Page 9 of Kiss and Tell

Aunt Claire laughed as she tapped her oldest son on the arm affectionately. “What can I say? All those medals look so lovely hanging from the mirror on my dressing table.”

“What did you think of the brewery?” Uncle Rex asked Joey and Miles. “Think it will make for a good show?”

“Absolutely.” Joey wiped butter off his fingers. Given the litany of moans that slipped from his mouth every time he took a bite of cornbread or chili, there was no denying his compliment about the food was sincere. “Lucy and Sam are both engaging and easy to talk to, which is exactly what’s worked so well in our more successful episodes. We’ve done a few shows where trying to get our guest to talk was like pulling teeth.”

Miles grimaced. “We had this one guy wholiterallywouldn’t talk at all. We would ask him questions, and he’d reply with one or two words, spoken straight into the camera, never to us. It was painful. For a day or two, we thought we were going to have to scrap the whole segment because nothing was salvageable.”

“But you didn’t have to?” Lucy’s anxiety over screwing up during filming crept in because Everett was right. This show was a good opportunity for the farm.

Miles shook his head. “We were saved on the third day, when the man’s adult son stopped by to see how things were going. When he realized how badly his father was doing, he stepped in to do all the talking while his dad did the work.”

“The son must’ve taken after his mother because he was quite a character, cracking jokes, charming. Turned out to be a great show, and we’re still in touch with him. The son, I mean. He came to Philadelphia a few months ago for a work trip, and the three of us went out for happy hour,” Joey added.

Lucy was touched to learn that Joey and Miles stayed in contact with former guests, hoping perhaps the same might hold true for her. She mentally added Philadelphia to the list of “must see” cities on her extensive travel wish list. Not that she held out much hope for checking any of those places off anytime soon. She had responsibilities on the farm and to her family, so jetting off to see the world would just have to wait until…

Someday.

“I don’t think talking is going to be a problem with Lu,” Levi said. “Your struggle is going to be getting her tostoptalking.”

She shook her head as everyone laughed, secretly hoping that was true. While she hadn’t admitted it to anyone, she’d lost a fair amount of sleep the past few weeks in the lead-up to Joey and Miles’s arrival. “I don’t know about that. The truth is, I’m really nervous. I might have to let Sam do the heavy lifting when it comes to explaining our process.”

“Don’t be silly. You’re a natural, Lucy,” Joey insisted. “The key is to forget the cameras are there. Just talk to us like you did all day and you’ll be fine. And if you find yourself getting anxious, just let us know. Miles and I will talk you off the ledge. Promise.”

“Besides, it’s not like you’re new to the camera,” Mila pointed out. “You filmKiss and Tellall the time.”

“Kiss and Tell?” Miles asked.

“That’s different,” Lucy retorted. “I’m alwaysbehindthe camera.” Then she quickly explained to Joey and Miles. “I have a little YouTube show I do calledKiss and Tell.”

“Little,” Sam scoffed. “The thing has over ten thousand subscribers, and some of her shows have had over a hundred thousand views.”

Joey’s eyes widened. “Seriously?”

Lucy nodded, always touched by the way her family bragged about her success, their pride in her so evident it brought tears to her eyes. “It was a hobby that sort of took off.”

“And then some,” Levi added. “Lu’s reaching the point financially where she could make a living from it.”

“You could have knocked me over with a feather when that first check appeared,” she admitted.

“Kiss and Tellis a fine thing for now, but I’m not sure Lucy can keep up with her job on the farmandher hobby for the long-term,” Scottie added, as if she gave two shits about his opinion.

“She’s been doing fine so far,” her youngest sister, Remi, replied, obviously as pissed about his comment as Lucy. “I keep telling her that she should go on the road with it. See the world like she’s always talking about.”

“Remi,” Lucy started.

“Don’tRemime, Lu,” her sister retorted. “While I was plastering my bedroom walls with pictures of Zac Efron, Drake, and Ryan Reynolds in high school, your walls were covered with torn-out pictures from those travel calendars Granddaddy gave you every year for Christmas.”

Theo chuckled. “She still does that. Only instead of her bedroom walls, they’re the screensavers on every computer in the brewhouse.”

“Lucy has too many responsibilities here, Remi. She’d never leave Gracemont,” Scottie said with a confidence that made the hair on the back of her neck stand up, even if it was true.

“Never say never,” she replied to the idiot through gritted teeth.

Scottie, the condescending prick, just gave her a smile that said he knew he was right. The part that really pissed her off? He was. She wouldn’t leave Stormy Weather Farm.

“I’m going to look upKiss and Telltonight and watch it,” Joey said to Lucy. “If it feels like something we could work in, maybe you can mention it when we’re filming the show.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh my God. Really? That would be huge.”

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