Page 43 of Fool Me Twice

The change in conversation took me by surprise. “He is…”

The urge to lie and say “well,” filled me, but I suspected Georgia would be able to see through the sham.

“He is struggling,” I said instead. “The day after you left, he was caught skipping the last hour of school and hiding out in the library.”

“There are worse places you can go when skipping class, I guess.”

A humorless snort escaped me. “I suppose.”

“I’m sorry. This sounds really rough.” Reaching across the table, she set her hand on top of mine.

The touch sent a bolt of electricity through me, and Georgia seemed just as surprised at the gesture. Withdrawing her hand, she cleared her throat.

“And how is Melba?” she asked, avoiding my gaze.

“She is well. How are you healing?”

“Not fast enough.”

“We will have to go for an ATV ride once you return to Rio and are well enough.”

She laughed, but then covered her mouth. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s just…” She dropped her hand. “I don’t know when I’ll be in Rio again.”

“Perhaps sooner than you think.”

“Why would you say that?” Her eyebrows pushed together. “Do you know something I don’t?”

We were interrupted by our waiter bringing our empanadas, so I declined to answer for the moment. Georgia, however, didn’t seem to care.

“Rodrigo?” She leaned forward, eyes narrowing. “What’s going on?”

“I would like to offer you a position,” I said as our waiter left.

“A new job?”

“Yes. Exactly.”

“You said you wouldn’t be firing haphazardly.” She pointed a finger at me.

“This isn’t firing. It is reassigning.”

She dropped her hand. “And what if I say no?”

“You do not even know what the position is yet.”

“I’m just trying to get ahead of things, is all.” She swirled the straw in her water glass and inspected me. She seemed to not have even noticed her lunch had arrived.

“You’re not trying to make the past up to me, are you?” she asked. “Because you don’t need to do that.”

“No. I am not trying to do that.”

“Okay.” She released the straw. “What is this position?”

“Operations manager for the Baltimore branch.”

---