Georgia On My Mind (31 page)

He took her toothbrush and tucked it into his shirt pocket. “Ready?” he asked, offering her a hand.

As his gaze roamed over her with obvious approval, Georgie felt a bolt of heat and anticipation travel through her. She took his hand and followed him out the door.

“Nathan?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t feel right about sending Ben and Tess to the hospital alone. Would it be okay if we went by there first? Just to make sure they’re okay.”

“Absolutely. I didn’t feel right about it, either.”

“Oh good, thanks.”

He leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Our plans will keep for a bit.”

Ben and Tess waited a long time for the orthopedic surgeon to arrive. The nurses had given him an IV for the pain, but there wasn’t much else they could do for him until the specialist got there.

“I know what he’s going to say,” Ben said. “They can’t set it again.”

Tess pressed hard on her lips, hoping the distraction would keep the tears at bay. He didn’t need her blubbering right now. He needed her to keep it together.

“Come here,” he said.

She moved from the chair in the corner to his bedside.

He patted the bed next to his good leg. “All the way.”

Tess perched on the edge.

Holding out his arms to her, he said, “That’s not all the way.”

She fell into his embrace and let the tears come, knowing she was powerless to stop them. “I’m so sorry, Ben. You’re here because of me.”

“Tess, honey—”

“That’s not my name. You know that now.”

“I’m never, ever going to call you anything else. For the rest of our lives, you’re my Tess. In fact, Tess Caldwell has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

“You can’t still want to marry me,” she sputtered. “I lied to you, about everything. Your leg is broken because of me, because of that monster I’m married to.”

He tipped her chin to find her eyes and gently placed his hand over the purpling bruise on her face. “We both know my leg has to go. This’ll just speed things up and save me from having to actually make a decision. So, in a way, you kind of helped me out.”

She laughed. “That’s insane logic.”

“Baby, I can live without my leg. What I can’t live without is you. On Monday, I’m going to find you the best divorce attorney in town. We’re going to get you free of him, and the minute you are, you’re going to marry me. You got me?”

“Yes, Ben,” she said, pressing her lips to his. “I’ve got you, and I’m never letting you go.”

Nathan put his arm around Georgie and stepped back from the doorway to Ben’s room.

Georgie smiled up at him, thrilled for Ben and Tess.

“Looks like everything is just fine here,” Nathan said.

“Yes, it does. I’m so happy for them.”

Nathan kept his arm around her as they exited the ER. “She’s just what he needs. That’s for sure.”

“I’d say that works both ways.”

Nathan helped her into the car and drove them to his house. “I need you to wait here for a minute, okay?” he said as he pulled up to the curb and cut the engine.

She wanted to tease him, to make him suffer a little, but found she couldn’t do it. Something about this felt serious. “Okay.”

He left her with a kiss. “No peeking.”

She watched him go up the stairs, use his key in the door, and disappear inside. Lights went on and then off when dimmer lights replaced them. Then the light in his bedroom went on and off. In all, she figured three minutes had passed when the front door opened and he came out to get her.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she took his hand. “Where are we going?”

“Are you always this difficult about surprises?”

“Yes. I operate on a need-to-know-everything basis.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” He led her to the top of the brick stairs. “Stay here for a sec.” He brushed a hand over her eyes. “Keep them closed.”

“Hurry up!” she said, dancing from one foot to the other.

He went inside but was back less than a minute later. “Okay.” Taking her hands, he guided her in.

Georgie heard Petula Clark singing “Downtown.” Confused and painfully curious, she fought to keep her eyes closed.

With his hands on her face, he kissed her. “I know how much you’ve missed
Atlanta
, so I thought if I brought
Atlanta
to you, then maybe you wouldn’t be in such a rush to get back there. You can look now.”

Georgie opened her eyes slowly. At first she didn’t understand. There were white lights and an ivy-covered trellis over a table set for two. And then she saw the murals, one on each of the four walls, of the
Atlanta
skyline, the Olympic rings, CNN, Coca-Cola, and the aquarium. One wall was devoted to the Braves and Falcons.

Nathan put on a Braves hat and held another out to her.

Numb with shock and surprise and a growing sense of panic over what she hadn’t yet told him, she took it from him. “I . . . I’m . . .”

“Georgie Quinn is speechless. I never thought I’d see the day.”

She moved in for a closer look at the skyline. Running her hand over the paint, she asked, “Did you do this?”

“Kevin and Hugh did. They’re both artists. I have to give Kevin credit for the idea. Ben and I built the trellis because in every picture I saw of Buckhead, there was ivy.”

“I’m overwhelmed, Nathan. Truly.”

“I was hoping it would make you a little less homesick.”

“It does,” she said, her heart heavy with the knowledge that by this time tomorrow, she would be back in
Atlanta
.

The music shifted to Ray Charles singing “
Georgia
on My Mind.”

Nathan turned his hat around. “Dance with me, Georgie.”

When he brought her into his arms, Georgie couldn’t deny the fit was utter perfection. It would be so easy to decide right here, right in this moment he had orchestrated just for her, that no one would ever fit her better.

“This is my favorite version of this song,” she said.

“I’ve had
Georgia
on
my
mind from first time I ever saw you sitting on the porch when I ran by.”

Looking up at him, her heart in her throat, she said, “Thank you. No one has ever done anything like this for me.”

“I was only sorry that finishing it kept me from coming over last night.” He touched his lips to hers. “Hopefully, we can make up for it tonight.”

Georgie planted soft kisses along his jaw. “I take it there’s no kitchen guy coming on Monday?”

“You’re looking at him.”

“So you
are
capable of lying when it suits your purposes. Good to know.”

