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“I don’t want to talk to you about this,” he said.
George hated the thought of Anna-Beth being sold off to one of their associates. Another wealthy man, who would make money from the deal. Taking the annoying Knight girl and forcing her to become the wife she needs to be. George knew that was exactly what would happen. Her smile would be gone, as would her dancing and her horrible taste in music. She wouldn’t be doing yoga on the back lawn.
He could see her future now—being forced into etiquette classes, having children, endless charity galas, and her being the butt of the joke at who she used to be.
“Will you at least think about it?” Malcolm asked as they got to the front door.
Before George could respond, Anna-Beth came around the corner, carrying a basket of laundry. So, she did the laundry as well, which explained how his clothes were done and no bill was presented to him. George had never seen her doing it, but his clothes were always cleaned and neatly pressed each night when he got to his room. She also put them away in his closet.
“Malcolm, I had no idea you were here,” Anna-Beth said, pulling her earbuds out of her ears and moving toward her brother. She put the laundry basket down, and then went to her brother to hug him.
“I, uh, yeah, it was just a quick trip to come and see George. You know, talking about a hunting trip.”
Anna-Beth pulled away and frowned. “Hunting trip? You guys never went hunting.”
George was not going to help his friend out of this one. He was still pretty pissed at him for what he was asking him to do.
“There is always a first time for everything,” Malcolm said.
“True. Do you want to stay a while?” she asked.
“Nah, I’ve got to head back to work.” Malcolm kissed her head. “I’ll see you soon, kiddo.”
****
Something was going on.
Ever since Malcolm had left just before lunch, George had locked himself away in his office. He’d taken his lunch in there alone, as well as his dinner. He was avoiding her.
Anna-Beth lay in bed and stared up at her ceiling, trying to figure out what it could be. She didn’t know what was going on between her brother and George. Her ceiling wasn’t giving her the answers, and tossing and turning all night wasn’t going to help.
This was why she avoided shows with cliffhanger endings. She couldn’t stand not knowing what was going to happen next, and it drove her crazy.
She shoved her blankets off and put on some slippers, before leaving her room to head downstairs to the kitchen.
Opening the fridge, she looked inside to see milk, and nothing else tickled her fancy. So, she opened the freezer, and there were several cartons of ice cream. This would help. She tried to avoid ice cream to snack. She’d never had a sweet tooth, but when it came to ice cream, she couldn’t resist. Mint chocolate was her favorite, and taking the lid off, she dug a spoon inside and began to eat. She’d taken several scoops when the light turned on. Spinning around, she saw George standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
“You know, it’s not ideal to sneak around.”
She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t sneaking around,” she said.
“Ice cream?”
Anna-Beth held out the carton. “Want some?”
She saw him hesitate and shoving the spoon into her mouth, she grabbed a second spoon. There was no way she was sharing her spoon. George took the spoon, and they sat on each end of the counter.
“Do you want to tell me what has kept you up?” he asked.
She thought about it and then shook her head. “I don’t know if you can help me or not.”
“A problem shared is a problem halved, right?”
“I guess. It’s about Malcolm.” It was subtle, but she saw him tense up. Also, it was kind of easy to see, as he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and she was doing her best not to ogle his body.
“What about him?”
“He was acting strange, so normally when he acts like that, it means he has to do something he doesn’t want to do.”
