He’d never seen someone jump to their feet faster. “Sorry,” she said back to Lurch, “duty calls.” But she paused and added, “You know, I’m pretty sure there are prescription medications that can help you with that. I’d suggest talking to your doctor.”
Lurch lit up like one of Aunt Dottie’s lamps. “You know, that might not be a bad idea,” he said, as if no one had suggested it to him before. And maybe no one had. Most people would have probably run out on the conversation right after it started.
Georgie gave River’s arm a little squeeze when she reached them—a silent thank you that sparked a warm glow inside of him.
Her hand lingered there, making him wonder where her mind was at after the weekend. Did she still think kissing him was a mistake?
Did she want to make that mistake again?
“My stuff?” she asked.
He pulled a face. “Sorry. I tried to save everything I could, but the suitcases themselves are basically shrapnel. I folded your things into a couple of boxes I had in my trunk. I’ll help you bring everything in after the…” He stopped short of calling it a party. “…thing.”
“Oh, thank you,” she said, her face flushing. She had to be thinking about just what he’d folded—which made him think about it too. Not that he’d really stopped. He felt his ears burning, and his aunt shot him a knowing look.
They headed toward the computer together, but Tom waylaid Aunt Dottie.
He held out his arm, which sported angry-looking scratches. “Dot, that cat’s guarding the bathroom. Won’t let anyone in.”
“Oh dear, that won’t do. We don’t want Lurch to get any ideas and use the punch bowl,” she said with a wink at Georgie. “I’ll be right back, my dears. Can you make sure the computer’s all set?”
“Will do, Aunt Dottie. Let me know if you need any help wrangling the beast.” Not that River had a particular talent for that. If Jezebel had been pissed that he and Georgie had intruded on her territory the other night, she had to be a thousand times more on edge tonight. No one had ever accused her of being social. Still, he wasn’t worried about his aunt. She had enough of a way with animals, even that animal, that she’d once convinced Jezebel to wear a Christmas sweater. No one had been able to get it off her, not until it essentially fell off from wear and tear, but the initial accomplishment was still impressive.
Georgie pulled away her hand, as if only then realizing it was still there. “Thanks, River.” She paused. “For dealing with the mess, and for saving me with Lurch back there.”
“Don’t thank me just yet,” he said. “We still don’t know what the crystal ceremony entails.”
Her mouth quirked up. “Just how much were you involved in the preparations for this?” She waved a hand, indicating the insane display in what was now her living room. Yeah, he probably should have warned her.
“Directly? Not much. But enough to know she’d gone a little over the top.” His eyes combed the room again. “Okay, massively over the top. I’m sorry, Georgie. I should have called or texted you about this, but I figured you wanted space. I honestly didn’t mean to encourage her. I just thought all of this might help her feel better.”
Sadness welled in her eyes, and she touched his arm again, in that same spot. He wondered if her touch would be seared there, if he’d feel it always from now on. He hoped so.
“You don’t need to apologize for being a good nephew. Besides, my sister said there’s a 93.4% chance Lee will call in, and I absolutely want to see his face when he gets a look at all of this.”
His smile spread wider. “Will you think less of me if I say I feel the same way?”
“You may be perfect,” she said softly, “but you’re only human.” Then she smiled at him again and made her way to the computer, leaving him with the glow of having been called perfect—again—by a woman like her. Even if it was far from true.
When he joined her there, he started up the meeting, something that only took a matter of clicks given he’d already set everything up. Adalia connected instantly, so she must have been waiting on them. She had on a paint-splattered black T-shirt, and her hair had been pulled back in two short French braids.
Her face stretched into a huge grin when she saw them—only she wasn’t really looking at them, but at the statue of Beau and the insane wall of letters behind it.
“Hi, Georgie. Hi, River. Oh, this is even better than I thought,” she said. “Did Dottie make that?” Her expression had been teasing, but she tilted her head a little, studying it—her attention drifting up to Beau’s sculpted face. Some of the humor dripped away. “Wow, she’s really good! I had no idea your aunt was an artist.”
