Beach Reads Boxed Set

by Marie Force

  “I guess not.” She glanced down at the bandage holding the gauze in place. “Four to six weeks. That’s a long time to wait.”

  “It’ll go by faster than you think.”

  “What do we do now?”

  Slipping an arm around her shoulder, he led her to the clinic’s main door. “We put it out of our minds and live our lives.”

  It sounded like a good plan. Georgie just hoped she could do it.

  Georgie woke up alone early on Friday morning and was sad to realize Nathan had never made it there the night before. Realizing she had grown accustomed to waking up with him, she sat for a long time on the edge of her bed trying to decide when she’d started encouraging what was happening between them. Right around the time you accosted him in the hospital parking lot and invited him to come sleep with you.

  Suddenly, the idea of going back to Atlanta held zero appeal. What if I stayed here? It was the first time she allowed herself to seriously consider the possibility. I could think of something to do here for work, couldn’t I? I mean, it wouldn’t be Davidson’s, but maybe at one of the department stores in Providence. How about what I owe my employees in Atlanta? They’re counting on me. I have to go back long enough to clean up the mess there. After that, I can do whatever I want.

  Still pondering her options, she showered and headed to the center early. By nine thirty, she had done six months’ worth of filing that cleared the huge pile of paper she had inherited from her mother, paid the bills, balanced the checkbook, and sorted through a stack of correspondence. At the very bottom of the pile, she found a copy of the application for the recycling Dumpster and was reminded of the day she met Nathan. So much had happened since then.

  She picked up the phone and called the city’s public works director.

  “This is Georgie Quinn over at the senior center,” she said when Charlie Foster answered his extension.

  “Nancy’s daughter?”

  “That’s me.”

  “I’m sorry about your mom. She was a character.”

  “Thank you. The reason for my call is a copy of an application I have here that shows my mother requested a recycling Dumpster almost a year ago, and we still don’t have it.”

  “Well, now, Georgie, these things take time—”

  “Do you know about Styrofoam, Charlie? Do you know that when your grandkids have grandkids, the stuff we use today will still be sitting in the landfill?” Nathan would be so proud. “It doesn’t break down. Ever. We need that Dumpster. I don’t have the staff to clean more than a hundred trays a day. If I’m going to provide a hot lunch for the city’s seniors, I need my Styrofoam trays. Can you see the pickle I’m in?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts, Charlie. I’ve been trucking smelly recycling trash over to the Rec Center for weeks now. I could charge the city to get the stench of liver and onions out of my car. So what do you say? Get a Dumpster over here?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  “You are so your mother’s daughter,” he said with a chuckle.

  The statement stopped her heart. “Thank you, Charlie,” she said softly. How could he know there was no higher compliment he could pay her?

  She finished cleaning up the small office and even straightened the pictures on the wall, most of which were of her mother with her constituency throughout the years. Georgie smiled as she righted the one of her mom with the dirty old men from last year’s Christmas party.

  At ten o’clock, she unlocked the front door. Walter came bounding in, lifted her right off her feet, and swung her around. She wouldn’t have thought he had it in him! “What’s gotten into you?” she asked when he set her down.

  “Gus is awake!”

  “Oh!” She hugged Walter. “Oh, thank God.”

  “He still has a long road ahead of him, but he’s going to make it, Georgie. He’s already talking to everyone like nothing ever happened.”

  “Does he know about Roger yet?”

  Walter shook his head. “Dawn decided to keep that from him until he’s stronger.”

  “Probably not a bad idea.”

  “I’ve got to get back over there, but we wanted to make sure you heard the news. Will you tell everyone here?”

  “Of course. I’ll come by after lunch.”

  He kissed her cheek and bounced out the door.

  Georgie stood there for a long time, her hand over her heart, thanking God for what surely had to be a miracle. Her cell phone rang, and she tugged it out of her pocket.

  “Georgie, it’s Tara,” her assistant from Atlanta whispered. “Something’s going on here today. I can’t really talk, but all the muckety-mucks’ doors are closed, and that bitch Nina is screaming at Lorraine!”

  “Wow,” Georgie said, sucked right into the drama. “Nobody screams at Lorraine and lives to tell.”

  “I know! Someone’s coming. I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you later if I can. Hurry up and get back here.”

  The line went dead just as the center’s phone rang. Her head began to spin from what was shaping up to be a crazy day. Georgie ran to answer the phone.

  “Georgie, Richard Andrews here,” the city’s recreation director said. “Have I caught you at a bad time?”

  “Not at all. What’s up?”

  “We’ve found her!” he said, his voice ebullient.

  “Found who?”

  “The perfect replacement for your mother—not that your mother can ever be replaced, but someone who can pick up the torch and carry it forward. She’s got a degree in gerontology and just moved here with her husband, a naval officer who’ll be teaching at the War College for the next few years. She’s ideal, Georgie, and she really wants the job.”

  “Oh,” was all that Georgie seemed able to say. She looked around at the center, the place she had once seen as a prison, and her heart began to ache.

