“That’s great.” At least it won’t be a total overhaul, but now I’m imagining my friend wielding his contractor muscles while Georgie sits on the counter and watches him work, with a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies ready for him on her lap. I shudder. “Beck is good at what he does.”
“Ahem.” That’s Cecily, and I already know what she’s going to say next. “Do, Mr. Kingston. Remember, there’s no trying when it comes to relationships.”
I look up and meet Georgie’s gaze again. Her almost-smile is enough to tell me she thinks this is as ridiculous as I do, but we don’t really have a choice. Especially because we could have had to sit down with some snooty guy chosen by Mr. Vanderman, and that would have been a disaster. Cecily, at least, will have Georgie’s best interest at heart, whatever that will mean in the end.
“I still don’t love that you’re making changes,” I admit, knowing Cecily will likely keep pushing me until I speak my truths. And I’m not about to say anything about how I’m worried Georgie will fall for Beck, who is both friendly and generally considered attractive.
I don’t know how Cecily knew I was going to be resistant to saying what I’m really feeling, but she seems to have me pinned down without even knowing me. I also don’t know how Georgie is friends with this woman. Then again, Georgie has only ever been afraid to speak her mind once. I still have no idea why she ran from my proposal, and it’s likely that I never will.
Georgie sighs. “I know you don’t like it, but a lot of things need to be replaced. I’m sure even Bill would agree with me if he were here.”
“Maybe, but he’s not here to disagree either.”
“I promise it will be worth it.”
“Maybe,” I agree again. But that won’t change the fact that every renovation is going to be a step away from what’s left of my family. One of these days I’ll convince myself that a building doesn’t equate to my uncle’s memory, but I don’t think that’s going to be today.
“Here’s what I think you two need,” Cecily says, stepping into my line of sight so I have to look at her instead of Georgie. Ignoring my scowl, she reaches out a hand toward each of us. If she’s expecting me to grab hold, she’s got another thing coming. “I don’t know enough about you, King, and I really want to see how well you work together so I know where we need to focus.”
“What does that entail, exactly?” Georgie asks. Unlike me, she took Cecily’s hand, but I think she’s regretting that now that she’s closer to Cecily’s wild-eyed look. It’s going to be a lot harder for her to escape, and if I have to leave her behind to get away from whatever Cecily is planning, I may not even look back.
Cecily wiggles her fingers at me for a few seconds and then gives up, instead lifting her hand to touch a finger to her lips. “That is an excellent question, Georgie. I have two options in mind for tonight. One King will probably hate, and the other I know you will.”
“The first one,” I say quickly, which surprises me as much as it seems to surprise them. I shrug as I try to figure out why I would choose something I’m not going to like. “I get the feeling we’ll be doing both things at some point, so I might as well get the awful one over first.”
“What if I want to use that argument?” Georgie asks.
“King beat you to it,” Cecily says. “Therefore, we’re heading to the bakery!”
Well, now I’m questioning my choice, and I have the sudden horrifying vision of being forced to hear about every single change Georgie wants to make and offer up my honest opinion. That is not going to end well for anyone unless I suddenly become a master of deception. There’s no way I can look Georgie in the face and tell her flat-out that I will hate any change she wants to make, even if it’s the truth.
This time, Cecily forcefully grabs my hand instead of offering hers to me, and she’s pulling me out of the shop before I can protest.
I still try. “Wait! Can I lock up first?”
Cecily reluctantly lets me finish closing up the shack before she grabs hold again and pulls me to the boardwalk. The sun is starting to set, and Coral Berry is more crowded than it has been so far this season. It’s like everyone and their dog—literally, there are a million dogs—decided to come to Willow Cove in the last couple of days and crowd the boardwalk. Before the meeting with Vanderman, I would have been glad for the cover of tourists so we won’t be watched as closely by the locals, but now it means Georgie and I will be busier than ever.
“Why are we going to the bakery?” Georgie asks, a little breathless because Cecily is walking like a woman on a mission and dragging us with her. “I thought we were just going to sit around and talk for twenty minutes or something.”
“Oh, but that’s not going to work for you two. This counseling is going to require a special touch.”
“I really don’t like the sound of that,” I say.
Cecily merely throws a grin at me.
Thankfully, the bakery is closed by this point so the place is blessedly quiet compared to the rest of the boardwalk. Bill always talked about maybe keeping the place open later in the day because inevitably several dozen tourists will try the door throughout the evening, but I’m glad we’ve kept to normal baking hours. They can go to Maggie’s sweet shop down the way and try us again in the morning.
“Seriously, what are we doing here?” Georgie asks. “I already spent all day here, and while I love baking, I don’t love it that much.”
“Do you love it enough to walk King through how to make macarons?”
Georgie snorts. “Do you mean macaroons?”
“Excuse you, but which one of us has actually been to Paris? I mean macarons.”
I have a vague idea what Cecily is talking about, and I’m pretty sure Georgie was making them before we went ring shopping. I also know Bill tried to make them a couple of times and ended up going on a tirade about French pastries when he couldn’t get them to bake right.
“King can’t make macarons,” Georgie says, though she heads into the kitchen as if ready to face the challenge.
I follow her with a frown. “Why can’t King make macarons?” I ask indignantly. She’s probably right, but I don’t like how little faith she has in me.
“Because they take a delicate hand, and you don’t have those.” As if she needs to demonstrate, she lifts my hand within view of my face. But then her eyes catch on the ring on my finger, and a spark of something comes to life in her eyes.
I tug my hand free as a fire sparks in my belly to match.
Turning to Cecily, who followed us into the kitchen, Georgie shakes her head. “I can show him, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be able to do it.”
“I didn’t ask you to show him.”
“You said—”
“I told you that you’re going to walk him through it, which means you’re not allowed to touch any of it.”
I don’t especially love that Georgie laughs out loud. “You’ve got to be kidding,” she says.
“They can’t be that hard,” I throw in. “I’ve been able to make decent versions of everything in Bill’s recipe book.”
That’s not necessarily true. There’s a reason Meg started relegating me to cookie duty. But I like to think I can follow instructions as well as anyone and, knowing Georgie, she’ll be incredibly particular with her directions.
