Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 205(@200wpm)___ 164(@250wpm)___ 136(@300wpm)
“Things will ease up soon,” he lied. “How are you and Grandpa getting on?”
“Good. He keeps beating me at checkers, though. I think he’s cheating, but I can’t work out how.”
He chuckled. “He always wins at checkers. Always beat me as a kid. Grandma used to tell him off for not letting me win, but Grandpa always argued that if you let kids win they’ll never learn how to lose.”
“It must have been fun coming here to visit in the holidays.”
“Yeah, it was. My mom left us when I was young, and my dad had to work a lot. He was an accountant. He hated ranching. But I loved it when I came here.”
“It is really nice,” she said, looking around. “I’ve worked lots of different jobs. I like this one the best, though.”
He had to chuckle. “Really? With two bossy, grumpy men?”
“Hmm, every job has its downside.”
He laughed again. Hmm. When was the last time he’d laughed like this? He couldn’t remember.
“You seem really busy, though. You should take time to relax more,” she told him.
“I don’t have time for that. I have too much to do around here. Maybe once I get everything running smoothly, I can have a life again. Socialize. Date.”
Date? Really?
Did he really want to start dating again? He’d come out of a long-term relationship about six months before Grandpa Jack had his fall and he’d moved here. And he hadn’t been in a good space to even think about dating again since.
So why now?
“My friend said your car will be ready by the end of next week,” he said, changing the topic. “He’ll drop it out here.”
“That’s so nice of him. And I’m so grateful he’s letting me pay the bill in instalments. Thank you.” She reached out and patted his leg.
Her touch felt far too nice, even though he knew it was just a casual touch. He got to his feet.
“Time for bed,” he said gruffly.
“Oh. Right. Sure. I’ll just finish—”
“Bed, Blakely. I mean it. Understand?”
“All right.” Her shoulders slumped and he felt terrible.
“You need your sleep if you’re going to put that magic show on for us,” he told her.
Her face lit up, and she nodded. That was better. He’d much rather see her smiling than upset.
Stafford decided not to think too hard about how much her happiness meant to him.
8
“Ta-da! Is this your card?” She held out the card to Grandpa Jack triumphantly.
“Nope.”
“What?” She stared at him, crestfallen. “It has to be.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, it’s not.”
“Are you sure? Maybe you just forgot what card you chose.”
“Girly, I chose the five of hearts and that’s the queen. It’s not my card.”
“Drat!” What was she doing wrong?
“Never mind,” Stafford said gently. “Have you got another magic trick to show us, Brilliant Blakely?”
Except she hadn’t been that brilliant, had she? Because none of her tricks were darn well working. What was she doing wrong?
“All right, for this next trick, I’m going to need my magic wand.” She turned around and set up the floating pencil trick. It couldn’t go wrong. Even she could do it. Grabbing her wand, she turned back, holding the pencil in her fist.
“Abadabadodo! Make this pencil float in the air!”
“Abadabadodo?” Grandpa Jack repeated, sounding skeptical.
“Shh,” Stafford hushed him as she undid her fist and the pencil floated in the air.
Well, it should have. Instead, it slipped free and fell on the floor.
“Oh, witches and wizards! That wasn’t supposed to happen!”
“Well, good try, darlin’,” Stafford told her.
Hmm.
“I thought that was a really good magic show,” he added.
“Are you kidding?” Jack said. “That was terrible.”
Oh God.
He was right. It was terrible.
“Grandpa!” Stafford chided. “You can’t say that. Blakely, he didn’t mean it.”
“I did mean it and now I’ve got to go have my nightcap. Girly, you need to practice.”
Stafford stood and helped his grandfather up. Then he turned to her, his face filled with chagrin and concern. “Blakely, I’m so sorry. You know how Grandpa Jack is. He, uh, well, he . . .”
Fuck.
Why couldn’t he think of something to say to cheer her up?
Yeah, the magic show had been kind of terrible, but that didn’t mean his grandfather could say that to her.
He’d hurt her feelings.
Blakely was . . . she was sensitive. Sweet. She couldn’t really handle criticism. No matter whether it was the truth or not.
And his grandfather needed to learn to hold his tongue around her.
Although that would be like trying to teach a dog not to pant.
Kind of impossible.
Her head dropped, and her shoulders started shaking.
Shit.
She was crying.
What should he do?
Hug her, you idiot.
Right. That’s what he wanted to do. But it would be inappropriate. Wouldn’t it?
He stepped toward her. “Blakely, I’m so sorry about Grandpa Jack. You know he doesn’t really mean it.”
To his shock, she stared up at him and started giggling.