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Today is the day. No matter what warnings my sister, my best friend, or my brain try to give me.
Chapter 15
Georgia
Zach will be in Florence in an hour. If I’d told him I thought it was a great idea to propose to Carly, he probably would have thought twice about it. Instead, I made certain he’d be engaged by tonight.
I stare out the window until his Bronco turns onto the main road. Then I take a sip of my chai, but I get no comfort from it. My appetite is gone, and I’ve barely touched my ebelskiver. I move the pancakes around on the plate, trying to make it look like I’ve eaten them. The endeavor is as successful as patching a giant hole in a wall with a little bit of spackle.
I’m deep in thought—or is it regret?—when Britta slides into the chair Zach vacated a few minutes ago.
“Can I make a suggestion?” She picks up Zach’s unused fork and digs into the ebelskiver.
“Can I say no?” I slide the plate to her side of the table.
Britta shakes her head and chews her pancake too carefully and slowly. After she swallows, she stares me dead in the eye. “Just tell him how you feel.”
I’m so surprised thatwhatandhoware out of my mouth before I can think to tell her she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. By the time I stumble over the words “I don’t have feelings for Zach,” my cheeks are burning, and I have to look away from her unblinking gaze.
“Georgia, how long have I known you?” Her eyes burrow into my soul, and not in a good way. More like the gopher in Mom’s garden she couldn’t bear to kill but who outsmarted all of her “rehoming” efforts.
“Your whole life,” I answer. The question could have been rhetorical. She knows the answer.
“Exactly. And I have never seen you look at anyone the way you just looked at my brother.” Now there’s a gentleness in her voice that feels less gopher-y and more Grandma Rose-y. And all I want to do is let someone carry the weight of the loss I feel right now.
“Do you think he knows?” I ask softly.
Britta raises an eyebrow. “I doubt it.”
“At least I’ve got that going for me.” I pick at the chipped polish on my thumbnail. One of the hazards of the job, but I have a standing appointment every three weeks with my nail tech in LA. It’s a regular reminder I’m not the tomboy I was growing up.
But I don’t have a nail tech in Paradise. Or an eyelash girl. No aesthetician either. I don’t have any of the things that make me the Georgia I am today. The Georgia who will always be more curvy than willowy but who finally feels pretty now.
“He looks at you the same way,” Britta says, as though she’s talking about the weather and not delivering potentially earth-shattering news. “He’s just too clueless to know he’s crazy about you.”
“As a friend. He’s crazy about me as a friend. That’s it.” I’m not going to get my hopes up that she knows something even Zach doesn’t, no matter how hard she shakes her head.
“Only because he thinks he doesn’t have a chance with you.” Britta rolls her eyes. “He’s said more than once you’re way out of his league.”
I shake my head. “I know he thinks my financial success makes me somehow better than him, but that’s not true.”
“I don’t mean just in business, Georgia.” Britta pulls off her hat and hairnet, then loosens her curls. “I mean, in general, he thinks you’re too much of a catch to settle for a guy like him.”
“What? He said that?”
“Not in so many words, but I know my brother. If he thought he had a chance with you, he’d forget all about Carly.” She helps herself to my untouched ebelskiver. “You need to just tell him. That’s all it would take for him to figure out he feels the same.”
“Okay,” I scoff. “I’ll let him know as soon as he gets back from proposing to his girlfriend.”
“That’s exactly why youshoulddo it. He’ll marry Carly if you don’t tell him, or else he’ll get dumped at the altar like Adam did.”
A gust of cold air rushes through the front door, and we both turn to see Evie walking in. Britta jumps up and runs to her, enveloping her in a big hug.
“I can’t wait for you to be my sister!” Britta squeals.
“You don’t have to greet me like thiseverytime you see me, you know.” Evie hugs her back but smiles at me over Britta’s shoulder.
“I’ve wanted a sister my whole life, so I probably won’t ever stop hugging you like this.” Britta lets her go, and they both walk to my table.
