Point of Attraction (18 page)

“If The Bad Penny had anything to do
with them,” Paula said, sliding out the cutting board, “I hope you
used heavy duty sterilizer.”

Cassie laughed while working the garlic
seasoning into the butter for the sliced bread. “She’s got you
pegged,” she told Nick.

Nick tugged at Paula’s hair in payment.
“You’re picking up your mother’s sharp tongue. I’d keep a rein on
it, Ryan.”

“Oh, right away on that,” Ryan said,
folding up the last of the paper sacks.

Georgie held back any
retort. Nick was defusing the moment, and Mason was following their
lead by also saying nothing. Already Steve and Paula were entering
the depths of getting the meal together, their mood very much like
that of the children Sam insisted cook meals on those special
weekends.
“Don’t want you two starving
when you get out on your own into the unsuspecting
world
,” he would say, and he taught them
the best. He was a gourmet.

“What did Doctor Eckert say?” Cassie
asked Paula, adding her support in the change of
subject.

Paula leaned into Cassie with a nudge.
“Everything is A-okay. I go see her again next month. I still wish
you were my doctor.”

“No can do, Kiddo. You know that. If I
were any closer to you, I’d be your mother. But I’ll be there.
Never doubt that.” She turned and Georgie saw that mischievous
twinkle. “We’ll all be there to make sure Ryan doesn’t pass
out.”

“Good thing my ego isn’t made of
glass,” Ryan said, wrapping his arm around Paula.

Lucy remained within the motions of the
group, but cautious, almost reserved, until she excused herself to
use the guest bathroom.

Cassie leaned into Steven with an elbow
jab. “It’s okay, Dr. Steven,” Cassie whispered, and winked at
Georgie. “Life is too short to let other people’s hang-ups harm you
in there.” She poked at his heart. “It will either pass and be a
bad dream, or stay and become a wall you can’t scale. Either way...
it’s not in your power to control. All you can do is work with the
outcome.”

With a nod of understanding Steven
returned the elbow nudge with a quick pat on the shoulder, and they
both returned to the meal at hand.

Georgie sighed deeply but
said nothing. Her life would have been much harder to go on with
after Sam’s death were it not for this gathered group of people.
Yet she hurt for her son and Paula. They both took a hit tonight;
different wounds, but only they could mend those cuts. She sighed,
sadly accepting the fact. It was no longer in her power
to heal their hurts.

~~0~~

“But, Mom,” Paula said, smoothing the
cling wrap over the leftovers she had arranged on a platter, while
Cassie helped load the dishwasher. “You have to report it. It is a
hit-and-run.”

“That’s what I told her,” Cassie
said.

Georgie tried to listen, but once more,
her attention was on Nick and Mason who were outside trailing Daisy
while her Max sat in the middle of the yard looking at those
gathered at the left corner.

“That parking lot is dangerous,” Paula
stated, and Georgie found her daughter’s arms wrapped tightly
around her. “I don’t want to lose you, Mom. You have to be more
careful when you walk out to your car. And get rid of that dark
coat. I’ll have to get you something bright so you can be seen.”
Paula finally stopped long enough to take a breath.

“I’ll talk to Property Management at
the next meeting about more speed bumps inserted at our end of the
center,” Georgie quickly put in, trying to drop the subject. “But
with the skimpy info we have, I doubt the police can do anything?
I’ve already mentioned it to Mason. He wasn’t hopeful. We didn’t
get anything off the plates.” She avoided looking at Paula, knowing
that leaving out the part about no plates at all on the vehicle was
the same as lying to her.

“You know, if I had walked out like
that, and not looked both ways, you’d have ripped me a new
one.”

“Yes, I would have,” she answered with
a pointing finger at her daughter, then gave the barely rounded
tummy a quick rub.

“Yes, well... hello. You’re just as
important to Steven and me. And what is with Steven and Lucy? They
got sort of quiet. It’s not like him to leave so early.”

Georgie took a deep breath as she
tossed bones in the trash. “You have to admit, we are an
overwhelming crowd. It’ll pass, I’m sure.” At least she hoped it
would.

Ryan walked in from the laundry room,
rubbing his hands. “You about ready to head on out?” he asked
Paula.

“Just about. What are they doing out
there?”

“Oh, you know Nick.” Ryan got their
coats and placed them over the chairs. “He was sure he heard a
noise and saw a glint of something. Swore he got a whiff of
cigarette smoke.”

Georgie shivered in her warm house, but
said nothing. Nick might be a lunatic at times, but he wasn’t an
alarmist.

“With the wind picking up,” Ryan
continued, “I don’t see how he could smell anything other than wood
smoke coming out of the chimneys. Which reminds me, I’d like two
cords of seasoned wood. You guys know anyone selling?”

“Yeah, on the windowsill there. The
business card’s in the corner, but this late in the season, you’re
going to pay dearly.”

“I know. This is only back up. We
already have our wood, but I think we might have an extra long and
extra cold winter.”

“You think?” Georgie asked, running a
finger along the condensation on the edges of the kitchen
window.

Ryan visibly shivered, and played
along. “I don’t know, just an odd feeling I have. Cold, it says,
very cold. Anyway, if we could get the city to clear those tree
branches, we wouldn’t lose the power so often.”

Georgie half smile. “When they finally
decided what city our little area here belonged to, they got the
power lines cleared. What a difference it made. But the card’s
there.” She once more pointed to the window sill.

Paula reached for the card, and pulled
out the small vase with the rose. “What’s this?” Then quickly said,
“Oh, Mr. Mont... I mean Mason.” She carefully pushed the vase back
into its corner and handed Ryan the card before slipping into her
coat. Once Ryan had his coat on, Paula hugged Georgie. “I’ll get
used to it, Mom. Honest. He does seem very nice.”

