Page 60 of I Can't Help It

Ten minutes is also enough time for us to do some serious lip-locking, but I don’t want Luke to think that I have the hormones of a boy-crazy teenager, so I keep the suggestion to myself. After all, too much kissing wouldn’t be very professional of us.

Fun fact: I don’t want to be professional.

“Ava?”

I push aside the nagging urge to attack his mouth with mine. “I can definitely look over the other itineraries.”

* * *

As I predicted, the rest of Luke’s plans for this week are fabulous. There’s only one activity I’m concerned about, and that’s horseback riding.

Now, don’t jump to conclusions. I don’t hate horses or anything crazy like that.

I used to read countless chapter books about horses when I was a kid, and I even had a horse themed party for my ninth birthday, but I’ve never tried RIDING a horse. They’re beautiful, mysterious creatures, and frankly…they’re also intimidating.

I didn’t tell Luke about my hesitations, though, because I know he’d try to change activities for me; and I don’t want him to do that. I owe it to nine-year-old Ava to finally ride a horse.

Even if the idea is kind of terrifying.

Thankfully, I have a few days to work up some confidence.

And right now, it’s bingo time.

I’ve played bingo before. The last time I played was on a cruise that Aunt Kat and I took after I graduated high school. I just wasn’t good at it. But can anyone truly be good at bingo if it’s a game of chance?

“Yeah, baby! Two more spaces and I’ll have bingo, suckers!”

That smug voice belongs to the little old lady sitting at a table next to ours. She seemed sweet and innocent at first, in a Rose-kind-of-way, but it’s becoming clear that she has more in common with Sophia instead.

“Let’s all remember this is a friendly game of bingo.” Zara, the caller, widens her eyes at our fellow bingo player. “We’re all here to have lots of fun, right?”

Sophia-not-Rose mutters something under her breath as she waves off Zara, and Luke chuckles beside me.

“Ya know,” he whispers, leaning in some, “I’m pretty sure that guest was in the library with me yesterday.”

“Was she loud and annoying then too?” I whisper back.

“Apparently, I was the one being loud. She shushed me because the ‘good part’ was coming up in her steamy cowboy romance.”

I laugh along with him, but now my mind is being naughty and wants to picture Luke as a hot cowboy. He would be a really hot cowboy. Oh my gosh! What if they give us cowboy hats when we go horseback riding? I wouldn’t be mad…

“B-9.” Luke nudges my arm. “You have B-9.”

She called B-9? Crap, I need to stay focused. No more fantasizing about Cowboy Luke. I’m not going to lose this game because of my overactive imagination.

Zara calls two other pairs after that, and I hear Sophia-not-Rose cuss at her bingo card. “I should’ve gotten a different card! This is fricking ridiculous!”

I lean toward Luke. “Is there a special prize or something that I wasn’t told about?”

I can’t believe someone would get so worked up over bingo if they weren’t hoping to get a reward for being the winner.

Luke’s eyebrows crease at that. “I’m not sure. I don’t remember anyone mentioning a prize though.”

Twenty minutes later, we find out there IS a reward for the winner. A gift certificate for a free hair appointment at Love Your Hair, one of Briar Haven’s best salons. And how do I know it’s one of the best salons in Briar Haven? Well, because it says so on the sheet of paper that Sophia-not-Rose keeps waving around like a captured flag.

Yeah, she won bingo. Who could’ve seen that coming?

“My hair is going to look SO good!” Sophia-not-Rose exclaims to no one in particular. “I’ll look like a movie star, and Hank won’t know what hit him!”

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