by Tanya Agler
Natalie reached for a chocolate chip cookie and scarfed it down. “Sorry, didn’t get a chance to eat lunch today. My planning period was crazy.” She closed her eyes and licked the crumbs off her lips. Then she opened her eyes again. “I wasn’t talking about Zach Donahue. Why didn’t you tell me about your date?”
Georgie’s jaw dropped. The room grew twenty degrees hotter as a rush of warmth flooded her cheeks. “Um...”
Yeah, friends confided stuff like that. She was still learning. Just then Lucie entered, and Georgie sent her a silent thank you.
“Sorry I’m late. Twin trouble.” She bit her lip and hung her purse on the coat rack.
Natalie kept her gaze steady, and Georgie knew she wouldn’t give up without an answer. “I thought it would be weird to talk about going to a dance with your brother.”
Dating Mike. Both of their rather rocky roads led to this point. His road looped around Hollydale, and while hers wound around the whole Eastern Seaboard with a short hop to the West Coast, the detours had been necessary. They hadn’t been ready for each other when they were younger.
Lucie chose an oatmeal raisin cookie. “If it works out with Mike, you can have my wedding dress. If it doesn’t, I’m learning karate with the twins, and you can come with us to the studio. This new job still lets me help your mom, who’s getting better every time I see her. Soon she won’t need me. Then I’ll work at the dress shop during the day and work at the karate studio after school. Lessons come with the job so I can bring the twins with me.”
Georgie frowned. “Are you okay? You always go for chocolate chip.”
“I wanted a change. Sometimes it’s nice to break out of the same-old, same-old and reach for the stars.” Lucie sat on the closest aluminum chair and bit into her cookie.
And sometimes it was right to come back home and return to the familiar. Was it Hollydale that had changed, or her? No matter. The time was right to stay here for good.
The fact Mike Harrison believed in her was a bonus. If that belief came with love attached, settling down wasn’t settling at all. The only remaining question was whether to contact Brett Cullinan and withdraw her name or wait until she found out if she’d be offered the position, which she would then refuse. She’d lost her heart, not her pride. A few days wouldn’t change what she felt for Mike.
“Speaking of changes.” Natalie glanced at Lucie, who smiled in a Cheshire-cat sort of way.
“Go ahead and tell her.”
Georgie narrowed her eyes. When had these two developed telepathic powers? This wasn’t going to be good. She released that pent-up breath.
“Care to let me in on the secret?”
“Let’s get this car care class started. Afterward we’re going shopping.” Lucie sat back and sighed. “I miss shopping.” She gave a shy smile before glancing at her phone. “Odalie is letting me open the shop just for you. It’ll be fun, but we need to hurry. I have only two hours of babysitting arranged, and I can’t afford to pay overtime.”
“Whoa!” Georgie held up her hands. “No one said anything about shopping.”
She shuddered at the s word.
“Besides,” Georgie blustered, “I have you all to myself on Tuesday nights, and today we’re talking exterior maintenance. That shouldn’t be rushed.”
Natalie sighed and reached for another cookie. “I elect Lucie to be in charge of shopping.”
Lucie opened her mouth, but Natalie cut her off.
“Rachel and I are finishing her science fair project tomorrow night. I’ll watch Ethan and Mattie for you.”
Lucie gasped, her blond ponytail swaying back and forth. “They’d destroy her project.”
“No, they won’t.” Natalie arched her eyebrow, a determined gleam in her eye. “I won’t let them. How quickly you forget I’m a twin. I know the tricks of the trade. This is my brother’s first date in years. I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time.”
Georgie’s insides twisted up. She made Mike happy? “Okay, I’ll go shopping.” Her tongue grew thick and heavy at the word. “But if we don’t find anything, we don’t buy anything.” Her gaze roved over Natalie’s sundress with a denim jacket and Lucie’s frilly top with a smear of ketchup at one cuff and a mustard stain on the other. “And nothing that isn’t me.”
“Agreed.” Lucie stuck her hand out and they shook.
