JEFFREY SLEPT later than usual the next morning. Blair didn’t disturb him, thinking that perhaps he’d had a restless night. She’d gotten little enough sleep herself. Unintentionally or not, Scott McKay had interfered with her sleep since she’d met him. Maybe now that their brief relationship—it could hardly be called an affair—was over, she could get some rest.
Small comfort, but she would take what she could get.
When she heard Jeffrey moving around, she started cooking his favorite breakfast. By the time he shuffled into the kitchen, still yawning and rubbing his eyes, she had a stack of buckwheat pancakes and a bowl of fruit waiting for him. “Good morning,” she said, sidestepping his cat as she finished setting the table.
“Morning. That looks good.”
She smiled and poured a glass of milk for him. “Have you decided what you would like to do today?”
“Can we go to a movie? Or an arcade?”
“We can do both,” she agreed. “It’s turning out to be a beautiful day. Why don’t we drive in to Casper this morning and play miniature golf, then have lunch wherever you like, then maybe go to an arcade and a movie?”
“All of that?” Jeffrey nodd
ed. “Sounds good.”
He seemed genuinely pleased, though not quite as excited as he’d been about the visit to Scott’s ranch, she noted with a pang.
She settled across the table from him with her breakfast. “You know, of course, that I’m going to stomp you at miniature golf,” she teased, hoping to make him smile.
She succeeded. “In your dreams,” he retorted.
“I’ll go easy on you, if you like. Maybe let you get a stroke or two ahead at the beginning. But in the end, victory will be mine.”
Jeffrey rolled his eyes. “Aunt Blair, I’m going to blow you off the score card. I could beat you with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back.”
“You think so?”
“Know so. After all, I’m young and sharp and you’re...well.” He grinned.
“You’re calling me old?” She promptly threw her napkin at him, making him giggle. “You are so going to lose, boy.”
“Maybe I’ll let you win a game of air hockey at the arcade.”
“You’re toast, kid.”
He giggled. “We’ll see.”
He finished every bite of his breakfast, looking considerably more cheerful than he had the night before. Blair feigned a carefree mood. While she was pleased that Jeffrey wanted to spend time with her and that he seemed to be getting past his disappointment about the ranch trip, her heart was still very heavy.
It was going to take her quite a bit longer to recover from her own disappointment.
The next few hours were the most pleasant time Blair and Jeffrey had spent alone together. After breakfast they set out immediately for Casper. It was a beautiful day for a drive. They played two rounds of miniature golf, selecting a different course the second time. Blair won the first round, and was pleased that Jeffrey took the close defeat well. Perhaps she could give credit to Scott for that, she thought with a renewed pang. But Jeffrey beat her the second game, to his obvious delight.
He wanted tacos and cheese dip for lunch, after which they spent a long time in a noisy, crowded arcade. Jeffrey slaughtered her at arcade games, of course, but Blair couldn’t care less since he seemed to be having so much fun. He proudly carried out the stuffed monkey he won, a toy Blair could have bought for half the cost of winning it, but she didn’t care about that, either.
Jeffrey selected an animated action movie—which wouldn’t have been Blair’s first choice—and they bought popcorn, soft drinks and chocolate-covered raisins to munch on during the film. Blair enjoyed the snacks more than the story, but Jeffrey was enthralled. He chattered about the characters and the cool weapons all the way home. Blair tried to remember enough about it to respond with some semblance of intelligence.
Listening to his prattling made her smile. So what if her brief fling with Scott hadn’t worked out. She would recover. She had Jeffrey in her life now, and she would take great pleasure in helping him grow into a fine, upstanding man. A man who understood the meaning of responsibility and commitment. A man who wouldn’t make promises he didn’t intend to keep.
A man who would never disappoint a child who looked up to him.
*
SCOTT MCKAY was an idiot. An insensitive jerk. An aging Peter Pan who needed to grow up and start paying attention to other people besides himself. And those were the words of someone who was very fond of him—his loyal but exasperated assistant, Carolyn.
The things he had said to himself were even harsher.