Page 20 of The Billionaire Land Baron

“That’s great,” he said. “Do you want to say it or do you want me to?”

“You…want to?” Now she was surprised.

“Sure.” He reached a hand across the table and she realized that he was waiting for hers. When she didn’t move, he wiggled his finger. “This is how we do it in Chicago. Holding hands.”

Her cheeks flushed a little but she put her hand in his. She wished that she hadn’t, though, because she couldn’t focus on the prayer, distracted by how good it felt to have his fingers curled around hers. It made her heart feel fluttery, but more than that, something about Jake made her feel solid. Safe.

“Lord, thanks for this food and for Shelby and the town of Lucky. Bless our time and this conversation. Amen.”

Jake gave her hand a squeeze and then released. She jerked it back to her side of the table, hoping that he couldn’t see from her face how the simple touch affected her. Clearly, she didn’t get out much.

“That was fast,” she said. “I mean, simple. It was good. Good simple.”

“Thanks…I think?” He looked unsure about whether or not it was a compliment, but smiled anyway.

“It’s a good thing, promise. Confession: sometimes I fall asleep during the prayers at church. They’re just so long and the pastor uses so many big words. I like short and sweet. It seems more honest and real. How’s your BLAT?”

He rolled his eyes back in his head, then talked around the food in his mouth. “This is insane. I don’t know how I survived without one of these.”

“They don’t have these in your big, fancy city?”

“I mean, maybe somewhere. But avocados are hard to find in Chicago. I mean they have them, but just not lots and they’re expensive most of the time. Not on the menu in most places. I might need a second.”

“Noel!” Shelby shouted.

“Oh, you don’t need to—” Jake started.

Noel stuck his head out of the kitchen door. “You rang?”

“City Boy’s going to need another BLAT. They don’t have avocados in the North, apparently.”

Jake looked embarrassed, but Noel grinned. “Well, now. One more BLAT coming right up.”

Shelby licked a bit of avocado off a finger. She caught Jake watching, but his eyes dropped to the table when she noticed. “So, how’d you spend your day in Lucky?” she asked.

“Well, I checked on my car, which won’t be ready for at least three more days. Had to order a part. I wandered around Main Street a bit, got my ear talked off by a few ladies outside the library, and hid out in the stacks so I could do some work.”

“The library has wifi now? I thought we were still living in the dark ages.”

He held up his phone. “I’ve got a mobile hot spot.”

“Oh,” she said. “So basically, you take the internet with you. That’s cool. Good for when you’re in places like Lucky. Do you come to small towns a lot?”

Just like every time she asked him about his work, his eyes seemed to shift away. “Sometimes,” he said. “Do you like living in a small town?”

Shelby began to laugh. “That’s a loaded question. It’s fine. I mean, I’ve never known anything else.”

“Have you ever traveled?”

“Nope.”

Jake stared. “Like, you’ve never been out of Texas? Or…”

“I’ve hardly been out of Lucky.”

Shelby tried to say this without any bitterness in her voice, but it was hard. She wasn’t being completely honest with Jake, dancing around his question the way he danced around her questions about his work. The truth was that she had always wanted to get out of Lucky. Always. Even if she came back, she wanted to see the world or at least the United States. The Airstream had been a big purchase, made just before her daddy came back and just before her mama left. The two of them bought it together, a four-years early graduation present. The plan was for Shelby and her best friend Gracielynn to take a road trip that summer before college.

Then Daddy came home. Mama left. Bills piled up. Graduation came and went, the Airstream sitting there like a permanent fixture. Gracie went off to college and Shelby simply stayed.

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