* * *
THE NEXT NIGHT, Georgie entered Odalie’s small boutique with Lucie at her side. The smell of roses and honeysuckle filled the rarified air, and Georgie panicked, already counting the minutes until it would be polite to leave.
After locking the door behind her, Lucie smiled as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders. She was enjoying an evening out. For Lucie, Georgie would endure shopping.
Georgie hustled forward. “Let’s get this over with.”
A bull in a china shop stood out less than she did right now. Beautiful fabrics, chunky jewelry and soft music gave her the creeps. Give her grunge, flannel and good ol’ grease any day of the week.
“Come here.” Lucie waved her over, and Georgie’s stomach roiled at the frilly lace decorating the overlay of the dress. “I see that face. Just listen to me for a minute.” Lucie held up the dress to her frame. “This is what I’d wear if I was going to the hoedown, and an eclectic print with cowboy boots would suit Natalie. You, however, are not meant for frills and furbelows.”
“Fur-what?” Thank goodness she didn’t see anything with fur linings. She’d have left in a second.
“Furbelows. Anything that looks overly girly, like this.” Lucie held up a pink ruffled confection of a dress before she placed it back on the rack. “Avoid it like the plague.”
They were in total agreement on that. Georgie eyed a dress with a plain top and a leopard print as if it were a V-8 engine in a Honda Civic.
“Good grief. This isn’t torture, you know.” Lucie shook her head. “Didn’t your mother ever take you shopping?”
“We made a deal. She picked out my dress for cotillion—” Georgie shivered at the memory “—and I got to wear jeans and T-shirts the rest of the time.”
Maybe it was time she and Beverly went on a mother-daughter outing. Retail therapy always helped Mom.
“Shopping isn’t a four-letter word, Georgie.” Lucie glared and then concentrated on the racks.
“If frilly is out and prints are out, what’s left?” Georgie tapped her foot and crossed her arms. She gave up an evening with Miss Brittany for this? Then again, it kept her mind off Beau. Forty-eight hours and counting since Mr. Reedy had picked him up. Loneliness filled her heart.
“Something like this.” Lucie held up a red dress made of some sort of clingy material with a V-neck that would reveal some cleavage but not all.
“I’d stick out like a sore thumb in that.”
“You know what your problem is?” Lucie leaned in, her whisper fierce and for Georgie’s ears only. “You don’t think you deserve pretty things. You won’t stop being tough if you wear a dress. Your true self, the caring tomboy you that we all love, will always shine through, but it’s okay to treat yourself to something beautiful.”
Georgie fingered the fabric. The soft silk caressed her rough calluses. Biting her lip, she searched Lucie’s face.
As if answering her, Lucie held out the dress. “Try it on.”
Minutes later the knock on the dressing room door alerted Georgie to Lucie’s presence. Hesitating, Georgie glanced at the mirror one more time. The short sleeves showcased her arms, muscular from her work but not overly so. The smooth fabric clung to her curves, stopping just past her knees.
Catching sight of the tag, she winced and stepped out of the dressing room.
“Lucie, this dress would feed me for a month.” She folded her arms and frowned.
Her friend’s staggered breath said too much. Georgie should have known she’d
look ridiculous in this. She turned toward the stall.
“If you don’t buy that dress, I’ll call your mother, and she’ll buy it for you. You’re gorgeous.”
If Lucie had that type of reaction, would Mike?
Less than a week until she’d find out. While not the prom, this evening held so much more promise, as sure as the promise in Mike’s chocolate-brown eyes. This dance was the beginning of their future.
And this dress might set her back a day’s salary, but it was the one for her.
* * *
“THE PARTS FINALLY came today!” Excitement broke out on Georgie’s face. She ran her hand over the Thunderbird’s fin. Now she could get back to restoring the classic car.
Mike couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm.
“You’re keeping a list, right? Once the car sells, I’m paying you what you would have charged, plus parts and labor.” Mike regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. They made this sound like a business arrangement and nothing more.
