Georgie on His Mind (22 page)

"There's no need. I understand perfectly. Brad asked for
help in being a big brother to me, and you provided it just like
the little loyal friend that you are. What's there to explain?"

"No, there's more. Let me in, and I'll tell you"

She hesitated, and for a moment he was sure she'd close
the door in his face. But she stepped back grudgingly and allowed him to enter. He took the flowers out from behind his
back and hurried in before she changed her mind.

"Nice touch," she said, pointing to the roses. "Were they
supposed to play a part in your `divert Georgie from her
Clay Hayes date' operation?"

Walt ignored her barb. He walked over to the coffee table
and gently placed the flowers down. Georgie clearly was hurt
and wanted nothing more to do with him right now, but he had
to remain calm or he'd ruin any hope of a future together. "No.
There was no scheme. I just wanted you to have the roses, to
show you how I feel." He took a deep breath. "I love you."

Georgie's face fell, and her shoulders stiffened. "Don't
say that"

His heart raced as he took a step closer. He reached out
and stroked her cheek, dipping his head so she could see his
earnestness. "But it's true"

"No, it's not true" She backed away from him, lifting her
chin, but not before he saw a flare of uncertainty in her eyes.
"Otherwise, you wouldn't have agreed to spy on me"

I wasn't spying. I .. " He turned away and raked his
hands through his hair in frustration. "Look, I only agreed to
help Brad because you're naive when it comes to men"

She let out a huff and folded her arms. "Yeah, that seems
to be the mantra that I've been hearing around here lately.
Well, you'll be happy to learn-as I've already informed
Brad-I can take care of myself. Thanks for the brotherly
concern, though."

"My concern isn't brotherly, Georgie. I love you. What
more do I have to do or say?"

"I think you've done enough" She walked over to the
door and swung it open, indicating for him to leave. "Love
isn't about controlling a person's life."

"I wasn't trying to control your life. You're being irrational. If you'd just-"

"If I'd just what? Let you and Brad keep me in a cocoon
for the rest of my life? No thank you. I think you better go"

Silence fell between them as he stood in the middle of
the room. His gaze burned into hers, praying she'd wake up
and see his point of view, but she quickly broke eye contact.

So this was it? No further discussion? She was just going
to push him away like an unwanted trespasser. He couldn't
believe what was happening. She obviously didn't realize he
wouldn't let her go so easily. Nothing was going to stop him
from convincing her that they were meant to be together. For
now he'd have to bide his time until she was in a better frame
of mind.

Walt dragged himself toward the door. As soon he stepped
into the hallway, he turned around and couldn't resist trying
one last time. "You know, Georgie, when a person cares about
another person, they do things to protect them-sometimes
crazy things. Act crazy. Love does that to people. I just didn't
want to see you get hurt"

She gazed up at him, her eyes conveying a mixture of sadness and tears. "Yeah. Well, I'm afraid you're too late for
that" Then she closed the door with a decided click.

Walt came home from work with a headache. Business
at the pharmacy was picking up, there was still some last
minute finalizing to be done on the diabetes expo, and they were short on help since Georgie decided to use up her vacation days. No doubt, she was avoiding him. She didn't even
want to call and speak to him. Instead, she went over his
head and got approval to take time off from Al. Now not only
their personal relationship was suffering, but their working
relationship as well. He had screwed things up royally.

Walt hadn't seen or spoken to Brad in a while either. Had
Georgie mentioned anything to him about their fight? It
seemed as if everything in Walt's personal life was falling
apart. Thank goodness business was doing well at least. He
and his uncle would be able to hold on to the pharmacy for a
while if things continued like they had been. He could keep
his house and stay in town. But he needed to get Georgie
back in his life, or it would all mean nothing.

Walt rubbed his temples, trying to decide what the next
best plan of action would be with Georgie when he heard
knocking. He looked up and frowned when he saw Brad
through the screen door. Even though Walt hadn't seen him
in a while, something in his friend's expression and stance
had Walt thinking Brad was not here simply for a relaxed social visit.

