Page 125 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
I’mveryexcited about her message.
At least Lennox already left, so he can’t see how much this is affecting me.
My fingers hover over the keyboard, and I clear my throat. I’m just going to keep it professional. Businesslike.
Perry:What does your day look like tomorrow? I have a pretty big project I could use your help with, but it would require you to come out to the farm.
It isn’t a lie. I need to update last year’s festival layout to reflect the vendors, food trucks, and attractions we’re hosting this year.I probablycoulddo it by myself, but it will be easier with her here in person to help me.
At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
It takes over a minute for Lila to respond, which doesn’t soundlike a lot of time, but trust me, when you’re living it, watching those dancing dots appear and disappear and reappear, a minute is eternal.
When her response finally comes through, I breathe out a sigh of relief.
Lila:Okay. I can do that.
Lila:This is going to sound like a dumb question, but what should I wear? Business attire?
I smile at her question. I don’t know her all that well, and yet it still feels very Lila.
Perry:Come in whatever you’re comfortable in. But it’s a farm, and we’ll be outside. Don’t dress up on my account.
Lila:Noted. Just a reminder, I’ll need to leave by two to get home in time to meet Jack’s bus.
Perry:No problem.
Lila:In the meantime, did you see my earlier message? Sorry to be pushy. Just want to make sure you don’t miss pertinent info.
I scroll back up to her initial message. It reads:
Lila:I’ve emailed over a list of diesel mechanics who do onsite repairs. Also, I got a second email about your high school reunion. Are you sure you don’t want me to respond?
I pull up the email and look over the list of mechanics. We’ve been using the same garage in Silver Creek to service our work trucks and farm equipment for years, but the owner recently retired, and we haven’t found a decent replacement yet. I was planning on researching myself, but the fact that Lila has already narrowed the list to the mechanics willing to come to us? It’s like she knows what I need beforeIknow what I need.
But the reunion email. I have no idea how to handle that one. Why does Jocelyn keep emailing? I mean, probably because I haven’t responded. But I kinda feel like my lack of response should be a big enough clue. I don’t want to go. End of discussion.
It doesn’t help matters that Lila is the one getting the emails. Though, if I had just responded to Jocelyn’s first message, I could have kept all of this from happening. It probably means something that I’d rather Lilaseethe drama than endure the drama of opening up a line of communication with Jocelyn again.
Perry:Thanks for the list of mechanics. And yes. Respond about the reunion. Tell her I appreciate her invitation, but I have no desire to go.
Lila:Got it. But. . .really? You have no desire to go? There isn’t anyone you’d like to see?
A weight settles in my gut, a familiar discomfort creeping over me.
There arepeople who will be at the reunion who I would like to see. But not half as much as I don’t want to see my ex-wife. No old friendship is worth the kind of drama Jocelyn is capable of. You’d think, since she’s the one who left me, that she’d be willing to leave things alone. Let bygones be bygones and all that. But as burned as our divorce left me, I sometimes wonder if she’s the one having a harder time moving on. She’s no longer with the guy she left me for—big surprise there—and that’s part of why I’m so uncomfortable with the idea of going. Why does she want me there? What is she trying to prove?
On the other hand, I have to wonder if she’s actually trying for the opposite. If her goading is her way of scaring me away, of making sure I don’t come. It could honestly go either way with her. With the way she’s changed over the last ten years,morphing into a woman I hardly recognize, there’s no telling what her motives are.
Either way, I don’t need to know enough to endure the drama just to find out. I’d rather avoid the complication altogether.
Perry:Just respond, Lila. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.
Chapter Eight
Lila
After my encounter withPerry, I could have written a manual on how to scare off a man.
