Page 21 of Spiritwarrior

Jody got up, switching the grocery bags with Ginny to give her the crying baby.

“How did Reaper talk you into coming over?” she asked, taking Leah into her arms.

“He didn’t give me a choice. I stopped by to see you, and the next thing I knew, I was holding Leah and Reaper was gone.”

Ginny laughed harder. “Leah has been teething. I did the same thing when he came in from helping you guys.”

“I don’t know what’s worse: the crying or the song,” Jody said over his shoulder as he carried the grocery bags to the kitchen. He put the cold items in the fridge but left the other groceries for Ginny to put away.

“The song.” Ginny had already turned the television off by the time he came back to the living room. “Freddie, play with your fort for a little while,” she directed her son.

Watching as her son plopped down next to his toy box, Jody admired how quickly she regained control of the chaos.

Ginny sat down on a chair to place Leah on her shoulder, patting her back lovingly while eyeing him. “Did you need something?”

Jody sat down on the couch in front of her. “I can’t just stop by to say hi?”

Ginny raised a disbelieving brow.

Jody grimaced. “I need a favor.”

“What do you need?”

“The diner has reopened.”

“I heard.”

“The owner is my soul mate.”

“Silas told me.”

“He also tell you I screwed up?”

“Yes. You want me to go by and convince her what a great guy you are?”

“It would be nice if you could slip in compliments about me, but I mainly wanted you to help her get on her feet.”

Ginny gave him one of her sweet smiles. “I’d be happy to do for that for you.”

Jody released a relieved sigh. “Thanks, Ginny. I knew I could count on you.”

“Of course, I’m going to need a babysitter.”

Chapter Nine

Sophie felt in a better frame of mind as the men walked out the door. How many times had she wished for a brother? Always envious of her friends when they complained about theirs, she had seen the affection between the siblings despite their complaints.

Rounding the counter, she started cleaning the table. When she picked up Silas’ coffee cup, she saw the bill placed underneath. Sure she was mistaken, she unfolded it to see it was a hundred-dollar bill.

She shook her head as she cleaned the rest of the table, finding a hundred-dollar bill under each plate. Placing the dishes in the plastic bin, she sniffed back tears as she stuffed the bills in her apron pocket.

She would have to return the money when they came in the next time. There was no way she could accept it, sure they had only given it to her because they had walked in while she’d been crying.

After wiping the table down, she went into the kitchen to load the dishwasher.

When she heard the bell over the door ring, she left the kitchen, feeling more confident that she might be able to convince them to order hamburgers.

There was a lone man sitting in a corner booth. Pasting a smile on her face, she went over to greet him. As she drew closer, however, her smile slipped. He gave her the heebie-jeebies, making her want to run and hide behind the counter.

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