Page 76 of The Secret
“Do you think it’s wise to introduce her to Benny?”
“Come on, Jed, are you going to be like this all weekend? I’m not sure I want to introduceher toyounow.”
“Not many women, Dan, want to take on a kid.”
“Will you let up?”
“We’re Benny’s only family. She’s never known anyone else.”
“Okay, Okay. I get it.”
“Does she know about Dad, about the money?”
I step back against the wall as footsteps cross the kitchen. I can see someone moving through the crack in the door. I glance back up the stairs. Could I pretend to come down again, and make more noise this time? Chewing my lip, I press farther into the wall. I don’t want whoever is at the sink to catch any movement, even out of the corner of their eye. The tap squeaks as it’s turned on.
“I didn’t tell her anything when we met, and she knows about the court case, but not the specifics. Honestly, do you think I’d do that?”
Money? What money? I study the cracked ceilings and sagging walls. Are they having to pay off huge bills on this place? And what liabilities do you take on when somebody dies? I chew my lip. I don’t even understand how that works.
“Just remember what happened with Linda. She was a money-grabbing …”
“Will you give it a rest!”
“Sometimes you can think things are great, but when push comes to shove, it’s something different.”
There’s silence, and Dan sighs heavily.
“Let’s talk about the vineyard.”
I lean against the wall while they chat about yields, crop disease, and last year’s harvest. If I wait it out, they’ll think I came down later than I did. Eventually, I creep back up six stairs, making some noise as I come back down again. Wandering into the kitchen, two pairs of matching blue eyes turn toward me, and my God—Jed and Dan could almost be twins, with the same shock of curling blond hair.
Jed’s face tightens slightly as his blue eyes lock onto me, but I smile at him, holding out my hand.
“Hi, I’m Liss.”
As he rises from his seat, I realize the similarity ends at the hair and eyes. He’s much shorter than Dan, built like someone who body builds, probably from the day-in, day-out nature of physical work. He’s a good-looking guy. What a gene pool. The facade of a smile graces his lips as he sinks back into his chair.
“Liss, it’s great to meet you. Sorry I didn’t manage to do that last night.”
I shake my head at him. “No, no, you guys have a big farm to run, don’t apologize to me.” I turn to Dan. “Did you two start early? You should have woken me, I would’ve helped.”
Jed lets out a snort, and my eyes dart to his face, but he’s looking at Dan, who’s wearing a sharp frown. Dan turns to me and tags my hand.
“I know how much you like building toilet blocks and the like, Liss, but I thought I’d let you rest.”
“Well, don’t. It’d be fun to help.”
He grins. “Noted.”
Jed rises from his seat again. “Apologies, Liss. I’ve got to talk to our manager this morning, and I’ve already spent too long jawing with this guy.” He jerks his thumb at Dan. “I’d better leave you guys to it.”
“We’ll all go,” Dan says, and Jed’s jaw tightens again. Wow, he doesn’t like this at all.
“Nah, you make Liss some breakfast and come out and meet me at the barns. We can check out some of the vehicle repairs.” He turns to me. “Are you any good with engines?”
I make a face at him. “I’ve been known to get the odd engine working again, but I would say my experience is more ad hoc than any specific expertise.”
“Yeah, I remember that,” Dan says, and I know what he’s going to say before it’s out of his mouth. “I used to think you were amazing at fixing engines until you blew up the tractor on that old guy’s farm.”
