Page 56 of The Perfect Distraction

“You haven’t met Grandma yet,” Joey stated matter-of-factly.

“Be good for Miss Beth,” Colton said, ignoring the comment.

“Dad! I’m always good.”

“What time will you be bringing him back?” Colton asked.

“Probably in a couple of hours or so.”

“A couple of hours?” Joey said, looking dismayed.

“I thought we could eat lunch together too,” Beth said, and then she laughed at how relieved he looked.

“Oh. I thought I had to read for the entire time!”

Colton shook his head, but Beth laughed again. “No, but maybe someday, that won’t sound so bad.”

“Maybe,” Joey said.

“I should get back to work but let me give you some money for Joey’s lunch,” Colton said. When he stepped back to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket, Beth hurriedly started the car and began to back out.

“I’ve got it,” she called out the window, and she and Joey chuckled at the disgruntled expression on Colton’s face as they drove away.

Beth drove to the marina and found a parking space. Taking the tote bag of books from the back seat, they walked down the cement path until they found a vacant picnic table. She indicated that Joey should sit beside her, and then she pulled out the first book. The minute he saw the title, his eyes lit up.

“Cool!” he said as he examined the front cover.

His reaction proved that choosing the right book was half the battle. “I figured you might enjoy this since you like to collect rocks,” she said. Then she handed him a paper bookmark that she’d picked up for free at the library. “Do you want to start reading, or should I?”

“I will,” he said decidedly.

“Great.”

Placing the bookmark horizontally across the page, Joey began to read. He read fluently for a few minutes until he came to the word “spectacular.”

“Let’s sound it out,” she suggested.

It took a few tries, but then he pronounced the word correctly.

“Good job,” she said.

She had him read the first chapter, stopping as needed to sound out difficult words. With each page he read, Joey’s confidence grew, and he looked ready to proceed to chapter two, but she stopped him.

So far, they’d concentrated on pronunciations and fluency, but she also wanted to test his comprehension.

“Before we continue, I’d like to ask you a few questions about what you just read.”

“Okay,” he said, placing the bookmark in chapter two.

As she suspected, Joey had no trouble summarizing what he’d just read, and he answered each question with plenty of enthusiasm. She’d often thought that if kids could choose their own books in school, there’d probably be a lot more readers in the world.

Over the next half-hour, Joey read some more to her, and then she read to him. After she was done and had closed the book, she asked, “Does anybody in your family read to you?”

“My mom used to,” he said and then looked out at the harbor.

“How about your dad?”

“Dad plays sports with me and teaches me about woodworking, but Mom was always the one who read to me.”