Simply Irresistible (37 page)

The door opened and John’s prediction about the fan came to fruition. Georgeanne looked from John to Lexie, then to the shaking dog in Lexie’s arms. “What is that?”

Lexie kept quiet and let John do the talking. “Uh, we went into a pet store and—”

“Oh no!” Georgeanne wailed. “You took her to a pet store? She’s not allowed in pet stores. The last time she cried so hard she threw up.”

“Well, look on the bright side, she didn’t get sick this time.”

“Bright side?” She pointed to Lexie’s arms and shrieked, “Is that a dawg?”

“That’s what the saleslady said, but I’m still not convinced.”

“Take it back.”

“No, Mommy. Pongo’s mine.”

“Pongo? You named it already?” She looked at John and her eyes narrowed. “Fine. Pongo can live with John.”

“I don’t have a yard.”

“You have a deck. That’s good enough.”

“He can’t live with Daddy ‘cause I’d only get to see him on the weekends, then I wouldn’t get to train him not to potty on the carpet.”

“Train whom? Pongo or your
daddy
.”

“That’s not funny, Georgie.”

“I know. Take it back, John.”

“I wish I could. But the sign by the cash register said all sales are final. I can’t take Pongo back.” He looked at Georgeanne standing there looking as beautiful as always and mad as hell. But for the first time since Cannon Beach, he didn’t want to fight with her. He didn’t want to provoke her any more than he had already. “I’m sorry about this, but Lexie started crying and I couldn’t say no. She named him and cried on my neck and I handed the saleslady my credit card.”

“Alexandra Mae, get in the house.”

“Uh-oh,” Lexie said, then tucked her dog, ducked her head, and ran past her mother.

John moved to follow, but Georgeanne blocked his way. “I have told that child for five years now that she can’t have a pet until she is ten. You take her out for a few hours and she comes home with a hairless dawg.”

He raised his right hand. “I know, and I’m sorry. I promise I’ll buy all his food, and Lexie and I will take him to all of his puppy obedience classes.”

“I can pay for his darn food!” Georgeanne raised her palms and pressed her fingers to her brows. She felt as if her head were about to explode. “I’m so angry I can’t see straight.”

“Would it help if I told you that I bought a puppy book for you to read?”

“No, John,” she sighed, and dropped her hands. “It wouldn’t help.”

“I have a little kennel, too.” He took ahold of her wrist and pulled her after him. “I bought a bunch of stuff for him.”

Georgeanne tried to ignore the leap in her pulse as he towed her along. “What kind of stuff?”

He opened the back passenger door to the Range Rover and handed her a dog crate about the size of a deep dresser drawer.

“He’s supposed to stay in that at night so he doesn’t crap on the floor,” he told her, then reached inside the vehicle again. “Here’s a book on training, another on Chihuahuas, and one more”—he paused to read the title—“
How to Raise a Dog You Can Live With
. I have food, biscuits for his teeth, chew toys, a collar and leash, and a little sweater.”

“Sweater? Did you buy everything in the store?”

“Close.” He turned and ducked his head into the car.

Over the top of the kennel, Georgeanne glanced at John’s rear pockets pointed in her direction. His jeans were faded a light blue in places, and a woven leather belt was threaded though the loops.

“I know it’s here somewhere,” he said, and she quickly switched her gaze to the back of the four-wheel-drive vehicle. It was filled with huge toy-store bags and a big box labeled
Ultimate Hockey
.

“What’s all that?” she asked, motioning toward the back with her head.

John looked over his shoulder at her. “Just some things Lexie picked out. I don’t have anything for her to do when she comes over to my house, so we bought a few things. I can’t believe how much Barbies cost. I had no idea they were sixty dollars apiece.” He straightened and handed her a tube. “That’s Pongo’s toothpaste.”

Georgeanne was appalled. “You paid sixty dollars for a Barbie?”

He shrugged. “Well, when you figure that one came with a poodle, the other with a zebra-print jacket and matching beret, I don’t think I got soaked too badly.”

He’d been suckered. Within days of ripping open the box, Lexie would have those dolls naked and looking like she’d picked them up at a garage sale. Georgeanne rarely bought Lexie expensive toys. Her daughter didn’t treat them any better than she did her things that were less costly, but mostly, there were a lot of months when Georgeanne couldn’t afford to drop one hundred twenty dollars on two dolls.