“And I would be thrilled to create art with you one day, my dear. I see it in our cards,” Aunt Dottie said, joining them. River wasn’t sure whether she meant it literally. With her, there was simply no way to tell. “Soon, I think.” Her gaze darted around the screen before landing on River. He shrugged, indicating the other two hadn’t yet called in. “I’m afraid we’ll have to start the crystal ceremony without your brothers,” Aunt Dottie said, “but you can tell them all about it.”
“Oh, I will,” Adalia said, grinning again. “You can be sure of it.”
River was about to ask about Jezebel’s whereabouts, but he caught sight of her on the food table, eating a dish of something brown. The people who’d been standing around the table had backed up in a protective circle, and it was obvious no one intended to stop her.
Neither did he. He had too much to live for.
Aunt Dottie picked up a bell she’d set beside the computer and rang it, and all conversation in the room trickled to a stop.
“It’s time for us to begin. I know you’re all as excited as I am to reach across the curtain and commune with our dear Beau. Please help yourself to the refreshments, if you haven’t done so already,” she said, gesturing to the table. The people closest to it flinched, as if worried her gesture might startle Jezebel, who’d moved on to what looked like a black dip.
“To start, we’ll each choose a crystal to put us in tune with Beau’s psychic energy.”
Aunt Dottie left her spot at the front of the room and walked up to the statue. Georgie let out a gasp as she reached for the crystal shaped like Beau’s dick. At that exact moment, River heard a chime, indicating someone else had joined the video conference. Lee stared in openmouthed disbelief as Aunt Dottie removed the crystal from the statue. “We’ll use Beau’s crystal as a tuning rod to lead us to the crystals that will best allow us to communicate with him.”
Oh shit. He’d volunteered Georgie to go first.
“Georgie,” Aunt Dottie said with an expectant grin as she turned and held the crystal out to her. “Would you do the honors?”
Chapter 21
“Uh…” Georgie stared at the phallic crystal Dottie was offering, then took an involuntary step back. Could this night get any worse?
A third box had popped up on the screen and Jack stared out into the room with a look of horror, obviously regretting his decision to call in.
“What are you waiting for?” Adalia’s voice crackled from the computer speakers. “Go get yourself a crystal.”
“Is that what I think it is?” Lee asked with a shocked look on his face.
“If you’re thinking it’s a pink crystal replica of our grandfather’s penis, then yes,” Jack said in a dry tone, “I believe it is.”
Georgie Buchanan was a put-together woman who had handled herself with integrity and professionalism in a wide variety of situations, but this…she had the urge to run home and hide under the covers, only this was her house now and she was stuck.
Oh, mercy. Dottie might be hosting this séance, but Georgie was the location host, which meant she was stuck here with Dottie and Lurch and Josie and all the craziness that seemed to accompany her grandfather and his business and the people associated with him.
Well, everything but River. He seemed relatively normal. She took it as a good sign that he
hadn’t treated her any differently tonight than he had in their previous encounters. The kiss—kisses, she mentally corrected—hadn’t made things awkward or rendered him standoffish. As long as he was here, she wouldn’t be alone. She could handle anything.
Well, anything besides touching her grandfather’s crystal penis. That was a step too far.
She gave Dottie a forced smile as she moved toward the box containing multiple small crystals. “You know, I can already feel Beau’s energy with us.” She held her hands up and waggled her fingers, then lowered them as though mimicking rain. “And it’s telling me to choose this one.”
She hastily picked another pink crystal and held it up in triumph.
The frown on Dottie’s face suggested she wasn’t particularly happy with the way Georgie had chosen, but she didn’t put up a fight. “Now the other Buchanan grandchildren need to pick a proxy to select their crystals. Children, who do you choose as your proxy?”
