Chapter 20
Twenty
At the hospital Georgie found out that Gus had stabilized and his doctors had him scheduled for surgery the next morning.
“He’s not out of the woods yet,” Bad Gus said. “But at least he has a fighting chance.”
“Thank God,” Georgie said, weak with relief.
“Roxy called to say they’ve got Gus’s son Roger in for questioning,” Bill added. “He’s not talking, but they’re working to crack him. They know he had something to do with this.”
“I’ll ask Nathan to see what he can find out,” Georgie said.
Gus raised an eyebrow. “What’s going on with you and that Caldwell boy?”
“We’re friends,” Georgie said for what felt like the hundredth time.
“My heart is broken,” Walter lamented. “I really thought we had something special, Georgie. But how can I compete with tall, blond, built like a brick shithouse—”
“Don’t forget young,” Bill said with a guffaw.
“Well, there’s that, too,” Walter conceded.
Georgie smiled. “If I was sixty-something, Walter, I’d be all about you.”
Encouraged, Walter said, “What’s thirty years between friends?”
“A lifetime?” Bill said.
“Whose side are you on?” Walter huffed.
“I’ve got to run, you guys,” Georgie said with an affectionate squeeze for Walter’s arm. “Let me know if anything changes with Gus?”
“We will, honey,” Walter said.
As she drove home, Georgie was surprised to realize how much she would miss the old men when she left.
Despite her initial reluctance to get involved with them, they had managed to work their way under her skin.
Just like Nathan. She would miss him, too.
To claim otherwise would be a lie. How was it possible that he had wormed his way so thoroughly into her life in just a few days’ time?
She thought about him as she showered and changed into black capri pants, a floral silk tank top and wedge sandals—an outfit much more in keeping with her usual look than the shorts and T-shirts she had worn lately.
Winding her shoulder-length hair into a twist, she secured it with a clip and applied eye shadow and liner using a technique she had learned at a Bobbi Brown demonstration at the store. She wondered if Nathan would notice.
Tess came down the stairs in a knee-length yellow sundress and sandals Georgie instantly envied. “Does this look okay?”
“I love it. The shoes are fabulous.”
“Wow. Look at you.”
“What? Is it too much?”
“You look amazing.” Tess stepped closer. “What’d you do to your eyes? They’re positively popping!”
“Want me to do it to yours?”
“Would you?”
“Step into my office.”
A few minutes later, Tess studied the result in the mirror. “You’re a wizard! Show me what you did.”
Georgie walked her through the steps.
“That’s it?”
“That’s all there is to it.”
Tess checked her watch. “I’ve got to go get Ben.”
“Are you nervous at all? About meeting his family?”
“Why would I be? Are you?”
“No,” Georgie said quickly. “Is Cat going?”
“Ian asked her, but she said no.”
“I wonder why,” Georgie asked as she smoothed on lipstick.
“From what I hear, she plans to have a somewhat unconventional relationship with him.”
“How do you mean?”
In a scandalized whisper, Tess said, “S-e-x only.”
“No way.”
“Way.”
Georgie shook her head in disbelief. “Damn, she’s something, isn’t she?”
“I give her credit. She knows what she wants and knows how to get it. I wish I was more like that.”
“But a sex-only thing. That can’t really work, can it?”
Tess shrugged. “If anyone can make it work, she can.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
“All right.” Tess checked herself in the mirror and ran a hand over her long dark hair, which she had left down for the occasion. “I’m going. See you in a few.”
As Georgie made her way downstairs a few minutes later, Cat came in from a morning at the beach wearing a black bikini top with cargo shorts, her skin bronzed from the sun. “How was it?” Georgie asked.
“Fantastic. Just what I needed.” She glanced up at Georgie. “Va va voom—look at you.”
“Is it too much for a cookout?”
“Not at all. But somehow you manage to make capris look muy glamoroso.”
“That’s not a word—glamoroso.”
“Did it get the point across?” Cat asked dryly.
Georgie’s chuckle died in her throat when she saw Nathan come up the front stairs carrying a bouquet of daisies. Her heart hammered and her mouth went dry. She noticed he had shed the sling that had driven him crazy the day before.
