Loving Georgia ✔️

Chapter 01

Georgia Sullivan couldn't remember a day when she hadn't been in love with the sky. From her little corner, everything seemed like it would be okay. Perhaps that was why she didn't leave the little quiet town of Woodside. It had everything she needed: water and sand, the mountains and a river, food and friends. There were no promises out there that ever tempted her to stray from her happiness.

Today, she sat basking in the sunshine, contemplating the change of season almost on her doorstep. It was almost time for the warmth to be ever-present, for skirts to fly softly in the ocean breeze, for ice cream to melt down tourist hands. It was the time Woodside came alive. People flocked to the small town, taking residence in the holiday homes littering the many beautiful beaches.

Georgia loved her town, and she loved the summer, but she wished they would stop invading Woodside. She wasn't a fan of all the people, all the time, walking through the streets, laughing obnoxiously. What happened to quiet laughter? To taking in the moment with a gracious smile? It almost made her feel like in another life she'd been a senile old woman sitting on a rocking chair, cursing at the young ones skating by. It wasn't all that farfetched.

Georgia couldn't help but wonder, if she never found a compatible lover, would she end up like that again? Georgia's mother always said she'd been born a few decades later than her soul was made for. It had taken Georgia 26 years to understand what she was talking about. She knew now.

Her fingers twiddled with the hem of her skirt, toes fidgeting in the running water. Sometimes she found herself yearning for some company to enjoy the quiet things in life, to sit there beside her, eyes closed and head in the clouds. But everyone always dreamed of a louder life. The bustling action and the traffic jams. Georgia didn't have time for that.

A rustling beside her pulled her from her distant thoughts. Georgia's long-time friend Kelly swiped at her own palms, pieces of grass and dirt falling on to her lap. A chunk of black hair fell from Kelly's misshapen claw clip, causing a groan to slip out.

'You okay there, Kel?' Georgia asked with a small grin.

Kelly swiped her hair back with raked fingers, pulling it tight as she attempted to clasp it back in the very clip that was about to crumble into a thousand pieces. 'No,' she grumbled. 'The stupid thing is broken.'

'So let your hair down.' Georgia shrugged, pulling the once pink clip from Kelly's hair. Black strands fell against Kelly's back, and Georgia's fingers wove softly through the strands, untangling and removing little sticks and leaves.

'Mike liked it down. I hate Mike.' Kelly glared at the small creek.

Georgia paused. Had she overstepped? 'Everything okay with Mike?'

'I left him.'

The girls sat in silence as they thought back to the days of Mike and his brother Jake. Jake was a mean drunk, but he never touched her, but Mike, on the other hand, tended to throw things. Sometimes at people.

'Is that why you cut your hair?' Georgia asked quietly, playing with the ends of her own.

'Yeah.' Kelly tried to smile at her friend but could only muster a grimace. 'Figured he wouldn't want me back if I didn't meet his beauty standard.'

'Oh Kel.' Georgia pulled Kelly in for a hug.

They rocked back and forth gently in the cooling air. Ideas of how to help Kelly slipped in and out of her mind, but none seeming quite right. A drop of moisture connected with her skin through her skirt, and another, and another. This time accompanied by a small sniff and a sigh.

'Do you want to talk about it?' Georgia tucked a large strand of Kelly's hair behind an ear to get a better read on her. To watch the minor flickers of emotion scatter across her features.