "Okay, now listen.
You're going to have to de-crank the drama a notch. You're
acting borderline Desperate Housewives. I just want to make
sure you're dating men who are on the level. Jeez, you're my
little sister. I have to take care of you. It's what Mom and
Dad would have wanted. I was worried about you, Sponge."
He stopped for a brief second and, with a pained expression,
mumbled, "I love you"

Her lips broke into a half smile. Saying he loved her and
using her adolescent nickname took the wind out of her sails.
Of course Brad interfered with her life because he loved her.
She knew that was the reason deep down inside. And she
loved him right back, which made it so much harder to see
him wasting all his time still taking care of her. He needed a
life.

She deserved a life too.

"You shouldn't be running around with losers like that
anyway," he told her, interrupting her thoughts.

"That's the whole point, Brad. I should be the one to find
out if he's a loser or not, not you. I don't need you interfering
with who I want to date or anything I want to do. I'm a big
girl"-she threw back her shoulders-"no, I'm a woman
now."

Her brother cringed. "A woman?" He grabbed his can of
soda and ran it over his forehead, as if he'd just broken into
a sweat. "Sheesh, Georgie, you're talking crazy talk. You're
not a woman, you're my sister. Did you have anything to
drink tonight?"

She shot him a look. "How could I? I never made it to the
restaurant, remember?"

"Forgot about that," he said with a smirk. "Well, you're
too young to be seeing guys like Hank anyway. What was he,
like thirty years old?"

"I'm twenty-four!" Trying to calm herself down, she sat
back and waved her wrist with what she hoped looked like an
air of feminine sophistication. "Besides, I don't really care
about age anyway. Princess Diana was only nineteen years old
when she met and married Prince Charles, who was thirtytwo."

Brad raised his gaze to the ceiling.

Okay, so he wasn't impressed with her knowledge of
May-December romances. That was a bad example anyway
since it was a marriage, and it had also ended in divorce. If
she wanted to have the upper hand for their next weekly
fight over her independence, she'd have to Google a better
example.

"Look," he said with a sigh, "get your head out of the
clouds and step into the real world. Life's not all about fun
and hanging around men who don't pay their traffic tickets.
You need to start getting your resume ready and lining up
some job offers."

"No, I don't. As soon as I get my pharmacy license, Al
said he would hire me right on the spot" She beamed, dusting her hands together in front of her face for emphasis. "I
want to work there, and since I'm already his intern, it'll be
a natural transition." Then she could earn some decent money
and finally be able to move out on her own. Still, she doubted
once that happened her problems with her brother's smothering would be solved. But at least it would be a step in the
right direction.

"Yeah, well, I have it under good authority that Al's pharmacy might not be doing as well as you think."

She stared at him, hearing her worst fear come out of his
mouth. She needed that job so she could move out. Plus, she
loved that store. And she loved the feelings the store evoked
in her. While she was growing up, her parents would take her
there on Sundays and allow her to pick out any candy treat
she wanted, something she'd always looked forward to.
Mostly because she didn't have to share the candy with Brad,
but also because the decision was always her own. She had
treasured that time.

"Wh-what do you mean?" she stammered. "We're fairly
busy right now but the summer season hasn't even begun yet.
Wait until all the tourists come to town. The store will be a
zoo again."

"Hey, I'm only telling you what Walt told me"

She went very still. "Walt?"

"Yeah, Walt Somers. You remember him, don't you?"

She looked away and down at her nails. "Um ... kind of."

Oh, brother. Walt Somers? The one who was her brother's
best friend from grade school? The one who used to live
down the street from her family? The same Walt Somers who
was, by far, the only proverbial rat she'd ever met in her life?

Yeah. She kind of remembered him.

Growing up, Walt always buzzed around their house, teasing her about her braces, mooching snacks, and weaseling invites to dinner by sucking up to her mother. Every time she
came home from school, Walt was there. The boy was a menace with a capital M. It was like having another brother-one
you weren't required to donate a kidney to if he needed it.
This was lucky for him, because she wouldn't have wasted
one drop of blood on that pain in the neck.

"Ah, come on," her brother said with a grin. "He was prac tically family. Hey, remember when he put sesame seeds in
your hair and convinced you that you had head lice?"

She gritted her teeth. "Unfortunately." To this day, she
still couldn't look at a sesame seed bun in the same way.

"Well, I invited him to stay with us," Brad said, taking a
seat on the sofa next to her. "It'll just be for a little while, until he can find his own place."

A chill ran down her spine, and she bolted upright. "What?
Until he can find a place of his own? That could take like ...
forever. Why can't he stay in a hotel like every other tourist?"

"Because he's not a tourist and because I invited him.
Hey, what's the matter with you? What's wrong with him?
He treated Mom and Dad as if they were his own parents,
and he always treated you like a sister, didn't he?" A teasing
grin broke out on his lips, and he patted her knee. "Think of
it this way, while Walt's staying with us you'll have two big
brothers looking out for you"

She swallowed a scream.

