Georgie on His Mind (5 page)

"Georgie?" Walt sputtered.

Walt knew who she was now. Great. She was trapped. Not
that she didn't consider making a run for it anyway. But
escape was futile. It was less up time.

"Oh, uh, hi, Walt." Her hand felt clumsy as she lifted it in
a small wave. "I guess ... long time no see?"

Walt didn't verbally respond to her greeting. He'd have
to close his mouth first, and she didn't see any signs of him
doing that in this millennia.

"Georgie," Al said, breaking the awkward silence. "Did you
honestly think Walt was stealing? Whatever gave you that
crazy idea?"

"Uh, well, that's the thing. I didn't know it was Walt. I
mean, I do now. You see, he was loitering around ... and,
well, Randall didn't notice ... then Dee thought ... and
then I thought ... If I had known .. " The look on Al's face
told her to cease and desist before she hung herself further.

At least she wasn't that stupid.

"I can't believe it," Walt said, shaking his head. "I just
can't."

Oh brother. Walt was carrying the shocked, indignant gentleman bit a little far for her taste. Although, something in
his voice had her looking at him more closely. His surprised
expression hadn't changed all that much from a minute ago,
but now she couldn't tell if he was surprised because she had accused him of stealing condoms or he was just surprised to
see her.

Walt seemed to be doing an intent study of her as well.
Then suddenly his thickly lashed eyes crinkled together and a
little one-sided grin slipped out, making him look every millimeter the mischievous teenager she'd remembered years
ago. Without warning her heart shifted rhythm. Just a little
shift, but still, that little shift was disconcerting, especially
since she'd known this man before she knew what a training
bra was. But she attributed the atria flutter to nerves about
getting reprimanded, and assured herself it had nothing to do
with the sexy glint in his eyes that told her he'd done quite a
bit of growing up himself since the time she'd seen him last.

Al looked past her shoulder. "Dee's waving you back. You
must be busy. Once you're caught up, tell Randall I'd like to
speak to him in the back room" He slapped Walt on the back
and looked at him expectantly. "Well, young man, I guess it
was all a simple misunderstanding."

She couldn't resist chiming in. "Yes! That's right. Just a simple misunderstanding. Sorry about the whole mistaking you for
a condom thief." With a shrug, she even tried a friendly smile.
After all, this was her boss's nephew and her brother's best
friend-whom she was unfortunately going to have to live
with. For a little while anyway. "No harm done, right, Walt?"

Walt gave her a curt nod. By all body language definitions, she didn't think that was the no-harm-done gesture.

Some people were so touchy. Make one little accusation
of prophylactic thievery and you're forever condemned as
incompetent. He'd never let her live this down. She could
tell that by his facial expression alone. Walt looked at her
just like he had when they were young-as though she was
still Brad's dorky little sister.

It was just as well. Why had she expected anything different? The way things have been going for her lately, she'd never be
able to convince Walt or her brother she had really changed.

If his uncle weren't staring him down at that moment,
Walt would have pinched himself. Hard.

Wow. Little Georgie Mayer had changed.

Although changed was really an inadequate verb. He had
never seen her look so ... striking. Striking in a fresh and
innocent way-almost as if someone took Little Orphan
Annie and crossbred her with Barbie.

Okay, so he was wrong about how Brad's sister would
turn out. Who knew?

Sure, the red hair was there, and her face was still on the
whiter-shade-of-pale side, but now her skin had more of a
peachy-cream sheen to it-something he'd never noticed
about a woman before in his life.

Trying to understand what was going haywire with his
brain, he stared at the way Georgie's blondish-red ringlets
bounced and swayed against her back as she marched back
to the pharmacy department. Then it suddenly hit him, like a
swift kick in the stomach. Georgie wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a grown woman.

He hated to admit it, but Brad's sister piqued his interest,
at least before she'd accused him of stealing. Never in a million years would he have thought the woman he was ogling
was Georgie Mayer. He hadn't experienced this kind of immediate attraction in a long time. But now that he knew who
she was, he'd have to get his head on straight and treat her
like he'd always treated her. After all, she wasn't any ordinary woman. No. She was his best friend's little sister, and
there were definite unwritten rules about stuff like that.

Which meant hands off.

"She's something, isn't she?" Al asked, with open pride.

"Yeah, something," he murmured. Really something. He
couldn't take his eyes off of her, even when she stopped to
talk with a customer. He still had a hard time trying to mesh
in his mind the woman before him and the girl he had known.

His uncle chuckled. "Georgie's a spitfire and a little rash,
I admit, but she means well. She'll be a great asset here once
she gets her dispensing license."

"As long as she doesn't accuse any more customers of
stealing and drive them all away before that happens," Walt
said wryly.

"Nonsense," his uncle said with a wave of his hand. "She
made a small blunder. Don't hold that against her. The pharmacy is doing just fine."

He pulled himself back down to earth and gave his uncle
a sharp look. "Is the pharmacy doing fine?"

"We're doing as well as can be for right now. Don't you
worry, though. Once summer hits, we'll be hopping again."

Walt didn't comment further, although he suspected the
pharmacy was slowly losing money to the bigger corporateowned stores popping up in the area. Walt hoped his uncle was
right about business picking up in the summer. He'd have to
use his financial expertise and take a closer look at the books
to see exactly where they stood.

"I hope you can get past this little mishap with Georgie,"
Al said. "I need you to continue training her while I'm recovering. She's still technically a student. Maybe show her
some of those business skills you've acquired in the big city.
She could use some more mentoring."

Walt couldn't argue with that. Georgie just proved she
could use advice in the business department.

