Georgie on His Mind Read Free Page A

a doctor on
line two who apparently thinks he's above waiting more than
three seconds, and Randall's in the bathroom again." There
was a short pause. "By the way, this doctor sounds single."
    Standing out in the prophylactic aisle of Somers Shore
Pharmacy, Georgie held up her index finger to Dee. She
needed one more minute to look things over. Something
wasn't quite right. And as much as she'd love to start repairing her nonexistent love life, that doctor-single or notwould have to wait.
    Her eyes roamed the condom display for a few seconds.
Then she saw the problem. Uh-oh. There must have been at
least thirty open boxes of condoms on the shelf. And every
single one of them was empty. She winced as she scanned
the shelves again. The box count seemed higher on second
glance.
    How could she have let this happen?
    She glanced to the right and left of the aisle, and when she
was positive no one was around, quietly let out a string of curse words only a woman living with her older brother
would have access to.

    She felt only mildly better.
    Al was going to kill her. All those missing condoms added
up to a lot of money. Money-according to her brother-the
store couldn't afford to lose now. Al would look to her for an
explanation, not his useless employee, Randall. Not that she
could blame him. If she were Al, she'd look to her too. Although Randall was technically the pharmacist and the person in charge when Al wasn't there, he was useless when it
came to doing anything besides tossing pills in a bottle. Randall would be the last person to notice Fourth of July fireworks breaking out in the middle of the store. No, this was
all her fault. She was probably asleep at the switch when
some sex-crazed thief waltzed into the store, stuck the condoms in his pockets, and waltzed right out.
    Where was her head? Probably up in the clouds like her
brother had told her last night. Brad was right. She should
care more about her career, not worrying about her social
life, especially if she ever wanted to take over as head pharmacist. If she didn't land this job, how was she going to move
out on her own? She couldn't imagine working anywhere
else. Ever since high school, she'd worked at the Somers
Shore store. Her parents had shopped there. Al Somers had
made the store a staple in the town's downtown shopping
area. She had to come up with an idea to save it.
    "Pleeeease, get your bony butt back here," Dee called out
again.
    Georgie's head whipped back toward the pharmacy department. Dee stood, waving the telephone receiver like a
runway flag. Customers were making their way to the counter,
and the other phone line began to ring. Randall was still
nowhere in sight. What a surprise.

    Letting out a sigh, Georgie walked back down the aisle.
The condom boxes would have to be cleared away later.
    She stepped behind the counter and took the phone from
Dee's outstretched hand with a shrug of apology. Holding
the phone up to her ear, the physician barked out a prescription order before she could put a pen in her hand, then
abruptly ended the call. She hung up and cast a dubious
glance toward Dee.
    Some single doctor. That guy didn't sound single. He
barely sounded human.
    Dee finished ringing up a customer and took a cautious
step forward. "Uh, sorry about the single doctor thing," she
murmured, twisting the end of her long, dark ponytail
around her finger. "I didn't mean to get your hopes up, but I
kind of got desperate back here"
    "It's okay," she said with a shrug, taking a prescription
and sitting down in front of the computer. "After yesterday,
my hopes are so low I almost tripped on them walking back
here."
    Dee walked over and laid a sympathetic hand on her
shoulder. "Oh listen, honey, I hate to see you so down over
this. Last night's dating disaster was a fluke. You've had to
put up with a lot from your brother these couple of months,
but I think things worked out for the best"
    Georgie snorted.