AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is that just x’s and o’s or do you need to read words, too?” Penny asked sweetly, forgetting her plan to keep her mouth shut. But she couldn’t resist. He’d practically gift wrapped the insult for her.
Bash snorted. “Words and diagrams, and for the record, I know how to read more than a playbook.” He smirked, and Penny rolled her eyes, hoping he wouldn’t see the guilt in them. He wasn’t as dumb as she assumed, but reading doesn’t make him a reader.
A person had to read road signs, menus, social media posts and other information, but that didn’t make them a reader. A reader was someone who read for pleasure, who wanted to learn new things or travel to new worlds, who wanted to discover more about the world and about themselves, who considered books to be their faithful companions.
Cal led them off the paved trail to the more challenging one used by the locals. They walked in single file up the rooted trail, and the rocks loomed in front of them. It was a steep, two-step, natural stone staircase. With this height and athleticism, Cal easily climbed them, but Maggie and Penny had more unique approaches. Maggie boosted herself up by placing her knee on the next level, but Penny set her butt on the step, turned around and then stood up.
Penny stood at the bottom, willing her eyes not to watch as Bash made his way up the stone stairs. He wasn’t as fast as Cal, but that only made the appreciation and torment last longer. She watched, fascinated, as his muscles bunched, then smoothed. Contracted and released.
Maggie bumped her shoulder against Penny’s, knocking her out of her trance and hopefully knocking some common sense back into her. “Maybe if Lucas watches you as intently as you watched Bash, my worries will be over,” she whispered.
Penny peered over Maggie’s shoulder, and Lucas flashed her a grin. The man oozed besotted. “Good luck with that,” Penny laughed at her sister’s predicament as she started her butt-turning ascent. It was inelegant at the best of times, but now, with four people watching her—two from above and two below—she felt gauche and gawky. If she’d been alone, she’d have used magic for an extra boost.
Bash held his hand down to her. She hesitated. Embarrassment about her childish climbing method settled on her. She didn’t want Bash’s help, but he nodded encouragingly at her, as if she hadn’t made a fool of herself. She couldn’t use magic, but she could use a helping hand.
Penny huffed and placed her hand in his. Bash pulled her up next to him, but he didn’t release her hand. He focused on Maggie and Lucas below, and Penny felt his energy shift. He was still nervous, but it wasn’t as hard and sharp as it had been.
“Come on, Maggie. We’re losing daylight,” Cal complained. Maggie flipped him the bird before starting her ascent.
Bash dropped Penny’s hand and grabbed Maggie’s. Between Lucas’s push and Bash’s pull, she practically flew to the top. Maggie glared at Cal as she caught her breath.
“What?” he asked, wiping his face on shirt sleeve.
“At least someone has manners. Thank you, Bash, and Lucas.”
“Yes, thank you, Bash,” Penny said quickly, realizing she’d been focused on the hand holding and not the climbing.
“Well, you both seem more than capable, so maybe I should be thanking you for letting me help,” Bash said, sounding about as uncomfortable as Penny felt.
No one spoke as they looked at Bigger Falls in front of them. To the west was a glimpse of Biggest Falls and to the east was the dense forest.
“Well, it’s not Niagara Falls or Yosemite, but it’s charming. Do we go back the same way?” Bash asked.
“Is Mother Nature making you itchy?” Penny asked, resisting the urge to push him into the gorge. But, if he called Cascade City—with its three hundred thousand plus citizens—quaint, all bets were off, and the Tetons would need to find a new starting quarterback.
“No, just asking a question. I like it up here. Mother Nature doesn’t make me itchy.” Bash sat down, draping his legs over the ledge.
“There’s an easier trail to the left we take going back. As hard as the rocks are to get up, they’re even tougher to get down,” Maggie said, joining him on the ground but not close to the ledge. Sandwiched between the two witches, his nervousness should have quieted, but it didn’t. One more puzzle piece that doesn’t fit with this guy.
They drank in the beauty of the Cascade Mountains with the quiet roar of the falls surrounding them.
Lucas’ stomach growled. “It sounds like Lucas needs feeding. We should head back,” Maggie said. They both had granola bars in their bags, and Penny mentally applauded her sister for not offering them. The sooner they got moving, the sooner she could relegate Bash Vetter to a bad memory.
Chapter 4
Bash closed the screen and rubbed his eyes. The manuscript was a self-absorbed pile of drivel, and Bash didn’t know how to pop his dad’s delusional bubble that it would be a bestseller. It might win a few awards, but Joe Reader wouldn’t like it. A few suckers might buy it, but even fewer would finish it. Unfortunately, he was in the latter camp. He had to finish it after he determined what was happening in the kitchen.
Lucas and Cal stood at the counter, surrounded by cooking paraphernalia. “I didn’t know we had so many bowls.”
“We don’t. I borrowed some from Harper,” Cal said.
“I thought she was out of town?”
“Borrowed, broke in and took. It’s just semantics with us.” Cal shrugged before smiling. “And it’s a bit of payback. She’s helping the Tetons, but she doesn’t know it.” Lucas high-fived him and Bash appreciated his outlook. Harper’s scathing articles about the Tetons and how they were ruining Cascade City didn’t sit well with the Tetons’ management or the team. Cal made it clear to everyone he didn’t agree with his sister or her views, but he wouldn’t ask her to back down. As a reporter for the Cascade City Chronicle, she believed she was reporting the news.
She had the wrong end of the story, though. From what Bash had learned from his research, the Tetons’ recent move to Cascade City was a boom to the city, not a bust. Her articles had very few facts, lots of speculation, and were filled with gossip and innuendo. Harper’s reporting on the state legislature and national news impacting the area was of the highest quality. Bash didn’t know how she got her Tetons articles approved with such shoddy work and obvious bias.
“What are we making?”
