Page 59 of Grady

“Did you…” She cleared her throat. “Is that for me?”

“Well, considering it has a bow on it and it is your birthday, I would say it is yours.” He watched her walk toward the dollhouse and run her hand over it, then looked at him. “It’s my favorite one.”

“I know. I had Maggie do some detective work for me. I know how much you loved the one you had and that prick… destroyed it. You needed a new one. From me.” He walked toward her, pulled her into his arms and held her while she sobbed against his shirt.

She gazed up at him. “You, Grady Henderson, are getting so lucky tonight.”

Grady laughed and kissed her forehead. “Darlin’, I’m always lucky when you’re by my side. Let’s eat.”

He took her hand and led her to the kitchen. He was glad she was happy about the dollhouse.

Chapter Nine

Savannah smiled as the women left the shop, then collapsed on the stool behind the counter.

“Maggie, thank you for helping Grady with the dollhouse. I was so surprised.” She glanced at Maggie to see her shaking her head.

“I was sure he was going to get caught the other day. He just made it to his truck with it when you came back. I’m sorry I fibbed to you, but he made me promise, and I sure didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“I appreciate it. I cried when I saw it. I’ll tell you why one day soon.”

“Okay.” When the door opened and more people came in, Maggie sighed and looked at Savannah. “Please tell me why I wanted this job again,” Maggie said with a grin.

“I have never been so busy. Is there something going on today we don’t know about?”

“I don’t know, but when I picked up coffee this morning, Celine looked like she was being run ragged like us.”

“Maybe there are more tourists this year.”

“I thought May was bad, but this is just the beginning of June and we’re running low on things.”

Savannah sighed. “I know. I’m going to have to either order more things or find an estate sale.”

“Oh, I bet they’re fun.”

“They can be, unless the people are asking outrageous prices. I went to one last year and there was the most gorgeous grandfather clock. It was over a hundred years old, but they were asking way too much for it.” Savannah sighed. “I was so disappointed but I came back here and looked online and found one for a quarter of what they wanted. It sold in a day.”

“I love grandfather clocks. My father-in-law has one that’s old. I think he told me he bought it for his wife fifty years ago. It still chimes. It’s just so pretty.”

“You visit him a good bit, don’t you?”

“I try to get out there to see him, at least once a month. Sometimes we go riding together. He’s the one who taught me how to ride.” Maggie tilted her head. “Do you ride?”

“Oh, hell no.”

Maggie laughed. “It’s fun.”

“I’m not sure falling off a horse is fun.”

“I remember the day I was meeting Fred in the barn for my first lesson and Rafe was there. I told him I was so afraid of being thrown. The man laughed and said, if you haven’t been thrown, you haven’t ridden.” Maggie shook her head. “Really boosted my confidence,” she said with sarcasm.

Savannah shuddered. “I cannot imagine how hard that ground is from up there.”

“It’s not soft, I’ll tell you that.”

“You’ve been thrown?” Savannah asked in a shocked voice.

“Yep. The first time I got on a horse, he bucked and off I went. Damn it hurt. I had to lay there for a few minutes to catch my breath. I looked up and Rafe was standing over me. He told me to take my time and let him know when I thought I could get up. After a few minutes, I nodded. He put his hand out and helped me get to my feet. I started to shake my head about getting back on, but he said I couldn’t give up that soon. I gave him a dirty look.” She laughed. “I told him it hurt. He just grinned and said, it won’t be the last time either.”

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