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“Chaz, stop badgering her,” Aaron said quietly as he came up behind her.
Georgie had never imagined Aaron would turn into such a determined watchdog. His weight loss seemed to have given him a new confidence. One Tuesday, when Mel Duffy’s story about Georgie’s phone call had surfaced, Aaron had gone on the attack and issued a vigorous public denial without even consulting her. She’d told him that Mel’s account was true and she didn’t care anymore, but he refused to listen.
It was easier to attack Chaz’s weaknesses than think about her own. “Here’s the thing about people who are always sticking their noses into other people’s lives. It’s generally because they don’t want to deal with their own screwups.”
Chaz immediately went on the defensive. “Everything’s just fine in my life!”
“Then why aren’t you in culinary school right now? As far as I know, you haven’t even glanced at those GED workbooks.”
“Chaz is too busy to study,” Aaron said. “Just ask her.”
“I think you’re afraid if you step outside the security of what you have now, you’ll somehow end up back on the streets.” The words were no sooner out of Georgie’s mouth than she realized she’d betrayed Chaz’s confidence. She felt sick. “I’m sorry, I—”
Chaz scowled. “Oh, stop looking like that. Aaron knows.”
He did? Georgie hadn’t expected that.
“If Chaz doesn’t study,” Aaron said, “she won’t have to worry about flunking. She’s afraid.”
“That’s bull.”
Georgie gave up. “I’m too tired to deal with this now. Go away.”
Naturally, Chaz didn’t move. Instead, she regarded Georgie with displeasure. “You look like you’re losing weight again.”
“Nothing tastes good right now.”
“We’ll see about that.” Chaz stormed into the kitchen where she stomped around for a while, banging cupboard doors, opening and closing the refrigerator. Before long, she’d produced a crisp salad and a bowl of gooey mac and cheese. It was comfort food, but not as comforting as having Chaz fuss over her.
Georgie made this big fricking deal out of Chaz borrowing one of her swimsuits and going down to the beach. “Unless you’re afraid of the water.” Georgie had said it with a kind of sneer, like she was daring Chaz to put on a suit. She knew Chaz hated showing off her body, and she must have decided this was some kind of therapy. But since she’d basically dared her, Chaz had put on the suit, then rummaged around in Georgie’s crap until she found a terry cloth cover-up to wear over it.
Aaron lay on a beach towel, reading some kind of lame video game magazine. When she’d first known him, he wouldn’t get anywhere near the water. Now he wore new white swim trunks with navy trim. He still needed to lose a few more pounds, so he shouldn’t have looked so semihot, but he’d started working out with weights, and it showed. He was also spending money for decent haircuts, plus his contact lenses.
She sat on the end of the towel, her back to him. The cover-up didn’t even reach the middle of her thighs, and she kind of tucked her legs under her.
He put his magazine aside. “It’s hot. Let’s go for a swim.”
“I don’t feel like it.”
“Why not? You told me you used to swim all the time.”
“I just don’t want to right now, that’s all.”
He sat up next to her. “I’m not going to jump you just because you’re wearing a bathing suit.”
“I know that.”
“Chaz, you’ve got
to get over what happened.”
She poked at the sand with a stick. “Maybe I don’t want to get over it. Maybe I need to make sure I never forget so I don’t get caught up in anything like that again.”
“You won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Simple logic. Let’s say you broke your arm again, or even your leg. Do you really think Bram would throw you out? Or that Georgie wouldn’t step in, or that I wouldn’t let you stay at my place? You’ve got friends now, although you’d never know it from the way you treat them.”
