Bar Crawl(28)

“He’s not here,” Georgia answered my unasked question. “Mind if I come in?”

“I… sure.” I stepped aside, holding the door open as Bradley walked down the hallway.

“Everything okay, Frank—” He stopped when he spotted my unintended house guest. “Well, look at you,” he said to Georgia. “You’re fantastic.” His eyes lit up like I’d only seen in designer clothing stores as he took Georgia’s hand and led her into my entryway. She indulged him by spinning in a circle.

After her Bradley-led twirl, Georgia ran her hands down the front of her dress. “You’re pretty incredible yourself.”

“Bradley,” I interrupted, “this is Georgia, CJ’s best friend. Georgia, this is Bradley, my best friend.”

After a second of awkward silence, which was a millennia longer than I could ever handle, I got ahold of myself. “So…we’re having some wine. Want some?” I had no idea why she was in my house, but I figured wine would be the best way to put both of us at ease. Or, me at ease, since Georgia seemed more comfortable in her curvy skin than I’d ever dreamed of being in mine.

“Sure.” Georgia replied as she followed me, her heels knocking loudly against the floor. “It smells great in here, by the way. I’m so used to the smell of butter and sugar, I sometimes forget how inviting savory things can smell.”

“Oh, that’s right, you own a bakery…right?” Somewhere along the way, CJ did give me that tiny piece of information about his best friend, though other details about her—besides her impending marriage—were largely left out of our conversations.

“Thank you,” Georgia replied when I handed her a glass of wine. “Yes, I own Sweet Forty-Two in La Jolla, California. It’s been open for a couple of years.”

“That’s so exciting. CJ also told me that you’re marrying his cousin?”

From behind Georgia, Bradley stood, mouthing, “Why is she here?” I gave the tiniest shrug I could without calling Georgia’s attention to it.

Georgia smiled. “Yes, Regan is his name. Our wedding is on Saturday, which brings me to why I’m here.”

“Oh?” I lifted my eyebrows and swallowed some wine. A little more than intended, but I figured that was better than less than intended.

Georgia nodded as she sipped from her glass, leaving blood-red lip prints across the rim. “As I’m sure you can imagine, I know about what happened here two weeks ago. Before you get all snatchy,” Georgia pointed at me, correctly reading my impatient look, “let me direct your attention to your gay boyfriend, over here, who has the same unsurprised look I do.” She stuck her thumb behind her where Bradley let out a huge laugh.

“Okay,” I sat across from her at the island, “can I ask where CJ is?”

Georgia rolled her eyes. “Getting his head surgically removed from his ass by Regan as we speak. We got off the plane this afternoon, and one look at his sorry face told me something major happened.”

“He didn’t tell you until today?” I don’t know what I’d expected from him, but given how fondly he spoke of Georgia and their relationship, I guess I’d expected more transparency.

For the next few minutes, Georgia caught me up on what CJ had told her. Surprisingly, it was very accurate in detail. Georgia didn’t seem to pour any of her assumptions or opinions into the retelling of the story—if she had any.

“He opened up to you, Frankie. Way up. It took him two years to tell me about the book he’d written in high school. That aside, he was ready to be a grown up with you. Then…he panicked.”

“That’s what I was going to say!” Bradley cut in. “Before you showed up at the door.”

Georgia held out her hand, and Bradley high-fived it. “He said some shit he shouldn’t have. What you were doing here two weeks ago, I tried to explain to him, wasn’t treating him like all the other ones do. You were opening up to him just as much as he was opening up to you. Maybe more.”

Bradley slapped his hand on the granite. “Yes! Maybe more!”

“Calm down,” I shot dryly. “That doesn’t explain away his inability to contact me for the last two weeks. And what he said hurt.”

Georgia nodded. “He told you he would screw up. Now, he didn’t imagine it would be, like, an hour after he said it…but he did say it.”

I leaned back, crossing my arms. “So he sent you to do his dirty work? Is he thirteen?”

Georgia ran her tongue across the front of her teeth with her mouth closed. “Are you kidding me? He doesn’t know I’m here. “

“Then how did you know where I live?” I challenged.

She shrugged. “Internet.”

“Jesus,” I huffed, “are you two like Bonnie and Clyde or something?”

Georgia threw her head back and let out the most ridiculous laugh I’d ever heard. It didn’t match her at all, with its high pitch and piercing crack. “Oh my God,” she said as she caught her breath. “It’s been years since someone’s called us that. Please come to our wedding on Saturday. If you don’t want to come to the ceremony, just come to the reception.”

Bradley, who’d been quietly entranced by Georgia’s presence for the last several minutes, finally spoke up. “Why should she go if he’s not man enough to come talk to her? I’m not taking right or wrong sides here, but shit…”