Page 47 of A Twist of Faith
She steadied herself with a hand to the table, but couldn’t look away.
“I’m a patient man. Very patient.” He winked one more time. “And I’m pretty fond of challenges myself.”
He walked out the door and Dee collapsed into the chair. Seven weeks? Who really would win this wager? Alex? Herself? Or Reese Mitchell?
It tookthree conversations with Rainey and one visit from Grace Mitchell to convince Dee to join the family picnic. After the near emotional breakthrough she had with Reese a few days earlier, where his lips teased all sorts of daydreams out of her, she’d tried to convince herself of two things:
One—getting out of Ransom remained her primary purpose, not building confusing relationships. Two—if Reese really knew her, if he scratched beyond the surface, he wouldn’t like what he saw. Rainey was witty and charming. No wonder people liked her. Mama Mitchell’s generous nature and homespun appeal endeared others to her. But Rainey’s personal questions and Reese’s personal touch shook her to the soul. Underneath all the education and the years of denial, who was left? A skeleton of a frightened little girl clinging to a dream that didn’t exist? And three—she’d made a wager, and if he ever found out it would probably ruin any good feelings he had for her.
Fear of his rejection secured her distance, but broke her heart. When she closed her eyes, she sensed his fingertips stroking her cheek and the mere thought of his bass voice near her ear had her pulse doing the samba. As Calvin said,Getting an inch of snow is like winning ten cents in the lottery. A near kiss from Reese Mitchell evoked the same reaction … enough to make her mad, or crazy.
Rainey pulled into the driveway with her blue SUV, Sarah’s pixie face evident through the back window. Dee met her at the porch steps, a list of excuses readied. “I have a lot of work to do for classes next week. Maybe I should just stay—”
“I have the same number of classes as you.” Rainey’s lifted brow brooked no refusal.
“But there’s a new assessment on Wednesday I—”
“Nope. Won’t work.” She shook her head. “I havethreenew assessments on Monday and one on Thursday. All the more reason to have some fun today.”
Dee opened her mouth with another excuse and Rainey cut her off. “Nope. Not listening. You obviously don’t know what’s best for you, but lucky for you, friends do.” She jerked her head to the passenger seat. “In.”
“I haven’t been hiking or on a picnic in …” Dee looked up at the cloudless autumn blue sky. “I can’t even remember.” Everything after her father’s death meshed her high school years into a constant blur with one goal: move out of the house. Before, laughter wasn’t a common occurrence, let alone picnics. After nearly kissing Reese Mitchell, spending time near him terrified her because … it didn’t make sense in her plans.
“All the more reason to go today. If you can survive a Mitchell family outing, you can survive anything.”
Surviving wasn’t the issue. Chocolate-colored eyes and mountain charm struck up a confused chorus of fear and hope with an entire emotional orchestra screamingrun!Dee reluctantly made her way to the passenger side and climbed in, thankful her jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt matched Rainey’s casual look.
Rainey steered down the gravel drive, the high-pitched chorus of children’s music playing in the background. Sarah swayed her golden head to the tune, a smile spread from one plump cheek to the other.
“I brought cream puffs for the picnic.” She held up her offering wrapped in Tupperware.
Rainey gave it a solid nod. “Thank you, Dee. I’ll have to jog an extra mile today because of you.” Her grin turned wicked. “Unless you want to challenge me in a tennis match?”
“You play tennis too?”
“Nah,” Rainey shrugged. “Well, I mean, I can play enough for people to make fun of me, but that’s about it. You’d get a nice laugh out of it.”
Dee looked out the window, thoughts turning to Reese. “I didn’t know your brother did research. He’s even published.”
“Oh, Dee, to be such a smart lady, you sure have a lot to learn.” Rainey chuckled and turned the music down a little. “Just because people in your past were a certain way, and chose to live as they did, doesn’t mean everyone in Appalachia is the same.”
“I recognize that.”
“Right.” Her tone said otherwise. “Here’s a good test. What would you say if I told you I got my Master’s Degree from Vandy?”
Dee’s jaw came unhinged. “You got into Vanderbilt University?”
“Crazy, right?” Rainey shrugged, the green jacket turning her eyes more green than blue. “Loved it—and proved my point, by the way. You have some pretty wild misconceptions about Appalachian folks.”
It took five seconds for Dee’s brain to catch up with the news and muddle through a fresh flush of shame. If Rainey only knew … “Why did you come backhere?”
“You make the choice sound like a bad thing.”
Dee smoothed her hands over her jeans. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“There’s a lot to be said for a place called home, Dee. I guess for someone who is used to bigger towns and cities, it’s hard to imagine.”
Dee tried to keep her expression neutral, but evidently failed.