“Hey,” he said when he saw the two women standing inside the door.
Since Georgie didn’t move to let him in, Cat did the honors.
He wore khaki shorts and a white polo shirt that offset his deep tan. “For you,” he said, handing the daisies to Georgie.
Flustered, she took them from him. “I hope they’re organically grown,” she said, relying on humor to hide her emotional response to the flowers.
“I picked them myself, so I know they were.”
Cat sighed. “That’s so sweet. Isn’t it, Georgie?”
“Um, yes,” Georgie stammered. “Very. Thank you.”
“I’ll find a vase for them,” Cat offered, taking the flowers from Georgie.
“Not coming today, Cat?” Nathan asked.
She shook her head. “I’ve got a million things I need to do.”
“I hope Ian remembered to ask you.”
“He did,” Cat said on her way out of the room. “Have fun.”
“Did you hear anything about how their date went?” Nathan asked.
“She said it was fine.”
“Interesting. He’s not talking either.”
Georgie started toward the porch, but Nathan stopped her.
“Let me see you,” he whispered as he backed her up against the door. Tipping her chin, he studied her face. “You’re gorgeous,” he said, but then seemed to reconsider. “No, not gorgeous.”
“He giveth and he taketh away.”
“Gorgeous isn’t adequate.” He took a closer look. “Stunning. Yeah, that’s better. Stunning.”
“Thank you.” In search of balance to offset his overwhelming nearness, Georgie rested her hands on his hips. “Nathan?”
He hovered, teased, tempted. “Yeah?”
“You’re invading my personal space.”
His face lifted into a sexy half smile. “Am I?”
“Uh huh.”
“As long as I’m invading, I may as well conquer,” he said as he brought his lips down on hers.
Georgie curled her fingers through his belt loops and held on tight, expecting him to devour. Instead, he seduced with just the smooth glide of his lips over hers. His fingers caressed her neck, sending shivers darting through her.
When he finally ended the kiss, he gathered her into his arms and held her tight against him. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”
“Because of your arm?”
“No, because I was so mad at myself for not staying with you.”
Georgie glanced up at him and wiped a smudge of lipstick off his bottom lip. “You look tired.”
“It’s your fault.”
“How do you figure? You’re the one who said no!”
“Big mistake. Who knows when I’ll get another offer like that?”
“From me or will any girl do?”
“There’s only one girl I’m interested in getting sleepover invitations from.”
“What’s her name?” Georgie teased.
“You don’t know her.”
She play punched him in the belly.
Laughing, he hooked his good arm around her. “Ready to meet the rest of the Caldwell brothers?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Kevin Caldwell’s yard was a beehive of activity when Nathan and Georgie pulled up just as Ben and Tess were getting out of her car. While Georgie battled apprehension, Tess glowed with excitement. Ben kept a firm grip on her hand as he led her up the driveway.
“We grew up here,” Nathan shared as they walked slowly to accommodate Ben. The sprawling three-story yellow Victorian had a wide, inviting front porch. “Kevin and his wife Linda bought the house from my parents when they moved to Florida.”
“Ian and Rosie live in the Fonzie apartment,” Ben added, nodding at the garage.
“That’s nice for him to have support nearby,” Tess said.
“He doesn’t ask us for help very often,” Nathan said.
“Where’s her mother?” Tess asked.
“Don’t ask,” Ben murmured.
“Long story,” Nathan said. “Put it this way—Rosie’s a lot better off without her.”
“I can’t imagine she wants for much surrounded by so much family,” Georgie said.
“She’s very well loved,” Ben concurred.
In the backyard, they were greeted by a mob. Georgie and Tess met Kevin, Linda, their kids John and Chloe, Hugh Caldwell and his wife Dani, who was hugely pregnant and holding hands with two-year-old Sarah, and Luke, their oldest brother. Ian waved from the swings where he was pushing Rosie.
The mob cleared, and Nathan gasped. “Uh-oh, I’m dead meat,” he muttered. “Mom? What’re you doing here?”
Georgie tightened her grip on his hand.
“We decided to surprise you all and come up for the party,” she said as she embraced her sons. “I also wanted to check on Ben, who looks wonderful. And then you got shot, so I needed to see you, too. How’s the arm?”
