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“I’m never going to marry you.” Georgie announces suddenly.
Joe, who had been leaning against her shoulder, shifts slightly, propping himself up on one arm as he turns his head to look at her. “Oh?”
“I’m not going to buy a mortgage or some shit, just because we’re together. And I am certainly not going to stick my ass in another wedding dress.”
“That’s fine.” He replies, as if it really is that simple.
“I mean it,” Georgia says, waiting for a reaction that she isn’t getting, “You might think it’s just because my last divorce is so recent, but it’s not just that.” She gestures between them, “Look, I wish we could keep pretending that this is going to work out, but it just isn’t, okay?”
She pauses, expecting him to argue with or confirm her fears, but he doesn’t say anything at all. Just waits patiently for her to get it all out. She can’t tell if she finds it infuriating or strangely comforting. Kind of both.
”Say something, dammit!” Georgia bursts out, after about two minuets of stiffling silence.
But of course he doesn’t.
That won’t really matter, though; She doesn’t need him to agree that she’s a horrible person, enough people have already told her that so it must be at least partly true.
And then he finally does speak, so quietly that she would probably miss it if she wasn’t listening, “Georgia, I’m willing to fight for you if that’s what you want me to do, but I’m not going to guilt trip you into staying if you really don’t want to be with me.”
And fuck, what is she suppose to say to that? Joe is so sincere and incredibly kind, which is exactly why Georgia can’t help feeling like he’s going to get his heart broken if he stays with her. She’s always been a magnet for trouble, and there’s absolutely no guarantee that this relationship will be a healthy one. She just doesn’t know how to convince Joe that he should break up with her, for his own good, of course.
“I’m not meant for relationships, let alone marriage.” Georgia admits, hating the way that tears fill her eyes, and desperately trying to keep her voice from breaking as she continues, “I am a terrible person!”
He looks as if he’s about to argue with her over that, so she quickly puts her finger against his lips to shush him.
“No, no, I really am a horrible person. I mean, I framed one husband, killed the other, and I haven’t even had enough time to plan my revenge on Paul yet!”
Joe shoots her an apprehensive look, but doesn’t interrupt.
“The last bit was a joke.” She quickly assures him - despite the fact that for a while, she had been considering ways to wreak havoc with his career as mayor back when their breakup was still recent, of course.
“The rest of what I said was me being completely serious, though.” Georgia says clearly, finally managing to bring herself to look him in the eye. “You deserve so much better than me. You should just find another woman who wants to get married and settle down and fall in love with her instead. It would be so much easier to date someone who’s actually normal.”
“I’m not going to do that.” Joe tells her softly.
And it’s just the way he says it; each syllable filled with an so much care. Every word feels like it’s packed with so much love, love that Georgia knows she doesn’t deserve to receive.
It’s enough to cause her carefully built walls to come crashing down, and there are unexpected tears leaking out of her eyes and flowing down her face as she starts to cry.
Suddenly, there’s a loud creak, and Georgias head snaps in the direction of the noise, shoulders automatically tensing.
She lets out a small sigh of relief when she sees that it’s just Ginny standing there there, hovering cautiously at the bottom of the stairs, surveying them.
Joe must have noticed Georgias’ reaction to the noise though, because he reaches out and slips his hand into hers, giving it a small squeeze.
Georgia quickly squeezes back, before pulling her hand away to at least try and wipe the tears off her face.
Obviously it doesn’t work, and both Ginny and Joe are watching her with matching looks of subtle concern.
“Mom?” Ginny asks, glancing warily between them, before folding her arms and shooting Georgia a look, “Why are you crying?”
Georgia has no idea what to say, so she draws her knees closer to her chest and wipes her face again with her sleeve.
Joe seems to take that as his cue to offer an explanation. “Oh, we were just talking about-“
“I didn’t ask you.” Ginny cuts him off rather abruptly.
And Georgia knows that it isn’t because her daughter dislikes Joe. Far from it - they often joke together in the mornings when Joe is making breakfast, and Ginny seems happy most of the time that Georgia has finally found a nice partner who she can be herself around.
But Ginny is probably also wary of him in some ways.
It’s not surprising, seeing as even with Zion, things are still tentative at best and it’s going to take time to rebuild some of the trust that Ginny lost in him.
Then there’s Paul, who became part of their family, only to leave when they all needed him the most. Another example of Georgias admittedly terrible taste in men.
The worst part though, is the fact that Ginny used to look up to Gil when she was younger, and he was the fun one, always full of fake smiles. Plus, she was the one who contacted him again once he’d gotten out of Jail. Now after she knows about how abusive and violent he is, she still feels guilty about being deceived by him - something that Georgia can’t fix, even though she’s tried to explain to Ginny that she shouldn’t blame herself for trusting him.
It’s reasonable that she finds it difficult to trust someone who Georgias dating. Even when it’s someone as lovely as Joe is,
So yeah, walking in on Georgia crying, it’s no wonder that Ginny jumps to conclusions. She is currently glaring at Joe.
If looks could kill, he would probably already be dead by now.
As it is, Joe seems reasonably calm, like he usually is. The only thing that contradicts that is how Georgia can feel him shrinking back slightly, pressing into her side, mouth opening and closing as he tries to figure out what he’s supposed to say.
Georgia is able to pull herself together enough to nod at Ginny, “It’s alright, peach, everything’s fine.” She manages to summon a small smile on her face as continues, “I was just feeling a little bit sad about some stuff. Nothing for you to worry about.”
“Okay,’ Ginny shrugs, not looking totally convinced, “Well I was just going to head out for a bit.”
“Curfews twelve.” Georgia calls out, “Don’t want you turnin’ into a pumpkin now, do we?”
“That’s not how Cinderella goes!” Ginny yells back.
The door slams closed.
There’s an awkward silence that has settled between them, neither she or Joe quite sure of what to say next.
And Georgia has always despised silences. So she breaks it, laughing suddenly, high pitched and almost manical. Becasue it’s just ironic. Her whole life is fcuking ironic, so she might as well laugh about it seeing as she’s already cried.
Last time she started laughing, Joe had looked nervous, unsure of what to do.
Now though, he actually chuckles along with her, a slight smile tugging at his lips as he does so.
Finally, her laughter dies down, and Georgia leans her head back on the sofa cushion.
“Can I kiss you?” Joe asks.
“Sure.”
He places his palm on her face, gently using his thumb to wipe away a traitorous tear that’s still sliding down her cheek. Then he leans forward and surprises her, by instead veering upwards to instead press a kiss to her forehead.
Georgia rolls her eyes and elbows him, but she finds that she doesn’t mind, not really. It actually gives her a surprisingly nice feeling in her stomach.
Joe doesn’t say those words out loud, but suddenly, in that moment, Georgia knows that he loves her.
They might say those three words to each other one day but for now she feels content enough to relax into the comfort of the evening, as she reaches out to press the play button on the Tv remote.
Eventually she lets her eyes fall closed and her mind begins to grow drowsy as she feels herself falling asleep.
Still, she’s just conscious enough to be aware of Joe draping another blanket around her, dimming the volume, before pressing one last kiss to her forehead.
Everything feels right, and for the first time in too long, Georgia feels calm and safe, as she falls asleep, with Joes arm resting protectively around her shoulders.