by Jamie Magee
“Memphis, go,” she said, waving her hand. He pulled up a block, then turned into a church parking lot and turned off the truck.
“You were in a fire, and I’m just now hearing about it?” He was going to kill them all.
Georgia didn’t answer for a second. She was too busy sizing up this pup. It had crawled to the other side of Memphis, trying to get as far away from her as possible.
“Not a fire. The soup burned. Smoke detectors went off. I don’t know who called the fire department. It wasn’t me, and it wasn’t a big deal.” She looked from the dog to him. “When did you get a dog?”
“No big deal, but they wouldn’t let you stay there?”
Sure, ignore me, Memphis, she thought. “Something about protocol, checking everything out.”
Memphis shook his head. “You bought a house?”
She crossed her arms and slid down in the seat. “I invested.”
“Georgia.”
“That is what it was. Grams told me about this house, was so forceful about it. I went there…” She stopped before she told him about the tree house, about how she had a vivid memory attached to that particular house, her emotions were too amped up right then. She didn’t trust herself not cry. “The guy took like sixty percent off the asking price. It was a good investment. I closed on it Friday.”
He was confused, concerned and a bit angry, but under it all he was proud. She was trying; he had gotten through to her in some way.
“And you didn’t tell me because?”
“Because I wasn’t sure if I was going to live there. I’m still not. And I didn’t want you to get hyped up about it. I mean, one second it’s exciting, then the next suffocating.
“What house?” he asked, wondering if she had been screwed over.
“It’s on New Beginning.”
He turned the truck on and started to make his way there.
Memphis knew this house, all too well. Not only had him and his father walked by it a million times over, he’d walked through it with Easton…Easton had even told him why he wanted to buy the house, how Memphis’s father had told Easton it was built for a princess. Easton had let a grin slide across his stoic image. “I have the princess, now I need the house,” he’d said.
“What do you think?” Georgia asked as they sat in his truck in the driveway.
In deep thought, Memphis was petting the pup, lulling her to sleep. “I don’t know what to think, Georgia. I want this for you, I do. But if I say that, you’ll run. Then again, if I tell you how much work I already know it needs, you might run anyway.” He glanced to her. “This was a big step. I’m proud of you.”
“So it’s not livable?” Great, Georgia thought.
“It is, it’s just old. You need a good electrician. Everything needs to be updated. I mean, you could stay here. I’m sure it passed the basic codes, but I know too much to be okay with it until we change up a few things.” He nodded to the house. “Cosmetic stuff, but knowing you, you like it the way it is.”
“It’s going to cost me a fortune, isn’t it?” Georgia said as she saw her nest egg dwindling down even more.
“No. I know people.”
After a moment she nodded to him. “What’s up with the puppy?”
“You mean this Catahoula leopard? Haven…Haven was a gift for you.”
“No way,” Georgia said, leaning closer. The pup opened its blue eyes to grumble at her. “You got me a dog? Did you even go out of town?”
“She was in a fire a few weeks back. We had to give her and her littermates oxygen. The owner told me she was mine now. I picked her up this morning.”
“She bonded awful quick.”
Memphis let a guilty smile dangle on his lips. “I kinda visited every day.”
Quizzical glance. “You visited a puppy?”
“You have no idea how hard it was to save her life. She had crawled to the back corner of the barn she was in, last one I found and got out. It took me forever to get enough oxygen in her. They said she was a runt, so I wanted to make sure she was good. Vet told me this morning that I needed to keep a close eye on her, but she’s getting stronger.”
“I hate to break this to you, but she’s already picked her owner, and I don’t think I can take on too many more life-changing elements right now.”
Memphis pulled the pup up to his broad chest and ran his hand across her coat. “I was only giving her to you so you’d stay here and I would see her all the time. You have a house now, so back off my girl.”
Georgia busted into a laugh as she watched the pup lick Memphis’s face.
“Haven,” Georgia said.
“Family tradition; name you where you’re born. She didn’t look like a Willow to me, too stout.” He glanced at Georgia. “You’re staying, right? The hotel business is behind you?”
She shrugged then huffed out a breath. “Do you have any idea how much Wi-Fi costs? Or how I can get it hooked up?”
He bit his lip so he wouldn’t smile, then pulled out his phone, sending a few texts out to get the ball rolling on all she needed to make this house her own.
“So, um, Easton,” he said after a minute.
Georgia tensed.
“Your business, Georgia, but I know you both. I’m going to tell you that until you figure out if you’re going to stay or not, it might not be awesome to go down that road. He’s been through enough, and it’s not just him anymore.”
“Why didn’t you tell me your friend was going through hell?”
“My friend,” he repeated with a knowing grin.
Georgia looked away. “Look, when um, when Dad died…”
“I know.”
Georgia felt herself shrinking into the seat—did the entire fucking town know?
Memphis laughed under his breath, enjoying her innocent embarrassment. “Easton told me the day of the wedding.”
“And you didn’t say anything? Is that why you had him cut in? A set up?”
