Page 45 of Yours To Take
“Thanks.” He faces Willow. “Bye, Pipsqueak.”
“Bye, Daddy!”
He turns without another word, his pissiness evident.
Willow’s already hard at work on what looks to be math homework while I finish up the rest of my calls.
“Is the storm going to be bad, Aunt Gemma?”
“What makes you ask that?”
If it’s anything like the weatherman is saying, we’re in for a doozy. But I don’t want to scare her.
“You’re telling people not to come into work if it’s too bad.”
Damn. Willow is too smart for her own good.
“Better to be safe than sorry.”
“I don’t like storms,” she tells me, dropping her pencil on her paper.
“You know what I used to do during storms when I was your age?”
She shakes her head.
“I used to sneak into your dad’s room and sleep on his floor because I was scared.”
Dark clouds are now rolling in. They’re calling it the storm of the year—and it’s not even summer yet. Thankfully the ranch isn’t at capacity so it’s not as bad as it could be.
“Do you think I can do that if I get scared?” she asks.
“Who’s scared in here?”
Blake’s smooth voice startles me.
“Me apparently,” I mutter to myself.
“I don’t like storms,” Willow tells him matter-of-factly.
“What makes you happy?” He leans down onto the desk, getting down on Willow’s level.
“Why?”
“If you’re scared, think of what makes you happy.” Blake turns those green eyes on me and winks.
Every inch of my body warms. I wish it didn’t, that I could deny myself of him. But the more I’m around him, the more I want to be around him. And after the last time we were alone together?
It’s all I can think about.
“Rainbows and Daddy and Daisy and my friends at school. And Aunt Gemma and Layla. And Uncle Peter and Logan. And football.” Willow ticks everything off on her fingers one by one.
“Wow. That’s a lot of happy things. If you think of them during the storm, you won’t be scared.”
She screws her tiny nose up in thought. “I don’t know.”
“Try it. I guarantee it’ll work.” Blake’s confidence could win over anyone, yet Willow doesn’t look impressed.
“If it doesn’t, you have to help me write my story for school next week.”
