“Um…what are you talking about?”
Georgia’s eyes went wide for a moment before she turned away, searching for her purse. She picked it up and went to scurry from the room. “It’s nothing. Just…nothing.”
Susannah didn’t let her get far. At the grand foyer, she stopped her cousin. “Georgia, talk to me! What is going on?”
And for the first time ever, she saw tears in her cousin’s eyes.
“You don’t realize how much you have, Susannah,” Georgia said quietly, primly. “Before you moved here, I thought I had everything. Then I saw the way you interact with Sam and Mallory and…and everyone you meet. People smile when they see you – they seek you out. People see me coming and walk away.”
“That’s not entirely true. I saw the article in the paper about the work you’re doing with the animal rescue. It looked like all those puppies were very happy to be running around you.”
Georgia rolled her eyes. “They’re just dogs, Susannah.”
“Animals are known for being excellent judges of character,” she said, hoping to make light of the conversation.
“My girls don’t reach out to me the way Mallory does to you,” she went on. “And Mason went for weeks without talking to me.” Swiping tears away, she went on. “I can’t remember the last time Beau looked at me the way Colton looked at you.”
Her heart squeezed hard as the image came to her mind.
“I…I wished for something like this to happen.”
Susannah stared at her in confusion. “What does that mean?”
“It means…I wished for something to happen to cause you some of the pain and misery I was feeling,” she replied, her voice small. “And now that it’s happened, I feel terrible.”
Some of the fight went out of Susannah but not all of it. “Well you should. That’s a terrible thing to wish on someone. For all your bitchy ways, I just wished for you to get nicer and maybe unclench a bit.”
Georgia looked away and Susannah could see the flush of embarrassment on her face, but that didn’t stop her from continuing. She’d waited too long to get this off her chest. “I’ve never been rude to you and I always tried to be friendly with you, but you’ve always kept me at arm’s length. After a while, I just stopped trying. But right now, I need people around me who care that I’m hurting, not cheering because of it.” When she turned to walk away, Georgia called her back. “What?” she snapped.
“I’m sorry, Susannah. Truly. I…I know what it’s like to be in a relationship that isn’t working. I’m sorry you had to go through that with Colton.”
Her shoulders sagged sadly. “That’s just it, Georgia. The relationship was working.”
“Then I don’t understand. Why did you break up?”
And then Susannah saw something else she’d never seen before from her cousin.
Concern.
Tears stung her eyes and she realized how utterly ridiculous the two of them must look, but she didn’t care. “I got scared,” she admitted, her voice cracking. “I’ve already had a failed marriage and know I’m a terrible wife. Why would I go there again?”
If anything, Georgia’s expression went from concerned to shock. “Why would you think you’re a terrible wife?” She made a tsking sound before stepping in closer. “You did everything you could possibly do for that man, Susannah, and we all know it. You are not the reason your marriage failed.”
And in a very un-Georgia-like move, she hugged Susannah.
Hard.
“It must have killed you to just admit that to me,” she teased and was relieved when Georgia laughed and simply hugged her tighter.
It was a good moment.
Maybe even a great one.
Turning, they walked arm in arm back to the living room and talked about what they were both going to do next.
There was a definite chill in the air and as Colton held his travel mug of hot coffee, he did his best to focus on the task in front of him.
He had taken Jake’s advice and took a couple of days off from work to get his head together. Today was his first day back and he took a moment to stare at the construction site in front of him. It wasn’t a huge job – Coleman Construction was handling the renovations on a new boat storage facility at the Magnolia Yacht Club – and he had a small crew to watch over, but he supposed it was the right place for him to be right now.
Taking a step away from his truck, he was about to go double check the lumber that was delivered while he wasn’t here yesterday when his phone rang.
“What’s up, Jake?” he said when he answered.
“Hey, Colt. I was just going over some paperwork and saw we were shorted some materials on your job. I need you to do a quick inventory for me so I can make some calls and get what we’re missing out to you ASAP.”
“Can do. Give me about an hour. I’ll get everyone to help.”
“You’ve got four guys with you today, right?”
“Yup.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Why? You want to send me more?”
“Actually, I was thinking of pulling two for the next couple of days. We’ve got an issue with the inn and I need a crew over there.”
“What’s going on?” he asked, concern for Susannah instantly filling him.
He heard Jake mutter a curse. “It’s nothing major. Just a few things the new city inspector noticed and he’s threatening to stop Susannah from opening next week. Nothing a few guys can’t handle.”
“Dammit, Jake! That’s just not possible! Everything was perfect at the inn! I saw to it myself!”
“Look, Colt, no one’s blaming you for anything. This guy’s new and just being a bit nit-picky, if you know what I mean. Still, I don’t want to risk the inn missing its opening over some minor stuff. So maybe you can just send…”
“No,” he said adamantly. “I was there from day one of those renovations and I know every inch of the place practically like the back of my hand. If there’s work to be done there, I’ll do it.”
Jake was silent for a moment. “You sure you want to do that? I mean, it could be awkward. You’re going to have to work with Susannah a bit. I don’t know if the two of you have spoken since…well…you know.”
“We haven’t but I don’t think now’s the time to worry about that. The inn is Susannah’s dream and I’m not going to let anyone ruin that for her!”
“Okay, okay…if you’re sure you’re all right with it, then…”
“I am.”
“Just get me that inventory and…”
“My guys are on it. I’ll have Jim Connelly lead it up and let him know you need those numbers within the hour. Once I get them set up, I’ll head over to Susannah’s.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I said I was!” he snapped as he hung up. As soon as his phone was back in his pocket, he cursed himself. Mouthing off to his boss was probably not the smartest thing to do. Still, there was no way he would trust anyone else to go over to the inn to do any kind of work. That place was his baby and not just because it was Susannah’s. He’d been one of the first ones on site after Hurricane Amelia damaged the house and the property and he had been on site for every day of the work from beginning to end. His mind reeled as he tried to imagine just what could be wrong.