“Watch your step,” I said. “There you go.”
Opening the trunk, I loaded the crutches the hospital had given Georgia and took a moment to breathe deeply while the others settled into the car.
Sebastián had already scurried in behind Georgia. Since Melba had already taken the front seat, that only left me one spot: on Georgia’s other side.
Was there a word for something that was both awful and heavenly?
Taking my seat, I made sure to give Georgia as much room as possible. She had her leg stretched out at an angle, which couldn’t be comfortable, and a pained expression on.
“Would you like to put your leg on the seat?” I asked.
“No!” she nearly shouted.
I smiled tensely. We both knew her leg on the seat would have required placing it across my lap—not that I’d been trying anything funny.
There was an awkward pause, then we both looked away as my driver pulled away from the hospital.
“Georgia is American,” Sebastián said, “but she comes to Rio all the time.”
“You do?” I felt my eyebrows raise.
“I’ve been here a few times.” She pointedly looked out the window.
“Ah.”
And where had I been while she was here? It hurt to think of us in the same city, going about our separate days, our separate lives. I knew I hadn’t deserved to see her, though. I had reaped what I’d sowed.
I cleared my throat. “Do you… usually come alone?”
“Always.” Her smile was tight. “I like it that way.”
Of course she did. Georgia had always been fiercely independent.
“Look, look!” Sebastián pointed out the window. “That’s Dad’s work!”
The skyscraper gleamed in the late afternoon light. Georgia leaned forward and made a big deal out of it—of course, only for Sebastián’s sake.
“Oh, wow,” she cooed. “That’s cool. Do you ever visit him there?”
“Sometimes. His secretary has the best candies. They’re peppermints, but they’re soft.”
“Those are my favorite ones,” Georgia said.
“Which hotel are you staying at?” I asked.
She told me, and I automatically recalled everything I knew about the establishment and the neighborhood. A nice enough area, though it was known to have some crime. As far as the hotel itself, I couldn’t say how good it was or wasn’t.
I silently berated myself. Georgia didn’t need me running assessments on her lodgings. She’d done fine taking care of herself the last eleven years.
“What grade are you in?” Georgia was asking Sebastián.
His mood dampened a bit. School had been an issue lately, one he wasn’t keen to talk about. Still, he answered Georgia’s questions about it—though he turned the conversation back to her as soon as possible.
“Who is your best friend?” he asked.
“Her name is Maddie, and we work together.”
That made my ears perk up. “Maddie? Not the same Maddie who was your roommate in New York?”