Point of Attraction (15 page)

The clouds separated and Georgie
watched the moon cast its silver blue light on his smile as he
looked down at her. A rush of heat took her breath away. Tonie
might have intruded on their time, but he was here, and his words
to his partner were just that, words of response.

“There’s no worry. The Department will
temp you with someone while I’m out,” he said. Georgie held eye
contact. “Probably Roberts. He’s a good man. I have to go now.
Yeah. G’nite.”

He flip shut the phone then placed it
back in its holder. Georgie didn’t object when his hand went
beneath the open collar of her coat and reached behind her neck to
bring her close. She thought he was going to kiss her, but he
didn’t. His thumb toyed with the back of her ear, unsettling a
peace she had let lie undisturbed for almost three
years.

“Were you happy in your marriage?” His
voice was soft, his features showing true interest.

“Very.”

“No hesitation,” he smiled, and let his
hand slide away. “That’s good.”

He walked through the gate, turned, and
waited until she set the lock. He leaned over the fence and
murmured with a grin, “Keep Mr. Spook on the couch.”

“I heard that,” Nick called from the
porch.

“Nick!”

“I was just wondering what was taking
so long,” he said with overdone loud noises of shivering. “It’s
cold out here.”

“Then go inside and turn up the
thermostat,” she told him, then looked at Mason in apology, but he
only grinned in return. “Saturday night?” she asked.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the
world.”

“Cliché,” she said, “Such a
cliché.”

“True,” he smiled, gave a quick glance
to the porch, then held up her chin. “But sometimes, it can’t be
said any other way.”

Though the night was cold and the
contact light, his lips were warm on hers, not consuming or
demanding, just tender. Since the day Sam last kissed her, she had
not felt another man’s lips on hers. All too quick Mason raised his
head, let a finger slide down her jaw line. As he walked to his
car, Georgie felt he was taking a part of her with him, a part she
hadn’t realized she was ready to let go.

The gravel noted his every step, each
one sounding farther and farther away. When he opened the 4Runner’s
door, he called back. “It’s cold. Go get warm.”

“Night,” she said, and went up the
steps to her porch. She let Daisy in the house, but waited at the
door for Mason’s taillights to move onto the road.

Inside, Nick was already stretched out
on the couch, drapes open. The only light in the room was coming
from the kitchen. Georgie took off her coat and hung it on the peg.
From her linen closet, she pulled out a warm blanket and pillow.
She dropped them on his face, and sat in her recliner to look out
the window at Portland’s nightline. For the first time in three
years, she found herself missing the crackle of burning wood in the
fireplace.

“The amenities in this household have
taken a nose dive,” he said, tucking the pillow under his head,
then shook out the blanket to cover himself. “Not even a fire in
the fireplace.”

Georgie would not let herself smile.
“There are two spare bedrooms you could choose from.”

“Nah. You know me. I’m fine here,” he
said, adjusting his long body on the couch, then patted the
blanket. “Why not tell the kids about what’s going on? They’re
adults.”

“Why worry them over
something that could be nothing,” she said. “A figment of
your
over-active
imagination.”

“Yeah, right.”

“I don’t think you’re right about
Jeffrey. What could I have done to make him want to do that? No.
Something’s not right.”

“You’re the writer. Put together a
scenario. I think he’s had a thing for you even before Sam died.
Which I’m still very pissed off at Sam for... getting himself
killed like that.”

“Yeah, I know the feeling.”

“Sorry,” he said. After a moment, he
sighed deeply, loudly, and said, “But at least now, I don’t expect
him to walk in the door.”

Yes, she knew that feeling too. When
had she stopped expecting Sam to come in from the other room with a
crossword puzzle question? Or stopped waiting for him to drive up
the road? Walk into the shop with a sandwich or tickets for a
movie?

Strange that she should feel such calm.
Her fingers touched her lips before she knew she’d lifted her hand.
If Nick noticed, he said nothing. There were times she could not
shut him up, yet he always seemed to know when it was best to say
nothing.

“And what if it is what you think?” she
asked, changing the subject. “What can the kids do about it? Come
back home? Drop their lives and come home? No.”

The train whistle sent its lonely call
up into the hills.

“And if someone wants to cause me
harm,” she added, “I will not put my kids in the line of
fire.”

“They’ll be madder than hell when they
find out and you didn’t tell them.”

“I’ll deal with it then,” she
said.

“Okay. I’ll probably be long gone by
then and the fallout will be all yours to handle. Now, what about
Dudley Do-Right?”

She glared at him.

His hand popped up to hold
off any tirade she might throw at him. “Apology. What about
Officer Montgomery
, or
can I call him Mason? Don’t you think the kids will notice him at
your
simple
gathering? I mean... he won’t be related to anyone, and there
he’ll be. Call me stupid, but I think they’ll notice.”

Georgie laughed even as she scolded
herself not to encourage him. “Nick, shut up.”

“Can I make one suggestion?” he asked,
putting his hands behind his head, his sight set on the
ceiling.

“Can I stop you?”

He lifted his head. Even in the low
light coming from the kitchen and now the night-light in the
hallway on auto-timer, she could see his narrowed eyes.

“Spare me your indignation,” she told
him. “It’s an ill-fitting suit on you.”

He let his head drop back into the
pillow and shifted on the couch. “As a man to man, I should warn
Officer Montgomery about your bitchy personality. It’s certainly
unbecoming. You’ve gone to seed, Georgie Girl, gone to seed. It’s
no wonder Mild Mannered Jeffrey wants to do you in.”