“Grams said you needed to dance and so did Easton, to make it happen or I wasn’t getting another pie from her, ever.”
“Pie. You sold me out for pie.”
Memphis shook his head doing his best to hinder his mirth. “You didn’t look all that put out, little bit.”
“What did he say to you?”
Memphis raised his hands. “Nope. Not getting in the middle of it.”
“You already are. Apparently Grams and Cynthia are, too.”
“No joke?” he said with a lifted brow.
“Seriously, Memphis. Why didn’t you tell me your best friend was going through some serious shit?”
Memphis furrowed his brow. “I think you have the wrong impression about what went down.”
“Wrong impression? He’s a single father, the mother bailed because she’s an addict, apparently.”
Memphis tilted his head in agreement before he spoke. “Yeah, but, you’re acting like this ripped him or something.” Memphis smirked. “One day he and Wyatt are talking about how they took in this girl they met when they used to travel, how they were going to help her get through rehab—a few months later, Easton is trying to keep this insane girl alive and sober so she can carry a baby she tricked him into having—then boom she’s gone. He didn’t bat an eye about any of it. I mean he was pissed, but that was ‘bout it.”
“Exactly how did she trick him?” Georgia asked, a glint of both disdain and disbelief in her gaze.
“I don’t know, Georgia. I know they hooked up a time or two when he traveled with Wyatt, back when he was at school. She fell hard for him and, well, he didn’t. When she came here looking for help she wanted more and he didn’t.” Memphis shook his head. “According to Wyatt—overhearing Easton and Trish fighting—she poked holes in his condoms and told him she was on the pill.” He glanced at her. “She went ballistic when he didn’t want to be with her even after she told him she was having a baby.”
“But then she just gave up? Left? Really?”
“You gotta know
this girl for it to make sense. She’s the type to get a wild idea and bail on it. She’s more or less a con. Everything about her is, what she wants or needs—and she will hurt and twist anyone to get it. Grace was a way to get Easton. When it didn’t work she dropped and ran.”
Georgia was quiet for a long moment. “He had to have seen something in this girl, though. Something that made him want to help her in the first place.”
“I think he knew her before she got a little wild. Even if he didn’t though, it doesn’t surprise me he tried to help someone. He comes across as an ass most times but he’s got a good heart.”
“Where is Trish?”
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
“I don’t know. Wyatt’s kid sister does a pretty good job of tracking her for Easton. I heard she was in St. Louis not long ago, running with some musicians.”
Georgia smirked—been there done that.
“I’m telling you, if you’re worried about her and Easton hooking up again you’re barking up the wrong tree. Easton is nothing like the guys you’ve been running with—don’t accuse of him being so.”
Too late, Georgia thought. “You can’t know that for sure, this isn’t a regular breakup—there is a baby in the middle of it.”
Memphis shook his head. “I know for sure.” He looked right at her. “All that business with her, he never once batted an eye, no emotion, well, except when it came to Grace, her fighting to live, yeah—but not about Trish. The morning before the wedding, when he told me about you and him there was a shit load of emotion.” He lifted his chin. “Friction.”
“Do what?”
“Easton is cool and smooth with everything, nothing rocks him, but somehow you give him friction, make him lose the controlled balance he always has. I can only imagine you scare the shit out of him, and more than likely that pisses him off, but it’s good stuff.”
“Friction is good?”
“Makes fire,” he said with wink.
“You think you’re cute.”
“I’m fucking adorable,” he said with a laugh. “Look, little bit, you’ll figure it out. Just remember what dad always said about fear.”
Georgia remembered all right, the saying was the reason she had the nerve to sit down next to Easton all those years ago.
“The first instinct is made with the heart, the second with the mind—your heart knows no fear. Without fear—you’re invincible. Always be invincible, Georgia. Help those who aren’t’”
***
Memphis was a miracle worker, Georgia declared. He barely made four calls, and her house was full of people. Three different electricians were working on the wiring and the updating. Most of the people from his house and a handful she had met at the wedding were there, too. They were wiping down every surface and helping her paint, hanging blinds, changing locks—the whole nine yards.
The power was on, a fridge and new stove were brought there. Memphis had brought a few odds and ends from his upstairs storage room; a little table for the nook in the kitchen, some dishes. A few lamps were brought over as well. He told her he knew where they could get a couch and a real bed for her, but she wanted to wait on both accounts until all the painting was done.
All day long, each time someone new stopped by to help out for a few hours, Georgia looked for Easton, and when she wasn’t doing so, she was checking her phone. Her mind was rushing through every second of the night before and pairing it with what others had told her about Easton. Even things she heard the other guys talk about as they worked on her house throughout the day.
Easton had a thousand reasons to push her away. In all honesty she had just as many to walk away. When it came to her own life she was still figuring out who she was, what she wanted.
After her talk with Memphis, Georgia thought back over how Easton would pull her close only to put the brakes on a second later. She’d thought he did so because of how his life was set up—but now she wondered if he did so because she saw past his wall, just like he saw past hers.
She heard a rumble of laughter and looked down the hall, out the front door and saw Easton and Memphis, along with a few other guys talking like it was any other night.
