Page 320 of On A Manhunt: Complete Series

GEORGIA

“Hi Georgia, this is Drew.”

“Hey,” I said, the usual southern response to a greeting where the word was somehow dragged out to be two syllables. “Is everything all right?”

I was at the fire station for another photo shoot.

We had already gotten through half of the months and the plan was to finish within the week.

Leanne, the part-time admin support for the station, pulled me from the photo shoot to take a call.

Learning it was Drew made me worry. Why would he ask for me?

“Actually, no. I was trying to reach Mac, but he doesn’t answer his cell and Leanne says they’re on a call. She knows you’re staying with us and told me you were available.”

I set my hand on my chest. As soon as he said no my worry started.

“Yes, he’s been out all afternoon,” I told him. “They’ve been gone since before I arrived. And yes, I’m available. Are you okay?”

“Well, I seem to have broken my foot.”

I gasped. “What? Oh no. Are you at home? Are you alone? Do you need me to get you? Did you fall? Hit your head? Chest pain?”

He laughed. “Nothing like that. I was at the grocery store and stepped off the curb wrong or caught a little ice. My foot twisted. There were people around so don’t you worry about me being alone. John Tranquil drove me to the ER.”

I didn’t know who John Tranquil was, but I was thankful he offered assistance. And I was so glad the injury wasn’t anything worse.

The night before, after Bradley sent me the room number at the James Inn, I packed a small bag for what I might need today–there was no way I could carry my huge suitcase down the stairs–and drove to the James Inn.

It was posh and understated and as amazing as it was supposed to be.

But it wasn’t the cozy, little apartment in the MacKenzie backyard.

And that was the point. I needed distance and staying across town was what I needed.

“I’ll be right there.” Immediately, I thought about where my purse was. My keys. The hospital. Where was the hospital? I was in the fire station. Leanne would know.

“You are sweet, but I’m fine,” he reassured. “It’s Andy I need help with.”

“Andy?” My blood pressure spiked at something being wrong with him.

“I pick him up from school and I can’t… obviously. Mac’s busy and–”

“I’ll get him, no problem,” I said immediately. “We’ll come to the hospital and stay with you. Bring you food. You must be hungry. A ride home.”

“I’m all right. I’m waiting for the x-ray results, but everyone thinks I broke a little bone on the top of my foot. Not a big deal but from what they say, I’ll most likely have to wear a boot for a few weeks.” He didn’t sound too excited about that. “Theo’s here and said he’d give me a ride home.”

Right. Theo was a doctor. Drew was in good hands.

“All right, but don’t worry about Andy. I’ll get him no problem. We’ll go for hot chocolate. What time does school end?”

An hour later, I made it to Andy’s school.

Instead of getting in the long pickup line, I went inside to meet him in person.

I offered my ID to enter, but the front office knew who I was, knew I was doing the calendar, knew I lived in Andy’s garage apartment.

They said they were expecting me because Drew had called.

“Miss Georgia!” Andy said, when I stuck my head in the open first grade room door. The kids were in line, coats and backpacks on, ready for the bell to end the day. Andy rushed from his place and came over to hug my legs. “This is my new mom!” he shouted, gleefully telling all of his classmates.

With an arm around his shoulders, I squeezed him back, but looked to Mallory over his head. Yikes, he hadn’t gotten past the new mom thing. Not one bit.

The bell rang and we moved out of the way for the kids to head outside for pickup. While they’d been calm and quiet before, pandemonium broke loose in the hallways as the kids were done for the day.

“Show me your classroom,” I said when he looked up at me with his toothless grin.

He spun about, took my hand and showed me everything. His spot with his name on it. The reading nook. The finished work basket. The calendar. The class chore chart.

When he ran out of steam, I pulled out a little kid chair and sat down.

I needed to get him to see that my being here was not because I was his new mom.

When I relocated to the James Inn the night before, this was one of the reasons.

Yet, it didn’t seem to have made a difference.

I was pulled right back in. I was in Andy’s classroom and he’d just announced I was his new mom.

Yeah, I was in all right.

“Come here, sweetie,” I said. He stood directly in front of me, eyeing me with pure joy. I hated to dampen his spirit, even the littlest of bits. I wasn’t going to tell him about Drew. Not now. I didn’t want him to worry and I wasn’t sure if Drew downplayed his injuries or not.

But we did have to talk about me being his new mom. I just wasn’t sure how to begin.

