She laughed and Nate hid another smile with his shirt. This quippy gorgeous oddball was going to get under his skin if he didn’t watch it. She had a way of loosening him up.
He massaged the back of his neck. No wonder he was in knots.
A couple of chickens clucked next to McKenna’s feet later that afternoon as she read the most recent text message from Briella.
Hey Girly! Love the pictures! That B&B looks so cute even if it does need some updates. The goats are adorable. You should definitely include them in your portfolio. Let me know when you officially apply for the LA job. Praying for you!
“Thanks, friend,” McKenna whispered.
Even though she was already feeling more confident about her portfolio, she wasn’t anywhere close to feeling ready to submit. Still felt like something was missing. That edge. That pizzazz. That one final oomph.
Or maybe it was just the ring that was missing.
How could she make a play to move to Los Angeles without knowing for certain her baby sister would be taken care of in Nebraska? She couldn’t. Until that ring was on Bobbi’s finger, McKenna wasn’t hitting submit on anything.
Which made her think maybe it was time for another call to the airport.
McKenna tossed some seeds on the ground for the chickens, then pulled out her phone.
“Hiiiii,” McKenna said when the elevator-jazz-hold-music finally stopped playing after serenading her on hold for five minutes. “This is McKenna Boston. Hate to bother you, but—”
“Is that so?” said Vivi. McKenna recognized Vivi’s voice as well as her own at this point. “See, I have a real hard time believing that youhateto bother me considering how many times you’vegone out of your wayto bother me in the past forty-eight hours alone.”
Had it only been two days since she and Nate left the airport? Felt so much longer. Maybe because so much had already happened. Meetings. Minutes. Murder.
Magnetism?
No. McKenna shook that last thought away. Silly. She and Nate weren’t attracted to each other. Or at least he wasn’t attracted to her. She may’ve been a teensy-weensy bit attracted to him when he looked all concerned about her for that split second before he realized she was screaming about a dead chicken. Or when he lifted his shirt and revealed a very nicely toned—
“Hello?” Vivi’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Right,” McKenna said, clearing her throat.Focus.“Just wondering if you had any update on the missing luggage.”
She wiped her palm against her jean shorts, then showed her empty hand to the chickens in case they needed proof she was out of food.
“The missing luggage you hate to bother me about,” said Vivi.
“That’s the one.”
“Well, guess what. I hate spiders. You think I go out of my way to bother spiders? No. I hate them. I go a mile out of my way to leave all the spiders alone. I don’t call them up on the telephone every hour of every day and say,Hiiii...”
“So no update on the missing luggage then?”
“Stop bothering me.”
“How about I check back in an hour or two?”
Vivi had already ended the call.
McKenna slid her phone inside her back pocket and tilted herface to the sky, hoping none of the chickens worked out their sorrow over the loss of Ms. Agnus by pecking at her toes. Probably shouldn’t wear Birkenstocks around grieving livestock.
“What am I doing?” she whispered to the sky. Other than wearing inappropriate footwear, harassing irritable airline workers, and fighting off a silly crush on a guy who made her want to punch him in the arm and kiss him at the same time.
No, not kiss him. Well... maybe kiss him?
No.She was here to help her sister land the perfect man while paving a path for herself to the perfect job in LA. She wasnothere to form any attachments. Especially to a guy whose life was in New York.
So what if the guy had a strange way of making her lower her guard? What if he had a way of making her feel safe enough to act silly one moment, then dump out all the emotional baggage she typically never shared with anyone the next moment? Guys like that were a dime a dozen, right? Probably? Maybe?
