Page 77 of Getting Lucky

“And a fridge full of tiny jugs of milk.”

Then they were both laughing, the kind of laughter that made you bend over with it, and it felt surprisingly good. Maisie had always hesitated to be alone with Georgie, and she was pleased to find she didn’t mind it. That shelikedher. Which shouldn’t have been a surprise. Although Georgie had always struck her as a little too proper, she was Adalia’s sister, after all, and River thought she’d hung the moon.

Georgie was the one who sobered first. “I’m grateful River has a friend like you. I wanted to tell you that too. You were there for him through a lot of hard times, and it helped make him the man he is. And I know you’re the one who told him to talk to me after we had our fight this summer. I…I don’t want you to ever feel uncomfortable around me. You’ll always be welcome in our home. I hope we can be friends too.”

She could just thank her, and that would be that. But even though she and Jack were a big question mark right now, she wanted to explore the curve of that question mark—just like she wanted to explore his body at much greater length. And that meant she needed to be straight with Georgie. Because Georgie obviously knew something, orthoughtshe knew something. “I’d like that.” She paused. “To be clear, I’m not in love with River. I’m interested in your brother Jack.”

Georgie’s eyes went comically huge, and Maisie would have laughed if the moment didn’t feel so weighty. “You didn’t expect me to be so direct, did you?”

“No,” she said with a tentative smile, “but maybe I should have. You always have been before.”

Except about this one thing, Maisie mentally filled in.

Georgie paused. “Thank you. I appreciate your honesty.”

“In the interest of full disclosure, my feelings for River have been…confusing in the past, but I’m beyond that. I think I have been for a while, only I sometimes find it hard to move on from things.”

The attachment she’d felt to River, to the idea of them possibly changing their friendship…it was no different than the old things haunting her house. And it was past time for her to let go of all of that. To accept the future in its frightening, maddening, and exhilarating uncertainty.

Georgie nodded like she understood, and maybe she did. From what River had said, she’d had no problem moving on from Moon Goddess, the company she’d founded and sold, but personal baggage always weighed more than the professional variety. “I get it.” She paused, then added, “Jack’s a good guy.”

“He is,” she agreed. “More so than he realizes. Now, do you really need to use the bathroom, or are you ready to go back out there?”

Georgie made a face. “Can’t we just stay in here until it’s time to leave?”

“Get ready for the long haul,” Maisie said with a grin. “Addy planned a sleepover for y’all tonight.”

Georgie blanched. “Surely Victoria won’t stay for that.”

“Although it disappoints me to say so, if only because I wanted to hear about her monogrammed pajamas and her sleep regimen, Addy wouldn’t stand for it. She’ll figure out a way to send her packing.”

Still, they didn’t hurry back. They both used the bathroom, then laughed about the three varieties of soap. Maisie suggested they use each of them to lengthen their trip, and so they did, both of them wrinkling their noses at the snowman scent.

“Why would a snowman have a scent anyway?” Georgie asked as they headed back to the tearoom.

“Only yellow snow has a scent,” Maisie said. “And trust me, no one would want their hands to smell like that. Or if they did, they wouldn’t bother washing them.”

As they neared the room, shouting could be heard behind the door. They exchanged a glance, and Maisie opened it. Victoria was on her feet, waving a teacup in Dottie’s face. Two additional teacups sat atop the table in front of Dottie, along with three saucers.

“Check it again,” Victoria insisted. “You must be interpreting it wrong.”

Dottie looked as calm as if she were meditating. “Dear, it’s the third teacup you’ve given me, and the image is still the same. I suspect it would be if you drank the whole pot.”

Victoria had downed three cups of tea in the time they’d been gone?

“But you said a fish can be a symbol of fertility. Maybe that’s what you saw.”

“Yes, but a fishin watersymbolizes a goal that will be subverted. Of course, none of us know what that goal might be.”

“How could it not be in water?” Victoria screeched. “It’s at the bottom of a cup of tea.”

Adalia huffed a laugh, and Iris grinned at her.

Maisie and Georgie exchanged a look and then headed into the room and took their seats.

“So, what did we miss?” Maisie said. “Besides Dottie dashing Victoria’s hopes, of course.”

“Mine had flying birds,” Iris said, lifting her cup slightly. “It’s a sign of good news.”

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