Page 78 of How to Kiss a Hawthorne Brother
“Maybe it’s a good thing,” Lennox says while he shovels. “Now you know, right? Nothing is ever going to happen between you two, so you can put all this behind you and move on.”
“I don’t know, man,” Perry says. “How was the kiss?”
I shoot him a look. I don’t know why he thinks he even needs to ask.
“And she was into it too?”
I think of Kate in my arms, warm and responsive. “It definitely seemed like it.”
“I recognize this isn’t the advice you expect from me, but...” Perry shrugs. “Maybe you shouldn’t give up.”
I lift an eyebrow. “What?”
“That text message doesn’t say she doesn’t care about you, Brody. It says she’s scared.” He gives his head a weary shake. “Listen. I know I’m the last person qualified to give relationship advice. But if my divorce taught me anything, it’s that people have to do things for their own reasons.”
Lennox’s eyes dart to mine. Perry doesn’t talk about his divorce.Ever.
“Let’s say Kate didn’t leave for London this morning,” Perry says slowly. “Let’s say you asked her to stay. For you. To be with you.”
He’s surprisingly close to exactly the conversation I imagined.
“If she loves you,” he continues, “she might have said yes. She might have stayed because staying is whatyouwant her to do. And it might have felt good for a while. For months, years even. But trust me, man. You don’t want that. If Kate stays in Silver Creek, you want it to be because it’s whatshewants. If it takes her going to London to figure that out? Then let her go.”
“But why London?” Lennox repeats the question Perry asked earlier. “Seems kinda far if she’s just running scared.”
“A job,” I say. “She was offered an editing job with a travel magazine. She went to London for an interview.”
“Ah,” Perry says with a nod. “Then I mean what I said even more. She’s got choices to make, and you can’t make them for her.”
“You read her text, Perry. She already made her choice. And she didn’t choose me.”
“But she did say shewantedto choose you,” Perry says. “That’s not nothing.”
“So what do I do? Just sit around and wait? It feels like that’s all I’ve ever done for this woman. I’m so tired of waiting.”
He shrugs. “Then don’t. Only you can decide what’s worth it and what isn’t.”
I grab the post hole digger and thrust it into the dirt, digging with twice the force I actually need. I understand what Perry is saying, but I still feel like Kate didn’t just leave, she leftme.Left without talking to me. Without telling me what’s really going on in her head. It feels like she’s giving up on something I would fight for no matter what.
Perry’s hand falls onto my shoulder, stilling my frantic digging. “That’s deep enough, man,” he says, his tone gentler than normal.
I sigh and step away from the hole, watching as Perry and Lennox lower the new post into the ground.
Once it’s in place, Lennox turns to me while Perry shovels dirt back into the hole to cover the base of the post. “All right, hear me out,” Lennox says, palms up.
I can already sense where this is going, and odds are very high I will not like it.
“I’ve got this thing on Thursday night. Back in Charlotte. It’s an awards thing, and Kitchen 704 is being honored for a few different things. They want me to be there since I was part of the team when the award was won.” He waves his hand dismissively. “Anyway. It’ll be long and boring, but the food will be good, and there will be a big party afterward with plenty of women in attendance.” He eyes me. “You’re tired of waiting around? Maybe you just need to get away for the weekend. Get a little drunk. Find a date or two.” He smirks and lifts a shoulder. “Or ten.” He glances at Perry. “Actually, you should both come.”
Finding any number of dates with Lennox as my wingman sounds like a terrible idea, especially if he thinks plying me with alcohol first is an acceptable strategy. But I might need to go just to support him. “You’re getting an award? Why didn’t we know about this?”
“The restaurant is getting an award. I’ll be mentioned as the head chef on staff when the award was given, but it’s a more all-encompassing restaurant thing. The wine list, the food, the ambiance. I’m only going because I feel like it’ll be good networking for opening Hawthorne.”
“Will it help you find a new catering chef? We’re going to need one of those in a few months,” Perry says in his droll business voice.
“Yeah, possibly,” Lennox says. “A lot of people in the industry go to these things.”
“It sounds like Perry has a good reason to go with you then.” I toss the post hole digger into the bed of the truck. Perry can go be Lennox’s cheerleader. As long as one of us is there, that’s good enough. “I hope you guys have fun, but I’m teaching on Thursday.”