She had a tendency to go a little crazy and spend a lot at Christmas and on birthdays, but she had to budget and set money aside for those occasions. John didn’t. Last month, as their lawyers had hammered out a custody agreement, she’d learned that he made six million a year playing hockey, plus half that much through investments and endorsements. She could never compete with that.

She looked into his smiling face and wondered what he was up to. If she wasn’t careful, he would take everything and leave her with nothing but that hairless dog.

Chapter Seventeen

“Did you want your latte skinny or mocha?”

Georgeanne asked Mae as she packed the metal filter with espresso.

“Skinny,” Mae answered without taking her attention from Pongo, who lay curled up crunching on a doggie biscuit. “Damn, that’s pathetic. My cat is bigger than your dog. Bootsie could kick his butt.”

“Lexie,” Georgeanne called out, “Mae is saying bad things about Pongo again.”

Lexie walked into the kitchen, shoving her arms through the sleeves of her raincoat. “Don’t say bad things about my dog.” She scowled and grabbed her backpack from the table. “He’s sensitive.” She dropped down on her knees and pushed her face next to the dog’s. “I have to go to school now, I’ll see you later.” The puppy stopped eating his biscuit long enough to lick Lexie’s mouth.

“Hey now, I’ve told you about that,” Georgeanne scolded as she took a carton of skim milk from the refrigerator. “He has bad habits.”

Lexie shrugged and stood. “I don’t care. I love him.”

“Well, I care. Now, you better get over to Amy’s or you’ll miss your ride.”

Lexie puckered her lips for a kiss good-bye.

Georgeanne shook her head and walked Lexie to the front door. “I don’t kiss girls who kiss dawgs who lick themselves.” From the entrance she watched Lexie cross the street, then she turned back to the kitchen. “She’s absolutely nuts about that puppy,” she told Mae as she headed toward the espresso machine. “She’s had him five days, and he’s taken over our lives. You should see the little denim vest she’s made for him.”

“I have something to tell you,” Mae blurted quickly.

Georgeanne looked over her shoulder at her friend. She’d suspected something was up with Mae. She usually didn’t come by so early for coffee, and she’d been acting a little distant for the past few days. “What is it?”

“I love Hugh.”

Georgeanne smiled and filled the espresso machine with two cups of water. “I love you, too.”

“No.” Mae shook her head. “You don’t understand. I love
Hugh
, the goalie.”

“What?” Her hands stilled and her brows lowered. “John’s friend?”

“Yes.”

Georgeanne set down the glass carafe but forgot to turn on the machine. “I thought you hated him.”

“I did, but I don’t now.”

“What happened?”

Mae looked as perplexed as Georgeanne felt. “I don’t know! He took me home from a club last Friday night, and he never left.”

“He’s been living with you for the past six days?” Georgeanne walked over to the kitchen table. She had to sit down.

“Well, for the past six nights mostly.”

“Is this a joke?”

“No, but I understand how you might think so. I don’t know how it happened. One minute I was telling him that he couldn’t come into my house, and then before I really realized what had happened, we were both naked and fighting over who got to be on top. He won and I fell in love with him.”

Georgeanne was numb with shock. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. He was on top.”

“I didn’t mean that!” If there was one thing that Georgeanne wished she could change about her relationship with Mae, it was Mae’s tendency to share details Georgeanne didn’t care to know. “Are you sure you’re in love with him?”

Mae nodded, and for the first time in their seven-year friendship, Georgeanne watched tears well up in her brown eyes. Mae was always so strong, it broke Georgeanne’s heart to see her cry. “Oh, honey,” she sighed, and moved to kneel by Mae’s chair. “I’m so sorry.” She wrapped her arms around her friend and tried to comfort her. “Men are such jerks.”

“I know,” Mae sobbed. “Everything was wonderful, and then he had to do this.”

“What did he do?”

Mae pulled back and look into Georgeanne’s face. “He asked me to marry him.”

Georgeanne sat back on her heels, speechless.

“I told him it was too soon, but he wouldn’t listen. He said that he loved me, and he knows that I love him.” She grabbed the end of Georgeanne’s linen tablecloth and wiped beneath her eyes. “I told him that I didn’t think we should get married right now, but he just wouldn’t listen.”

“Of course you can’t marry him now.” Georgeanne held on to the table and pulled herself to her feet. “Last week you didn’t even
like
him. How can he possibly expect you to make such an important decision in such a short period of time? Six days isn’t long enough for you to know if you want to spend the rest of your life with him.”

