Page 68 of You Wish
If it were as simple as boy talk, Georgia would have RSVP’d to the party. But her problem was a man problem.
“What about my job?”
Nadine laughed but allowed for the subject change. “How do you do this?”
“Because I know how tiring it is to make your kid’s every day special. I became a pro and figured that I was given this gift so I can take the weight for other people. Even if for just a day.”
“But to do it over and over again. Does it get easier?”
“It depends on the wish. A lot of times I only facilitate the wish and the celebrity does the appearance on their own.”
“And with this particular wish?”
“This celebrity required a hand-holder.”
Nadine snorted up cocoa. “I’d bet half the women in the surrounding three counties would pay their every last dollar to be his hand-holder.”
“Not to mention half the men.”
“Heck, my husband would probably sell me for the chance.”
Georgia let out a puff of amusement. “Ben might fight him for the job.”
They shared a warm laugh, the kind that woman who are becoming fast friends share.
“And would you hand off the job so easily?” Nadine asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve still got a little lipstick smear on your mouth.”
Georgia slapped her palm over her lips. “Ohmygod,” she mumbled through her fingers.
“Don’t worry. No one but me noticed. Everyone else was starstruck by Jake.”
Didn’t she know it.
“Although Jake seemed a little starstruck by you.”
Georgia let out a soul-deep sigh. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got another bottle of vodka just in case.”
Georgia was in desperate need of advice. And she knew her friends would say they supported her no matter what, all the while plotting behind her back to get her and Jake together. Nadine wasn’t swayed by alliances or her own idea of what was best for Georgia. She was a stranger, yet Georgia knew so much about her family the woman felt like a friend.
“We are bursting with heavy history,” Georgia said. “A lot of it amazing but the important parts are devastating.”
“Dan and I are high school sweethearts. Soulmates. We were just nineteen when we found out we were pregnant and that Ben had spina bifida. We disagreed about carrying on with the pregnancy. It ended our marriage.”
“Oh my God. But you seem so strong and aligned.”
“We are now. We are in more love today than our wedding day. It was just the trauma and tragedy of it all. The death of the future we had planned. We grieved differently and fell out of sync, but the day Ben was born he showed up and he’s shown up every day since. It was just a timing situation.”
Is that all it could be? Timing issues? Wasn’t that the same thing Joy had said?
“You know when you’re trying to shove the last suitcase into an overhead bin, and no matter how you twist it, it just won’t fit?” Georgia took a long swig of cocoa as if it would give her liquid courage. “That’s me and him.”
Nadine tilted her head, studying her like she already knew the ending but was going to let Georgia get there on her own.
