A smile spread across her face, sweet and real, and he felt reassured. Whatever Georgie had said to her had helped turn things around. He’d have to thank her for that. After he apologized at least a dozen times. “I know, dear boy, and you won’t be rid of me yet. I have plenty of work left to do. Speaking of which, did you notice the crystal Georgie picked tonight?”
“Don’t even get me started on the crystals,” he said, shaking his head. Still, he couldn’t help but smile back. “But yes. Of course I noticed.”
“You might want to offer her your spare bedroom.” She glanced up at the smoking house, and at Georgie on the sidewalk, bent over her phone with a grim look on her face. “She won’t be able to stay here, and she might have a tough time checking into a hotel this late.”
If he hadn’t known better, he might have wondered if she’d planned the whole thing, down to the faulty cord.
“I will,” he affirmed.
A sad look crossed her face again. “And find Jezebel, if you would. Beau loved that cat.”
River repressed the urge to say, He’s the only one who did. Even if it was true, it wouldn’t make her feel better, and he still wanted that.
“I’ll do my best. But even if we don’t find her tonight, I’m sure she’ll come back. She haunts that house like a poltergeist, and the people in the neighborhood know better than to mess with her.”
Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and for a moment he thought it might be Georgie, but when he turned around he saw a slightly familiar-looking woman with wavy brown hair and glasses. A small group of people stood behind her, a few of them known to him, the others vaguely familiar in that same way as the woman in front. The neighbors.
“Did you say Jezebel is on the loose?” she asked.
“Um, yeah,” he said.
She flinched as if he’d physically struck her. “What are you going to do?” she asked. “Is someone from the fire department going to apprehend her?”
“Apprehend her?” he asked in disbelief. “She’s not a criminal.”
She just gave him a flat look, which was when he remembered where he’d seen her before. A couple of years ago, he’d been hanging out at Beau’s place with his aunt when this woman had come by, fundraising for her kid’s school softball trip to Henryetta, Arkansas. Jezebel had leapt on the box of cookies in her arms. The woman had thought it was cute—until she’d attempted to remove her. Needless to say, they’d bought the whole case.
The others started murmuring their assent, and he figured he’d better say something to pacify them. The last thing he wanted was for Georgie to be chased out of the neighborhood with pitchforks because of him.
“Look, I’ll give you guys my number, and you can text if you see her, okay?”
“Day or night?” someone asked.
“Sure,” he said, “day or night. And I’ll canvass the neighborhood looking for her.”
Not that he thought it would do any good. Their best bet was to put out cans of sardines, or whatever brown and black food she’d been scarfing down with such relish tonight.
They all whipped out their cell phones to take down his information. Then they started to disperse. Aunt Dottie gave him a hug, murmuring something along the lines of, “Oh, all this fuss over a harmless little cat,” and got into the car.
River glanced back at the sidewalk leading up to the house and caught Georgie staring at him. Although her shirt had patches of soot on it, and there was a smudge of it on her chin, she looked beautiful. She immediately glanced away, as if embarrassed, and her cheeks flushed a little. God, she’d be terrible at poker, but he loved her openness. He liked knowing he could trust her.
The fireman he’d spoken with earlier stood beside her, and he felt a little stab of something when he noticed the way the man was looking at her.
“Thanks again,” Georgie told the guy.
“I’m Jake,” he said, handing her a card with a handwritten number on the back. “Please give me a call if we can do anything to help. Like I said, the house should be safe once it’s clean and aerated, although you’ll still need to replace the plaster on the interior walls and repaint.”
“Will do,” she said, but her eyes were on River again. She didn’t look judgmental or pissed. If anything, she looked worried about him.
“My personal number’s on there too,” Jake said. Persistent, wasn’t he? But River found he didn’t care anymore. Georgie wasn’t interested in this guy—he knew it like he knew beer. Somehow he’d gotten lucky—big-time, he-should-play-the-lotto kind of lucky—and she was interested in him. Even now, with Lurch’s Pee Brew crusted in his hair and on part of his jeans, and with every bit of him smelling of smoke. The only question was whether she’d give him a chance.
“Thanks, Jake,” she said with a smile. “I love that everyone’s so friendly here.” River noticed she hadn’t promised to contact Jake, but judging by the triumphant grin on the guy’s face as he headed down to the truck, it didn’t appear he’d caught on.
Everyone else started to leave too, and River took Georgie’s hand and led her around to the backyard. There was a bench there, nestled in the bushes, and it would be private enough for them to talk.
She didn’t object or try to pull away, and he took that as a good sign.
He gestured for her to sit down first, which she did, and he sat beside her, not as close as he wanted but a good deal closer than he would have sat if it had been Lurch next to him.
“So,” he said, feeling awkward suddenly, “I was hoping to talk to you alone tonight, but this wasn’t how I saw it going down.”
She laughed at that, longer and louder than it warranted, and he found himself laughing too. When their laughter started to wind down, he said, “Georgie, I’m so, so sorry for this. For everything. My aunt’s usually harmless, and I figured…”
He stalled out, but she gave him a bright smile. “You wanted to help her. That’s honorable, River. You don’t need to apologize for that. Dottie’s lucky to have you, and you her. It’s rare to find a connection like that, even with family.”
“Well, needless to say, I’ll pay for all of the damages. It doesn’t make up for”—he waved a hand at the house, temporarily at a loss for words—“but at least it’s something.”
“That’s not necessary,” she said. “I’m sure I can work things out with the insurance company.”
God, he hoped so. The damage was fairly extensive.
“Well, then I’ll cover the deductible or whatever.” She looked like she might object, so he shook his head. “Look, it’ll make me feel like slightly less of a failure. How about that?”
“We’ll see,” she said. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and he remembered the way she’d been looking at it earlier, on the sidewalk.
“Your siblings blowing up your phone?”
“Yeah,” she said with a frown. “Adalia’s over the moon about your aunt, but Jack’s on a bit of a warpath. Lee’s just generally pissy. He doesn’t like that I ignored my father’s request for a business plan, or maybe he doesn’t like that Dad won’t leave him alone about it.”