Chapter 67
MAC
“Why are you so upset about this?” Dad asked.
After the party, we went back to the house.
We were in the kitchen and I was pulling out chicken nuggets from the freezer for Andy, slammed the door shut.
While there’d been tons of food at Mav’s place, Andy’d been too busy playing with their dog to eat.
Now he was hungry and searching for Richard while he waited.
Why, I had no idea. I hadn’t seen the cat in three days, but the food bowl was empty every morning so I knew he was alive.
Dad was at the kitchen table, his booted foot propped up on a chair.
“About Georgia?” I asked, pulling the cookie sheet from the lower cabinet. I dropped it onto the counter with a loud clang.
“Yes. Clearly, she didn’t want the job after all.”
I huffed and glared at the cookware. “She wanted it.”
“You’re really worked up over a woman you don’t care about.”
I eyed him. Frowned. “She wanted that job, Dad. It makes no sense.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Did you know she stayed at the James Inn?”
I shook a few chicken nuggets from the bag and onto the tray, then glanced at Dad. “What? When?”
“A few nights when she was here.”
I shook my head. I straightened the frozen shapes on the tray. “She had the apartment,” I said, pointing out the back window. “I know it’s not fancy, but–”
“Son, while the little garage apartment isn’t the James Inn, the woman didn’t relocate there for the amenities.”
“Then why?”
He sighed. “You can assess a fire from the glow it gives at night from a mile away. You can tell when to send your crew into a burning building and when to maintain from the street. You can tell if someone’s having a diabetic emergency and now help deliver a baby. But you can’t see this.”
I leaned on the counter and stared at him. “Dad, what the hell are you talking about?”
“That woman is in love with you.”
I blinked. Then again. I shook my head. Georgia? I love with me? “No. No way.”
“Georgia went to the inn to get away from here. From you. She was protecting her heart.”
I shook my head.
“How the hell do you know this and not me?”
“Because you seem to have your head up your ass.” He crossed his arms over his chest.
“Not about this,” I countered. I’d have known. I’d have seen.
The oven beeped letting me know it was up to temperature. I opened the door and slid the cookie sheet in. “If she went to the inn, it was because she wanted never-ending hot water.”
Right?