Georgie nodded and smiled.

At their car, Paula opened the door and
turned. “Mom, I’m worried about Steven.” Georgie saw her give the
garage a quick cautious glance making sure neither Cassie nor April
were there and lowered her voice. “He better be smart about this.
Cassie and April are part of this family. Love him, love all of
us.”

“Yes, Dear.” She gave Paula’s shoulder
a mother’s rub and pat, and leaned down to look across the seat at
Ryan on the passenger side of the car. “Good night.”

“Night, Mrs. G.”

“Night, guys,” Paula called out with a
quick wave towards the house.

Georgie looked back. Cassie and April
had come out of the house and were making their way through the
garage heading for their car. They waved back, and Georgie moved
out of Paula’s way so she and Ryan could drive out. After waving
good-bye, she went to Cassie and April.

“So it was M&M that gave you that
rose?” Cassie asked, getting into their car.

“No,” Georgie said. “I have no clue who
might have left it under my windshield wiper. But it wasn’t Mason,
nor Nick for that matter.”

“Odd. But why let Paula think it was
Mason.”

“No reason for her to think otherwise,”
she told Cassie with a shrug.

“Is there something you’re not telling
me?”

“Just stuff. When I put things
together, I’ll tell you.”

“Okay. Make sure you do.”

Georgie was surprised Cassie accepted
this without argument or further inquiry, and so very grateful not
to have to do any more explaining. This had been a long exhausting
evening.

“I have to say,” Cassie added as the
window buzzed down and her seat belt clicked into its lock, “Mason
and Nick get along together.”

“God help me, they do.”

April laughed as she turned the
ignition key. “I swear, Georgie. You’re like having a wayward child
to look after.”

Georgie’s mouth fell open as Cassie
burst into laughter. Still laughing, Cassie raised the window and
the BMW drove down the driveway. A second later, Georgie too smiled
at the disappearing headlights, and went back in the
house.

~~0~~

“So what happened at Jeffrey’s?”
Georgie asked of Mason and Nick.

Neither man offered an answer. Nick was
zipping up his jacket.

“Where are you going?” When Nick
offered nothing, she looked to Mason. “Where is he
going?”

“Just for a quick drive,” Nick said,
before Mason could say anything. “Won’t take me but a
minute.”

She reached out to grab hold of his
jacket, but Nick pulled away. No way was she letting this slide and
latched onto his arm. “No, you don’t. First, you tell me what
happened at Jeffrey’s.”

“He never came home,” Mason said,
surrendering to her determination on this, and she sought Nick’s
confirmation.

“We drove by several times,” Nick
finally said with a shrug, “searching for my little lost
dog...”

“Your
dog
?”

“Yeah, well, what can I say.” He smiled
and started to laugh, but cleared his throat and became serious.
“Even had a couple of his neighbors looking for my precious little
Pepe.”

“Pepe?” she asked. “That’s what you
came up with?”

Nick’s eyebrows scrunched to the
center, feigning hurt. “I could have a doggie named
Pepe.”

“Pepe?”

“Yeah.” Nick thrust up his chin and
looked down his nose at her. “Pepe.”

“The position of the garage
door had not changed from last night,” Mason said. Though his
manner was serious, Georgie could see humor lurking behind his set
mouth. “Never moved up or down. But those helpful neighbors even
raised the door to look and see if
Pepe
might have gotten
inside.”

“No alarm went off,” Nick said, “so the
thing has to be on a timer or shut off. The leaf was still stuffed
in the track, undamaged. Nothing had been moved inside, everything
still very neat. Neighbors didn’t seem to think anything was
amiss... especially since he’s started seeing a lady
friend.”

“He’s seeing someone?”

“That’s what they said.”

“You go, Jeffrey,” she said, then felt
both men’s eyes on her. “Well, it’s not me. But this is getting
very strange,” she mused, then shook her head to free herself of
their suspicions. “Now you have me doing it. Jeffrey might have
gone away for the weekend for all we know... with his girlfriend.
So where are you going?”

“Up the road a bit,” Nick
said.

“How close are you with your
neighbors?” Mason asked.

Georgie shrugged. “We know
each other’s names; run into each other while walking during the
summer. We don’t
hang
out
. They’ve probably already gone for the
winter. Sometimes they leave before Halloween, sometimes after
Thanksgiving. They have a property caretaker come in once a week to
check the yard, pipes and stuff.”

Nick patted his pockets and pulled out
his bike key. Georgie went to stand at her door to block his exit.
“What are you up to?”

“I’m just going to take a
look.”

“A look where?”

“Up the road, I told you.”

“Now, you’re being silly,” she said,
arms crossed.

“Daisy would have told me if someone
were lurking up...” She stopped, thinking back over the last few
days and nights. The warnings were there. She just took them as
Daisy being territorial with another dog.

“She’s been acting up, hasn’t she?”
Nick asked, and a frustrated breath was accented with a hard stare.
“She’s certainly been favoring that left corner, and it’s not just
tonight, is it?”

It took a second before she could meet
his accusing glare. His mouth pulled to the side as he looked to
Mason.

“Alright,” she finally
said. “You’re right. She has been acting strange. I didn’t get it,
okay? But you have to promise me something. Whatever you find.
Promise me you will tell me the truth. All of it. If it scares the
hell out of me, so be it. But not knowing.” She made quotation
marks with her fingers. “
For my own
good,
can be just as dangerous, even more
so. I want to trust that neither of you is hiding anything from me.
Understand?”

Nick shook his head, his eyebrows
arched high, and he looked at Mason while holding up both palms,
indicating her. “And this is what you want to get involved
with?”

“Go,” Mason said, and Nick took hold of
her arms to move her aside before going out the door, pointing a
finger at Mason.