The thing is, Geri and Cordell were always inevitable, despite their other relationships. Nothing changed the fact that Emily was the love of his life or that Hoyt was the one who got away for Geri, however, but Geri and Cordell had known each other since they were kids. There was a chemistry between them they had ignored - or tried to - for as long as they had been friends. After they stopped kissing, caught up in the moment, the two of them looked at each other in a bit of shock. "What did we just do?" Geri whispered.
"Kissed," he responded.
"No shit, Sherlock," she snapped.
"We've been drinking and had an emotionally charged day that fucked us up. It happens. Sorry?" he apologized, wincing at himself. Walker stood up and then fled.
Geri watched him flee, still a bit stunned and then went to grab another drink so she could deal with the guilt she was currently drowning in.
She dropped by the ranch two days later so she could talk to her best friend and maybe put this behind them, depending on how their conversation went. Instead of knocking on the door like a normal person - one with manners - she just barged in, thankful the kids weren't home.
Walker's head snapped up and he nervously smiled at Geri when he spotted her. "Hey."
"Hey." Geri flashed him a nervous smile on her own but she appeared to be frozen where she was. "Can we talk, Cordi?"
"Of course we can." He headed over the couch and urged her to join him, which she did. But Geri made sure to sit at the other end so they weren't up against each other.
He snorted. "Scared to sit next to me?" Walker teased.
"Shut up," Geri shot back, shaking her head in amusement. But she still didn't move any closer to him, preferring to stay where she was.
"We definitely need to talk about the other night." Walker blew out a breath as he tried to work up the courage to start this conversation.
"You're my best friend, Cordi, and nothing is ever going to change that, but I'm not sure we should have kissed. That fucking bitch deserved to die for killing Emily but I still feel guilty about what I did, and on top of that, I feel like we betrayed her." She tried to hold back a sob but failed and he picked up her hand to squeeze it.
"I'm here if you ever need to talk, Geraldine. Don't you forget that. Promise you'll come to me if this ever gets to be too much," he pleaded.
"I promise. Thank you."
"You're welcome, baby." Walker sighed. "You know I flirted with a teacher at the kids' school during the tornado? It wasn't great."
"Yeah, I know. I've seen how you flirt," Geri deadpanned.
"Go fuck yourself," Walker teasingly shot back.
She giggled even as the joke made her tense up even more. "Nah, I think that's your job, Cordell."
"Is that supposed to be a burn, Geraldine? Do better. Anyway, to get back to what I was saying, I don't think I'm ready to be with another person yet, after Emily's death. But I haven't been able to stop thinking about kissing you. Who knew you were such a great kisser?"
"Oh, please, I know Hoyt bragged to you."
"Just like Emily bragged to you?"
"Point," Geri conceded.
They looked at each other and burst into laughter. Once they finally calmed down, they turned and hugged each other. They pulled apart rather quickly and staring into her eyes once more, Walker couldn't help but kiss her again. "I love kissing you, Geraldine Broussard."
"Right back at you." Fuck, she couldn't think about fucking this man, her best friend, especially when they were still grieving Emily.
He closed his eyes and groaned. "We can't do this now but maybe someday? When we're both ready?"
"Sounds like a plan."
"And in the meantime, we can be with whoever we want to be. We're not together, we're just best friends."
"Who occasionally kiss?" she asked hopefully as she leaned in for another one.
"Who occasionally kiss," Walker confirmed after they pulled apart. He had to thank Micki the next time he saw her after this for knocking some sense into him.
"I'm into it."
"Glad you agree, Geri." Walker and Geri bumped their foreheads against each other. "This is what got us into this mess in the first place."
She pulled away, playfully swatting him. "Not a mess."
"Sorry, not a mess." He kissed her again. "We really need to stop making out like teenagers."
Geri stood up. "I really need to go. See you later?"
"Damn straight. Looking forward to the bar reopening." He paused. "One more for the road?"
Geri pondered it for about thirty seconds before making her decision. "Oh, what the hell. Go for it."
They made out for a minute or two before she headed to the door to leave. "Call you later. And we're friends for now," he confirmed just to make sure.
"Friends for life but yeah, just friends. This thing isn't going anywhere yet because it's not the right time." She waved goodbye and then left to go home.
It wasn't the right time for Geri and Walker's relationship to turn into more (as much as they enjoyed the kissing, they couldn't do it as much as they would like) but it would be soon. In the meantime, they'd treasure and cherish their friendship and continue to mourn Emily together. Confronting - and killing, in Geri's case - Emily's murderer had brought them some closure and justice.