Matt smiled, relieved at the interruption, some of his annoyance fading. Lara could cheer up anyone.
Just like Georgie.
The realisation hit him hard. Georgie had lost her shine. During their conversation she’d been wary and unsettled. Normally a conversation with Georgie was enough to brighten his day no matter how shit it had been.
And it was his fault.
He needed to figure out how to fix it.
And bring back Georgie’s shine.
Chapter 11
Georgie had never been so pleased to work alone as she was the morning after Matt had insulted her. She was in one cyclone-sized mood and all she wanted to do was be alone. Her mind had snarled and taunted her all evening, first taking her anger out on Matt, imagining all the torturous things she could do to him, then turning inwards and telling her she wasn’t worthy of love. She wanted to scream. Better to head out somewhere isolated before she released her crazy.
But first she needed to stop at the office to pick up supplies.
She waved a greeting at Karen. “Morning.” She was almost at the corridor when the receptionist answered.
“Declan wants to see you before you head out.”
Damn it. “All right.” She kept moving down the corridor. She was almost at her office where she could close the door and give herself a minute to get her shit together when Declan appeared. With him was Helen Roe, Matt’s mother.
“Georgie, good timing. Come into the meeting room. I want you to be part of this discussion. You know Helen, don’t you?”
She forced a smile, not wanting the reminder of Matt right now. “Of course.” She hugged Helen. “I don’t think I’ve seen you since the wedding.”
“Matt tells me you’ve been busy. It’s good to see you.”
Georgie’s throat tightened and to her horror, tears blurred her vision. “I’ll join you in a second.” She dashed for the bathroom, not caring what anyone thought. Locking herself into a stall, she pressed her hands to her eyes, desperately trying to stem the flow of tears. What was wrong with her? She shouldn’t be upset. She loved Helen. Whenever Helen had come to pick up Matt when he was younger, Georgie would sit at the table while her mum and Helen had a cuppa and caught up. Helen always asked her about her day or her horse-riding, and taught her a few Bayungu words. She’d felt like she was being let into a special, secret world. Now however, after a night of feeling unloveable it was all too much.
Get a grip.
Declan wouldn’t be impressed with her for being a weepy female. She took a couple of long, deep breaths and pushed away the self-pity. She could do this. She was strong, a woman who could achieve anything. Unlocking the door, she stared at herself in the mirror.I am woman, hear me roar.Determination swept over her. She nodded at herself and then smiled. It wasn’t quite her usual smile, but no one would notice that it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
On the way to the meeting room, she grabbed her notebook from her desk, and joined Helen, Declan and Penelope.
Declan smiled at them. “PAWS has been working with Helen and the Bayungu to jointly manage the area between here and Coral Bay. We acknowledge the Bayungu are the traditional owners of the land, and we want to work with them to ensure its sustainability.”
Georgie nodded. Helen had mentioned it when Georgie had run into her at the supermarket the other day.
“At the moment, we’re working on branding. The traditional colours of the Bayungu are red and white. We want to ensure future signage reflects this, and also contains Bayungu terminology where we can. You may have already noticed the Bayungu words in some places.”
“I have.” She thought it was a great way of showing respect and educating people.
“I’d like you to work with them to review our current signage and discuss what needs to be updated.”
For the first time that day Georgie felt a glimmer of happiness. “I’d love to.” She smiled at Helen. “When would you like to start?”
“I’m heading out to the islands with Penelope today,” Helen said. “We’re just waiting for—”
Matt rushed into the room. “Sorry I’m late.” He drew up short when he spotted Georgie.
Shit, shit, shit. Georgie stared at him. He wore a clean checked red long-sleeved shirt which he wore for his ‘dressier’ occasions, and a pair of clean blue jeans. Helen must have told him to make an effort otherwise he would have turned up in his work gear. Helen cleared her throat. Matt glanced at her, removed his hat and sat in the spare seat next to his mother, across the table from Georgie.
She dragged her gaze away and gritted her teeth to control the desire to burst into tears.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Helen said to her son. “I was just telling Georgie you would be working together.”
