Chapter 75
MAC
I took Georgia’s hand and pulled her to her feet. “Oh no, you don’t. Not that pageant smile. Not this time.” I looked around the table. “If you’ll excuse us.”
I glanced toward the grass where Andy was happy playing with the other kids.
“I’ll watch him,” Keely offered, reading my mind. He seemed fine, but we were someplace new and with strangers.
And then I pulled Georgia inside.
The air conditioning was on and the house was at least ten degrees colder than outside. No one I knew in Hunter Valley had it. It didn’t get hot enough to need it. If it did, it cooled off at night, which was exactly how I liked it. This? This pea soup of weather in April? I couldn’t handle it.
The sooner I got Georgia back to Hunter Valley with me, the faster I could be out of the crazy weather.
First, I had to grovel.
Once the door was closed behind us, I dropped Georgia’s hand. I didn’t think she’d run. At least not out the back door. Maybe the front, but I didn’t think she’d get far without breaking an ankle in those heeled sandals.
“You came all this way to–”
“To tell you I don’t want you to smile at me when you’re angry with me,” I said. “I don’t want you to smile at me when you’re sad. Or unhappy. Or nervous. I don’t want you to smile at me unless you mean it.”
I pointed at her.
“See? Right now. You’re so fucking unhappy and yet you’ve got that gorgeous smile.”
I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. That I had a pageant smile pretty much frozen on my face. I let it slip, then fall away.
He nodded. “Yes. That. I want that from you. The real Georgia. I want you to fight with me while I fight for you, okay?”
“What?” I whispered.
Fight for me?
“I’m here to tell you I’m sorry. To say I’m an idiot. To tell you Dad and Theo and everyone else think I’m one, too. To tell you I love you.”