He walked over and opened the storm door. "Hey, what
brings you by?" he asked, trying to keep his voice casual.

"Georgie"

A crushing sensation formed in Walt's chest-part guilt,
part frustration, part misery. He must have hurt her pretty
badly for her to confide everything to her brother. Obviously
Brad hated him now too.

"Clay Hayes and his entourage just picked her up," Brad
continued. He sighed, then looked around the room with
tired eyes. "You have anything to drink around here? I could
use a cold beer."

Walt blinked. "Wait. What do you mean Clay Hayes and his entourage just picked her up? The Clay Hayes date is tonight?"

Brad looked at him with surprise. "Yeah. It was in all the
papers this week. Where have you been?"

Where had he been?

Drowning his sorrows by throwing all his time and energy
into the pharmacy. Walt had heard Dee and some customers
discussing the upcoming celebrity date, but he had tuned their
conversations out. He was too preoccupied with the business,
missing Georgie, and feeling sorry for himself to care.

Brad shook his head in disgust. "You should have seen
what Georgie was wearing. That creep Clay Hayes looked as
if he hit the jackpot when saw her standing there in those
black knee-high boots of hers. If his bodyguard wasn't in the
way, I would've decked him one right in that pointy chin of
his."

Georgie in knee-high boots? Walt closed his eyes and
tried to block out that sexy image.

And failed.

"Oh, hell," he murmured.

Brad nodded. "I know what you mean. But the guys handling Clay Hayes' police escort told me for security reasons
their date won't be too private, so that's one less thing to
worry about. Plus, Georgie is a lot tougher than I thought.
You were right about that. It just drives me crazy that she's
wasting her time with this whole escapade, you know?"

Yeah. Walt knew. It was driving him crazy too. Mostly,
because Georgie should be here wearing those knee-high
boots for him and not for some soap star hack. But the whole
situation was so typically Georgie. She went on that date to
spite Walt. She obviously had strong feelings for him or it
wouldn't matter so much to try to hurt him like this. Only,
Walt didn't care about the date. He didn't care what she did, just as long as she would forgive him and love him back.
Why couldn't she let go and admit her feelings? He wearily
sat on his sofa and put his head in his hands, wishing he
wasn't in love with such a stubborn woman.

Brad walked over and plopped down next to him. "Hey, it
looks as though you could use a stiff drink too. How about I
go home, change, and meet you at O'Connell's? That'll
cheer us up"

"No, I don't think so," he mumbled.

"Why not?"

Walt heaved a frustrated sigh. There was no use in worrying what his friend thought anymore. It was time to be honest about his feelings and tell Brad the truth. "I love your
sister," he said through his hands.

"Yeah, me too. But don't worry. Georgie will be fine tonight."

Walt popped his head up. "No. I mean I love her."

"I know," Brad said sympathetically. "Me too. Now let's
go-

Walt raised a hand to cut him off. "No, Brad. You don't
understand. I don't just love her. I'm in love with her."

Brad looked as if he were about to say something but then
his expression went blank, and he went very still. "Wait," he
said, blinking. "What did you say? You mean ... ?"

Walt nodded grimly.

Brad sat back with a loud whoosh, and for several long
minutes he stared off into space, his mouth hung slightly
open, as if the hard drive in his brain suddenly crashed. Not
quite the reaction Walt had wished for when he finally decided to break the news, but all in all Brad was taking the announcement better than expected.

Brad shook his head, then finally refocused on Walt. He
leaned in and grabbed a fistful of Walt's T-shirt. "Listen, you better be straight with me. Are you telling me you love my
sister as in ... until death do us part?"

Walt eased back, gingerly trying to pry out the few chest
hairs Brad had managed to capture when he grabbed his
shirt. "Yeah, I'm not kidding."

"I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean, you're like a
brother to her."

Walt shook his head. "No, Brad. You're her brother. I
didn't mean to fall in love with your sister. But I've never
loved anyone like I love her."

