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CHAPTER19
“Okay, you’re being really weird and it’s starting to freak me out.” Georgie stood next to Brandon’s car with her arms folded across her chest, staring at him over the bonnet.
Brandon laughed at her. “I know I’ve been a bit distracted, but you’re about to find out why, if you just get in the car.” When she didn’t move, he said, “Come on, George. Or I’ll come over there and haul your ass in.”
Mumbling something about domineering brothers, Georgie opened the door and slid into the passenger seat. Looking at Brandon, she saw that he appeared a little nervous. Hmm, curious, she thought to herself, keeping quiet as he steered the car away from the Lighthouse. Expecting him to turn right and head towards the town, for no other reason that there wasn’t much the other way, her brow furrowed in confusion when he turned left. Her confusion grew when he turned onto a wide track, freshly laid with gravel. She gasped when the track opened to reveal the hospice, house and little cottage. “What is this place, Bran?” She asked when he pulled the car to a stop in front of the big, red brick building.
“Hop out and I’ll show you.”
She watched Brandon walk towards the corner of the veranda, take a rope in his hand and tug it. A canvas rolled down from under the eaves. Georgie went completely still, frozen in shock, as she read the wordsThe Georgie Quinn Center for Rehabilitation.She turned her gaze slowly to her brother as he walked towards her. “What..what is this?”
Standing next to her, Brandon turned to survey the building. “This is The Georgie Quinn Center for Rehabilitation. The giveaway is in the sign.” His eyes twinkled at her mischievously.
“I see.” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Don’t say anything yet. Let me show you around.”
“Okay.” She let him take her hand and lead her onto the veranda, through the doors that hung open, into the foyer. Sunlight floated over them from the skylight high above, the mosaic tiles gleamed beneath their feet. “It’s stunning.”
“We’ll start upstairs.”
“Okay,” Georgie said again, following him up the stairs, trying to take in his enthusiastic explanation for how the upstairs rooms would be used.
“We won’t be doing much with these until I can get the elevator installed and have a bathroom at either end of the hallway. There’s not enough space for one in each bedroom, unfortunately.”
“Right.”
They went back downstairs, Georgie trailing behind Brandon as she tried to take it all in. “You’ll love this, George.”
Georgie gasped when she stepped into the main room. “Oh, it’s gorgeous!”
“I figure it can be partitioned with a reception counter here. Our offices behind here like this. A seating area over here, laid out so that the doors out to the veranda are still accessible. But it’s such a great area, it would be nice for patients just to sit up this end of the room.”
“Yeah, I agree.” Georgie could easily picture it all in her mind. “So there’s a veranda through here?” She gestured to the French doors, followed Brandon outside when he opened one.
“Yeah, I think it might be good to extend it a bit and it’ll need a ramp, obviously. But it’s easy access to the beach, so hydrotherapy is no problem.”
“You’ve thought of everything.”
He shrugged. “I want to know what you’re thinking.”
Georgie looked around. Behind her into the main room, across the beach and over the ocean. At the cliffs that curved around the little bay. She felt a rising sense of excitement and optimism. Here was a project. Meaningful work. Brandon by her side. Living in Blessed Inlet. Her heart skittered as she said, “I think…I think I love it.”
Brandon grinned. “Ryan said you’d go for it.”
“Ryan knows about this?”
“Sure he does. You don’t plan a rehabilitation center without going to the bloke that knows everything there is to know about it.”
“Makes sense.” Georgie smiled widely. “Okay. So we’re really gonna do this?”
“Yep.”
‘I’d better buy myself a house then.”
“Ah, yeah, on that.” He inclined his head, indicating that she should follow him. He stepped off the end of the veranda, turning to help her down since it was a big step. “There’s your house. That’s my house.”
Georgie’s breath stilled in her body as she looked at the house. At the little cottage. Back to the house. “Bran,” she whispered. She felt goosebumps all over her body and her knees felt shaky. An overwhelming sense of rightness hit her. “Oh, God, I love it.”
