He glanced up at her. “That didn’t hurt, Georgie.”
“Yes, it did!”
He didn’t argue, but he didn’t let go either. He lowered his gaze and poked at her skin with the tweezers.
“Ouch.”
Once again he lifted his gaze and looked at her over their joined hands. “Baby.”
“Jerk.”
He laughed and shook his head. “If you weren’t such a girly girl, this wouldn’t be so bad.”
“Girly girl? What’s a girly girl?”
“Look in the mirror.”
That didn’t tell her much. She tried to pull her hand back again.
“Just relax,” he said as he continued to work at the sliver. “You look like you’re about to jump out of your chair. What do you think I’m going to do, stab you with a pair of tweezers?”
“No.”
“Than relax, it’s almost out.”
Relax? He was so close he took up all the space. There was only John with his callused palm cupping her hand and his dark head bent over the tips of her fingers. He was so close she could feel the warmth of his thighs through his jeans and the thin cotton of her kiwi-colored dress. John had such a strong presence that relaxing with him so close was impossible. She raised her gaze from the side part in his hair and looked across the living room. Ernie and his big blue fish stared back at her. Her memories of John’s grandfather were of a nice older gentleman. She wondered about him now, and she wondered what he thought of Lexie. She decided to ask.
He didn’t look up, just shrugged and said, “I haven’t told my grandfather or my mother yet.”
Georgeanne was surprised. Seven years ago she’d thought John and Ernie were close. “Why?”
“Because both of them have been bothering me to get married again and start a family. When they find out about Lexie, they’ll shoot to Seattle faster than a smoker from the sweet spot. I want time to get to know Lexie first, before I’m blitzed by my family. Besides, we agreed to wait to tell her, remember? And with my mother and Ernie hanging around, staring, it might make Lexie uncomfortable.”
Married again? Georgeanne hadn’t heard anything he’d said after he’d uttered those two words. “You were married?”
“Yeah.”
“When?”
He let go of her hand and placed the tweezers on the table. “Before I met you.”
Georgeanne looked at her finger, and the sliver was gone. She wondered which meeting he was referring to. “The first time?”
“Both times.” He grasped the top rung of the chair, leaned back, and frowned a little.
Georgeanne was confused. “Both times?”
“Yep. But I don’t think the second marriage really counts.”
She couldn’t help it. She felt her brows raise and her jaw drop. “You were married twice?” She held up two fingers. “Two times?”
His brows lowered and he drew his mouth into a straight line. “Two isn’t that many.”
To Georgeanne, who’d never been married, two sounded like a lot.
“Like I said, the second time didn’t count anyway. I was only married as long as it took to get a divorce.”
“Wow, I didn’t know you were ever married at all.”
She began to wonder about these two women who’d married John, the father of her child. The man who’d broken her heart. And because she couldn’t stand not knowing, she asked, “Where are these women now?”
“My first wife, Linda, died.”
“I’m sorry,” Georgeanne uttered lamely. “How did she die?”
He stared at her for several prolonged moments. “She just did,” he said, subject closed. “And I don’t know where DeeDee Delight is. I was real drunk when I married her. When I divorced her, too, for that matter.”
DeeDee Delight? She stared at him, at a compete loss. DeeDee Delight? Cryin‘ all night in a bucket? She had to ask. She simply couldn’t help it. “Was DeeDee a… a… an entertainer?”
“She was a stripper,” he said blandly.
Even though Georgeanne had guessed as much, it was a shock to hear John actually confess to marrying a stripper. It was so shocking. “Really! What did she look like?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Oh,” she said, her curiosity unsatisfied. “I’ve never been married, but I think I’d remember. You must have been real drunk.”
“I said I was.” He made an exasperated sound. “But you don’t have to worry about Lexie around me. I don’t drink anymore.”
“Are you an alcoholic?” she asked, the question slipping out before she thought better of it. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer such a personal question.”
“It’s okay. I probably am,” he answered more candid than she would have suspected. “I never checked into Betty Ford, but I was drinking pretty heavily and turning my brain to shit. I was pretty much out of control.”
“Was it hard to quit?”
He shrugged. “It wasn’t easy, but for my physical and mental well-being, I’ve had to give up a few things.”
“Like what?”
He grinned. “Alcohol, loose women, and the Macarena.” He moved forward and hung his wrists over the top rung of the chair. “Now that you know the skeletons in my closet, answer something for me.”
“What?”
“Seven years ago, when I bought you a ticket home, I was under the impression you were broke. How did you live, let alone start a business?”
“I was very lucky.” She paused a moment before adding, “I answered a help wanted ad for Heron’s.” Then because he’d been so truthful with her-and because nothing she’d ever done could equal marrying a stripper-she added a little fact about her life that no one knew but Mae. “And I was wearing a diamond that I sold for ten thousand dollars.”
He didn’t bat an eye. “Virgil’s?”
“Virgil gave it to me. It was mine.”
A slow smile, which could have meant anything, worked the corners of his mouth. “He didn’t want it back?”
Georgeanne folded her arms beneath her breasts and tilted her head to one side. “Sure he did, and I’d planned to give the ring back, too, but he’d taken my clothes and donated them to the Salvation Army.”
“That’s right. He had your clothes, didn’t he?”
“Yep. When I left the wedding, I left everything but my makeup. All I had was that stupid pink dress.”
“Yes. I remember that little dress.”
“When I called him to ask about my things, he wouldn’t even talk to me. He had his housekeeper tell me to drop the ring off at his offices and leave it with his secretary. The housekeeper wasn’t very nice about it either, but she did tell me what he’d done with my stuff.” Georgeanne wasn’t especially proud of selling the ring, but Virgil was partly to blame. “I had to buy all my clothes back at four and five dollars a pop, and I didn’t have any money.”
“So you sold the ring.”
“To a jeweler who was happy to get it for half of what it was worth. When I first met Mae, her catering business wasn’t doing real well. I gave her a lot of that ring money to pay off some of her creditors. That money might have given me a little help, but I’ve worked my tail off to get where I am today.”
“I’m not judging you, Georgie.”
She hadn’t realized that she sounded so defensive. “Some people might, if they knew the truth.”
Amusement appeared in the corners of his eyes. “Who am I to judge you? Jesus, I married DeeDee Delight.”
“True,” Georgeanne laughed, feeling a little like Scarlett O’Hara unburdening her dishonorable deeds to Rhett Butler. “Does Virgil know about Lexie yet?”
“No. Not yet.”
“What do you think he’ll do when he finds out?”
“Virgil is a smart businessman, and I’m his franchise player. I don’t think he’ll do anything. It’s been seven years, and it’s water under the bridge, anyway. Now, I’m not saying he’ll be real happy when I tell him about Lexie, but he and I work together fairly well. Besides, he’s married now and seems happy.”