Georgie's Heart Read Online Free Page B

Scott, they’ll come for the Saturday Children’s Clinic.”
    She parked the Cherokee and didn’t wait for Zane to leap out and come around for her. By the time he got his feet on the ground, she applied a key to the door of the boarded-up building.
    Zane watched her, thinking hard. The lady obviously wasn’t used to receiving common courtesies from men. Zane intended to remedy that before she grew much older.
    â€œDr. Baghri and I were here yesterday evening assessing what needs to be done,” Georgeanne said. “Dr. Scott died three years ago, and the building has been empty ever since.” She shoved open the door and stepped inside without hesitation. “The first thing we’re going to have to do is apply a little old-fashioned elbow grease and give it a thorough cleaning.”
    Zane followed and cast a swift glance around. The clinic was a bare shell without furniture. The walls were discolored with mildew, the paint was peeling, and the electricity had long ago been cut off. The musty odor of mildew overrode the fresh spring scents of plowed ground and honeysuckle outside. The forlorn, neglected appearance of the place would have frightened most women into refusing to set foot inside.
    But not Georgeanne.
    â€œYou mean you’re going to give it a thorough cleaning.” Zane felt sure he knew Georgeanne well enough to guess at that.
    â€œI’ll have help,” Georgeanne said.
    Sure you will, Zane thought. He sniffed and detected the faint odor of lilies on the mildew-scented air.
    â€œI’ve got lots of people lined up.” She flicked on a flashlight and played it over the linoleum floor. Debris covered the floor, everything from empty paper cups to old magazines. “The utility company is sending someone out to restore the electrical service this afternoon. Once we have light, we can start cleaning. Dr. Baghri has already ordered the new phone system, and it’ll be installed Monday. That means we have the weekend to get the place cleaned and painted.”
    â€œThat’s a true volunteer’s ‘we’,” Zane said, amused and annoyed at the same time. “You’re the one who’s going to be doing most of the work.”
    Georgeanne chuckled again, and the sparkling laughter moved something inside his heart. “You may have a point there. I enjoy cleaning, so I’ll probably do most of it myself during the next two days. Normal people enjoy painting, so I’m saving my volunteers for the big paint-in Saturday.”
    â€œYou’re not a normal person?” Zane asked.
    Georgeanne tossed her heavy mane of hair off her shoulders and looked around the moldy room in a possessive way. “I think everyone who knows me would probably agree that I’m not.”
    â€œBecause you like to clean rather than paint?” He stared at her mouth. Even in the dim light, he could see her soft, full lips.
    â€œThat’s as good a reason as any, don’t you think?” She turned dark-brown eyes on him that invited him to laugh with her.
    Zane laughed and decided he needed to help in the preparations to open the Saturday Clinic. He thanked heaven that he wasn’t on call that weekend.
    â€œThere are two examining rooms.” Georgeanne stepped carefully across a mound of debris. Cockroaches scattered at her approach, but she ignored them. “Dr. Baghri’s chief worry when we hosted the Clinic in our office was that the volunteer doctors might refuse to examine patients in somebody else’s office. That’s why we’re so overjoyed about receiving this building.”
    â€œI understand.” Zane followed behind her.
    â€œIf I can make volunteering here sound like an adventure, I’ll bet we get more doctors than we need.”
    Zane agreed, enjoying the nuances in Georgeanne’s voice as much as he liked her words.
    She meant it. Although the clinic was officially Dr. Baghri’s idea,