  “I’m going to send her over after lunch. Around one thirty? I’ll just need your okay after you see her with the folks, and it’s a done deal. Georgie? Are you still there?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I’m here.”

  “Her name is Barbara Samuels. I’ll fax over her résumé. Give me a call after you meet her?”

  “I’ll do that.”

  “Fingers crossed, Georgie. This is what you’ve been waiting for. I can’t thank you enough for pitching in over there the way you have. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”

  “No problem,” Georgie said, in what had to be the understatement of the decade.

  After lunch, Georgie ran home to shower off the stench of beef stroganoff before her interview with Barbara, all the while telling herself it was good that they had found this woman. It was what Georgie had been waiting weeks for. Except, for some reason, it didn’t feel good. It felt like everything was coming to an end, and as much as she had once yearned to get home to Atlanta, now she wanted to stay here. If only she could have the same type of career here that she’d had in Atlanta.

  As she was leaving the house to go back to the center, the mailman came down the hill.

  “Afternoon,” he said, handing her the day’s mail.

  “Thank you.”

  “Lovely day,” he said before continuing on with a whistle.

  “Yes,” Georgie agreed. She flipped absently through the stack of catalogs and bills and stopped short at the sight of her father’s familiar handwriting. “Oh my God! Oh God. Finally.”

  Throwing the rest of the mail onto the wicker table, Georgie sat on the porch sofa and tore open the envelope.

  Dear Ali and Georgie,

  I received a shocking phone call from Georgie’s friend Nathan Caldwell yesterday. Girls, I had no idea your mother was even sick, and the news of her death has left me speechless. Nancy was always such a life force. I can’t believe she’s gone, and I’m so very sorry for your loss.

  I want to apologize for being out of touch the last few months. I’ve been through a
rough patch lately, including the end of my marriage and some significant financial problems. I hate to think that my failure to meet my obligations to your mother might have caused her any dismay during her final days. We closed recently on the sale of our house, and I’ve enclosed a check to cover the outstanding alimony I owed your mother. Please keep the money and use it for anything you need.

  I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you girls when you needed me, but I want you to know I’m here anytime you need me in the future. I’ve enclosed my card with my contact information. I hope to hear from you both. I love you very much.

  Dad

  P.S. Despite the dressing down I received from him, Nathan seems like a nice young man who cares a great deal about you, Georgie.

  Georgie wasn’t sure if she wanted to strangle Nathan or hug him for getting involved without her knowledge. She would have to think about that later, once she’d had time to process her father’s letter and share it with Ali.

  Relieved to know her father was still alive, she glanced at the check for thirty thousand dollars before folding up the whole thing and returning it to the torn envelope. Taking the mail into the house, she ran the letter from her father upstairs to stick it under her pillow and then left to go back to the center. She was reaching for her phone to call Ali when it rang. A check of the caller ID showed the 404 area code. Atlanta.

  “Georgie,” a voice whispered. “It’s Lorraine.”

  “Why are you whispering?”

  “I’m in the supply closet.”

  “What the heck is going on down there today? Tara already called me.”

  “It’s a world gone mad. They fired Terry Paulson,” Lorraine said, referring to the regional manager who insisted Georgie be replaced. “Nina is going to be out on her ass, too, but they told me I can’t tell her yet. God, I can’t wait to tell her. That smug bitch has made my life a living hell this week. Everyone hates her.”

  “So I’ve heard.”

  “Listen to me, Georgie. Have your butt in your seat at nine a.m. on Monday, and we’ll act like nothing ever happened. The person they bring in to replace Terry won’t figure it out until you’ve been back for weeks. I’ve even heard rumblings that they’ve got their eye on yours truly for his job. If that happens, I’d move you up to my office. I’d insist on it as a condition of my promotion.”

  The big time, Georgie thought, as all the pieces slid into place for a promotion she had dreamed of for years. She would have full control over ten stores, more than a hundred employees working for her, and a boss she already knew she could work with successfully.

  “Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone,” Lorraine added.

  “I won’t.”

  “Can I count on you to be here on Monday, Georgie?”

  Georgie’s heart ached when she thought of Nathan, but how could she pass up this chance to erase the firing and get her career back on track? Surely he would understand that she needed to do this, wouldn’t he?

  “Georgie?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I’ll be there.”

  Barbara Samuels arrived in a white summer suit that Georgie instantly recognized as Dior. In her late forties, Barbara had thick blonde hair cut into a bob that suited her to perfection, make up that was subtle but artfully applied, and an accent Georgie would know anywhere.

  “Are you from Georgia?”

  “Savannah,” Barbara confirmed. “How’d you guess?”

  “Twelve years in Atlanta. I know Georgia when I hear it.”

  “I lived in Buckhead for five years before I was married.”

  “That’s where I live now!”

  Barbara smiled at the coincidence. “What do you do there?”

  “I’m in the marketing department at Davidson’s.”

  “Oh,” Barbara said. “I love Davidson’s.”

  “So do I. I’m looking forward to getting back there to make sure they haven’t ruined the place in my absence.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  “Three months. Since my mother got sick.”

  “I was so sorry to hear of your mother’s death. They speak very highly of her at City Hall.”