Wonderful. Just what she needed now-another big brother.
She might as well get out the phone book and start calling
the local convents.

On the other hand, bad news for her could really mean
good news for Brad. Maybe having Walt around would encourage Brad to get out more and stop worrying about her.
Walt was an adult now too. There was no way he could be
the same selfish, childish, thought-he-was-too-good-for-therest-of-world type of person. Could he? Well, it didn't matter. If she had to be the adult in this equation, so be it. It
would be nice to see Brad relax and have some fun-even at
the cost of having someone as annoying as Walt Somers in
their home.

With a little luck, Brad might be diverted enough that
she'd actually be able to go out on a date in peace and have a little fun herself. Providing she could get another date. She
had a feeling her reputation was preceding her.

Georgie looked back at her brother and forced a smile.
"You're right, I'm sorry. Walt is like family. He is like the
brother I never wanted" He shot her a look, which made her
laugh. "I mean extra brother I never wanted," she corrected,
smiling for real this time.

Brad grinned too, but she could sense he didn't trust her
ready compliance. "Yeah, I thought so. Man, I haven't seen
him in ages. It'll be cool to have us all together again. Look,
you're sure you're okay with it?"

"Oh, yeah. Who couldn't use another big brother? I think
it's great that he's staying with us"

Uh-huh. Right.

She was going to hell in a handbasket for that whopper of
a lie. The last thing she needed was another big brother hanging around, choking her independence. One brother making
her life difficult was plenty, thank you very much. Of course,
she'd play the perfect hostess for her brother's sake. Although
the more accurate response to Brad's question would've been
she didn't mind Walt staying with them as long as Walt stayed
far, far away from her.

And her hair.

"Did you run into any traffic?"

Walt Somers removed his sunglasses and tucked them in
his pocket, giving his uncle a wide smile. "Nope. None at all.
I made sure I left early enough. Philadelphia traffic doesn't
start picking up until around seven"

"Oh, good. Are you hungry, then?" his uncle asked, pointing to a table on the porch filled with baked goods and a
pitcher of iced tea. "Your aunt Donna made you some of your
favorite brownies."

Taking a seat on the chipped rattan rocker, Walt's gaze
roamed the quiet surroundings of his uncle's property-from
the short expanse of flowering shrubs, all the way to the peach
sand and gray-blue waters of the ocean that bordered his
backyard. Even on this late cool morning, several people were
walking on the beach without a care in the world.

The pace of Maritime City was sure different from
Philadelphia, but the change felt right to him. He needed to
come back.

"We've missed you," Uncle Al said, pouring each of them
some iced tea. "It's about time you took over the store, and I
couldn't be happier leaving it in your hands while I'm having surgery. You know your father had always hoped to see
you run the pharmacy while he was still living. He didn't
think you'd ever return once you landed that big city job
with that pharmaceutical company. I have to say, I doubted
you'd come back too."

Walt thought about giving up his successful job to take
over his father's position in the family business. He was
pleased when there was no stab of regret. "Priorities change,
Uncle. I didn't like the person I was becoming."

The death of his father had triggered something in Walt.
He realized he should have called his dad more, should have
visited more. After his parents' divorce all those years ago,
his feelings had closed off. He had kept his family-and
people in general-at a distance. Maritime City evoked too
many memories he'd wanted to avoid. So he had wrapped
himself in his work, always having the perfect excuse to remain detached. But when his uncle had called and told him
his father had suffered a heart attack and died, it was the catalyst his own heart needed to thaw the defenses he had built
around himself. Something had been missing in his life.
Walt knew then, too late, that he needed to come home. His aunt and uncle were the only family he had left now, aside
from his good friend, Brad.

His uncle made a face. "You didn't like the person you
were becoming? You don't look so different to me. You look
as you always do," he said, squinting through the thick lenses
of his glasses. "A little taller, maybe"

Walt cracked a smile. "On the inside, Uncle Al. I didn't
like what I was becoming on the inside. I was so busy trying
to keep up with other people and being what they wanted me
to be, I lost track of what really matters in my life. Loyalty to
my friends and family. That's what's really important."

"And finding a nice girl to settle down with?"

"Uh, well, sure. In due time. Tell me about the pharmacy,"
he said, desperate to change the subject. Good Lord. He
didn't need Aunt Donna overhearing this conversation and
calling up all her friends who had single daughters in town.
If she did overhear, she'd probably have a date lined up for
him by sundown. "Since you're not going to be around, I'm
going to need some guidance. What exactly do you want me
doing while you're recovering from knee surgery? Do you
need me to do more managerial things or work the bench
too?"

"Oh" His uncle pushed his dark-framed glasses farther up
his nose and blinked. "Yes, a little of both, I'm afraid. I'm
short for pharmacist help right now, but I do have quite an intern working for me. She's sharp as a machete. I think you'll
like her. She's expecting her license soon, so she's practically
running things already. She'll show you what's what"