“Much better today.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
“Um, Georgie,” Nathan stuttered, “this is my mother, Bernie Caldwell. I would’ve warned you that you were going to meet her if I had known.”
Amused by his distress, Georgie said, “Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Caldwell.”
“And this is Tess,” Ben interjected.
Bernie hugged both women. “Please, call me Bernie.”
“But never Bernice!” her six sons said together.
“Brats,” Bernie said as she linked arms with Tess and Georgie to lead them away from their dates. “Every one of them. A woman pours her heart and soul into raising six boys and ends up with six overgrown brats. How do you suppose that happens? Where did I go wrong?”
Tess giggled as they made their way to the bar.
Bernie’s gray hair fell in soft curls down her back, and her hazel eyes, Georgie noticed, crinkled in the corners when she smiled the way Nathan’s and Ian’s did.
“Rosie told me all about you two and your other roommate. Cat is it? According to my informant, Nathan likes Georgie, Ben likes Tess and her daddy likes Cat, but Cat doesn’t seem to like kids very much. How’d I do?”
Amazed, Georgie stared at her.
“What?” Bernie asked. “I know who to go to for information around here.”
“Your source is well informed,” Tess said, accepting a glass of white wine from Bernie.
“Is this Cat who doesn’t like kids someone I should worry about?”
Tess shook her head. “Cat’s a great person and a good friend. She just needs to get to know Rosie a little better, that’s all.”
“I hope so. What about you two? Anything I need to worry about?”
Georgie and Tess exchanged glances.
“Um,” Georgie stumbled.
“Relax,” Bernie said with a smile. “I’m teasing.” She turned to Tess. “From what I hear, my Bennett has been a little more bearable the last few days. I suspect you’ve had something to do with that, so please accept my thanks.”
“He’s been through an awful lot,” Tess said.
“We all have,” Bernie said, shaking her head. “If I live forever, I’ll never forget that phone call. But I know that as bad as it was, it could’ve been worse. So much worse.”
Tess reached out and clasped her hand.
“Oh,” Bernie said, rallying. “Here’s my husband. Dan, honey, come meet Georgie and Tess.”
Georgie had to suppress a gasp as she saw what Nathan would look like at sixty. Dan’s hair was silver and tight with curls like his youngest son’s, and his bright blue eyes were the same ones all his boys had inherited. But his resemblance to Nathan, in particular, was startling.
“Georgie’s here with Nathan,” Bernie told him, “and Tess came with Bennett.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Dan said as he shook their hands. “But surely pretty girls like you can do better than those two scalawags.”
“Who’re you calling a scalawag, old man?” Nathan asked as he wrestled his father into a headlock.
When Ian and Hugh jumped into the fray, Bernie deftly steered Georgie and Tess to safety while Ben egged on his brothers from the sidelines.
“Too much testosterone when they’re all together,” Bernie said, rolling her eyes.
“What’s the secret to growing them so handsome?” Tess asked.
“I have no idea,” Bernie said, her pride in her sons obvious as she watched the scrum on the lawn. “Quite a sight, aren’t they?”
“Indeed,” Tess agreed with a smile. “Especially right now.”
Georgie and Bernie laughed with her.
Nathan’s white shirt was stained with green by the time he resurfaced from the bottom of the pile, red-faced and sweating.
“Nathan!” Tess cried. “Your arm!”
“It’s fine.” He waved it around his head. “See? Good as new.”
“You still need to baby it, or you’ll tear your stitches,” Tess reminded him.
“She’s a nurse,” Ben told his mother. “In the ER.”
“This family could certainly use a nurse,” Bernie said.
“Mom!” Ben cried. “Stop!”
“I’m only saying.”
“Mother.”
Bernie made a face at him. “Don’t mother me.”
Georgie wondered if Tess was dying of embarrassment, but she seemed to be lapping it up like a hungry cat that had just found a bowl of milk.
Nathan surprised Georgie when he slipped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek.
As she looked up at him with a forced smile, her stomach ached with nerves and anxiety and sadness. The sadness resurfaced so suddenly she had no time to prepare herself to absorb the blow. “Excuse me,” she said softly.