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“Popcorn?” Clayton held the cup out slightly.
Georgia shook her head and pulled the lapels of her coat closer together. The move reminded him of the doughnut-covered pajamas he’d seen the day she’d really looked at him for the first time.
“We have a lag between guests today, so we thought we’d catch a movie. It’s been…” She glanced in the direction her brothers had gone before looking back at him and adding, “A while since we’ve been to the movies.”
He nodded. “This is my favorite Sunday afternoon activity. It takes my mind off things.”
“Are you here…?” She looked around, and it took him a second to piece together what she was asking.
Why did he suddenly feel embarrassed that he always came to the movies alone? He’d never been embarrassed about it before. He’d been doing it since he was a teenager. It only bothered him these days because he’d assumed at this point in his life, he’d have a woman to share movies—and everything else—with.
“Alone,” he said. “I can’t seem to talk anyone into coming to this old theater anymore.”
Not entirely true. He didn’t try to talk anyone into coming with him. Also, even though it’d been here since the seventies, this theater had been remodeled several times. The only reason it was still small was because there was no room to expand it. The courthouse was next door, and the library was on the other side.
Again, she glanced toward the concessions stand. “Well, I’d say you could sit with us, but…”
Clayton laughed. “Yeah, that wouldn’t look so good, even if your brothers were cool with it.”
Georgia took a deep breath and tilted her head slightly. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again.
Finally, she spoke. “I don’t really care about that.”
“I don’t either.”
They were having a conversation without saying a word. It was all in the way they looked at each other—the way she held his gaze—that told him their kiss had meant as much to her as it had to him.
What was he doing? Yes, it would be unprofessional to date a respondent in one of his cases, but they were settling all of it out of court. Besides, it was a small town. Not only did that mean the choice of people his age to hang out with was ridiculously limited, but the pool of single people his age was almost empty.
But it also meant nobody really cared about a land dispute. The real gossip was in why the Ludingtons and Knotts were at odds in the first place. And there was plenty of speculation about that.
“Ready?”
The voice from behind him reminded Clayton once again that they weren’t alone. Georgia had two brothers standing by, ready to protect their sister at the slightest provocation. In the best of situations, a guy would be intimidated to date the one Ludington sibling who was female.
“Yeah,” Georgia said.
Clayton turned back to look at her. She was staring at him, a slight smile on her face, and he held her stare for longer than he probably should have dared. Finally, she nodded, pulled the lapels of her coat together once again, and trailed after her brothers.
Once Georgia was through the door of that auditorium, Clayton found himself standing there, wondering if he should just go home. But no, he wasn’t going to let the Ludingtons ruin his one indulgence every week. He was going to march into that theater, sit in the back, enjoy the entertainment on the screen in front of him, and try to avoid thinking about the beautiful woman seated with her family.
He had a feeling that would be a losing battle, though.
9
Georgia’s mom was up to no good. It shouldn’t surprise her. Bobbie Ludington had always been the matchmaker type. Her mom wanted nothing more than for her kids to get married and fill the ranch with grandchildren.
What surprised Georgia, though, was that her mother was playing Cupid—pun intended—with someone who was not only a friend of the Knott family but representing them in a case against their own family.
“We need this seat for our coats. So there’s room for only three of us in this row.”
That was Bobbie’s announcement, and she looked pretty proud of herself. Georgia narrowed her eyes, not sure what to make of this, especially since her mom seemed to think Georgia was the one who had to sit somewhere else.
“The whole theater’s empty,” Brendon said.
“But I like to sit here.” Their mom pointed to her row, which was on the side of the theater where there were only four chairs in each row. She looked directly at Georgia. “And Georgia can sit with that nice young man from the lobby.”
“That ‘nice young man’ is part of the Knott family.” Sawyer tossed his coat onto a chair in the center section of seats, making the point that he was moving over there, which would leave plenty of room for Georgia to sit with the family.
