“He ran a cult,” Marie said flatly.
“Not all environmentalists are in cults, Marie.”
“You say potato, Nell,” Marie shot back. She slid Georgia a look. “And Nell is an ancillary member. She never shot a son of a bitch.”
“No. I’m completely nonviolent, but I do support the right of all creatures to survive. Therefore, I support this group. And I have been shot at by a…person of ill repute.”
“He was a son of a bitch,” Marie corrected.
Nell shrugged. “What she said. I’m not so much into cursing either. Do you think those shoes are really good for the environment?”
Georgia heard a gasp coming from the salon. “Those are so pretty. I love the color.”
It had come from the woman with the strawberry blonde hair. She was lovely, but there was a red rim to her eyes that told Georgia she’d been crying. Not recently, but she’d cried hard enough that her face was still slightly puffy. Damn. A woman only cried that much over a man or a broken heel.
“Thanks. I got them at Nordstrom. They’re Puccis.” She loved the five-and-a-half-inch platforms. Seth had seemed to like them, too. He’d stared at them for a while after she’d gotten dressed and muttered something about how they would look around his neck. They were gorgeous and hot pink, with silver buckles and perfect leather soles.
“I have no idea how you walk in those, but they’re pretty,” Callie said with a smile. She patted her baby on the back. There was another identical baby asleep in a car seat at her feet.
“Do not let Laura see those,” the redhead named Holly said. “She likes to have the best shoes in town. You’re about to be the foot queen of Bliss.”
Actually, that sounded kind of nice. All the women were looking at her with little smiles, and they seemed awfully welcoming.
Of course, sometimes people could smile and then turn around and stab a girl in the back, but suddenly it seemed like her heart was as optimistic as her pussy had been. Her pussy had known deep down that all she needed to do was keep trying until she found the right penis. What if it was the same with friends? What if all it took was to keep getting beaten down until she found a place where she belonged? She’d always thought it would be a big city, but she’d woken up this morning with arms wrapped around her and hope in her heart, and the mountains and river were the setting for her rebirth, not the city. Seth loved it here. Logan had been raised here. Clearly there was something beautiful about this place. “Thanks. I brought a bunch of my shoes. You should see the Pradas my sister-in-law gave me this year. They’re white Italian leather mules with pretty gold studs.”
“I have no idea how you walk in them, either,” Nell said with a sad frown and a shake of her head.
The room groaned collectively.
Georgia waved her off. Oh, she knew where Nell was going. Nell was wearing Birkenstocks and a cotton skirt that obviously needed an iron. Yep, she was a very polite granola, and there was only one way to handle a granola. Never engage. Smile. Talk a little dumb. Never give a granola a target they could fixate on. The good news was, granolas were almost never cruel. They were kind and sweet, and they would take her Emilio Pucci heels from her cold dead hands.
“It’s totally easy. These have a two-inch platform, so it’s really like I’m walking in three-inch heels. Easy, breezy.” She gave the Rachel girl a smile. “Do you want to try them?”
Georgia was a sucker for a teary girl. She’d been the girl who cried in the bathroom way too many times.
Rachel shook her head. “Oh, no. I couldn’t. I haven’t worn shoes like that in years. I’m pregnant. I can’t walk in heels.”
But she had worn them once. There was a look of longing on her face. Georgia would bet that she’d been quite the fashionable girl once. She pulled the shoe off. “I’m an eight.”
Rachel’s eyes got a little spark. “Me, too.”
The granola wasn’t done. Nell got in between them. “Do you like those shoes more than the earth?”
A totally easy question to answer. She made sure she looked deeply unthreatening as she responded. “Oh, absolutely.” She passed the shoes to Rachel. “The shoes are gorgeous and never tried to kill me. The earth is actually quite violent. Earthquakes. Volcanoes. Poison ivy. The poison ivy was the worst. I got it up my hoo-ha. Seriously horrible. None of my shoes have ever made me want to scratch my own vagina off. My brothers used to take me camping. They didn’t always remember toilet paper. OMG, those look awesome. Look how tall you are.”
Rachel was smiling, her eyes sparkling. “They really do feel nice. Wow. Laura would be so jealous.” She looked down, admiring the heels. “I bet I’m as tall as Max and Rye now.”
Sexy heels could give a woman so much confidence. “They look great on you.”
“I think we should talk about how those shoes are made. And the sole is obviously leather.” Nell had a look of deep consternation on her face.
Never engage the granola. Georgia gave Nell a big hug. “I’m so glad you noticed. You’re so nice, Nell.”
Nell sputtered a little, but her arms wrapped around her as though she couldn’t possibly resist a human hug no matter whether said human was mad about leather or not. “Thanks.”
“I’m so glad we’re neighbors.” She pulled back and winked. “We can be such good friends.”
Nell just nodded and found a seat in the salon.
Marie was suddenly next to her. “I think I might love you, Georgia. You might be the daughter I never had.”
Rachel was shaking her head. “I’ve never seen anyone who was able to shut down Nell. I’m in shock. You just kept right on talking. I never thought to do that. I always try to argue.”
And that was where Rachel went wrong. “Oh, no, you can never win with a granola. They’re really nice and stuff, but you just have to hug it out. If you hug them enough, they totally lose their powers.” Georgia turned a smile up to Marie. “Thank you so much for bringing me here, Momma Marie. I feel so at home.”
Marie stopped, her face flushing, and then she nodded stiffly. “Well, you’re a sweet girl, Georgia Dawson. A damn fine girl.”
She turned and walked away.
“Holy shit. I think I saw a tear in those eyes. I didn’t think Marie had working tear ducts.” Rachel’s mouth was hanging open as she watched Marie start toward the podium. “You are a miracle worker. And you’re Logan’s girl?”
She’d been feeling so happy before. She’d seemed to actually fit in with these women. But she didn’t really because she could never truly live here when it was Logan’s hometown. Someday he would come back here and he’d bring his pretty subs with him or worse, he would get married and bring home his wife and she would look nothing like Georgia, be nothing like her. She would be classically lovely, and she would likely never scream at him and beat on his back as he had to carry her away. “No. I’m sort of dating Seth Stark, I think. But I might still be his admin. I don’t think he’s gotten around to firing me. I actually don’t think he should fire me. I should be allowed to quit gracefully after what I did to him in the shower this morning.”
A wistful smile slid across Rachel’s face. “I remember times like that. Once you get started in with having babies, those times are few and far between.”
“Is this your first?” Georgia was far from having babies. No. Maybe when she hit her late thirties. Maybe. Babies were cute and sweet, but she was still a baby.