Dreaming of His Pen Pal's Kiss - Jessie Gussman Page 0,26
friend to you as you are to her. And you don’t have to sugarcoat that. Because it’s true. There aren’t a lot of people who would have done what you did. Helped her, and she’s giving you nothing in return. Nothing besides telling everyone how wonderful your best friend is and letting everyone know that she’s got her eye on him.” Journee didn’t want Blakely to be too hard on herself. She had so many good qualities.
“Martin would never go for her.”
Journee just raised her brows while Blakely very visibly tried not to squirm. It was so obvious someone would be snatching Martin up, especially if he were done on the rodeo circuit.
“You think Martin likes her?” she asked hesitantly.
Journee lifted a shoulder, striving for casual, so her sister didn’t think she was hitting her over the head with anything. “You know better than I do.”
Blakely sat for a bit and stared at her lap, thinking.
“Do you think I’m holding him back?” she asked softly.
“No. Martin isn’t the kind of person who’s gonna sit around and let someone walk all over him while he secretly pines away for something else. If he wants Erin, he’ll go get her. You don’t need to worry about that.”
“Is there something you think I need to worry about?”
“I think you have to answer that question,” Journee said enigmatically. “Now, there is something that I can do for you, since you’re my older sister, and I love you.”
“What’s that?” Blakely asked, her eyes narrowing a bit in suspicion at Journee’s tone.
Journee swallowed the laugh threatening to bubble up inside. “I can get that football player away from you. I think, most of the time, Mom and Dad are right, but if they’re trying to match you up with him, they’re definitely missing the mark on that one. I can make it so that you don’t need to worry about him.” She hadn’t quite understood the question he’d asked when they’d met in front of the diner—she though he’d said, did she work here? Which didn’t make sense, since she’d just come from work in the ER and was still wearing her scrubs. She must have misheard him but hadn’t had a chance to ask him to repeat himself. Not that it mattered.
“I wouldn’t ask you to do that.”
“I know. You didn’t ask. I offered. You won’t have to worry about running from him.” Journee lifted a brow, indicating Blakely’s position in the hayloft.
“I’m immature and stupid. We’ve already figured that out.”
“No. You just don’t have any experience in matters of the heart,” Journee said, setting her notebook aside and rising, a small smile creeping out. “And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You don’t have to know how to handle every man in the world. You just have to be faithful to one.”
“You can’t be faithful if you can’t catch him.”
“Maybe it’s not a matter of catching, maybe it’s a matter of being caught.”
“He’s not exactly been chasing me around.”
“The football player?”
“He’s obviously not a good match for me.”
Journee nodded. “Usually, our parents have much better insight. I can hardly believe...” Absentmindedly, she fixed her shirt and brushed the hay off her pants, considering what her parents might be up to. She had her suspicions, but she couldn’t voice them to her sister.
“Maybe they’re just off their game.”
“They can’t be too far off. They just helped West and Poppy a few months ago.”
“True.” Blakely stood with Journee, following her to the loft ladder. “I guess they can’t be right all the time. Just most of it.”
Journee nodded. “They’ve definitely given me some good advice over the years. You’d be wise to listen to them. But I do agree with you on this. The ballplayer...he’s not for you.”
“Maybe he’s for you.”
Journee shook her head. “No.” The little smile continued playing at the corners of her mouth. She was definitely more into Computer Geek. “But I think we could probably be friends.”
She was two rungs down before she looked up at Blakely. “You stay here until I get him to take me to see the sheep with the triplets. I think they’re two sheds down, and that should be far enough so that you can grab Martin and take the kids and do something.”
“Thank you.” Blakely said. “Just avoid the horse barn. And that’s where I’ll stay.”
Chapter 10
Dante’s eyes widened in surprise as the woman he met coming out of the diner yesterday came down out of the hayloft. He couldn’t recall her name, but he definitely