Georgia rolled her eyes at the nickname but held back a satisfied smile as she made herself busy prepping his drink and taking his credit card for payment while the milk steamed. “What.. um… what do you need to talk tomeabout?”
He ran a hand through his caramel colored hair.
“I need your help.”
“You needmy help?”She hated how her words came out just slightly shaky.
He grinned. “Yeah. I… I was assigned community service.”
When Georgia raised a questioning eyebrow, Lake continued, “Too many fights. Too many bad grades. Too much disrespect. Big bros are too perfect… Take your pick.”
He wasn’t wrong. Georgia had heard all about those fights and had seen evidence of them with scuffed faces and split lips on more than one occasion. Not to mention his reputation for accumulating girlfriends for short, sometimes only days-long, stints. Countless broken hearts. Disrespecting every teacher that deigned to question him. Even rumors about drugs floated around Sugartree High School with Lake’s name intertwined in them.
“Who assigned it?” she asked and then gestured to the can in her hand. “You want whipped cream?”
“Of course I do. I’m not a complete delinquent. And… my dad. Good old Pastor Lovett is making hisdisappointment of a sondo community service. Because… it's my absolute joy to serve during the holidays… I have much more than I deserve… Christian duty… yada yada. You get it.”
“I don’t, actually. What amIsupposed to help with?” On the outside, Georgia had become surprisingly steady, but on the inside herinner Georgiascreamed, “You’re carrying on an actual conversation with Lakeland Lovett!!!!!”
“Seriously, Peaches? Everyone knows you’re Miss Community Service. I need you to hook me up. Put me to work. Send me in the direction of Oliver Twist or whatever. My dad will know it's legit when I tell him you’re the one in charge. And I have to get him off my back. He is…” Lake actually looked relatively vulnerable for a half a second. “I’ve really put him through it, ya know? Will you help me? I’ll do whatever you need.”
Georgia looked at her feet, reluctant to admit she actually could use the help and hesitant to let Lake be the one to do it when he so obviously wasn’t interested for the right reasons. But she relented, hoping she really could see the best in Lake when others couldn’t.
“The Winter Formal.”
“What about it? You need a date or something?”
Georgia looked up, defensive. “What? No,Lakeland. I don’t NEED a date.” But her heart beat rapidly at just the mention of one.
“I need help with the Winter Formal.” She wiped the counter, avoiding his eyes once more. Afraid he might see her own vulnerability there. And that she did, in fact, need a date. Not that she’d admit it to Lake.
She took a deep breath and handed over his hot chocolate.
“Proceeds from the dance go to local foster families to help buy Christmas presents. It’s really important community service and makes a huge difference for the kids and families. But I didn’t get enough volunteers for prep work and marketing for the event. I actually really could use the help.Yourhelp.”
One of the girls, who up until that moment had been happily chatting with the others, interrupted their conversation. She put her arm around Lake’s waist with a familiarity that made Georgia’s heart sink. “Lake, are you almost done here? I’m hungry.”
Lake glanced down at her with the charming smile Georgia had seen him bestow upon a dozen girls. “Yeah, just finishing up. I’ll meet you over there, alright.” He gestured to the table she’d come from. The girl gave him an affectionate squeeze and returned to the others.
Lake devoted his attention back to Georgia, his previously pasted-on smile now gone, but a look of relief left in its place. “So, you’re gonna help me?”
Feeling suddenly determined to eliminate whatever crush she’d carried for Lakeland Lovett over the years, but also the need to prove to everyone and to herself that there was some good in him, Georgia found herself more bold than she’d ever been with him before.
“No, Lake. You’re gonna help me.”
DECK THE HALLS
NAT KING COLE
NOW
“Lakeland Lovett!Lakeland ‘my eyes are as bright as the Caribbean friggin’ ocean’ Lovett was here. In our shop! And I missed him?!? Ugh…. this is all your fault, Georgie!” Ginny had been throwing a teenage tantrum since she’d walked into the coffee shop—hours later than she’d been asked to—and realized she’d missed out on the family’s exciting afternoon entertaining the renowned Lake Lovett.
“My fault?” Georgia asked indignantly, as Caroline and Dakota snickered at them both. “How is it my fault? You’re the one who slept until two o’clock in the afternoon, Virginia!”
They’d been circling around the same discussion long after the siblings had flipped the open sign over in the front window, then left the dark coffee shop in favor of overwhelming Georgia’s small apartment.
“You kept me up too late, Georgie!” She stomped her foot. A gesture, Georgia hated to admit, made her youngest sibling look like her twin. Her identical blonde curls, tousled in a large bun, bounced with the movement. “If we hadn't had our little slumber party, I wouldn’t have slept in. I could have made deep, deliberate eye contact with that beautiful man!”
