His daddy would’ve thought so.Anything worth having’s worth working and waiting for, he always said.
And suddenly he was back at not funny. He shifted on the ground, looking past the fire to Louisa. He’d failed her in passing that lesson along.
He didn’t much care for failing at anything.
He didn’t much care for the thoughts he was getting about his sister lately either.
He reached around Anna, and he might’ve accidentally on purpose bumped her arm that was holding her marshmallow so steady. He also accidentally on purpose sniffed in thatpretty scent of her hair longer than he meant to while he grabbed the bag of marshmallows.
Because those were the only marshmallows he’d be getting tonight. “Don’t suppose you brought any pie?” he said softly.
“Pie?” Kaci said from Anna’s other side. “You brought pie, sugar?”
Anna held up a smoking marshmallow. That pout was cute as all get-out on her. “Burnt-marshmallow-on-a-stick pie,” she said. “It was almost perfect too.”
“I’ll fix one up for you,” he said.
Mostly because he felt bad hers got ruined. Some too because it would irritate her.
And irritate her it did. Her eyes glowed bright as the fire. “You need to worry about your own marshmallows.”
He flashed her a grin he didn’t feel. She was a special lady. Starting to sneak into places she didn’t have any business being, making him believe hedidneed to be worried about his marshmallows. Mamie said he had a way of making women think it was their idea when they finally broke up with him, but she also said she planned to live to see him get his comeuppance.
He wasn’t real happy with the idea of Mamie getting her final wish, but darned if Anna’s frown didn’t flip upside down when she took the stick he handed her. He had to swallow twice before he found the teasing note she’d expect. “You’re a softie, Anna Grace.”
“Only because I know you’ll make it up to me later.”
He blew out a slow breath. She hadn’t taken too well to being just his friend. But Mamie had mentioned that Louisa was taking up with a boy, one who was old enough he should’ve had a degree and a real job instead of four more semesters ahead of him. Jackson wasn’t about to be a bad example for her.
Never mind he already was.
But if Anna was willing to be miffed, it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Provided it was only a little miffed.
Because he wasn’t ready to push her away yet. He still liked her within arm’s reach. “You sure you don’t need me to show you how to hold that stick?”
“Again with the worrying about your own.”
Half of his blood drained due south. “Killing me here, Anna Grace.”
“This friend thing wasyouridea.”
“Here. Do one for me.” Louisa shoved her stick at him. “I like it a little burnt.”
Turned out, Anna could roll her eyes out loud too. He stuck the marshmallow into the fire then cut a glance toward her. If she’d made any faces, they were gone now. She rotated her new marshmallow and scratched Radish’s head with her other hand. Radish opened one eye, and Jackson could’ve sworn his dog silently called him a dummy.
A little too much female bonding going on around this campfire for his comfort. Didn’t usually mind being outnumbered, but then, he prided himself on knowing when to skedaddle away from the girls before they started getting too womanish. But that wood on the fire wasn’t the only thing burning tonight. Problem was, he couldn’t decide if it was Louisa’s brain from thinking so hard on the way up here, or something else entirely.
“I said alittleburnt,” Louisa shrieked.
He lifted the blistered marshmallow and blew out the flames. Over the crackling of the campfire, he heard Anna chuckle softly. “If you want it done right,” she said.
That was a challenge if he ever heard one. He shoved the stick back at Louisa. “You go on and show me how to do it.”
He picked up another stick and put a marshmallow on it, eyed the way Anna Grace’s marshmallow was toasting nice and even, and propped his own stick the right distance from the flames.
“That’s not how,” Louisa said. She stuck her marshmallow into the coals. A shower of sparks exploded.
Radish jumped. Anna yanked her stick away from thesparks, and her marshmallow flew right off the end of the stick. He lost sight of it once it cleared Louisa’s head.
