Up Close and Personal by Maureen Child Page A

While Laura watched, her sister used clicks of the mouse to change the wall colors and to digitally move the furniture around. She created wall hangings and rugs, changed the floor from wood to tile and when she was finished, Laura thought, the result was lovely.
    “In the mood for a change?” Laura asked.
    Georgia just smiled at the screen. “It’s fun to experiment, but no. I think we’re good for a while.”
    When she was married, Georgia had been an interior designer. But, when she divorced and moved back to California, Georgia had left everything of her old life behind. Including her dreams of a design studio of her own.
    “Do you ever miss it?”
    Sitting back in her chair, Georgia reached for her own cup of coffee, on the desk. She took a sip and made a face. “Yeesh. Gone cold.” Setting it down again, she looked at Laura and admitted, “Sure I miss it sometimes, but I’m happier now. Working with you.”
    Funny, but neither of them were working at their dream jobs. If Laura had her way, she’d be making her living as an artist. But selling enough paintings to make a living was almost impossible. The real estate thing had happened because they both were good with people and someone always needed to buy a house. So she and Georgia both had put away the work they loved to do what they had to do. And if they bought the building for their business, then they would at least have that security behind them.
    “Do you ever wish we could just—”
    “Run away and join the circus?” Georgia finished for her with a grin.
    “Something like that,” Laura said.
    “Who doesn’t? Honey, most people don’t get to spend their lives doing work they love. Most of them make do with good jobs that support their families.”
    “I know,” Laura said with a sigh. “And I’m grateful that we have the work we do, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes…”
    “Yeah,” her sister mused, with another glance at the design on the computer screen. “Sometimes.”
    Deliberately then, she shut off the program, grabbed her cup and stood up. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and get me fresh coffee.”
    “We’re crazy you know, drinking coffee this late. We’ll both be up all night.”
    “Sleep is overrated,” Georgia told her, stopping at the bottom of the stairs to give Beast a pat on the head.
    It wasn’t the sleeping that bothered Laura. It was the dreaming. Always of Ronan. She couldn’t even close her eyes without seeing him.
    In the kitchen, the bright, overhead light sent shadows scattering. Beyond the glass, the night was black and the skeletal limbs of the trees waved in the wind as if they were dancing.
    “So, why can’t you sleep?” Georgia asked, then corrected herself. “Why don’t you want to sleep?”
    “You know why,” Laura said and took a seat at the kitchen table. Her reflection stared back at her from the window glass and she turned from it.
    “Ronan.” Georgia sat down opposite her and nodded. “I figured. He’s been front and center for you since the moment you met him.”
    “I don’t want him to be,” Laura said.
    “Too late for that.”
    Laura snorted. “True. Oh Georgia, this is all just a mess. Maybe Sean never should have brought Beast here. Then I never would have seen Ronan again and—”
    “What’s this Sean like anyway and why didn’t I meet him?”
    “You were out showing houses when Sean showed up here with Beast.” Speaking of the dog made him appear. He wandered sleepily into the kitchen, strolled under the table and plopped down, his body covering both sisters’ feet. Laughing a little, Laura said, “What’s he like? Gorgeous, Irish and rich.”
    “Huh. A lot of that going around,” Georgia murmured. “Why don’t you go for him then? Forget Ronan and go for his cousin.”
    “Sure, good idea.” Laura shook her head. “Way too late for that, too.”
    “Yeah, I suppose so.” Georgia took a sip of her coffee. “It’s a shame, really. I actually like Ronan.