“I knew after the third night.”

Georgeanne found her chair. She felt dizzy and had to sit down again. “Are you confusing me on purpose? Do you want to marry him?”

“Oh yeah.”

“But you told him no?”

“I told him yes! I tried to tell him no, but I couldn’t,” she said, and burst into renewed tears. “It may sound foolish and impulsive, but I really do love him, and I don’t want to throw away this chance to be happy.”

“You don’t sound very happy.”

“I am! I’ve never felt this way. Hugh makes me feel good, even though I never knew I could feel any better. He makes me laugh, and he thinks I’m funny. He makes me happy, but...” She paused and wiped her eyes again. “I want you to be happy, too.”

“Me?”

“The past few months you’ve been miserable, especially after what happened in Oregon. I feel horrible because you’re unhappy and I’ve never been happier.”

“I’m happy,” she assured Mae, and wondered if it was true. With everything happening in her life, she hadn’t stopped to think about how she felt. If she thought about it now, the only word that came to mind was
shock
. But now wasn’t the time to pull out her feelings and look at them. “Hey,” she said with a smile, stretched out her arms in front of her, and patted the table. “Let’s concentrate on your happiness right now. It sounds like we have a wedding to plan.”

Mae put her hands in Georgeanne’s. “I know this whole thing sounds impetuous, but I really do love Hugh,” she said, her face lighting up when she spoke his name.

Georgeanne gazed into her friend’s eyes and let the romance and excitement of it all override her doubts— for the moment. “Have you picked a date?”

“October tenth.”

“That’s in three weeks!”

“I know, but the hockey season starts on the fifth in Detroit, and Hugh can’t miss the first game of the season. Then he’s in New York and St. Louis before he’s back here on the ninth playing against Colorado, and he never misses a chance to best Patrick Roy. I checked our schedule and we’re real slow the first three weeks in October. So Hugh and I are getting married on the tenth, honeymooning on Maui for a week, then I’ll come back here to help cater the Bennet party, and Hugh is off to Toronto for a game against the Maple Leafs.”

“Three weeks,” Georgeanne whimpered. “How can I plan a wonderful wedding in three weeks?”

“You’re not going to. I want you to be in the wedding, not in the kitchen. I’ve decided to hire Anne Maclean to cater the whole thing. She operates out of a large banquet hall in Redmond, and she’s still hungry enough to take the job on such sort notice. I only want two things from you. I would appreciate it if you’d help me pick out a wedding dress. You know I’m clueless about that sort of thing. I’d probably pick out something hideous and never know it.”

Georgeanne smiled. “I’d love to help you.”

“And I want you to do something else, too.” Her grip on Georgeanne’s hands tightened. “I want you to be my maid of honor. Hugh is going to ask John to be his best man, so you’d have to stand next to him at some point.”

Tears clogged Georgeanne’s throat. “Don’t worry about the problems between John and me. I’d love to stand up with you.”

“There’s one more problem, and it’s a biggie.”

“What could be worse than planning a wedding in three weeks and standing next to John?”

“Virgil Duffy.”

Everything inside of Georgeanne stilled.

“I told Hugh that we couldn’t invite him, but Hugh doesn’t see how to avoid it. He thinks if we invite his team members, and the trainers and coaches and management, we can’t overlook the owner. I suggested that we just invite close friends, but his teammates are his close friends. So how can we invite some and not others?” Mae covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Of course you invite Virgil,” Georgeanne managed, feeling her past coming back to haunt her. First John, and now Virgil.

Mae shook her head and dropped her hands. “How can I do that to you?”

“I’m a big girl. Virgil Duffy doesn’t scare me,” she said, and wondered if it was true. Sitting in her kitchen, she wasn’t scared, but she wasn’t so sure how she would feel when she saw him at the wedding. “You invite him, and whomever you want. Don’t worry about me.”

“I told Hugh that maybe we should fly to Vegas and get married by one of those Elvis impersonators. That would solve the problem.”

There was no way Georgeanne would allow her friend to run off to Vegas because of her past mistakes. “Don’t you even think about it,” she warned with her nose in the air. “You know how I feel about tacky people, and getting married by Elvis is white-trash tacky. I’d have to buy you an equally tacky wedding present. Something from Ronco, like that glass cutter so you could make your own stemware from Pepsi bottles. And I’m sorry, but I don’t think I could love you any longer.”