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Maddox
We’d been standing herefor almost half an hour, with my grandparents gushing over Georgia. They loved her. I wasn’t surprised. She was a breath of fresh air, especially amongst this stuffy group.
She laughed and talked with her hands flailing, and everyone in her vicinity was drawn to her.
She was sunshine and goodness.
Something I never thought I deserved.
But being the greedy bastard I was, I’d taken the leap with her.
And everything was changing.
Being at my father’s reception would normally be torture for me, but I was having a good time. I’d replayed John’s words over a few times in my head as I watched my girlfriend and grandmother talk about everything from holiday gift wrap to their favorite flower.
“ALS is an illness, and that’s what took her life. And carrying all this anger around is not good for you.”
There was a lot of truth to both. What I couldn’t get past was that she suffered through this brutal illness without the man that she loved by her side. That was almost as painful as the physical pain that she suffered. I resented my father for that. And I didn’t know how to get past it.
After my last nightmare a few days ago, I’d agreed to go talk to Georgia’s mother. It went against everything I believed in.
I didn’t like asking for help. I had figured my own shit out for most of my life, and going against that felt unnatural.
I was dating Georgia. Having her mom as my therapist seemed… wrong? But, apparently, there is no wrong way to ask for help, according to the ball of sunshine I was dating.
I’d talked about my mother with Georgia, which was not something I normally did. But now I’d be inviting another person into my tragic memory, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it.
“It’s time to take your seats. Dinner is about to be served,” the woman who had been bringing us our cocktails said, as she and a few other servers ushered us to our assigned seats.
We were at the head table with my grandparents, Wyle, and Brandy, who had tried to take a selfie with me a few minutes ago, and I’d shut that shit down by covering her phone with my huge hand. This wasn’t a media show. We’d agreed to the photo out front, and that was where the buck stopped, as far as I was concerned. Wyle had finally reached for her phone in frustration and dropped it into his coat pocket, and she nodded and apologized.
My father and Claire were at our table, as well, and so were her parents.
We took our seats, Wyle and I each sitting on either side of my father. Georgia was the star of the party, and I sat back and chuckled as she talked nonstop to everyone at the table like she’d known them her whole life.
It hit me in that moment that my mother was very similar. She never fit in at these events. She was down-to-earth and fun, and people were drawn to her in the same way.
Georgia had everything under control, and I’d been worried for no reason at all.
Even my father’s asshole joke didn’t cause her to miss a beat. She knew who she was, and no one else’s opinion played a part in that.
Because the world was Georgia Reynolds’ fucking oyster. She didn’t care about money or expensive things; she was just comfortable in her own skin.
Maybe that was what had drawn me to her.
There was a lightness, a peace, and an ease that surrounded me when I was with her.
Like I’d finally found where I belonged after feeling misplaced for so long since my mother’s passing.
Georgia Reynolds felt like home.
And I fucking loved it.
We ate.
We drank.
We laughed.
