Page 34 of Luck Be a Genie

When he finished, he settled into a chair next to me, then cocked his head, listening to Lucky next door. “Is she... talking to a TV?”

I chuckled. “It’s the show Jeopardy! She watches it when she’s sad or stressed.”

We listened as she kept answering each question out loud, getting them all right.

“She’s really smart,” Declan said.

I nodded. “Really smart. She struggles with believing that sometimes, though.”

Declan’s eyebrows went up in question, but I shook my head. “It’s personal. Maybe she’ll talk to you guys about it sometime.”

Declan sat up, frowning. “Someone hurt her?”

“Personal, Deck.”

He scowled and folded his arms over his chest, making me chuckle. One night, and she had my brothers completely wrapped around her finger. Lucky was just that lovable.

I just wish she saw that.

All she saw was a woman who was an inconvenience at best, and a danger to those she loved at worst.

If only she knew...

She had no idea what she meant to me. She thought she was a curse, but really, she was the best thing that had ever happened to me.

A gift.

And if I had to spend the rest of my life trying to convince her of that, I’d do it happily.

Chapter 13

Lucky

Despite my lack of sleep, we got an early start the next morning. I got ready quickly, packed my backpack full of everything I thought I might need, then met Nick at a cute little seaside breakfast spot.

Nick was a little quiet this morning, but I figured it was just because he’d had a late night.

We both had.

I’d watched Jeopardy! reruns for over an hour, trying to cheer myself up, and I’d heard Nick in his room talking with his brother when I’d finally gone to bed, so we were both dragging.

I mourned the fact that I didn’t do coffee. It would have been so helpful this morning.

“You ready to see waterfalls?” I asked, piling the ketchup onto my omelette.

Nick kept watching as I kept squeezing the bottle. “Are you sure you have enough? Here. You can have my bottle too,” he said, his lips twitching in silent laughter as he tried to hand me his ketchup bottle.

“Harty har har. Very funny. I like a lot of ketchup. It’s better that way.” I set the ketchup down and reached for the hot sauce. I was in the mood for spicy today.

Nick’s eyebrows went up. “Are you sure about that hot sauce?” He looked like he desperately wanted to laugh.

“Stop policing my eating habits,” I growled, shoving a bit of omelette in my mouth. Then my eyes went wide, and Nick started busting up laughing, sliding me his chocolate milk.

“There’s my girl,” he said fondly. “For a minute, I wasn’t sure.”

I gulped down his milk, and then, when that wasn’t enough, gulped down my water.

“Hot!” I gasped, my eyes watering like crazy. “How do people eat this stuff?”