Batter of Wits (Green Valley Chronicles #22) - Smartypants Romance Page 0,20
a deep yearning that I was supposed to be somewhere else in my life. That I wasn't doing what I really wanted to be doing or experiencing life the way I wanted to be experiencing it.
Boredom.
And it was a dangerous thing.
As the truck followed the gentle curves of the road, new sights opened up in front of us, and I saw Grace tilt her head to catch a better view of the Smoky Mountains.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
She nodded. "We had mountains in California, but not all the trees around them like this. Just mansions built upon mansions that looked down on all the commoners."
"Wait 'til fall," I told her. "When those colors change, I can hardly breathe for looking at it."
"I bet it looks like the mountains are on fire," she said quietly.
I hummed as I thought about that. Thought about the reds and oranges and yellows that stained the leaves and lit the mountains with a blaze of color that stretched as far as you could see. "That's a pretty way to say it."
From the corner of my eye, I saw her dip her chin toward the window, like she hadn't meant to say it out loud.
"So, we might as well get some brainstorming done or Miss Barton will have my hide."
Grace laid her head back. "My experience with being paid to kiss strangers and weird, animal sacrificing country fairs is fairly limited."
I scratched the side of my face. "You know, you might want to hold off on calling our traditions weird if you ever want to feel at home here."
She gave me a look. "Headless chicken festival? Come on. Don't tell me someone didn't choose that for shock factor. I'll call bullshit every day of the week."
"Fair enough," I agreed. "But it is a true story, and I tell you what, as soon as you taste some of the recipes from the chicken contest, you'll be a convert too."
"Convert or not, I have no plans to swap spit with every man in this town. So if you have any bright ideas, let’s hear it."
The sun over the mountains hit me square in the eyes when I turned toward Cooper Road Trail, so I flipped my visor down before answering. Grace did the same.
I shrugged. "Honestly, my dad was always on this committee, so I don't know a whole lot more than you do other than what I've heard second hand. Certainly nothing about a kissing booth, which I don’t particularly want to take part in, for a number of reasons."
"Blind leading the blind," she muttered.
"Seems like it."
The boot braced on the dashboard started tapping, even though the music in my truck was hardly loud enough to hear.
As I pulled into the parking lot by the trailhead at Cooper Road, I glanced at her. Grace's eyes were focused and sharp, her expensive-looking camera in her hands. My foot eased off the gas, and she lifted it to her face to snap something she saw. The trees towered over the truck when I turned slowly into an empty spot and slid the gear into park.
She was still quietly thinking when I reached behind her seat to grab the hiking boots I always kept in my truck.
"You're seriously hiking with my brother?" she asked.
I kept my eyes trained on my black dress shoes as I untied them. "Seems like it. I'd hate to leave another member of the Buchanan family alone in the wilderness on their first week here."
Grace snorted. "Grady can handle himself. He's moving here because of hikes like this."
"That so?"
"Yeah, he wants to start some outdoorsy business." Unaware of how that sharpened my interest, Grace kept talking. "He was chained to his computer at his old job in LA, absolutely hated it. When we were here for Connor's wedding, he talked to my Uncle Robert about how there's no company down here to guide people like him, or me, who want to do hikes and camping trips, rafting or whatever. You just have to hope you don't get lost, or that you have the right equipment to explore. So … he wants to start a business like that, I guess. Get paid to do what he loves."
My hands slowed as I pulled off one shoe, then the other. I felt a sharp pang of jealousy, buried deep in my chest, for a man I'd never even met.
"That's a good idea," I told her. "He have someone local he's working with?"