Fix Her Up (Hot & Hammered #1)(28)

Georgie frowned. “How would he react?”

Rosie started to answer, then closed her mouth. “I have no idea anymore. I think I’m afraid to tell him I want something. Anything. Or all the other things I want . . . that are missing . . . will come pouring out and I won’t be able to take them back.” As if alarmed she’d revealed too much, Rosie looked at Georgie with a silent plea. “Your turn.”

Her problems seemed to pale in comparison to Rosie’s. But as always, Georgie’s impulse was to lighten the mood any way she could. “Good: I got asked out on a date.”

Bethany smacked both hands down on the island. “What?”

“Thank you for acting like I just announced I’m joining the PGA Tour.”

“Shut up. It’s just that you haven’t been on a date since . . . Have you ever been on a date? You know what? I’m digging a hole. Never mind.” Her sister dragged the shot glasses back out to the forefront and started pouring. “Give us the details.”

When she tried to conjure up the man who’d asked her out, she could only see Travis’s face. Ignore him. Easier said than done, though. She’d been picturing him in conjunction with her every romantic impulse seemingly forever. “Um. His name is Pete. Midthirties, maybe? Single dad. He came to give me an estimate on fixing my fireplace.”

Bethany made a low whistle. “You’re one to talk about betraying the family business.”

“If I hired Brick & Morty to do the work, they would see it as a favor. I don’t want favors. And I don’t want what Stephen and Dom and Travis think is best, which is exactly what would happen.”

All three women fired back another shot.

“Anyway.” Georgie swiped at her mouth with the back of her wrist, remembering too late she was still wearing clown makeup. Bethany lobbed Georgie a napkin and she cleaned the white-and-red residue from her costume sleeve, while continuing the story. “I didn’t say yes or no to the date, but I promised to call with an answer. So I have to say no, right? I kind of thought the point of this club was to shun the menfolk.”

“Not shun. Just . . . compartmentalize.” Bethany pursed her lips. “The point of this club is to support and encourage each other. Yes, we’re also taking a firm stand against the men in our lives being dicks and leaving them behind if necessary, but we have to give new men a chance to be dicks before we shun them.”

Georgie gave a golf clap. “Somehow that made perfect sense.”

“Go on your date, Georgie, but keep everything on your terms.” Her sister jabbed the island with a square-tipped fingernail. “Maybe getting a sampling of what’s out there will help you move past your Travis hang-up. Sounds like it’s long overdue.”

“Yeah. It is.” Georgie twisted her lips. “Speaking of Travis . . .”

Rosie turned in her stool. “Ooh.”

“Bad: Travis showed up with his tools while Pete was there, demanding I let him keep his word and fix the fireplace. It was a giant tool party in more than one sense of the word.”

“Oh my God.” Bethany threw back her head and cackled. “This is such a priceless gift.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” Seeing the other women react with openmouthed shock made the reality of what Georgie had done caught up with her. “I kicked him out.”

Her older sister took a twirling victory lap around the kitchen.

“They argued?” Rosie asked, her voice soft with concern.

“Yeah. They totally did the alpha male construction dance. Me fix fireplace. You go home. Look. A hammer.” Georgie sighed. “Travis got all weird about me being alone with Pete—”

Bethany fell forward over the island, chin on fists. “Oh, really?”

“Not like that,” Georgie huffed. “Trust me, Travis Ford couldn’t care less if I go on a date. For some reason, he decided to show up and make me feel like an incompetent child.” Georgie swallowed hard. “And I’m really over people making me feel that way.”

Her sister’s triumph went flat. “I’m guilty of it, too, Georgie. It’s hard to think of you as anything but my little sister sometimes.” She nodded. “I’m going to try harder, okay?”

Georgie didn’t know how to verbalize what it meant to her, just having those insecurities acknowledged, so she stayed quiet. Until Bethany showed up at her side and delivered a hip bump, almost knocking her off the stool.

“Text Pete. Do it now in front of us so you don’t chicken out.”

“What . . . now?”

Bethany raised an elegant eyebrow. Rosie leaned in, too, as Georgie took out her phone and tapped out a brief text message. Her phone buzzed almost immediately with a response.

“Done,” she breathed. “We’re having lunch.”

“Fabulous! Now tell me again how you kicked Travis out. Talk slowly. Leave nothing out.” Bethany laughed when both women gave her disappointed looks. “Okay, fine. I’ll just have to imagine it. And I will. In the meantime, though, let’s talk Georgie’s entertainment business and Rosie’s restaurant . . .”





Chapter Nine


Georgie had never set foot inside the local girlie boutique. But she could tell from the outside that it was a far cry from Second Chance Zelda’s. Yes, she was about to darken the doorway of Glitter Threads for the first time—which really shouldn’t have been so daunting. Most of Georgie’s outfits came in the form of used denim and unwanted sweaters, but clothes were clothes, right?