Page 26 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
“Can you stay a while?” Olivia asks. She glances at her watch. “I’ve got a couple of hours free. Want to ride over and see Mom? We can probably catch her in the barn.”
“I would love that.” I glance at Kristyn who just shrugs.
“I’m down,” she says. “Can I have another cinnamon roll?”
Olivia smiles. “Have as many as you like.”
She leads us through the farmhouse and to the back door. Outside, a couple of 4x4s, like golf carts except with much thicker tires, are parked in a row. She climbs into the one furthest from the house, likely because it has a row of extra seats in the back, and cranks the engine.
As she drives the familiar path through the main farm and toward the orchard, my mind drifts back to the countless times I ran through these fields, to the hours I spent with Brody sitting in the strawberry beds, eating fruit right off the vine until we both felt sick.
Brody might not be here in person, but he is in every memory, imprinted on my soul in a way that makes coming back feel like I’m coming home tohim.
There’s something comforting about that thought. About coming home to Brody. To Stonebrook Farm. If I focus on that feeling, the summer I have ahead of me actually feelseasy.
But then I think about the way Brody looked at me across the table when we were eating dinner. The way my body reacted to seeing him again. Nothing aboutthatseems easy.
Exciting, maybe. But not easy.
Chapter Eight
Kate
Stonebrook is a muchlarger enterprise than it used to be. There are employees everywhere. There were at least two dozen in the pavilion when we drove in, and we’ve seen that many again on our way to the goat barn.
“Do all of these people work here full time?” I ask. Even just ten years ago, Stonebrook still felt like a family-run farm.
“Most of them are seasonal. We have summer staff who live onsite, either working the farm or events. Some stay through apple harvest in the fall, then things slow down again. It’s the busiest you’ll see it right now.”
“I had no idea,” I say, hardly able to take it all in. “It’s really amazing how much it’s grown.”
She points down an eastern slope off to our left. “If you look down that way, you can see the expansion happening on the kitchen. It’ll eventually be Lennox’s restaurant.”
“Right. I saw the press release you shared on Instagram.” Lennox was making a pretty solid name for himself as a chef in downtown Charlotte before he decided to move home and open his own farm-to-table restaurant on Stonebrook’s property.
“We’re hoping it’ll be ready to open about the time the baby’s born, which, don’t get me started on how complicated that’s going to be, but we’ll figure it out.”
Kristyn leans up from the back seat. “Does everyone in the family work here?”
“Nearly,” Olivia says. “Not Flint, obviously. Or Brody. But the rest of us are pretty much here all the time.”
“That sounds amazing.”
Kristynwouldfind it amazing. Her immediate family is the same way. All up in each other’s business all the time.
We park in front of the enormous barn, and Olivia cuts the engine. A wave of homesickness washes over me. I spent hours and hours in this barn my senior year. It feels good to be back.
“Speaking of Brody,” Olivia says, eyeing me mischievously as we approach the barn door. “He’s had a little bit of a glow up the last few years, huh?”
Kristyn snorts, and I choke out a laugh. “Um. I don’t—” I clear my throat. “How so?”
“Kate. Come on. I know you don’t see him that way because you’rebest friends“—she says this last part with an added eye roll for emphasis—”but you can’t tell me you didn’t notice. He’s been working out a lot.”
“Really?” I say, shaking my head. I shrug my shoulders. “I um, I...nope. I didn’t notice.” My hands wave around in front of my body like they’re connected to strings and a drunk puppeteer is controlling their movements. I stare at the offending appendages and tuck them into my armpits. “Muscles? I mean, maybe? He definitely looks...different, but not bad different. He’s good. He looks good. Good different.”Those...were a lot of stupid words that just came out of my face.
“So convincing,” Kristyn whispers behind me.
I try and stomp on her foot, but she darts out of the way at the last minute with a gleeful chuckle.
