“Are you going to answer?”
Matt stepped down the hallway and into the lounge. “I wanted to see what was there.” Maybe someone had been on top of the ranges, but in that area there weren’t any public trails.
“On your own?”
“Darcy doesn’t need the trouble.”
“And you do?” Her voice rose. “You could have been hurt, and no one would have known where you were.”
He almost asked her why she cared, but then he remembered. She did care and that’s why her voice held so much concern. He cleared his throat. “We all do things we shouldn’t.”
“Not dangerous things.”
“So borrowing a boat and going out to the island by yourself wasn’t dangerous?”
“Stonefish knew the police had found their base. They weren’t likely to be back.”
“You don’t know that. You seem happy to take risks you wouldn’t want your family to take.” Anger simmered at the thought of what might have happened to her had she run into a Stonefish employee on her own.
“I’m an adult. I can make my own choices.”
“Yeah, Jerry was very appreciative of your adult status the other night.” He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. What the hell was he thinking?
Georgie’s gasp of outrage made him wince and he held the phone away from his ear, waiting for the shout, but her voice was quiet, hard as steel. “How dare you?” She took a breath, about to start her tirade, but all she said was, “Tell Darcy to call me when he gets in.” She hung up, leaving behind echoes of her pain.
Matt swore and ran a hand through his hair. He’d stuffed that up. He’d hurt Georgie and now he felt like shit. It wasn’t her fault he still didn’t know what to do about her declaration of love. It didn’t give him the right to try to unsettle her as well.
He was jealous and the fact he was jealous about Georgie shook him. He stared at the phone. Should he call her back and apologise? He typed her number in, but his finger hovered over the call button. What could he possibly say? Sorry wasn’t good enough. He’d need to explain his feelings and didn’t understand them enough to do that yet. He sighed and walked back to the kitchen.
Amy glanced up from setting the table. “What did Georgie want?”
“To speak to Darcy.” He put the phone back on the cradle.
“Did you two have a fight?”
He scowled. “Georgie was just being Georgie.”
Amy studied him. “You mean cheerful and happy?”
His scowl deepened. “Annoying and stubborn.”
“That doesn’t normally bother you.”
“Yeah, well she was particularly annoying today.” He went to the cupboard and pulled out the water jug, filling it with ice.
“She hasn’t been around much over the past couple of weeks,” Amy commented, as she placed salad dressings on the table. “Not since the girls’ night. Do you know if anything is up with her?”
He didn’t like the way she examined him. He turned to fill the jug. “Georgie doesn’t tell me much.”
“I thought you two were good friends.”
The way she said it, slightly suspicious, slightly probing, made him look up. Had Georgie said something to her? Did Amy know how Georgie felt about him? “I’m not Georgie’s keeper.”
“But you do care for her.”
Startled, he turned from the sink and water sloshed over the side of the jug. He swore, turned off the tap and got some paper towel out to clean up the mess. “I care for the whole family.”
Amy said nothing, just raised her eyebrows. Before he could ask what she meant by that look, Lara raced in, wearing an ‘I love horses’ T-shirt and dressed in jeans and riding boots. “Hi, Uncle Matt. Hi, Amy.” She strode over to the sink, nudged Matt out of the way with her hip, poured herself a glass of water and proceeded to gulp it down. When she was finished, she placed the glass on the counter and wiped her mouth. “Ahh, that’s better.”
