“I—”
“Since when are you in charge of the Dominoes Dance?” said Georgie.
“Since everyone realized I was the best woman for the job,” said Lottie. “Now can I count on you or not?” Lottie said to McKenna.
“I—”
“Great. You won’t regret it,” said Lottie. “You’ll find it’s the one fundraiser in this town that actually raises some funds.”
“Not true,” said Georgie. “Our backyard celebrity concert will rake in triple the funds as the Dominoes Dance. Won’t it, McKenna?”
“I—”
“How?” said Lottie. “I heard Barb’s barn went up in flames.”
“We have another backyard that’s perfect,” said Georgie. “Don’t we, McKenna?”
“We—”
“The question is do you have a celebrity,” said Lottie.
“The answer is yes, we do,” said Georgie. “Don’t we, McKenna?”
McKenna didn’t even bother opening her mouth this time. Lottie was already butting in with a “Who?”
“Not telling,” said Georgie.
“Because you don’t have one,” said Lottie.
“Because it’s a surprise,” said Georgie.
“Then announce it the night of the Dominoes Dance,” said Lottie.
“Sure,” said Georgie.
“Really?” said Lottie, her head rearing back.
Georgie looked at McKenna with the sort of look that saidIt’s okay that I said “Sure” because you and Nate have everything under control so we’re good to go with having Harry perform at the B&B, right?
McKenna looked back at her with the sort of look that hopefully conveyedI meant to talk to Nate about that, but we ended up having this heart-to-heart talk about our families which made me fall a little bit in love with him, so I never actually brought up anything to do with Harry, but I’m going to try really hard to stay focused on Harry from nowon because I think we all agree that Nate and I wouldn’t do well having a long-distance relationship after this summer, and besides that, my entire future still hinges on this whole Harry thing turning out perfect.
Then they both looked at Lottie and said, “Sure.”
Nate had just parked the riding mower when he heard McKenna’s voice. “Nate?”
He stepped from the equipment shed into the afternoon heat, lifting his hat enough to wipe the sweat from his brow with his forearm as he spotted McKenna rounding the back of the house with a loose goat and two chickens following her.Finally.
Spending hours on the mower had given him too much time to think about last night and how close he’d come to kissing her—which meant he’d spent hours on the mower carrying on a pretend argument based on all the real arguments he’d had with his mentor in the past. Wasn’t hard imagining the comebacks his mentor would’ve had for Nate in this situation.
You know what they say, Nate. You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.
“Yeah? Well, you also miss one hundred percent of the fouls you don’t take. Did you ever consider that, old man?”
No. Because that’s not a thing. Nobody says that. Besides, the way she was holding your hand, do you really think she would have called a foul on you for a simple kiss?
“I think when it comes to McKenna, it’s pretty obvious what I have in mind is far more than a simple kiss.”
Nate could easily imagine his mentor’s soft chuckle.How long are you going to wait until you make that known to McKenna?
