Page 95 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
“I love you too,” I say. “For so many reasons.” My hand snakes up to his stomach and slips under his shirt. “One,” I say playfully, digging my finger into his abs. “Two. Three. Four.”
He squirms away, yelping loud enough to make Charlie bark.
I laugh as he lunges for me and dart out of his grasp. I take off running into the house, hoping he’ll follow me, knowing he will.
I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. I don’t know what I’ll be doing for work. I don’t know where I’ll be living. I don’t know anything.
But I know who will be standing next to me.
And that makes anything—everything—seem possible.
Epilogue
Brody
Six weeks is nota very long time bygeneralrelationship standards.
When your relationship is with someone you have known for nineteen years? Six weeks feels like a lifetime. Especially since we’ve spent every spare moment together, bouncing between Kate’s house and mine, plus Sundays up at the farm for family dinner.
To say my family is excited for us would be a vast understatement. Mom cried. Olivia breathed a huge sigh of relief. Lennox wrapped Kate in a huge bear hug. Even Perry nodded his approval, making sure Kate knew he was theonlyHawthorne sibling who never encouraged me to move on and put Kate behind me.
Kate only laughed. “Well, you’re more generous than me. I would have given up on me long before Brody did.”
Only Dad seemed unruffled when we walked in holding hands. He watched on silently as everyone else reacted to the news. Finally, he shook his head and grumbled, “I don’t know what the big deal is. I always figured they’d get together in the end.”
I stop and get tacos from the stand next to Triple Mountain, a celebration of sorts, since today I found out that an anonymous and incredibly generous donation was made to Green River Academy—one to be used exclusively by the whitewater kayaking program.
My little brother will never admit it if I’m right, but I’d put money on it being Flint’s doing.
Either way, the program will be up and running as soon as school starts, with the school board’s official blessing and enough funding to pay Griffin and one other instructor for their time on the water.
Victory is sweet. Even sweeter because it was Kate’s article that made all the difference.
I pull up to Kate’s house, tacos in the seat beside me, but I forget all about them the second I see Kate sitting on the front porch, her phone in her hand. She looks... stunned. Confused, maybe? Whatever is going on, she isn’t smiling.
My heart rate ratchets up as I race out of my truck. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?” I ask as I reach her. I crouch down in front of her, and she finally offers the smallest smile.
“Hi,” she says faintly.
“Are you okay?” I reach forward and cup her cheek, needing the reassurance of her skin against mine.
“I’m okay. Sorry,” she says, giving her head a tiny shake. “Everything is fine. I just...” She takes a deep breath. She looks at me, her eyes brightening, like she’s finally stepped out of a fog. “Do you want the big news, or... the bigger news?”
I shift so I’m sitting on the stairs beside her. “Um, let’s start with the big news?”
“I was hoping you would say that.” She lifts her hands and presses them to her cheeks like she’s still surprised by what she’s saying. “I got the job.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “With WNC Magazine?”
She nods and smiles. “I have to be in the office in Asheville once a week, but other than that, it’s completely remote. It’s perfect, Brody. I’m really excited about it.”
I lean down to kiss her, still marveling, even all these weeks later, that I get to do this. That she’s mine. “I’m so proud of you. And...I can’t imagine what news is bigger than this.”
She blows out a breath. “Oh, it’s bigger. About two thousand square feet bigger.”
“Um, what?”
“How do you feel about this house, Brody?”