"You and Georgie, huh?" Several beats went by, then a
slow smile spread across Brad's mouth. He finally let go of
Walt's shirt and slapped him on the back. "Well, all right
then. So what are you doing here? She needs to know this.
Go barge in on Georgie's date with Mr. Not So Wonderful
and tell him to get his own woman"

"I can't barge in on her date. That would ruin everything.
Besides, I tried to tell her how I feel, but she's too mad at me
to listen. It was her choice to go on that date. Now I have to
step back for a while. She doesn't want any more interference
in her life. Thanks to you, I think I've done enough of that"

"Oh, I'm sorry, man. I didn't think she'd be mad at you
too"

"It's all right. You didn't know how I felt about her. I
should have told you and her earlier anyway, but I was afraid
to face those feelings myself."

Brad nodded once and stood. "Listen, forget about O'Connell's. I'm going to head home now and wait for Georgie to
get back from her date" He walked over to the front door
and let himself out. "One more thing, Walt," he said through
the screen. "You may not believe me, but I'm not going to
interfere in your love life even though it does happen to in volve my only sister. Just ... don't hurt her. Or I will hurt
you"

Walt let out a little smile. "Believe me, I know what I'm
getting into."

"Well, thanks for being upfront with me-and her."

"Yeah, a lot of good it's done me. She won't even talk to
me now."

Brad shrugged and dropped his gaze. "It's better to take
that gamble with love and lose than to not gamble at all," he
said sadly.

As Brad walked away, Walt had a funny feeling that his
friend had some experience behind that cliche he offered.
Unfortunately, Brad's encouraging words still didn't make
him feel any better.

"One more picture!" someone shouted.

In response, Clay Hayes wrapped his arm around Georgie's
waist, bringing her in close-too close, in her opinion, considering she'd soon have an imprint of his belt buckle on her
pelvis-and flashed a brilliant smile for the camera. Two more
flashes went off, then the owner of the restaurant stepped outside and announced their table was ready. The cameramen
groaned, but they started to pack up their equipment, since
they weren't allowed in the dining area.

Clay Hayes gazed down at her and tightened his arms
around her, unknowingly sending his belt buckle deeper into
her skin. "Are you hungry?" he murmured.

Hungry? He had to be kidding. Her thoughts were hardly
on food. Becoming impaled in the middle of the sidewalk
was at the forefront of her mind.

"Starving!" she cried and shoved him away, hoping to
prove her point, and perhaps stop any further bleeding. She quickly looked at her middle. Thank goodness everything
was still intact.

Clay smiled down at her. Whether it was because he found
her enormous appetite amusing or he was just being polite,
she couldn't be sure. He did seem like a nice guy, though,
even better looking in person than on TV, and hardly the
kind of womanizer Brad and Walt had portrayed him to be.
Not that he was Mr. Personality. She quickly found out
Clay-and his publicist-didn't have much of a sense of
humor, especially when Brad proceeded to grill them on
what he had in mind for their date tonight.

Clay took hold of her free hand and led her inside the
restaurant. Since she was more familiar with the town, Clay
let her choose where they would eat. She chose the Purple
Grape, a restaurant known for its trendy ambiance and winery, mostly because it was a favorite with the locals. She
figured if the conversation between her and Clay ever lagged,
she'd see someone she knew and be able to strike up more
chitchat.

As she followed Clay, she was comforted to see a few familiar faces from the pharmacy. They waved, and she happily waved back. Clay, on the other hand, kept his chin down
and gaze focused on the hostess leading the way to their
table. His lighthearted mood seemed to come and go with the
camera, and she couldn't help but wonder what she'd gotten
herself into.

They were shown a nice quiet table in the corner of the
restaurant, made even more private by several potted trees.
Georgie sat down and opened up her menu, mentally kicking
herself when her gaze went right for the dessert column. She
saw white chocolate cheesecake and was reminded of when
she and Walt had shared a piece the last time they'd been out
together. Walt had called that night a special occasion since it was the first time they had been in each other's company
without fighting. But that night had been special for another
reason; it was the first time Walt had kissed her.

No, no. Stop it! You're out on a date with Clay Hayes for
goodness sakes, and you're thinking about another man? Are
you an idiot or something?