Page 78 of A Whim and a Prayer

“Keep her out of your hair?”

Beck grinned. “Yes, sir, if you will.”

Mitch shook his head. “I’ll try, Beck, but when it comes to my wife—and my daughter, apparently …” he opened the door with a droll smile. “I can only do so much.”

Chapter Fifty-Two

“I don’t understand. Why are you doing this?” Clad in her nightgown, Abby sat against her mahogany headboard with knees to her chest and arms tightly wound around them with a white-knuckled grip. Shooting a nervous glance at her locked bedroom door, her gaze darted back to Winnie, gray eyes wide with concern that matched the plea in her tone. “Winnie, it’s bad enough your parents don’t want you associating with Brayden, but Beck and I don’t want you associating with him either, so tell me please—why are you doing this?”

Winnie expelled a strained quiver of air, not fully sure herself just why she was so intent on seeing Brayden tonight. All she knew was she was wound as tight as a spring-propelled toy and had been since Beck’s kiss on Thanksgiving night. And God help her, she needed a release!

God help me? She cut loose with a grunt, thinking God hadn’t helped her with Beck so far, so why waste more words on prayer? He’d obviously refused her primary request to release her and Beck from these ridiculous feelings of attraction, because her nightmares were getting worse, scaring her silly. Desperate to douse the unwanted feelings Beck had ignited, Winnie had pursued a flurry of mixers and tea dances between Radcliffe and Harvard in the last three weeks, resulting in a number of dates that had left her cold.

And desperate.

So, if God won’t step up, then I will, she thought with a firm press of her jaw, ripping her nightgown over her head to reveal her new blue-and-gray plaid pleated wool skirt with her matching blue cardigan sweater—the exact color of her eyes. Because after Brayden McCarthy had flirted with her at The Footlight Club’s Christmas party last week, reigniting her strong feelings for him—what could she do?

She had no choice but to say yes when he’d asked her to his fraternity’s Christmas event, even though she knew her parents would never let her go. Because deep down she sensed that Brayden McCarthy was the one person who could eradicate this forbidden attraction to Beck once and for all, setting her and her relationship with Beck free to be all it was ever meant to be—friendship forever!

Balling her nightgown up, she tucked it under the covers of Abby’s sister Laney’s twin bed—Winnie’s for the night since Laney was sleeping in Bella’s room—along with the blanket she’d molded there. Turning to Abby with a penitent slant of brows, she issued her own plea to her cousin and best friend. “Abs, you know why I’m doing this—to save my friendship with Beck. Besides, you know better than anybody, except Beck of course, how I’ve carried a torch for Brayden since sophomore year. Well, I’m eighteen now, in college, and the one guy I’ve pined over for the last four years has finally asked me out.”

She sat down and dragged her penny loafers out from under Laney’s bed, proceeding to put on the white anklet socks tucked inside. “The bottom line is—I like him, Abs—I always have. So this is my one chance to get my friendship with Beck back on track. Besides, I’m actually doing this for my parents, you, and Beck as much as for me.”

A frown dug deep above Abby’s nose. “How you figure that?”

Winnie tugged one penny loafer on and then the other. “Because this is my chance to get him out of my system once and for all. You know as well as I do that when a guy starts liking me back, it’s all over for me, Abs, you know that. I’ll lose interest like always.”

“But you don’t know that, Winnie! Not this time. McCarthy’s the one you’ve been obsessing over from sophomore year on and the only guy you’ve been crazy over ever since, so he’s got a hold on you no one else has ever had. Not to mention he’s so much older than you and a womanizer with a bad reputation.”

Winnie shrugged. “So was my brother, Abs, but Amy reeled him in, didn’t she? Which just goes to show the right girl can turn Brayden McCarthy’s head too, and who knows?” She stood and hurried to Abby’s closet to put on her winter coat. “That ‘right girl’ could be me.”

Abby issued a rare grunt. “Yeah, the right girl all right—for the wrong guy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Winnie asked with a frown.

“It means, Winnie, that you could be the one falling hard and not him, which is a dangerous place to be with a Romeo like that.”

“Oh, rats—I’ve been around Brayden a lot at The Footlight Club for various work days and a number of meetings, and he’s been the perfect gentleman every single time. Flirtatious, yes, which is why I know he likes me because he reserves most of that for me. Besides, I can handle myself. Remember the black eye I gave Chet Murphy after he got fresh?”

“That was freshman year, Winnie,” Abby said with a duck of her head, pinning her cousin with a pointed stare, “in a game of spin the bottle. This is you alone with a womanizer at a fraternity party—big difference.”

Winnie tossed her head as she buttoned her coat, desperate to portray a bravado she didn’t quite feel. “Not to me. I’m no different than Gabe—I’ve been beating up little boys since my orphanage days, just like her, and I’ve landed a few shots at guys I’ve dated too.”

“Yes, but those were all guys you weren’t smitten with. It’s different with Brayden. It’s like your head’s always been in the clouds where he’s concerned, not seeing the dangers involved.” She unleashed a growl of frustration. “Oooo, I wish I’d never agreed to this.”

“You had no choice, Abs. We promised to get each other Christmas gifts we really wanted that didn’t cost too much, right? And this is what I wanted—for you to cover for me this one time, and it’s not even costing you a thing.”

“Yeah, just my conscience.” Abby scowled with a stiff fold of arms.

Winnie shook her head as she strolled over to the dressing table to dab some of Abby’s perfume on her wrists and behind her ears. “Oh, Cuz, you worry too much!”

“And you don’t worry enough. Face it, Winnie—you’ve got a tendency to go off on a whim, landing yourself in trouble, and this time you could really get hurt. Brayden is no little boy; he’s a full-grown man with more experience than anyone you’ve ever dated, so he could take advantage of you.”

Winnie’s sweater rose and fell in a weary exhale. “Look, Abs, I may be little, but I’m mighty, so I’m not worried, and you shouldn’t be either.”

Bong. Bong. Bong ...

Winnie glanced at Abby’s alarm clock while the grandfather clock in the parlor chimed eleven. “Well, that’s my cue,” she said as she retrieved a peppermint from her pocket and popped it in her mouth before slinging the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “Wish me luck, Cuz.”