Georgie reached behind her, pulled out
the pillow and threw it at him. He didn’t bother trying to dodge
it. He just caught it and placed it behind his head so he could
look at her.

“You want to hear my suggestion or
not?” he asked.

“No, not really. Where is Cantell
Electronics sending you now?”

“Won’t know until I see my
ticket.”

“How long will you be gone this time?”
she asked, but knew she would get the same answer she and Sam
always got each time they asked.

“How ever long the problem or sale
takes.” He pulled the blanket up under his chin. “I’m going to tell
you my suggestion anyway.”

“Never doubted it for a minute. Tell me
your pearls of wisdom, oh Wise Sage.”

“When you introduce Officer
Montgomery to the kids, don’t call him your
friend
.”

“Why not?” she demanded. “He is a
friend. Don’t you think tonight proved that? Who else but a friend
would put his job on the line by going with a lunatic to Jeffrey’s
house in the middle of the night?”

“A guy who wants to be more than a
friend, to start.”

“Time for bed,” she said, sitting up in
the recliner, and got up. She tapped him on the head as she went
by. “Goodnight, oh Great Sage. Nice to have you home. The remote is
next to the TV if you want to watch it.”

“Georgie Girl?”

“Yes?”

“You should consider taking off your
wedding rings.”

Chapter thirteen

By the time Georgie woke up and let
Daisy out, Nick was already gone, his blanket neatly folded on the
couch with the one pillow on top. The pillow she’d thrown at him
was back on her recliner. She hadn’t even heard the motorcycle
start. Probably rolled it down the drive before starting it, she
thought, and went into the shower hoping it would wake her
up.

Coffee, she thought, once
out of the shower and blowing her hair dry, then decided, nope...
espresso was what she needed. Something with a kick in it. She
would have to ask Parker for his secret recipe. When she took out
her favorite oatmeal bowl, there was a piece of paper inside it
with 7:00 written on it in Nick’s unmistakable scrawl, a line
across the number seven. She smiled and tossed it on the counter,
caught sight of her wedding rings and rolled them with her thumb.
Nick’s words crept their way back, an echo in the distance,
You should consider taking off your wedding
rings
.

Easy for you to say, she
thought and sighed, easy for you to say. Firmly putting that aside,
she concentrated on the evening to come. She would have to stop at
the store on the way home. What started out as a foursome had now
turned into a
simple
gathering
, leaving her with more food to
buy.

As she poured out last
night’s coffee, her rings clinked on the glass pot and she slipped
them off her finger to hold them up to the daylight.
Oh, Sam,
she thought,
and sighed with a small smile.

She caught sight of Daisy. That back
end of the yard had become the Schnauzer’s place to investigate
lately. Back and forth she went, and always going back to the far
left corner of the yard.

“What is with that?” Georgie murmured,
set down the rings on the sill so she could slide open the window
to call the dog when the phone rang.

“Hi, Mom,” Paula said.

“Good morning to you too.”

“Just thought I’d call and ask if you
wanted us to bring anything?”

“I think I have it taken care of,”
Georgie said, putting water into the pan for her oatmeal. “By the
way, it’ll be a few more people for this evening. Hope that’s
okay.”

“Oh, sure.”

There was just a hint of a pause and
Georgie thought to ask what was up, when Paula asked, “Mom, have
you noticed a change in Steven?”

“Like what?”

“Not sure. Just something.”

“Hmm. I’ll know more when I cut his
hair.”

“I think you use cutting our hair to
sneak peek into our heads.”

“It’s taken you this long to find out
my secret?”

“Okay, Mom, okay. About seven then.
Love you.”

“Love you too.” But Georgie knew they’d
be here at six, ready to help get the whole thing together. She had
always heard that when your children arrive early for gatherings it
meant they enjoyed coming home. And this warmed her as no coat
could.

~~0~~

Georgie was glad her day at
Dare To Care was busy. It helped she to ignore the shop TV. The
main topic of the day: the shooting of a man by the police officer,
as yet unnamed
.

“What were they
thinking?”
the public interviews went
on.
“Were they out of control, these
police officers? They were just too eager to fire their
weapons.”

Georgie had heard it all,
not just this time, but many times before in other incidents. And,
normally, Georgie would have jumped right on it. It always amazed
her what the public asked of in their police officers.
Put your life on the line, but don’t defend
yourself. Let yourself be stoned, but don’t defend. Put yourself on
the line of fire, but don’t fire back too soon.

“It’s all about the money,
Georgie,” Sam used to say. “When a person decides to do wrong, they
suddenly have more rights than the person they have done the wrong
to. A criminal can be the worst to be had, but when he’s dead, he
suddenly becomes this kind and wonderfully gentle misunderstood
person,
and
valuable in a lawsuit. It’s all about the money. The moment
they say it’s not about the money... you know it is.”

All Georgie could think of was Mason
having to make the decision to shoot, and the weight of sadness in
his voice as he spoke to Nick. What if the man dies? She
thought.

“I wonder what your Officer Montgomery
has to say about this?” Emmee asked.

“What?” Georgie almost jumped. She was
washing out her color bottle when Emmee poked her head around the
corner.

“You think he knows the
officer?”

“I don’t know,” Georgie answered,
forcing a weak smile. “I’ll have to ask him next time I see
him.”

“Then you
are
going to see him
again?”

There was eagerness in Emmee’s voice,
and Georgie nearly told her what all had gone on, but thought
better of it. There was really nothing there to talk about, was
there? A night’s adventure was just that... a night. But this
shooting was going to be with Mason for a long time. They would
release his name soon enough. She just wished the touch of his lips
on hers was not so, so...