When Georgie meant so much more to him.
Her nostrils flared for a brief second, and she shook her head. “As the friend,” she said, putting enough stress on the word for him to step back clear to Asheville, “who is going with you to the hoedown, I’m going to ignore that. This isn’t about money to me, Mike. It’s about spending time with the people closest to you. Remember how we’d drive with your grandfather for the fun of it? You and your grandfather accepted me and included me. Those adventures to Sully Creek and Timber River kept me going. They were my lifeline.”
Rachel ran in, and some of the tension in the air dissipated. “Miss Georgie, I don’t have to wear my dressing on my hand at night anymore.”
Georgie clapped and reached for Rachel’s good hand, swinging her around in a wide circle. “That is great news.”
Rachel giggled and plopped her backpack at Georgie’s feet. “How’s Miss Brittany?”
“Come and see.” Georgie pulled her over toward the Thunderbird. “Tonight we’re going to finish rebuilding the engine. That’s why I’m so happy the parts arrived. We won’t fall behind schedule this way.”
Schedule? There was a schedule for this? He liked puttering around, putting the car back together bit by bit. Same as they were rebuilding their friendship, a friendship he didn’t mean to test so often, a friendship he hoped would become more at the Hollydale Hoedown two nights from now. He took a good long look, the not-so-subtle changes in the Thunderbird quite astounding. Georgie wasn’t just restoring her. She was making her shine, with Miss Brittany’s character emerging stronger and prouder than ever.
This car was their past, their present. If only it could be part of their future.
Wishing never solved anything. Hard work and duty did.
While Georgie pointed out the progress to Rachel, Mike drank in the sight of his two favorite ladies getting along so well. The slow hum that had attacked his brain when he responded to the B&E call was now a full buzz.
“How can I help, Miss Georgie?” Rachel’s sweetness snapped him out of another reverie. But he stayed silent, not wanting to disrupt the interaction between Georgie and Rachel.
Of course, if Rachel weren’t here, he’d...what would he do? Work on the Thunderbird? Kiss Georgie? She was more than he deserved. As she brought Miss Brittany back to life, so, too, had she brought his rusty heart back to life. Fun and caring, she reminded him of the side of himself he’d lost touch with. Everything swirled together, and he couldn’t imagine her leaving Hollydale again.
“How can we help, Miss Georgie?” He stepped forward and echoed his daughter’s words. “Use me any way you like. I’m yours.”
Georgie threw him a look, part exasperation, part mirth. “Michael Harrison, I don’t know what to do with you.”
“More like you don’t want to know what you’d do without me anymore, either.” He winked. Sunshine, lemon trees and pie. Those were what Georgie deserved.
“Hello? Anyone here?” His father’s voice came from the reception area.
Georgie went toward the voice, shaking her head all the while. He smiled to himself, swearing he heard a small chuckle.
“In here, Mr. Harrison,” Georgie called to his dad. “Come join the party.”
“Grandpa!” Rachel ran over to her grandfather as he appeared in the doorway. “Come see Miss Brittany. She’s growing prettier every day.”
“Same as you, my darlin’ girl.” Dad reached over and ruffled Rachel’s hair. Rachel pulled him into a hug, and he glanced over Rachel’s head. “Georgie Bennett, it’s been too long, and I’m Carl, not Mr. Harrison.”
Rachel released her grandfather. He walked over and extended his hand. Georgie wiped her hand on her coveralls before offering hers in return. “Sorry to hear about your father passing away. He was a good man.”
“The best.” Dad walked toward the Thunderbird and whistled. “After she’d been in the barn for so long, I never thought she’d be in this good of condition again.”
And this without the doors and bumpers yet.
“Dad, how’d you know I was here?” Changing the subject to something more neutral seemed safe, dependable. Much like how he’d been living life the past couple of years.
Until Georgie had returned.
