She knew he was thinking about that as they ran. She also knew he was adjusting his pace, shortening his steps to match hers.
“I can run on my own, Jake, if you want to go on.”
“I’m good, but thanks. How’s the arm? I see you still have it braced.”
“Good, and before you say anything, your mom said I had the all-clear.”
“You don’t have to get defensive every time I open my mouth, Rosebud.”
Branna exhaled loudly.
“I’m not good with people, Jake. It’s not how I started out. It just turned out that way.” Why had she said that? She’d always had a loose tongue around him. He wasn’t someone who talked a lot, and he listened when others spoke, but he also had the ability to unsettle a person with just a look…well, her at least. She’d rattled out more rubbish in his presence just to fill a silence than she had in her life.
“Forewarned,” he said, and she had a feeling he was laughing at her, but one look told her his face was serious and, she was pleased to see, starting to sweat. “And for the record, I’m not exactly everyone’s favorite person anymore either.”
“You may believe that in some warped part of your small brain, McBride, but you still are, even with the bad boy attitude.”
“What’s with this bad boy attitude label you keep giving me?”
She waved her hand about, dismissing his question as she continued with the matter of his popularity. “Yesterday, I went into The Hoot to have a mystery muffin, which Buster wouldn’t give me the recipe for, even though I begged.”
“You have a real thing for those, don’t you, Rosebud?”
“Each one has been as good as the last, McBride, and this one had ginger in it, but Buster just folded his arms and ignored me when I offered him a bribe.”
“What did you offer?”
“Twenty dollars a recipe,” Branna said.
Jake snorted. “Offer to scrub his baking trays. That’ll do it.”
“No, it won’t. He’s just plain mean when it comes to those recipes,” Branna added.
“Getting back to the point of this conversation, Rosebud, I think you were about to explain about me still being everyone’s favorite person?”
“Right,” Branna added. “I met Mrs. Purvis, who happens to be Penny’s mom.”
“I know who Penny’s mom is.”
“Well, she said you just needed some time, and you’d be back to the boy they all knew and loved and doing your doctoring any day now.”
“I bet those words were verbatim?” He sounded pissed off.
“The point is, McBride, you may think differently about yourself, but none of them do.”
“Them being the entire town?”
“Even the animals.”
“You seem pissed about that, Rosebud. Would you be happier if they all disliked me?”
Was she? Maybe in school it had bothered her that he could do no wrong in anyone’s eyes, but that was jealousy because no one liked her, but then she’d never given anyone encouragement either.
“McBride, it was an observation. I have no feelings about you and don’t plan on forming any.”
“Ouch.”
She didn’t say anything, and then clamped her top teeth around her bottom lip to shut herself up.
