AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Excellent. Composed, collected, self-assured.
Lincoln extended his hand to Ray. “Good to meet you.”
“You too.” Ray shook his hand and sized him up. “Grace says you’re in town for a few weeks?”
“Until the end of May. Never been here before, but it’s nice.” Lincoln jutted his chin toward the water. “Can’t beat the view, at least.”
Ray grunted a noise that could have been either assent or contempt.
“So, what are you doing out here?” Grace asked Lincoln, retaining the upbeat note in her voice. “I mean, besides jogging. Obviously. I guess that’s all you’re doing. And listening to music. And, um…sweating.”
Her father was looking at her oddly. Grace swallowed her blathering and tried to summon the capable teacher Lincoln had seen over the past couple of days. In her classroom, at least, she had her act together. Too bad she couldn’t have run into him jogging there.
“In addition to jogging and sweating, I was also thinking.” Amusement flickered in his dark golden eyes. “Specifically, I was thinking you and I should get together this weekend.”
Grace blinked.Get together. As in…?
No. He wouldn’t be asking her out on a date in front of her father. Would he?
She glanced at Ray, who was scrolling on his phone and not appearing the slightest bit interested in whatever his daughter was or wasn’t doing with the famous author.
“Get together,” she repeated. “Sure. That’d be great.”
“To go over your new curriculum before Monday,” Lincoln added. “You said you’d figured out how I could help teach your Shakespeare lessons.”
Oh!
Oh.
“Of course.” She forced a weak smile. She hadn’t figured out a darned thing about their co-teaching plans. “The curriculum.”
“So when’s good for you?” He rested his hands loosely on his hips. His breathing had evened out. A drop of sweat rolled down his temple.
“I’m not sure, actually.” She looked into her purse as if she might find the answer there. “I don’t have my calendar with me at the moment.”
“Are you free tonight?”
Her heart bounced up and down strangely, like a yo-yo. Part of her was thrilled at the idea of spending a Saturday night with Lincoln, even if it was for work, but there was no way she could come up with a brand-new, five-week curriculum in just a few hours.
“Tonight’s not good, I’m afraid.” She zipped her purse. “I have plans.”
“Doing what?” Ray asked.
Grace swung her attention to her father. Since when did he care? “Well, you and I are going to the electronics store, right? Then we have to finish Monopoly. Then I have some work to do at home.”
As “plans” went, it wasn’t exactly a hot date and a thrilling night at a dance club, but Grace couldn’t lie with her father standing right there. He knew she had a very…uneventful social life consisting of an occasional dinner or a movie with a friend.
“I don’t need to get the TV tonight.” Ray stuffed his phone back into his jeans pocket and shrugged. “Monopoly can wait. And Lincoln here wants to know about your work anyway, so you might as well get together.”
She swallowed. “It’s really not a good time.”
“Can’t see as there’s a better time coming up.” Ray pursed his lips, as if he were thinking deeply.
Grace stared at her father. He had rarely, if ever, pushed her to do anything. For most of her childhood, he’d expected her to take over Berry Farms, but when she’d expressed interest in going to college, he’d merely nodded and said, “You do what’s right for you.”
And neither he nor Gram had interfered in her love life—or complete lack thereof. Ray hadn’t even seemed to notice whether or not his daughter was dating. He was not unlike one of their beloved cows—reliable, calm, even-tempered, content with his friends and family, and a bit oblivious to whatever was going on outside his field of interest.
“I don’t want you to change your plans.” Lincoln looked from Ray to Grace as if he were trying to figure out their dynamic.
