Page 70 of A Whim and a Prayer

The kiss of death, apparently, because she’d barely talked to him when the three of them had been doing dishes after dinner, much less looked at him, finally disappearing upstairs into her room to “study.” The only consolation had been Abby’s repentant smile on their way out of the kitchen, reminding him of Winnie’s request for some “space for maybe a month or so.” Well, the month was almost over now, so Beck hoped Thanksgiving might do the trick in thawing Winnie’s resistance.

The sounds of shouts and laughter brought him back to the present, the Dennehys’ annual Thanksgiving bash—to which he was always invited after a quiet dinner with his parents—buoying his hopes.

“Beck!” Unfortunately those same hopes faltered somewhat when Julia flung the front door open with her usual ear-to-ear smile, a key indicator that Winnie was still giving him the cold shoulder. “You’re late,” she said with a tug of his arm, pulling him inside. “They started the game of spoons thirty minutes ago.”

“Uh-oh,” he said with a grin, all too familiar with the mayhem that ensued when the Dennehys and O’Connor clan got the spoons out for a game of do-or-die competition, “maybe I’m not late enough. I still have scars from the last time.”

She giggled and took the pie from him, giving it an appreciative sniff. “Mmm … it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without your mom’s blueberry pie.” A telltale blush tinted her cheeks as her head tilted to give him a shy smile. “Or you.”

Chuckling, he hooked an arm to her shoulder and kissed the top of her head, heart swelling with affection for Winnie’s little sister. “Sure wish your sister felt the same way.”

“She will, Beck, in time.” Slipping from his hold, she scooted off toward the kitchen with a sweet smile over her shoulder. “I’ll put this with the other desserts while you join the fray—they’re in the dining room as usual. Can I get you anything?”

“Uh … one of Henry’s old catcher’s masks and a chest protector would be nice.”

Her giggles soothed his spirit as he ducked his head into the living room where Gabe’s husband, Alex, was playing chess with Winnie’s grandfather, Patrick, while her grandmother, Marcy, read a book to several toddlers in her lap. “So, who’s winning?” he asked as he strolled over to the chess game to observe, grinning outright when Winnie’s grandfather produced a scowl.

“Don’t ask,” Patrick muttered as Alex shook Beck’s hand with a grin.

Alex gave a nod to Patrick. “Like he said—don’t ask.”

Winnie’s grandmother looked up. “Hello, Beck—how are your parents doing?”

“Good, Mrs. O’Connor—I took them to Aunt Clara’s for a quiet evening after we had dinner.”

Marcy chuckled. “A wise move, considering the uproar at this house for sure.”

“Hey, Beck!” Teddy called from one of two game tables set up at the back of the room, where he and Will played cards with Bella, Laney, and several McGees. “Wanna join us in a restrained game of poker?” he asked as he shuffled the cards. “Will’s gotta date soon, so we could sure use you.”

“Thanks, guys, but I have a date with a spoon in the other room, but maybe later?” He waved to the group and headed for the door, following the noisy ruckus down the hall to the Dennehys’ oversized dining room that Mrs. Dennehy had especially built to handle family gatherings.

Standing in the large arched doorway, he watched as no less than twenty people passed cards in a frenzy around the gargantuan table in their quest of four of a kind while nineteen spoons were laid out side by side in the middle. Nobody noticed him at first because they were too busy slamming cards. But when Charity pounced on a spoon mid-table and everyone else dove for a spoon of their own, he laughed outright as Winnie battled her Aunt Faith for the last one amid squeals and shouts.

“Ouch!” Faith cried when Winnie gouged the last spoon from her hand, “that hurt!”

“Yeah, she’s good at that,” Beck said as he moseyed into the room to a chorus of greetings from everyone but Winnie. “Who’s winning?”

“I am, of course,” Charity said, the resident spoons champ in the O’Connor clan. “Everybody has letters but Gabe, Luke, Winnie, and me, so you can take Faith’s place because my vicious daughter just took her out.”

“Like mother, like daughter.” Faith rose with a dry smile as she turned her chair over to Beck. She patted him on the arm while giving a nod to Winnie on her right. “You might want to watch out for this one, Beck—she’ll claw you alive.”

“Already has.” He grinned as he took his seat, giving Winnie’s shoulder a bump with his own while several of the others tossed teases her way.

“Hey, I can always move …” She shot up with palms raised, the tease in her tone not the least bit convincing as she avoided Beck’s gaze.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Charity said on Winnie’s other side, quickly yanking her back down. “You stay right there, sweetheart. After all, he’s your best friend.”

“Or was …” Beck said as Gabe dealt four-card hands around the table. Snatching his up, he immediately slammed the ones he didn’t want to Winnie so hard and fast, she hissed under her breath while he focused on the new ones coming his way. Because if he couldn’t win at friendship with the little brat, then he’d win at cards, “spoon” feeding his “best friend” with a little of her own right back.

Chapter Forty-Seven

“Gee, Dennehy—you’re a little off your game tonight, aren’t you?” Beck shuffled the two decks of cards like a pro, his hands faster than the eye. “So … what is it now—S-P-O-O, Pooh?” he said, the smirk on his face getting on Winnie’s last nerve.

“Oooo, good one, Beck,” Abby said, laughter circling the table as Beck dealt the cards, discharging them around the table like bullets.

Winnie sent Abby a glare across the table before singeing Beck with a look out of the corner of her eyes. “Not off my game, Campbell, more like off my friendship since my ex-best friend is burying me in cards so fast, I can barely catch my breath.”

“Goodness, that’s never bothered you before, sweetheart,” her mother said with a teasing pinch of her waist, “Beck leaving you breathless, that is.”