Free Georgia On My Mind by Marie Force

hand. He appreciated Ian checking in. Their whole family was worried about Ben, who had been badly injured in Iraq just over a year ago and was having trouble getting his life back together.
    Nathan resisted the urge to drive by Georgie’s house on his way home and trudged into his own house, unclipped the badge from his belt, and shrugged off his shoulder holster on the way upstairs. In his bedroom, he stashed the gun and badge in the bedside table drawer and found Georgie’s earrings. He picked them up and let the metal slide through his fingers, remembering the way they had dangled from her delicate earlobes.
    As he put them back on the table, he wondered if she’d discovered yet that she had left them. He had known women who would leave a souvenir behind to ensure a follow-up call, but Georgie wasn’t like that. Besides, she had been adamant that theirs was a one-night stand, so why would she bait him by leaving her earrings?
    He reached up to unbutton his shirt, and the memory of her doing it for him the night before stopped him in his tracks as it became clear to him that one night with her wasn’t going to be enough. In fact, he feared a month of nights might not be enough to work her out of his system.
    Still absorbing the realization, he stripped down to boxers and went into the bathroom, where he once again stopped short. The cover was off the toilet and sitting on the floor. What the hell? And what the heck is that hanging from the ceiling? Is that . . . He leaned in for a closer look. Dental floss? And then he laughed, a deep belly laugh that made his sides ache and brought tears to his eyes. The damned toilet acted up on a regular basis, but he had forgotten to mention it to her. Suddenly, sleeping wasn’t as important as it had been a few minutes earlier. He simply had to see her. Right now.

    The bedroom door opened slowly, and Tess poked her head in. “Oh, hey, you’re awake.”
    “Hey, what’s up?” Georgie had barely moved since the call from her sister. Despite her best efforts to push it from her mind, the dilemma weighed more heavily than ever after getting her sister’s grim news.
    “I heard you had a big night out,” Tess said with a grin that told Georgie she knew the whole story. “I made some dinner and thought you might be hungry.”
    Georgie realized she was famished. “That sounds good. Thanks. I suppose you’re going to want all the gory details in exchange for this dinner you made me.”
    “Well, yeah ,” Tess said as she left the room. “Ready in five minutes.”
    Georgie puffed up the pillow and smiled. She adored Cat and Tess and felt like she had known them for years rather than months. It had been a long time since she’d had girlfriends she enjoyed as much as them. Her high school friends were scattered about the country, and her college friends had either left Atlanta or gotten married and had families. The women she worked with were fun, but she spent most of her work time with subordinates and didn’t hang out with them as a rule.
    The few women she did socialize with in Atlanta she had met through Doug, and he would no doubt get them in their breakup. Not wanting to think about him, Georgie got up and crossed the hall to her own room. Hanging her mother’s robe on the back of her door, she put on shorts and one of the soft cotton camisoles she slept in. She ran a brush through her hair, splashed some cold water on her face, and headed downstairs.
    “Oh, wow, something smells really good. What did you make?”
    “I grilled some chicken to go with that corn you brought home.”
    “Bad Gus at the center gave it to me.”
    Tess chuckled. “What does he think of that name?”
    “It’s well earned, believe me.” Georgie opened a bottle of chardonnay and poured them each a glass as Tess sliced Gus’s big tomato.
    Georgie fingered the soft petals of a stargazer lily in the bouquet Nathan had given her. “Thanks for doing this. I haven’t eaten all day.”
    The