Georgie laughed as a feeling of power and control washed over her. “Just dressing for myself,” she replied as she continued past to the table.
“You look gorgeous,” Amy said as she gave Georgie a hug.
“I feel like I should have put more effort in,” Faith joked gesturing to her own jeans and top.
Georgie waved away her comment. “I needed a lift.”
A frown crossed Amy’s face, but before she could ask why, Dot walked over with Gretchen.
“Hey Gretchen,” Georgie said, hugging her. “Any sharks today?”
“Yeah, a couple and some manta rays. The customers were thrilled.” Gretchen worked on the whale shark tour boat Sam had just bought.
Georgie turned to Dot. “Catch any bad guys?”
She smiled, any hint of her annoyance with her brother gone. “It was my day off,” Dot said. “I had my riding lesson with Faith.” Nhiari joined them and Georgie tensed at the reminder of Matt. What would Nhiari think about Georgie pining after her brother? She’d probably laugh at the idea. “Hey, Nhiari.”
They settled around the table. “Nice to see you again, Tess,” Gretchen said. “Are you in town much longer?”
“Another week before uni goes back. Ed and I are flying home.”
A much safer journey than the one they’d had driving here.
Georgie smiled as conversation started around the table. Not too long ago girls’ nights had consisted of her, Amy and Gretchen. But with all that had happened in the past couple of months, it had extended to the other women who had a significant role in her life. Dot and Nhiari had investigated the sabotage out at the Ridge, and the other stuff Stonefish was responsible for, and Georgie had come to respect and like both of them.
Georgie paid for the first round of cocktails. It was probably a bad idea to get drunk with her starting work early the next morning and with her emotions all over the place, but she didn’t care. Right now she didn’t want to be sensible, she wanted to forget.
Georgie was on her second margarita by the time the food arrived.
“Have you booked a date for the wedding, Faith?” Gretchen asked.
Faith grimaced. “We were thinking the end of the year, but it’s going to be way too hot, so we might bring it forward to October.”
Georgie glanced at her. “I didn’t know that.”
Faith smiled. “Lara has this romantic notion about a Christmas wedding, and we’ve been trying to talk her out of it.”
It was sweet they both wanted Lara to be involved and she’d taken the role of wedding planner to a new level with her holed up in Beth’s craft room making a scrap book about the day. “You need to convince her the date you want to get married has significance,” Georgie said. “The six-month anniversary of the first time you met or something.”
Faith grinned at her. “Great idea! Now I just have to figure out the first time I saw Darcy.”
“Maybe at the gymkhana?” Amy suggested. “I think Beth and I were taking Lara to pony club until then.”
“I might have met him at an earlier meeting of the pony club,” Faith said. “I’ll have to ask if he remembers.”
Gretchen stared at her drink, swirling it around with the straw. Georgie knew her breakup with Jordan’s father had been nasty.
“Where’s Jordan tonight?” she asked.
Gretchen glanced up and smiled. “Sleepover at Cody’s. He jumped at the chance. It’s not going to be long before he won’t want to be at home at all.”
“Not all teenagers hate hanging out at home,” Georgie said. “Darcy never left.”
Gretchen laughed. “Yeah, but home for you is thousands of acres.”
“From what I see, some parents are glad for the respite,” Dot said.
“Maybe. So what’s new with you?”