“He wasn’t going to show until she went to bed.”
Georgia looked back to see Truman putting a light switch back in place. She lifted her brow as if to question what he was talking about.
“Grace,” he said with a grin as he went back to what he as doing. “He always spends most of his days off with her. With Wyatt getting hitched, on his honeymoon, we’re all pulling crazy hours. There was no way he was going to come out with her still awake, not when he’s lined up for a double.” He glanced down the hall. “He’s been here for awhile. I saw him and Memphis talking before.”
“Right,” Georgia said, trying to act like the information was useless and it sorta was. It made sense that Easton would spend time with his baby, but he could’ve at least sent a text message sometime during the day.
“You’re pretty good with your hands,” Georgia said to Truman just to change the subject and ignore the fact Easton hadn’t even looked her way or bothered to come inside. Truman was right, he had been here awhile, over an hour.
Truman grinned. “Ma’am, I’m a Doran, that’s a given.”
“Full of charm too, I see,” Georgia said with a sly grin. Truman was outright flirting and made no effort to hide it. What made him sinfully dangerous was he had the body and looks to make a girl melt without him even applying the charm.
“One would be useless without the other,” he said as he winked at her. He nodded his head toward the doorway Georgia was ruefully ignoring. “He makes you nervous.”
“Wasn’t the emotion I was going for at the moment.”
“Damn, Harley pegged you.”
“Do what?’
He laughed as he gathered his tools. “She said the quiet ones had the biggest bite, knew when to push and when not to.”
“And why was I a topic of this conversation?” Georgia asked as she stood from her crouched position. It seemed like this entire town knew something was up between her Easton long before it actually was.
Truman glanced over her head. “She told me not to hit on you, and I asked why.”
“And somehow how hard I bite came up?”
“Not how hard, who you needed to bite,” he said, laughing as he lifted his chin in a guy nod. “We were just talking about you.”
Georgia turned sharply and found Easton just behind her.
“Bad or good, or do I wanna know?” Easton asked as his gaze rained down on Georgia.
“Not sure, daddy-o, didn’t get that far.”
“Everyone is going to grab some food, then come back and clean up,” Easton said, not to her but Truman.
“Cool, you coming?” Truman asked as he gathered his things.
“No, tell Memphis to grab me something. I’m going to finish this bathroom one way or another tonight.”
Truman glanced down the wide hall then back to her. “I’ll grab you some light bulbs, too. You can’t burn this bitch down now, not after I spent all day working on it—my time is precious, sweetheart.”
Georgia decided not to look up at Easton or watch him leave with the guys. Whether he meant to or not, by ignoring her all day, he’d made her feel like some horrid secret, like he didn’t really want anyone to know something went down between them.
“Hey,” he said quietly when she started to walk down the hall.
Georgia stopped short, as if the word was a command she had to obey but didn’t want to.
“You mad?”
She turned around and slowly looked up at him not sure how to answer the question. “Should I be?” Before he could answer she walked on, back to her room where she had cans of trim paint sitting before the fireplace in the room.
“We slept in,” he said when he followed her. “I saw Memphis’s text about helping out over here and came as soon I could.”
Her cold
stare flicked to him. “You came because Memphis asked you to?”
He drew his brow together. “He was the only one who asked me to come.”
“I figured if I heard from you, I’d tell you what was going on over here.” She went back to what she was doing. “Truman said you’ve been here awhile.”
Easton glanced down the wide hall, watching the others leave.
He walked forward then lowered himself down next to her.
“I had to talk to Memphis.”
“About.”
Easton smirked and looked to his side. “When your best friend’s sister sleeps in your bed, I think that warrants a conversation.”
“Nothing happened.”
Easton popped his brow up. “Nothing…I seem to remember a few things going down.”
Georgia turned crimson instantly, and it took all she had not to let a smile emerge. She definitely remembered, and as the memory surfaced once more she pressed her thighs together reminding herself she was both hurt and mad at him, no matter how talented he was. “Then you told me to leave.”
“And you didn’t. At least not at first.”
Her gaze fluttered over him. “I kinda liked watching you sleep.”
“You’re lying.”
She furrowed her brow. “That’s my line, Ballantine.”
“You didn’t wake me because you didn’t know what to say. Because in the daylight hour everything seemed a little different, the rush was gone.”
He was insane if he thought the rush he gave her was gone. “You think I ran? That I’m bothered by your lifestyle?”
He didn’t respond, which told her she was dead on.
“And you didn’t call because you didn’t feel like chasing me.”
“I didn’t call because I was going to make you look me in the eye and blow me off.”
“How’s that working for you?”
“Ball’s in your court, Georgia.”
“Now, it’s not best for me to leave, huh.”
“Might be.”
“Why?”
He shook his head, then stood.
Georgia was sure he was going to leave, sure her natural defensives had scared him away.
“Because Trish knows I have a thing for you, that I have for years. I’m pretty sure she’s figured out you’re close to me again…I don’t trust her not to hurt you.”