“Oh! Oh!” Adalia shouted, raising her hand in the air and bouncing around like she was a kid in class desperately trying to gain the attention of their teacher. “Let me go first! I choose Georgie!”
Georgie shot her sister a glare, but it was obvious Adalia was having too much fun with this to back down. She looked to be losing a fight to keep a straight face. “And I’m going to need you to use Grandpa Beau’s tuning rod to pick mine.”
Lee’s face turned beet red, and Jack stared at them with wide eyes from the screen, looking like he was having major misgivings about not only attending the séance but having anything to do with the Buchanans period.
Which was fair, considering Georgie was having major misgivings herself.
“I really don’t think that’s necessary, Adalia,” Georgie said through gritted teeth. “I assure you that I’m already in tune with Beau’s energy.”
Adalia tilted her head, still trying to look serious, but the evil glint in her eyes gave her away. “See…you’re in tune with Grandpa Beau’s energy, but me? Not so much. I’m worried your connection will cross over to my rock choosing.”
“She has a point,” Dottie said earnestly.
“See?” Adalia gave Georgie puppy dog eyes. “I’m going to need you to use the tuning rod to make sure you pick the right one.”
“Really, Adalia?” Lee protested in disgust. “Is this séance not bad enough? You have to stoop to juvenile games?”
“Juvenile games?” Adalia countered, quick to anger as always. “This was Dottie’s idea, and she’s well into her seventies.”
“Eighties,” Dottie corrected, her head bobbing.
“Well, there you have it,” Adalia snapped. “She’s much older than me.”
“Well, I’m not sure about much older,” Dottie muttered to River. “I’d like to think I’m young at heart.”
“Of course you are, Aunt Dottie.” River was speaking to the elderly woman, but his gaze was fully on Georgie and everything about him screamed, I’m so, so sorry.
“I think I should go first,” Jack said with a bit of a glare, but it was hard to know who it was directed toward since he wasn’t there in person. “I choose River to be my proxy, and I’m gonna need him to use the tuning rod too.” He held up a fist in front of his scrunched-up face and twisted it. “Like really grasp it tightly to feel the energy. Since you were so close to him and all.”
Dottie perked up. “Oh, that’s a good idea. Especially since Jack didn’t know Beau at all, and you did.”
River’s face froze and his eyes flicked from Georgie to the large crystal in Dottie’s hand.
Georgie moved next to the monitor, banking on the hope that Dottie was electronically clueless. “Maybe River and I should flip for it,” she said. “Does anyone have a coin? Dottie?”
Dottie glanced down at her hips, as though looking for pockets in a dress that obviously lacked them. Georgie took advantage of the moment and blindly reached behind the monitor, ripping a cord out of the back at random.
The screen went black. Maybe her luck had changed.
“Adalia?” Georgie called out in mock concern. “Jack? Lee?” She turned to Dottie wide-eyed. “I think Beau disconnected them.”
Dottie frowned, her lips thinning as she studied the screen for a moment.
“She’s right,” River added. “One minute they were there and the next they were gone. This must be Beau’s doing. I don’t think he wanted them here for the séance.”
“Hmm…” Dottie said, deep in thought.
Josie’s brows knitted together. “But didn’t Georgie—”
“I think it’s obvious that Beau’s spirit is already here,” River said, picking up the basket and grabbing a black rock. “I say we just pass this around.” He shoved it at Lurch. “Pick the one that speaks to you and hand it to the next person.” When no one was looking, he snuck a glance at Georgie and winked.
An odd mixture of emotions pooled in Georgie’s chest. Gratitude. Comradery. Appreciation. None of the other men in her life, past or present, would have handled this situation like River just had. Her father and Lee would have made withering comments and then started bossing people around (which Lee would have gotten around to if Georgie hadn’t pulled the plug), and her previous boyfriends would have stomped off or acted disgusted. Granted, Dottie was River’s aunt, but Georgie knew the respect and concern he’d shown for her feelings wasn’t limited to her. He’d shown it to Josie and to Lurch. He didn’t jump to conclusions or shoot off his temper. His kindness and empathy made him even more appealing.
