Free Hawks Mountain - Mobi by Elizabeth Sinclair Page B

expressive face one of confusion and innocence.
    By the time Jake’s enthusiasm had been corralled, they were surrounded by people laughing at their situation.
    “Boy, he sure likes you, mister.” Davy Collins had joined the throng of onlookers.
    Nick looked at the boy and grinned. “I guess he does.” He wiped at the moisture on his cheek. “I just wish he wasn’t so sloppy while he’s doing it.” Davy giggled.
    “Why don’t you sit down here with us, Davy, and have some of my brown beans and ham.” Granny had already started fixing the boy a plate.
    “Wow! Sure.” Davy sat cross-legged facing Nick. Granny handed him a plate heaped with food. Jake sat right beside him, his canine gaze focused unwaveringly on the filled plate, his lolling tongue protruding from his open mouth. “Now, Jake, you gotta wait until I’m done. So just lay down, and I’ll make sure I leave some for you.” The dog obediently lay down by Davy’s side.
    Granny laughed. “The way that animal obeys him, it’s like he speaks the dog’s language.”
    Becky only heard bits of the conversation. She was too busy looking at Nick. Why had he changed his mind after his adamant refusal when she’d invited him to the social? No matter. No sense looking a gift horse in the mouth. He was here and right now that’s what mattered most.
    Nick had picked up his plate and was shoveling food into his mouth as fast as Davy. He paused, chewed for a bit, and then swallowed. “Ms. Hawks—”
    “Granny, Nick. Everybody hereabouts calls me Granny.” She lowered her voice so Davy wouldn’t hear. “Everyone except that overblown donkey’s behind, George Collins.” She cast a censoring glare in the mayor’s direction.
    Nick laughed. “Okay, Granny, you have got to be the best cook in a hundred mile radius.”
    Inwardly, Becky smiled. On top of being here, Nick was in a good mood, happy, enjoying the food.
    Granny shrugged. “So they tell me,” she replied without an ounce of arrogance. “So they tell me.”
    “Mr. Nick?” Davy had finished eating and set the plate with a good amount of leftovers down for Jake to feast on. Jake needed no prodding and soon had the food devoured and looking for more.
    Nick stopped eating. “Yes?”
    “Would you be my partner in the three-legged race?”
    Nick went silent. The last time he’d played a game with any kid, it had been a couple of innings of baseball with a bunch of kids that hung around their base camp in Iraq . One of them had been Ahmed. That was the day before— No. Not that. Not today. “Why not get one of your friends to be your partner?”
    “The rules are a grownup and a kid.”
    Still, Nick wouldn’t commit.
    “The kid what wins gets a really cool bike, and the grownup gets .  . . ” Davy’s brow furrowed in thought. “I can’t remember what the grownups get, but I know it’s something really, really great!”
    Nick glanced at Becky. Her expression said Do it! Still he hesitated. He turned back to Davy. “What about your Dad? Maybe he’d like to be your partner.”
    Davy’s face crumpled. “Aw, he’s too busy being the mayor. ‘Sides, he doesn’t wanna sweat. Says it makes his hands slippery for when he has to howdy with his constitutes.”
    “Constituents,” Granny corrected.
    “Yeah. Them.”
    Despite having to smother a smile, Becky’s heart felt as though someone had squeezed it so hard she thought she’d cry out. The abandoned look on Davy’s face reminded her of little Timmy in Atlanta when Social Services dragged him away from his mother. Becky had fought hard and long for them to leave him in his home, but her efforts had been fruitless. One incident in a long line of disappointments. Then she’d come home to surprise Sonny in their bed with another woman. Their relationship had soured just like her dreams of changing the lives of the people of Atlanta . She’d decided then and there that she needed to go home to renew her faith in human nature, to shut