Page 23 of For Butter or for Worse
I know he’s not happy about my decision to agree to Georgie’s plan, but I really hope he eventually remembers that it’s more helpful for me to have his support than blanket criticism. What’s done is done.
“Hey, King,” Brody says as he finishes straightening the wall of snorkel masks for purchase, “I just heard from Lacey, and it sounds like she’s coming back to Willow Cove after all. You’re still wanting another instructor, right?”
I grin as a bit of stress trickles away. “Yes! I would love to have her back for the summer.” I have two other instructors, including Brody, but I was worried we wouldn’t be able to handle everything on our own. Lacey had other plans for her summer between semesters, leaving us one teacher short. Last summer we could barely cover demand for surf lessons with the four of us, and I’m expecting this year to be the same. Having Lacey on the team will keep us from getting overwhelmed. “I’ll send her a text,” I tell Brody and then look around the shop, searching for something to do.
Next week won’t be this quiet, and I should take advantage of this free time while I have it. I’ve set up an appointment with the estate attorney, Mr. Vanderman, but it’s not until three days from now. That’s three days we’ll need to be convincing so he has no reason to think this marriage is a sham.
His wife was in the bakery when Georgie first came into town, which means she witnessed my cold greeting. That’s not going to do us any favors.
“So what’s with the suit?” Brody asks. He comes behind the counter with me, nodding toward the suit I left hanging in the back office. “Going to a funeral or something after work?”
I laugh. Kind of feels like it. “Actually…” Since he’s going to find out eventually, I might as well throw it out there before he hears some convoluted version of my out-of-the-blue wedding. “I sort of got married this morning.”
Brody blinks. Glances at the suit, then at my hand, and back to my face. “How do you sort of get married?”
“I did get married.” I curl my fingers into fists and make a note to talk to Georgie about finding some rings. Apparently our bare hands are feeding everyone’s doubt. “I know it feels like it came out of nowhere, but it didn’t.”
Frowning, Brody grabs a stool and settles himself down, like he’s too confused to stand anymore. “But you weren’t dating anyone. Were you?”
“Technically, no, but—”
“Was it some sort of bet? A dare? Does she need a green card?”
“Whoa.” I hold my hands up, unable to stop the grin that spreads across my face even though my smile seems to confuse Brody just as much as the whole marriage idea. “It’s nothing like that.” Okay, so it’s something like that, but he doesn’t need to know that. “Georgie and I go way back, and we recently reconnected.” That’s a phrase I’m going to get tired of really fast.
At nineteen, Brody would have been too young to ever know Georgie in connection with me back then, but I do know he’s been a longtime fan of Kingston’s Bakery. In fact, Bill’s the one who told me I should hire him when Brody turned sixteen because Brody had been hanging around the bakery for years in between surf runs.
Curious, I ask, “Do you remember about ten years ago a girl who worked at Kingston’s during the summer? She had really curly brown hair and made the best cookies.”
Brody thinks about my question for a moment, and then his eyes light up. “Oh yeah! I thought she was cute.”
I frown. “She was like eight years older than you.”
Shrugging, Brody grabs a rag and starts wiping down the counter. “Still thought she was hot.”
“That’s my wife you’re talking about,” I grumble.
Thankfully, he looks properly chagrined as he looks over at me and turns bright red. “Oh. But wait, that means she’s back in town?”
My response is a mere growl.
“I just mean is she at the bakery again? I haven’t had her cookies in so long.”
Sighing, I nod. “Yeah, she’s back at the bakery. She’ll be running it now so I can spend more time here.”
“Sweet! Think she’ll give me free snickerdoodles if I tell her I work for you here?”
Grabbing another rag, I chuck it at him and then roll my eyes when he laughs. “I guess that’s up to her,” I grumble. “Are you good to close up? I want to go see my wife.”
“Yeah, I can—wait! You said you got married this morning? Why aren’t you on a honeymoon or something?”
This topic is going to get old as well. “Because we have too much work to do. We’ll do something later.”
“Okay, but why didn’t you take today off so you could…you know.” He waggles his eyebrows. “I could have taught that surf lesson, and no one came into the shop while you were out on the water. You could have been enjoying your first day as a married couple.”
I force my mind not to go where Brody’s comment implies. It takes some effort, especially after that kiss I shared with Georgie in the courthouse, which I still feel even hours later. For my own sanity, I really hope I don’t have to get that close to her again, or I’m going to fall right back to where I was the last time she was here. Only, it’ll be so much worse this time.
This time, we’re not teenagers holding hands and stealing quick kisses. We’re grown adults who are legally bound to each other. Georgie is a full-blown woman with curves and full lips and a stubbornness that shouldn’t be as attractive as it is. That courthouse kiss, however short it was, reawakened a part of me that probably should have stayed dead.
