“Yeah.”
“And I’m sure Madison will think this is beautiful and will be so proud of all your hard work.”
He rolled over and propped himself up with his elbow. “We did work hard, huh?”
I rolled over and mimicked his pose, bringing us face to face. “We sure did. But you have to remember that Madison just got here a few days ago. She might not be able to give up her life in New York and stay here. You know?”
“You want her to stay, right?”
“I would love it if she did. But I haven’t known her
too—”
“She likes you; I can tell.”
My ears perked up. “You think so?”
“Yeah, she looks at you a lot, and you make her laugh.” He patted my arm. “Girls like to laugh.”
“You’re a pretty smart guy. But I just want you to know that if she doesn’t stay, it’s not because of anything we did, okay?”
“We just need a plan.” He sat up and crossed his legs. “Jax, sit criss-cross-applesauce with me.”
I sat up and did my best, but criss-cross-applesauce wasnothappening. He shook his head at me like I was the biggest loser in the world. “Sorry, Grant, I’m just not that bendy.”
“It’s okay, but what’s the plan for Madison?”
I shrugged. “Uh, I’m not sure.”
“Here’s how this is going to go down, big guy.”
“Really?”
“Well, everybody always says it to me. I just wanted to try it out.” He grinned. “Anyway, you need to take Madison out for fancy food.”
“Alright, we could do that.” A man with a plan. I did not see that coming. “Where should we go?”
His head shook. “No, not us.You. You need to take her somewhere all alone, eat fancy food, and use lots of different forks. If you use all the forks, she’ll think you’re super smart.”
“Is that right? But I can’t leave you home alone. You might burn the place down.”
He grew serious. “First of all, I wouldneverplay with matches or fire. Second of all, I can ask Daisy and Jim to take me to a movie at the theater. Then nobody will know that food with Madison was our plan. And I can get popcorn.”
“But what if Daisy and Jim have plans tonight? You know, they’re getting married in a few days; they might be busy. How are you going to make this happen?”
“Watch this.” He looked up at me with those big eyes and stuck his lower lip out a little. “Trust me, the ladies can’t say no to this face.”
“Nice. So, we’re all done here, right?”
“Yes, we did well. But we can’t show Madison the she-shed yet, okay?”
“Got it.”
He started down the ladder. “Let’s go talk to Daisy.”
We raced over the hill and ran upon Daisy and Madison in the chicken coop. Grant tore through the fence and threw his arms around Madison’s waist. Hugging him back, her eyes fell to the top of his head.
“How did the man petting go today?” He looked up at her with clever eyes that demonstrated interest in her ladies’ day out.
