the look of someone who misses the city life.”
She chuckled. “Sometimes I do,” she admitted. “You? You’ve only been back for a few months, but don’t you worry that you’ll miss it?”
She watched him closely for his reply.
“I guess I’ll find out soon. I mean, I did grow up in Pride,” he answered with a slight shrug.
“Yes, but were you the type of kid who always dreamed about escaping the mundane life in a small town? Or did you always dream of opening your own business and settling down here one day?” she asked.
“Both,” he said easily. “At times, I couldn’t wait to head to college.” He finished off his burger and took a sip of his milkshake. “Mainly because I’d grown bored with everything that they tossed at me in school here. I’m somewhat of an overachiever in that area.”
“Me too,” she said with a smile and pointed with her thumb to her chest. “Valedictorian.”
“Same.” He smiled. “So, I headed off to Berkeley. Filled my brain with as much as I could, dated anyone I wanted.” He shrugged slightly. “And dreamed of returning home someday.”
Her heart quite literally jumped in her chest. She’d been under the assumption that he’d wanted to leave since the moment he’d been summoned by his uncle.
Maybe, if she’d been off about this small detail, there were other things about George that she’d been wrong about.
Chapter Ten
It didn’t take long after the shopping day trip with Robin to get his entire office set up, with the help of his mother and his aunts, Megan and Allison. Robin wanted to help but was too busy with work and only had a chance to swing by after his family had disappeared to see the finished product.
“This is amazing,” Robin said, running her fingers over the desk. “It fits perfectly in here. As do the two chairs.” She motioned to the high-backed leather chairs she’d helped him pick out. They sat directly across from his desk for clients to relax in during consultations. One of his aunt’s paintings hung on the freshly painted wall behind his desk, just above the low file cabinet that held a new printer/scanner combo machine that Josh had set up for his office and the receptionist area. He’d chosen to go with a laptop for him so he could take his work home some nights, and a desktop computer for the receptionist.
He had helped Parker paint all of the walls a slate blue, except for the conference room. There they had used a warm gray since the bookshelves took up most of the space and he wanted to lighten the space up some.
Parker had talked him into using a gray tile on the floors that looked like wood planks. His aunt and mother had chosen several paintings to hang throughout the space, with one of the Dawn-Treader II hanging behind his own desk along with his degree certificates, his state license, and his official town of Pride business license.
Instead of purchasing a desk for the receptionist, he’d opted to have Parker make a built-in unit. The custom desk made a large L shape and took up the entire left side of the reception area. There was a low table in the back that held the printer and housed the locked file cabinets underneath that would eventually hold all of his client’s paperwork.
Across from the desk sat the new leather sofa and chair and the glass coffee table he’d purchased. His mother had supplied some magazines for the waiting area.
“Every reception area needs magazines,” she’d said and organized a handful of them on the space.
It was the little things he hadn’t thought of but that his mother and aunts had that made the space feel like something more than just an office. As he looked around, he realized that it felt as much like home as the place he was renting from Corey and Carter did.
Not that he was completely settled into the two-bedroom rental, but he was comfortable enough that Robin had spent a few nights there with him now. Since it was less than two blocks from her own place, he figured he could keep their privacy by just walking over to her place whenever he wanted.
“They’re delivering the conference room table and chairs tomorrow,” he said when she glanced across the hallway to the empty room. Most of the bookshelves that Parker had finished building in there were still empty. Boxes and boxes of books he had yet to unpack were