“Did you know that I grew up with just a mom? No dad.”

His little brow puckered. “You didn’t play catch or build a tire swing?”

I shook my head, imagining my mother putting a tire swing in our yard. “Nope.”

“That’s okay. You can share mine.”

“Thank you. I told you I have a sister. Her name is Sassy.”

“Sassy?” He giggled.

“Do you have a sister?”

He giggled again. “You know I don’t.”

“Is it okay you don’t have one?”

He shrugged his shoulders, but the move was barely noticeable under his heavy coat. “She’d probably put pink stuff all over.”

I laughed. “Probably.”

“Everyone’s families are different,” I explained. I was no psychologist and I had no experience with kids, so I hoped I wasn’t making things worse. “You’ve got Grumpy and your dad and you. I’ve got my mother and Sassy.”

Mallory was at her desk, trying to look busy but definitely listening in. That was fine with me because she was in this–watching out for Andy–for the long haul as his teacher. I wasn’t.

“What I’m trying to say is that you don’t need a new mom because your family is perfect just the way it is.”

“That doesn’t mean we don’t want one,” he countered.

Inwardly, I rolled my eyes.

“When the right woman comes along, I’m sure she’ll make the perfect mom. But honey, that’s not me.”

His smile slipped. Yeah, buddy, I felt that too.

“I’m only in Hunter Valley for a very short time.” I pushed on, telling him and also myself. “For a job. Then I go back to where I live.”

“To your house?”

I bit my lip. Nope. To my mother’s.

“To your job?” he added.

Nope. To filling in as a pageant coach with Sassy’s overflow clients. Lord, was I depressing.

I didn’t know how to answer either of those questions, so I didn’t.

“To be your mom, then I have to be with your dad,” I pointed out. “We have to love each other and trust each other and–”

“You do!”

I shook my head. “Have you heard the way your father is cranky all the time? I think you’re calling the wrong person Grumpy.”

“That means he likes you! I think he likes you a lot.”

I was surprised by this. Did he know about what we did in my apartment? Certainly not the… interlude in Mac’s office at the fire station.

“Oh?”

“He made garlic bread for you. Garlic bread’s special. And you went out with him the other night. Like a date. And he thinks you’re pretty.”

I bit my lip. He was so earnest. “He told you that?”

“Dunno. But he looks at you funny. And when a boy looks at a girl funny, that’s how babies are made.”

I blinked at him. “I… I didn’t know that,” I murmured. I was not the one to talk about the birds and bees with him.

“That’s what happened to Allison’s mom,” he explained.

Ah, the one with the new baby sister or brother from the nipple conversation on spaghetti night.

“So since my dad looks at you funny, then he wants to make a baby with you.”

I felt my cheeks flush. Oh dear Lord in heaven. The idea of making a baby with Mac made my ovaries explode. And my heart.

I was not going to tell him he was mostly right. He only wanted to practice making a baby. With a condom on and my IUD as backup birth control.

“Andy–

“Don’t you want children?”

He was six and so very sweet and innocent but knew exactly how to ruthlessly wound me. His question was the ultimate trigger. I took a deep breath.

“Yes, I do. Very much,” I said, swallowing hard. “But your dad gives me cranky looks because at work, I’m making him do something he doesn’t want. I bet you give him cranky looks when he makes you pick up your room.”

He frowned. “Yeah.”

“And if your dad looks at me funny, we’re not going to make a baby, okay? That’s when two people love each other so much that it can’t be contained and that extra love spills over makes one.”

I cleared my throat and willed back tears. My words were true. So true. But I hadn’t considered them when it came to me and Art. Looking back, we never had enough love for a child. He never had enough love for me at all.

And I had to wonder if I ever loved him like I was supposed to.

“But we can be the bestest of friends even if I can’t be your mom,” I said, wanting to reassure him. He didn’t know I was staying at the James Inn now, but one thing at a time. Perhaps when he found out this would be reinforced.

He looked skeptical. I had to turn this around. Waaaaay around.

“I want to be your best friend. Because best friends like me pick you up from school and get hot chocolate together.”

“Hot chocolate?” His eyes lit up like I offered him a million dollars.

“Mhm,” I confirmed. “I like marshmallows in mine.”

“Me too!”

Thank goodness for the ability to redirect a six-year-old. I gave Mallory a look and she offered me a sympathetic one in return.

I reached out and booped his nose. “See? Best friends.”