“Little Miss Sunshine told Natalie, who told your mother, who decided dinner at Holly Days would hit the spot after a hard day’s work. Besides, we’re still recovering from visiting Becks. Chocolate-cream-pie night every Thursday, you know. My favorite.” Dad rubbed his stomach and licked his lips.
“That’s my favorite, too, Grandpa.” Rachel jumped up and down, her brown ponytail keeping time with her bounces.
“That’s why I stopped by. Your grandmother insisted on inviting all of you.” He glanced over Georgie’s way and nodded. “You’re more than welcome, Georgie. It’ll be like old times.”
“Thanks, Mr.—” she grinned and rolled her eyes “—Carl. I’m going to pass, though. I’m almost done with the engine, and I don’t want to mess with progress.”
Dad looked at him. Mike shrugged. Sure, he hated disappointing Mom, but there was no way he’d go out for dinner while Georgie stayed behind and worked. “Can you take Rachel? I’ll pick her up as soon as I’m done here.”
“Once Georgie declined, I expected nothing less.” Dad grinned and reached for Rachel’s hand.
“Aw, I don’t want to miss out on anything here.” Rachel jutted out her bottom lip and scuffled the cement with the tip of her hot-pink sneaker.
“Go ahead and have fun with your grandparents.” Mike went over, hugged Rachel and nudged her toward the door.
“Come on, squirt.” Dad reached out his hand to Rachel, a gleam in his blue eyes, the same as Becks’s and Natalie’s. “You know your grandma will have one bite of her chocolate cream pie before she declares she’s full and gives you the rest.”
The door closed behind the pair, the hinges squeaking a last goodbye. His breath caught as he realized he was alone with Georgie. Actually alone. No pets, no Heidi or Travis, no Rachel.
Messing with progress? Did he chance it? The last time he believed he was making progress with a relationship, he woke up to a “Dear Mike” note attached to the refrigerator door. More than anything else in his life, he’d vowed right then and there never to send bad news by a letter ever again.
Georgie was examining socket wrenches on the back pegboard. If he messed this up—and he didn’t have the best track record for successful relationships—he might lose Georgie, both as a friend and as a partner.
If he didn’t try, though, he’d definitely lose her.
Yet he hesitated. Would this sound better under the stars with a band in the background and twinkling lights sending a soft glow of romance around the evening?
To most women, perhaps. But Georgie Bennett wasn’t most women. The sweetness in hearing
a broken engine running once more always trumped traditional romance for her. This repair shop, with its pungent odor of brake fluid and gasoline, would be a better backdrop for a serious discussion about relationships for them.
He arrived at her side and bent down. “How can I help?”
“It’s okay if you want to have dinner with your family. I can handle this by myself.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else right now.” And he meant it. He removed his jacket and placed it on a hook. Returning, he ran his hand over the cool metal of the work table, clear of unnecessary clutter. So like Georgie.
“You can still catch up with them. I don’t mind.” She picked up the wrench before shaking her head and swapping it out for another.
Walking toward the Thunderbird, she dropped the wrench again, and he picked it up. They reached for it together, her hand trembling. So the nervousness rocking his insides wasn’t limited to him.
“Georgie.” Crouching on the hard cement floor wasn’t comfortable, but he didn’t dare straighten for fear of breaking the connection between them, a connection growing stronger every day they spent together. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“I can do this myself.” If it weren’t for the pleading in those green eyes, searching him, forcing him to dig deep into himself to his core, he’d almost believe her.
He covered her hand with his. “We work well as a team.”
They always had. Even way back when they were doing something silly like toilet papering the principal’s yard on Halloween, they’d always complemented each other’s strengths. Her fire to his ice.
She straightened, and he scrambled to his feet, as well. To heck with it. Why wait? He leaned down and kissed those red lips, plump and full. Lemon broke through the gasoline smells and permeated all of his senses. Bringing his hand to her face, he caressed her cheek, her smooth skin soft under his rougher fingertips. Metal rattled on concrete. She must have dropped the wrench again. He didn’t care. Instead, he pulled her closer. His heart soared with Georgie here, with him.