  “Thank you,” Georgie said. “How about I give you the tour, such as it is, and we’ll go from there?”

  “Sounds good.”

  By the time they returned to the office half an hour later, Georgie knew they had a winner. Barbara had stopped to speak to each of the seniors Georgie introduced her to, listened to them when they talked to her, and treated them with the respect and dignity they deserved.

  “You have a way with them,” Georgie said.

  Barbara sat in the chair on the other side of the desk and crossed her legs. “I’ve learned that all they want is someone to listen to their stories. I’ve gleaned an awful lot of wisdom over the years from those stories.”

  “I wish you could meet the core group, but they’re over at the hospital.” Georgie explained about Gus and then checked her watch. “In fact I need to get over there, too.”

  “Would you mind terribly if I tagged along?”

  “Of course not. That’d be great.”

  On the way to the hospital, Georgie outlined the routine at the center. “If you take the job, you might want to leave the Dior at home or you’ll end up with flounder stains on your jacket.”

  “You have a good eye for fashion.”

  “I aspire to wear Dior exclusively,” Georgie said with a smile, adding, “In my dreams, that is.”

  “I was forty when my husband shocked me with my first Dior suit for Christmas.”

  “Even with my store discount, it’s out of my reach.” Georgie realized it wouldn’t be if the promotion came through. “I should warn you: the men you’re going to meet are sort of territorial when it comes to me. In fact, they ran off the last candidate we had because they wanted me to stay. They loved my mother, and her death was a huge blow to them.”

  “Say no more. I understand.”

  They rode the elevator to the ICU, and Georgie introduced Barbara to the group. “Don’t even try to scare her away,” she said as they grudgingly shook Barbara’s hand. “I’m going in to see Gus. You guys be nice to her, you hear me?”

  Her request was met with a chorus of mutters.

  Barbara sat down between Walter and Bill, who did their best to ignore her.

  Filled with trepidation that Barbara might be gone when she returned, Georgie left them and went around the nurse’s station to Gus’s room. He was asleep when she walked in, so she was careful not to disturb him. His color was better than it had been the last time she saw him, and there seemed to be fewer tubes and machines.

  She was getting ready to leave when his eyes opened. “Hey, gal.”

  Her eyes filled as she reached for his hand. “It’s about time you got back. The dirty old men have been out of control without their voice of reason.”

  He chuckled softly.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I had a hot poker stuck in my head. Oh wait, I did.”

  Georgie smiled. “I heard they cleaned things up while they were in there. Got rid of the clutter.”

  “Bought me twenty more years.”

  She squeezed his hand. “I’ve missed you.”

  “What’s wrong, Georgie?” he asked, his sharp blue eyes trained on her.

  “Nothing.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “You don’t want to hear about my problems.”

  “Trust me, I’d rather hear about your problems than worry about what I’m going to do about that son of mine.”

  “Gus…”

  “It’s okay, Georgie. I know he had something to do with it.”

  “Nathan said Roger has been a mess since it happened.”

  “Good,” Gus said with uncharacteristic sharpness. “Maybe it’s the wakeup call he’s been needing for years now.”

  “Let’s hope so.”

  “Talk to Gus. I’ll close my eyes and listen. You talk.”<
br />
  With only a second’s hesitation, she unloaded on him. And when she was done, she was fairly certain she had put him to sleep. “Gus?”

  “I’m here, honey. Just processing. I’m so sorry you’re going through such a worrisome thing with the gene test. That’s tough.”

  “It’s all I think about,” she confessed. “I just keep running the scenarios over and over, and they all suck.”

  “Yes, they do, but Nathan’s right—until you know for sure, you can’t let it hold you hostage.”

  “I’m trying, but so far I haven’t been very successful.”

  “What about Nathan? Do you love him?”

  “I don’t know,” she moaned, flopping down into a chair. “How can I love him? I only met him a couple of weeks ago. And it’s all been so intense and immediate, because we knew I was leaving soon. There’s nothing real about that.”

  “You’re suffering from a lack of perspective, so let me tell you what I’d do if I were you. Go to Atlanta, get this big promotion, and be without him for a while. If you love him, it won’t take you long to figure it out.”

  “What do I tell him? ‘Hey, it was nice, I might be back, I might not’?”

  “That would work.”

  “I can’t ask him to sit on his hands and wait for me.”

  “So don’t. Let it be his choice.”

  “That’s an awfully big gamble, Gus. What if I lose him?”

  “Then you weren’t meant to have him.”

  “I’m going back to Atlanta tomorrow. They’ve found someone to replace my mom and me at the center. She’s perfect—and she has outstanding fashion sense.”

  “Which is very important to our gang,” he said with a smile. “And PS, no one can replace the Quinns.”

  Leaning over to kiss his forehead, Georgie was caught off guard by a rush of emotion. “I never wanted this job, but I’m so glad I met you. Thank you for being my friend through all of this. And thank you so much for not dying.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said, laughing. “It was a pleasure seeing you every day, Georgie. I’ll miss you. Drop us a line once in a while from the big city?”