Georgie on His Mind Read Free

want me
doing while you're recovering from knee surgery? Do you
need me to do more managerial things or work the bench
too?"
    "Oh" His uncle pushed his dark-framed glasses farther up
his nose and blinked. "Yes, a little of both, I'm afraid. I'm
short for pharmacist help right now, but I do have quite an intern working for me. She's sharp as a machete. I think you'll
like her. She's expecting her license soon, so she's practically
running things already. She'll show you what's what"
    "Do you mean Georgie Mayer?"
    "Why, yes," his uncle said, his grin widening. "Oh, I forgot you were friends with her brother. Yes, Georgie. She'll
be your right- and left-hand girl. She's a doll. I know you
two will get along swell."

    Walt remembered how easy it had been to get little Georgie
Mayer all riled up with his teasing when they were younger,
and had to chuckle. He was already feeling at home with the
memory. "Well, I hope we do get along swell. I'll be staying
with her and her brother until I can find a place of my own.
No sense staying with you guys and giving Aunt Donna more
work to do while you're recovering. It's better I stay out of
her way. Brad has been great doing this for me. It's exactly
what I missed when I was in the city. Loyal friends."
    He reached for his plate but there was a sudden gleam in his
uncle's eye, making him draw back and forget the brownie.
    "So, you're staying with Brad and Georgie, huh?" Al asked,
beaming. "How wonderful. Spending a little extra time with
Georgie outside of work might be just what you need now
that you're back and looking to settle down"
    Walt stared at his uncle until it finally hit him. Mixing
business with pleasure with little, chubby Georgie Mayer?
Yikes. There was a thought he'd rather not ponder.
    Ever.
    "Uh, no. I don't think so," he said carefully. "I'm on a bit of
a hiatus in the romance department" True. "And you know,
it's not wise to mix business with pleasure. Besides, I'd like
to get settled with the pharmacy and find a place to live first
before I venture out in the dating world." Also true. "But
thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it some thought when I'm
ready." Okay, not true.
    It's not that Walt was a shallow man hung up on looks.
He wasn't ... exactly. It's just that Georgie was practically
a sister to him.
    His uncle's face crumpled, deepening the creases along
his forehead. "That's too bad. Georgie's having a hard time
finding a nice young man."
    Walt didn't say anything, but he could imagine her having problems in that area. The poor kid. From what he'd remembered about little Georgie Mayer, she had short, frizzy orange
hair, was pale as a ghost, and had braces. A bizarro-world trifecta. He assumed everything but the braces had stayed the
same. Nothing against his friend's sister, but those qualities
weren't exactly what he fantasized about in a woman. A
Muppet maybe.

    "You know, Walt, I'll be heading over to the store in a bit,
but if you want to go over to Brad's and unpack first and get
yourself settled, you-"
    "No, that's okay. I don't mind going with you now. I can
check things out, scope out the store, and you can introduce
me to everyone. I might as well jump in with both feet, right?"
    Al smiled. "You're a good man. That would be great. Once
you're acquainted with everything, I'm sure I'll feel better
leaving you on your own. I really appreciate this, by the way."
    "Tell you what, you can show me how much you appreciate it by making a speedy recovery"-then he added with a
grin-"partner."
    "I like the sound of that," his uncle said with a chuckle.
"I'll see what I can do. But I'm sure the store will be in good
hands. I have a feeling you have a knack with handling business problems."
    Walt nodded. Sure, he was an expert at handling business
problems. It was women problems that were an entirely different story. Thank God he didn't have any of those on the
horizon.

     

Come on, Georgie," Dee called out. "I've got