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Georgia nodded. “Yeah, sorry. It just came up out of nowhere, and there’s really nothing I can do to prevent having to head home.” She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, trying to seem frustrated, I supposed, but I could see right through her act.
She worked from home and had her laptop with her, so there was no way it was work-related. Unless she had a job interview, but I seriously doubted that was the case because she seemed like she would never consider working in an office or anything of that nature.
I didn’t think it could be a family emergency. Her family didn’t even live in Seattle, from what I’d gathered. Could it be an emergency with her friend Lucy? I doubted it, but I wasn’t about to start trying to poke holes in her story. As much as I didn’t want to see Georgia leave, I couldn’t make her stay with me if she didn’t want to.
“Okay,” I found myself saying, my voice sounding much more melancholy than I intended for it to. “That’s no problem. I can give you a ride to the airport. Have you booked your flight yet?”
“Yes, I booked it last night. I need to leave here in about an hour so I can be sure to get through all of the long lines and not miss my flight.” She flashed me a tight-lipped smile.
The urge to argue with her, to beg her to rethink the situation, flew into my mind. But my pride and a huge sense of embarrassment kept me from doing so. I didn’t want to see her leave. I wanted her to stay with me and continue to explore the world. Apparently, I didn’t want it more than I wanted to keep from begging, though.
Georgia stared at me for a long moment, as if she were expecting me to say something else or something different. Maybe she wanted me to beg her to stay. Maybe I should push her a little bit harder and see if she was willing to break, but I didn’t see myself doing that, so I returned my attention to my breakfast and finished it up.
Standing, Georgia gathered her plate and cup and carried them to the sink. “I’m going to go take a shower,” she told me.
“Okay. You can use the main bathroom if you want to,” I offered.
She smiled again, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Once she put her dishes in the dishwasher, she headed out of the room, leaving me utterly alone. “I’d better get used to it,” I muttered.
The thought of calling Ryan and talking to him about what had happened came to mind. I needed an intervention, someone to save me from myself. Instead, I sat there for several minutes, feeling much soberer than I had before our trip to the bar the night before, the pain in my head feeling well deserved.
Eventually, I managed to pull myself up from the table and carry my own dishes to the sink. I rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher, but I didn’t start it yet. It wasn’t full, and I had a couple of more days scheduled to be here. What I would do with that time without Georgia, I couldn’t say. Maybe I should just head on to my house in Canada and attempt to make it home faster than I’d planned. After all, I’d thought this would be a fun trip where the two of us would get to know one another really well and have a lot of fun exploring some of the most beautiful locations in the world. It hadn’t gone that way so far. We’d had to leave Maui early, and then I’d fucked this part of the trip all to hell. Really, maybe I shouldn’t even try anymore.
A light rapping on the door had me shaking my head and walking into the entryway. When I pulled the door open, I found Sven standing there. “Good morning, Mr. Ramsey.” He had a smile on his face, but just like with Georgia, I could tell it wasn’t genuine.
“Hi, Sven. What’s going on?” I asked, surprised to see him here.
“Well, I got a call from Mr. Keller from next door. He said he got up to fetch his morning paper this morning and noticed the passenger side window of a car parked in front of your home was down and there was… a mess in the driveway and the yard. He doesn’t know who is staying here and thought it might be some rambunctious college kids.”
I felt all the color draining from my face as I dragged my hand down it. How embarrassing. How many times had I been sick between the car and the house?
“I’ll take care of it, Sven,” I told him.
“Oh, I already did,” he said. “Except for the window. I just wanted to let you know. Sorry about your lady friend.”
I stared at him for a long moment. Why was he apologizing for Georgia? Then it hit me. He thought that she was the one throwing up because he assumed I would be driving. “Oh, it wasn’t her,” I said quickly.
He arched an eyebrow, but I didn’t feel like I needed to explain more. I wanted to tip him for his trouble, but he wouldn’t accept it. I’d just add it to his bonus this year.
“Okay then, sir. Have a good day.”
“Thank you, Sven.” Sighing, I closed the door, feeling humiliated.
When I turned around, Georgia was there, ready to go, her bags packed and trailing behind her. “Everything okay?”
“Just peachy,” I blurted. “Any idea where the car keys are?”
She held them up, and I took them. Without another word, we headed out to the car. I loaded her bags into the trunk, and we drove in silence to the airport.
“I’ll walk you in,” I told her as we approached short-term parking.
“No, that’s okay.” I could tell by her tone she meant it. “I can manage.”
I wanted to argue and insist that she at least let me be a gentleman, but recently I’d proven myself to be anything but. “All right,” I mumbled and pulled to the curb.
Georgia turned to look at me. All I could see was pity in her eyes. She unbuckled her seatbelt and reached over to hug me quickly. “Goodbye, Beau. Thanks for everything.”
She hopped out of the car, and before I could do more than push the button to open the trunk, she had her bags and was heading for the terminal.
