Her heart fluttered when he bounced over to the table and looked at the two seats between his grandfather and Blake. She waited to see what he’d do. He took the seat next to his grandfather and kicked his feet back and forth under the table. He wasn’t afraid of the men. Her grandfather smiled. Justin actually smiled back, and she relaxed, pleased with his first courageous step into their new life here.
Still kneeling on the floor on one knee, she wondered how stupid she was to have gotten herself stuck in this position. Of course Blake noticed. The man hadn’t stopped staring at her. Why? He liked her? He didn’t? He thought she was here to take advantage of her grandparents? What? At least he kept his distance.
She rolled back on her heel and used her thigh muscles to lift herself up. When she was back on her feet, she swayed, and put her hand to her head. Blake popped up out of his chair so fast and came toward her that she barely had time to back up three steps before he got to her.
“I’m fine. I just stood up too fast.”
“You aren’t fine. Everyone in this room can see you aren’t fine. Sit down before you fall down,” Blake ordered.
“After you.”
After a tense stare-down, he went back to the table and took his seat.
“Stubborn.” Just to rile her, he used his foot to push out the chair between him and Justin. She might have wanted him to back off, but she was still going to have to sit next to him.
She took the seat. She wanted to lean back and rest, but she couldn’t because of her back. She put her forearms on the armrests and slouched her back to relieve some of the tension and pain.
“Don’t you have any pain meds to take?” Blake asked.
“I did.”
“Where are they? I’ll get them.”
“They burned in the fireplace along with the jacket.” She continued to stare at her plate and breathe as evenly as she could without hurting her ribs.
Blake sat back. He put both hands over his face and ran them through his hair. “Shit. I’m sorry, Gillian. I never meant . . .”
Justin looked at his hands in his lap. “He swore. That’s bad.”
Gillian put her hand over Justin’s, trying to reassure him that Blake’s swearing wasn’t the same as their father going into a rage. “It’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“You have to eat two helpings of vegetables,” Justin said, staring at Blake.
Blake didn’t say a word but piled two big helpings of salad on his plate. He speared a tomato and a bunch of lettuce with his fork, dragged it through some ranch dressing, and stuffed it in his mouth. Justin smiled and relaxed beside her.
Stunned that Blake would go along with her rule for herself and Justin, she glanced at Blake, thinking she should say something to thank him for putting Justin at ease, but for the life of her, no words came to mind. She stared, trying to figure him out. The whole time, he took one bite after another of his salad, doing his penance for swearing without a word or outward sign he resented it. In fact, he cocked up one side of his mouth in amusement when she stared at him too long, so she quickly looked away.
Dee set the sandwich in front of Justin.
Gillian nudged his arm when he tried to pick it up. “What do you say?”
“Thank you.”
Dee smiled across the table. “You’re welcome. Please, everyone. Eat.”
All the food got passed around the table, from her grandfather to Dee to Blake, who served Gillian up a huge bowl of chili, cornbread, and a large plate of salad with dressing. “Eat. All of it.”
She shut her mouth with a hard click of her teeth so she wouldn’t cuss him out for ordering her around in front of Justin.
She took the first bite and sighed. So good. “Thank you, Dee. This is amazing.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.”
Gillian did, so she ate her fill, ignoring the crackle of awareness with the too-gorgeous-for-his-own-good man beside her.
Chapter 8
Gillian tried to help Dee clean up the kitchen. The only thing Dee let her do was wrap up the last few pieces of cornbread. In hog heaven, Justin sat at the table devouring a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream and a cookie. Given half a chance, Dee would spoil him rotten. Gillian kind of liked the idea. Justin deserved to be spoiled after all he’d been through.
“So, if you’re my grandfather, how come you never came to see us?” Justin held his spoon of ice cream halfway to his mouth.
Gillian waited for the answer despite Justin’s rude question. She’d always thought her extended family, whoever they were, didn’t care about her. That didn’t exactly sync with what she thought of her grandfather now.