Chapter Ten

Well, damn. What a strange coincidence. Just as he finishes his board, he runs into the perpetrator. Go figure! He mentally double-checked that it wasn’t mounted on the back of his car outside. Didn’t want her to do a command-performance with this one. His heart couldn’t take it.

He took a long, slow look at her. Before, all he’d noticed was her tears. How could he have gotten past that in the craziness of that episode? Tears and snot in large quantities. But looking at her now, he could see she cleaned up pretty well. She was taller than he recalled, with broad shoulders, perhaps like a swimmer or a rower. She looked like she could kick your ass if need be, but more than likely she seemed to be one of those people who would give you a big bear hug and congratulate you on a job well-done. Her gorgeous sea-blue eyes were fringed with long, full lashes. In fact, she was strikingly beautiful.

Which was good news, since he was stuck distracting her for the rest of the evening so that Noah could have his way with Harper, as per Noah’s request earlier in the evening.

As a waitress served their entrees, Spencer turned to Georgie. “So, uh, Georgie. You do any more harm with that car of yours lately?”

She blushed, which he found awfully endearing. “Um, well, gosh, it’s not like I do that sort of thing every day!” She frowned. “Do you really think I do?”

He held up his hands. “I was only making a joke. I have no idea about your driving skills. Although I did notice your car was a little banged up.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve had it a long time.” She eyed him and bit her lip. “I hope you accept my apologies for that. I felt super bad about it. But that reminds me, were you able to fix it?”

He arched his brow. “Did ya get a look at the thing? It was snapped in two.”

“So, you had to toss it?”

He shrugged. “Didn’t have the heart to toss it altogether. It’s in my garage, awaiting a brainstorm about what to do with it.”

Georgie pursed her lips. “What if you turned it into a couple of little coffee tables?” She rested her hand on her chin as she thought it out. “Like could you do something to finish off the ends and then do that? You could make matching end tables, and then you’d have your board with you all the time. Maybe you could even start selling your tables—call it Broken Board Designs.”

He smiled. “That’s not a half bad idea. I’ll have to give that some more thought.”

~*~

After dinner Harper excused herself to go the restroom, leaving Georgie and Spencer on their own.

“You got somewhere to go?” Spence asked after Georgia looked at her watch for the tenth time.

She looked up. “Huh? Oh, no. Sorry. I was wondering where Harper was. She and I had a pact that we weren’t going to stick around here and once dinner ended was my cue to get the hell out of Dodge.”

“You don’t like weddings or something?”

She shrugged. “It’s not that I don’t like weddings. Even though I’m not exactly keen on them, if I were to be honest with you. But it’s this wedding in particular.”

“Because?” He turned his chair, so he was facing her.

“I have my reasons.”

“What’s got you so unhappy about this one?” He pointed at Marcy and James. “The bride is beautiful and the groom looks happy. Seems like a nice couple of families getting together to celebrate. What could possibly be so wrong about it?”

Georgie heaved a heavy sigh. “The bride’s my cousin. And I’m fine with her. I mean fine enough. It’s only that her mother is such a bitch to me. She’s like Cinderella’s stepmother.” She frowned. “It doesn’t help matters that I don’t have my own mother anymore, so instead all I have left is her to browbeat me and always show me up with her perfect daughter.”

Spencer’s eyes opened wide. “Wow. That’s a lot to digest. I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, we all have our crosses to bear. Except now I’m ready to shrug that old cross off my shoulders and get the hell out of the wedding, but my date has disappeared.”

“This is where I make a confession.” Spencer glanced from side to side, as if he was looking to be sure no one heard him.

“You kidnapped Harper? Locked her in a closet? Cast a spell on her?” She laughed. “Sorry, guess I got carried away with the evil stepmother theme there.”

“As a matter of fact, while it was pure coincidence that I ended up at this wedding—I work with James—I was enlisted by Noah to be his wingman of sorts.”

“Wingman?”

“Yeah, I’m supposed to help Noah get Harper alone. Which I guess also means I’m supposed to entertain you so that you aren’t trying to find Harper to leave.”

Georgie squinted at him. “Well of all the shitty things—”

He held up his hands in protest. “It wasn’t meant to be a jerky thing. Noah believes he and Harper have things to resolve, and since she seemed to be avoiding him, he thought this would be an ideal time for him to get her alone.”

“What if she doesn’t want to be alone? Though I did catch her with that horndog look in her eyes every time she glanced his way.”

Spencer laughed. “Telltale signs.”

“So, this means Harper’s not coming back anytime soon?”

“I’m afraid not. Looks like it’s you and me, kid.”

“It’s fine. I’m perfectly capable of leaving her on my own. You don’t need to be my babysitter.”

“I’m not being your babysitter. I’ve enjoyed talking with you. Especially when you’re not destroying my cherished possessions.”

She smirked at him. “Ha-ha. I feel badly enough about that—you don’t need to rub it in. Well.” She yawned and stretched her arms. “Here’s hoping Harper and that ex of hers have found a king bedroom in this huge bed and breakfast where they can iron out their differences. If that’s what they call it nowadays.”

“Let me at least escort you home.”

She held her hands up. “Hey, no need for formalities on my part. If you feel like you have to do that to fulfill your duties to your friend, be my guest. But I’m perfectly fine on my own.”

Only for some reason, Spencer hated the idea of letting her leave alone, especially under the circumstances. No. He was going to make certain she got home safely and preferably tear-free this time.