He chuckled. “I have dinner for us. Are you hungry?”

“Not for food.”

He studied her for a long, breathless moment before he leaned down to scoop her up and over his shoulder.

Georgie squealed with surprise as he carried her upstairs. “I didn’t get to look at all the murals!”

“They’re not going anywhere.”

No, but I am
,
and oh, God, I’m so confused!

As they landed on his bed, she realized she hadn’t been there since the first night they spent together.

“Don’t move,” he said as he got up to light candles on his bedside table. Standing by the side of the bed, he never took his eyes off her as he unbuttoned his shirt and let it fall to the floor.

As she watched him in the amber light, Georgie’s heart contracted.

He hovered over her, using his arms to prop himself up.

Georgie reached for him and let her fingers slide through his hair. Over his head, she noticed something on the ceiling and nudged him aside so she could see the huge poster of Martin Luther King Jr. On it Nathan had written, “I have a dream.” Laughter that began as a low gurgle soon escalated to hysterics. She wrapped her arms around him and brought him down to her as she continued to laugh.

His lips found her neck, her jaw, her ear. “Want to know my dream?”

Still recovering from the laughing fit, she nodded.

“I have a dream that one day Georgie Quinn will sleep next to me every night.”

“Nathan—”

Before she could say anything else, he kissed her as if his life depended on it.

Georgie hovered between sleep and wakefulness, aware of Nathan’s lips cruising over her fevered skin. She refused to open her eyes, to acknowledge the morning, to accept that today was the day she had waited and hoped for. Despair was her predominant emotion as he nudged her legs apart and sank into her yet again.

Her arms encircled his neck, her hips met his questing thrusts, and she had yet to open her eyes. As long as she kept them closed, she could believe it was still nighttime.

“Georgie,” he whispered, cupping her breast and laving her nipple. His hips moved at a desperate pace, almost as if he knew it could be the last time.

The climax was quick and powerful and draining all at the same time.

His body tensed, slowed, and then surged. With a gasp of release, he rested on top of her for a long moment before he rolled to his side and brought her with him.

She buried her face in the chest hair she had admired long before she’d known how much more there was to admire. Biting her lip hard against the rush of emotion, she steeled herself and opened her eyes to bright sunshine streaming into the room. “We need to talk.”

After she told him everything, she escaped to the bathroom, needing some distance from the emotional firestorm brewing between them.

He stormed into the bathroom behind her, his face set with anger and dismay. “When were you going to tell me? The second before you stepped on the plane?”

Georgie brushed her teeth and tried to find the words, hating that she had hurt and surprised him, especially after he had brought
Atlanta
to her, and especially after what they had shared throughout the long night.

Reaching out, he shut off the water.

She turned it on again.

He shut it off.

“Damn it!” Georgie said through the suds in her mouth. “Leave it alone! I
like
the water running when I brush my teeth.”

“It’s wasteful!”

“I don’t care!”

Staring at her like he had never seen her before, he shook his head. “You’ve made that painfully clear.”

She spit into the sink, rinsed off the toothpaste, and shut off the water. “Don’t turn water into a metaphor, Nathan. I do care about you. You know I do.”

“No, I don’t. I know you’ve
enjoyed
me. There’s a big difference.”

“Now you’re going to tell me how I feel?”

He hooked an arm around her waist and brought her up tight against his bare skin. “Stay. Stay with me.”

“I need some time to figure things out.”

“How much time?”

“I don’t know.”

“You could have everything you want right here, Georgie. You have your mother’s house, so turn it into a bed and breakfast. Start a consulting business. There’re hundreds of stores and shops right here in
Newport
that could benefit from your marketing expertise. My sister-in-law Linda has a jewelry store on Bowen’s Wharf. I asked her if she’d be interested, and she said she’d snap up that kind of help in a heartbeat. She knows everyone in the business community. Word of mouth alone would get you started. Use the money your mother left you to build something of your own.”

Amazed at how much thought he had put into it, she stared at him. “You’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?”

“All I’m saying is you could have a meaningful career right here. Stay, Georgie. Be with me.” He dropped soft kisses on her face. “Stay with me.”

Remembering Gus’s advice to play it out in
Atlanta
so there would be no regrets later, she wiggled free of Nathan’s embrace. “I have people counting on me at work.”

“They fired you! Right after your mother died! What do you
owe
them?”

He was wearing her down and chipping away at her defenses.

Desperate to regain her equilibrium, she said, “I’d like to take a shower, please.”

His face sagging with defeat, he took two towels from the closet, handed them to her and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Georgie washed her hair with shampoo that smelled like him. She heard the bathroom door open and then close again a minute later. The steam rose around her, engulfing her in a cloud of misery and confusion. She turned off the water before she could earn a lecture on the wastefulness of long showers.

Tugging aside the shower curtain, she bent in half to roll her hair into a towel and straightened to see that he had written, “I love you, Georgie Quinn” on the steam-covered mirror. “Oh,” she gasped. “Oh, you
cannot
do this to me! That’s not fair!” Somehow she managed to get the other towel wrapped around her before she yanked open the door to find him dressed and leaning against the wall in the hallway.

She stared at him.

He shrugged. “All’s fair . . .”

Shaking her head, she pushed past him, went into his room, and willed her trembling hands through the motions of getting dressed. Tugging her wet hair into a tight ponytail, she pushed her feet into her flip-flops and hung the towels on the closet door to dry. With a last glance at the bed where two of the most important nights of her life had taken place, she rushed past him down the stairs. For a moment, she stood in the room he had transformed into scenes from
Atlanta
, and wished with all her heart that she could chuck her life there as easily as he thought she could.