No. No. No. You’re supposed to be thinking about him less. Not more!
He still hadn’t looked away, and the warmth in her chest shifted, now igniting her body, and she released an involuntary laugh. She must have it really bad for him if she was getting turned on in the middle of all of this.
Jezebel let out a loud screech as if to concur.
Several people scampered out of the way as the cat jumped off the table and shot into the kitchen, but the basket of crystals continued to make its way around the room until it reached Josie. She dumped them all onto her lap and began to sort through them.
Georgie was starving and there was no way she was eating anything on that table after Jezebel had wandered through it. She half-considered running into the kitchen to see if Dottie had any comfort food in the fridge, but she worried it would be rude. Plus, while she didn’t like admitting she was afraid of a cat, she was pretty sure anyone with half a brain was afraid of that cat. How much longer was this thing going to take?
“Dottie,” Georgie said. “What’s next?”
“Well, after everyone has their crystals, we’re going to communicate with Beau.”
Oh dear. Was Dottie going to use the Ouija board? Georgie wasn’t particularly superstitious, but after everything else that had happened, the last thing she needed was to open a demon portal in Asheville, North Carolina.
Dottie asked everyone to gather in a circle. River slid next to Georgie, his arm inches from hers. She felt the heat of his body seeping into hers, and found herself edging slightly closer.
“Okay, now,” Dottie said. “Holding the crystal in your right hand, take the hand of the person next to you.”
River glanced down at Georgie as his hand tentatively sought hers, as though he feared she might pull away.
She stared up at him, telling herself that holding his hand was a bad idea—the worst idea—yet she found herself linking her fingers with his, the smooth rock in his hand pressing into her palm.
This felt too right, too natural. Other than the rock, of course, and the absolutely insane scene around them.
He squeezed, holding her gaze, and she knew he felt it too.
She’d lost herself in the moment, so she wasn’t prepared when someone snatched her right hand. A quick glance revealed it was Josie. She swung Georgie’s hand back and forth as if they were schoolkids on a playground.
“I can’t wait to talk to Beau.” Then she sobered, letting their arms hang. “I kno
w he wasn’t my grandfather or anything, but I really miss him.”
Georgie squeezed Josie’s hand and offered a reassuring smile. Josie was infuriating, but as far as Georgie could tell, her intentions were good. “I hope you get a message from him.”
“I am sorry if this doesn’t go well for you,” Josie said. “You’re not sarcastic like your brother is, and you have really nice underwear.”
Georgie heard a muffled sound from her left—River stifling a laugh, if she had to bet. Although she had no idea what Josie was talking about, she figured it would be best not to ask.
Her gaze shifted to Dottie, who was edging her way behind the sofa.
“Aunt Dottie,” River said. “Do you need help with that?”
“Don’t worry,” she said with a grunt, holding the plug at the end of the lights she’d strung up around the hand-painted letters on the cardboard taped to the walls. Thank God she hadn’t painted directly on the plaster. “I just need to get the lights hooked up so Beau can communicate with us.” Still holding the end of the lights, she bent over, feeling for something on the floor.
“Maybe I should help,” River said with a slight edge of concern.
“Don’t be silly,” Dottie said, still bent at the waist and fumbling around on the floor. “It’s here somewhere. I put it here myself this morning.”
“What are you looking for?” River asked, his hand loosening its hold on Georgie’s.
“That extension cord. I found it in Beau’s basement on a shelf… There it is!” Beaming, she stood upright and produced the end of a fat electrical cord that looked like it had come straight from the 1940s.
“Um… Aunt Dottie…” River released Georgie’s hand and took a step forward. “Maybe you shouldn’t use—”
But Dottie wasn’t paying attention as she shoved the plug from the light string into the extension cord.
Fall in Love Book Bundle: Small Town Romance Box Set Page 324
