Page 139 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
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Flint:WHATEVER. Your jealousy is showing.
Chapter Eleven
Perry
My brothers were marginallyhelpful. Scratch that. Brody was helpful. Flint was Flint. And Lennox—at least I got lunch out of the deal. Though it’s still a question whether I’ll have the nerve to actually invite Lila to eat it with me.
I rub my hands down the front of my pants and pace back and forth across my office. I’m being ridiculous. Lila is just a woman. A woman who works for me and isonlycoming to the farm for that reason. To work.
I need to relax.
If I happen to work up the nerve to invite her to a picnic lunch prepared by one of the region’s greatest culinary geniuses? Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Odds are high I’ll chicken out and eat the lunch by myself, hiding on the ledge where no one can report back to Lennox that all his efforts were for nothing.
I grumble and drop into my desk chair. It doesn’t have to be this hard. I need to just work. To stop waiting for her and try and get something done.
It takes a few minutes, but I’m finally able to distract myself with an analysis of the farm’s quarterly reports, so much so that Lila startles me when she knocks on my open office door.
“Knock, knock,” she says lightly.
I look up to see her leaning against the door frame, and my breath catches in my throat. She looks as beautiful today as she did yesterday. “Lila. Good morning.”
She offers a reserved smile. “Morning, boss.”
Brody’s advice cycles through my brain.Pay her compliments. Be vulnerable.“You, um—you look nice today.”
Her eyebrows go up, then her eyes drop, like she’s looking over what she’s wearing. “Oh. Thank you.”
“I like your, uh—hair thing.”Hair thing? What, am I seven years old now?
She reaches up and touches her hair. “My braid?”
“Right. Braid.”
Her expression shifts again, like she can’t quite figure me out. “Thanks,” she says again slowly.
This is probably why Brody said not to compliment her in a creepy way. I have to do better than this.
Ask her questions.
I turn in my chair so I’m facing her fully. “How’s Jack this morning?”
Her face immediately brightens, and the tightness in my chest eases the slightest bit.
“As cute as ever. He told me at breakfast he’s figured out who he’s going to marry. She’s a fifth grader who rides his bus and, according to Jack, has cool hair that matches her shoes.” She smiles, her expression knowing, and lifts her hand to her temple. “I’ve seen her. She has a strip of blue right here.”
Note to self: The ultimate key to Lila is definitely Jack. “Ah. She definitely sounds like marriage material.”
Lila smiles. “I’m not sure how London feels about the match, but Jack is sold.”
“Her name is London? This girl keeps getting cooler and cooler.”
“Right? She definitely has a cool vibe, at least as far as fifth graders are concerned.”
I suddenly wonder what would make someone have a cool vibe to Lila. Owning a farm? Working in flannel? Does she thinkPerryis a cool name? It’s maybe not as hip as Lennox or Flint, but—wait.This is not relevant.Focus, Perry.She’s standing right in front of you.
Make eye contact.