His gaze sought her out again. He noticed that she'd gotten
her lab coat caught on the endcap of the aisle and was in the
midst of a tug-of-war with the metal shelving. He didn't want to be amused, but his lips twitched at the sight. At least he
found it reassuring to see the old Georgie somewhere in that
beautiful woman's body. Then he kicked himself for noticing
she was a woman again. And that she had a beautiful body.

He cleared his throat. "I'll see what I can do," he told Al.
"I'm sure I could teach her a thing or two. After all, Georgie
is practically like a sister to me." Yeah, you just keep reminding
yourself that.

Al gave him an approving grin. "That's very kind of you.
See? Readjusting to small-town life is like riding a bike. Even
an ex-city pharmacy supervisor like yourself won't have any
problems here at all."

Walt's gaze shot back to Georgie just as she flipped one of
her long springy ringlets from her shoulder, and he sighed.
Never before had he been so mesmerized by a head of hair.
He couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like to bury
his hands in that massive mane of strawberry-red curls and
another unexpected shot of desire coursed through him.

Not quite the "brotherly" reaction he wanted to have at the
moment.

No problems? He rubbed the back of his neck and hoped
his uncle was correct in that aspect. But something about
working and living with his best friend's sister had him thinking his problems may have just begun.

"That went well."

Georgie glared at Dee as she stepped behind the counter.
"Oh, stuff it."

Dee laughed. "I told you he didn't look like a thief," she
said in a sing-song voice.

She raised a hand to her forehead and hung her head. "I
know! I know you did. Why didn't you stop me?"

"To be honest, I thought it was a good opportunity for you
to meet a man. A little unorthodox maybe, but I figured since
you're going to enter that dream date contest, anything went
at this point."

Georgie's head sprang back up. "I didn't say I was going to
enter that contest. I said I'd think about entering that contest.
And I've now just decided that I won't. How can I even consider something like that? I just accused the owner's nephew
of stealing! Ugh. I wanted so much to prove I could really
take charge, but all I proved was how big of an idiot I am"

Dee raised her fingers to her lips, but it didn't hide the
sound of her chuckle. "There, there, honey. It took real nerve
to do what you did. Al wasn't mad at all."

"Yeah, but Walt's another story. How am I ever going to
face him again? And he's going to be living under the same
roof with me. What if he tells Brad? There'll be no living
that down. How mortifying."

"Yeah. Walt did seem pretty upset. His face turned a color
unknown even to Crayola."

Georgie shot her a withering glare. "Just so you know,
that comment isn't making me feel better."

"Oh. Sorry. Well, look on the bright side. He does look
good, doesn't he?"

Unfortunately, yes. Walt Somers did look good. She
squinted into the aisle where Walt was still talking with Al,
to make sure she hadn't been seeing things.

She hadn't been seeing things.

Walt looked very good. But she dismissed such thinking
as more of the temporary insanity she'd already been experiencing today. Walt was still ... Walt. And he was still as
overbearing as her brother.

"I wouldn't be complaining if my brother's friend looked like that," Dee added, as though she'd read her thoughts.
"He's still single, isn't he?"

"How am I supposed to know? I couldn't care less."
Georgie marched over and, with a pasted-on smile, took a
prescription bottle from a customer's hand and typed the refill number in the computer. "This will be ready in a few
minutes, Mrs. Barkat," she told the older woman.

See? It's obvious. Business as usual. I'm not interested in
Walt. But for some reason she couldn't resist peering back
down the aisle to see what he was up to.

Dee grabbed Georgie's wrist and pulled her away from
the counter. "What do you mean, you couldn't care less?"
Dee asked, lowering her voice. "You were just giving me a
tearful Sally Fields speech about how you have no life and
can't get a date. God answered your prayers and delivered
you tall, blond, and hunky."

"Don't be so blinded by appearances," she whispered
back. "Besides, I know Walt. He's a weasel. I'm sorry, but
bossy pain-in-the-necks are not my type"

Dee snorted as she took the label from the printer. "I don't
understand what your problem is with Walt."

"I don't have any problem. Just because he's Brad's
friend doesn't mean he has to be mine. I saw how much
my parents doted on Walt. He milked every second of it.
It was disgusting. Besides, there was the same she's-justa-kid attitude in his eyes when he looked at me just then.
Trust me, it wouldn't work. We're as opposite as ... as
that political commentary team Mary Matalin and James
Carville."

Dee's face fell. "Uh, Georgie, they've been married for
over ten years now."

They have? "Oh. Well, you know what I mean," she said irritably, picking up and shoving a bottle of penicillin in
Dee's hands.

Dee shrugged and poured some tablets onto the counting
tray. "Okay, okay. Fine. All I'm saying is maybe Walt isn't
the same person he was when he was teenager. Give him a
break. People do change"

At that moment, Georgie looked up and saw Walt swaggering toward them. Ignoring the triple flip her heart performed, she walked over to the counter. Her response to
him was borderline ridiculous. Walt may have filled out
physically-in very attractive ways-but he still bore the same
old know-it-all attitude of the past. "My judgment stands until
further notice," she murmured to Dee, then braced herself for
Walt's teasing assault.

When Walt reached her, however, he surprised her by extending his hand in a friendly, nonderisive way. "I was thinking, Georgie, you're right. No harm done. I guess I did look
kind of suspicious back there"

She stared down at his hand. His reaction was a twist to what
she'd expected. She hesitated a moment longer, still not sure
what to think of his change in attitude, but then put her hand
in his. Walt had a solid yet surprisingly gentle grip, which felt
very much like putting on a favorite pair of warm mittens.