Free Georgie on His Mind by Jennifer Shirk Page A

the store more closely. Today would be
the first time she and Walt would really be working together.
    A small part of him even looked forward to it.
    "Hey, Walt"-Dee called, breaking into his thoughts-"I
need you to come over here and check this drug interaction
before I print the label."
    Walt pushed Georgie out of his mind and approached the
computer. After he typed in his initials, he began flipping
through the screens until he located the interaction. Dee kept
courteously silent as he reviewed the potential problem, but
he could tell she was anxious to speak to him about something by the way he heard her fidgeting behind him.
    "Okay, I'm going to write a note on Miss Hanley's prescription bag to remind you that I want to talk to her about
how to take these pills before she takes them home" When
he was met with silence, he turned around and looked at her.
"Got that, Dee?"
    "Sure, no problem," she said, but she had a glimmer in her
eyes that made him uncomfortable. "And speaking of no
problems ... how's living with Brad and Georgie going?"
    Walt avoided her gaze and finished writing his note on
Miss Hanley's bag. How was living with Brad and Georgie
going? Living with Brad was fine. Living with Georgie, well,
that was another story. True, he'd barely seen her but those
few brief times had been hellish enough. Especially when she sashayed around the condo in nothing but skimpy Red
Sox nightshirts.

    There was a limit to how many cold showers a man could
take in one morning.
    He played with the folded-up edges of the prescription
bag and hesitated answering another moment, hoping his response wouldn't come out sounding like the outright lie it
was. "Living with them is great. Why?"
    "Oh, I don't know. I thought I picked up on some kind of
vibe between you and Georgie the other day." Dee gave him
a tight smile and pried the prescription from his fingers. "I
guess it must have been my imagination."
    "Yeah, I guess so," he muttered.
    Vibes. Yeah, right. Women see what they want to see.
There weren't any vibes going on between him and Georgie.
How could there be? He may have thought Georgie was very
attractive, but that didn't mean there were any vibes going
around. Vibes would mean he was interested in her. And that
wouldn't be right. Getting involved with her would muck up
his employee-employer relations. More importantly, his
friendship with her brother. He wasn't about to test its loyalty. Brad's friendship meant too much to him.
    Dee cocked her head. "You know, you don't sound like
the same Walt Somers my brothers used to talk about when
they were in high school. Does that strangely noncommittal
answer mean that Georgie is out of luck and you're already
involved with someone else?"
    "No," he said with a sigh. "There's no one else. I haven't
had the time to think about dating lately."
    "Ah-ha, the plot thickens," she said, grinning. "This is getting better than any Clay Hayes show I could be watching
now." She plopped down on one of the stools nearby and made
herself more comfortable. "So, allow me to analyze, if you will. A good-looking guy like yourself has no ex-girlfriends in
the background or hot prospects on the horizon? What's the
matter with single women today? Next to Brad, you seem to
be the most eligible bachelor around." Her eyes narrowed as
she suddenly wagged her finger at him. "You have any funky
skeletons in your closet we should know about?"

    "Uh, no. No skeletons in the closet. Just your average
hometown boy who likes to keep his love life an off limit
topic from town gossip."
    "Hmm," she said, nodding and tapping her chin. "I get it.
Butt out, right? Oh, pooh. That's no fun."
    "What's no fun?" Georgie rushed into the pharmacy just
then, with flushed cheeks and those long red curls of hers
kinking and swaying against her shoulders like festive Mardi
Gras streamers. "Sorry I'm a little late, Walt," she said all
out of breath. "Couldn't find my lab jacket. I