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DATE night. I’d never been so nervous and excited at the same time. Hagen had told me to dress casual, so I was wearing an off-the-shoulder sundress with wedge sandals.
The doorbell rang, and Page raced past me, holding my baseball bat.
She swung the door open and greeted Hagen.
“That must be the Boone family weapon of choice.”
She grinned and lifted the bat. “Either this or a golf club.”
“Did I do something to make you mad?”
“Naw, I just figured since Kylie’s dad wasn’t here to meet you with a shotgun, I’d do the honors with Kylie’s bat.”
“Is this the part where you tell me to have her back by nine?”
“Oh no, I’m much more progressive than that.”
“Thank goodness, I was worried.”
“You can have her back by ten.”
I bit my cheek to keep from laughing as Hagen nodded solemnly. “I promise.”
“Okay, you can come in.”
Hagen walked through the door, and he smiled when he saw me. His eyes never left mine. “You look great.”
He leaned down and kissed my cheek. I smiled and nodded. “You do, too.”
Something crashed, breaking us out of our trance.
“What. Is. Happening?”
He grasped my hand as we both stared at the disaster that used to be my kitchen.
“I bet them they couldn’t make a well-rounded dinner while I was gone tonight.”
Jordan and Mack were busy trying to put out a fire on the stove. Jenny had a knife and was chopping carrots so fast that they were flying around the kitchen like missiles. Page was now busy trying to direct everyone in the kitchen using the baseball bat and accidentally knocked over an open can of tomato sauce, sending it flying across the floor.
“I’m a little worried about your house.”
“I promised them I’d set MiMi on them.”
“What’s a MiMi? Wait, is this the grandma you were talking about the other night?”
“Yup, that’s the one. Nothing scarier than my grandma.”
“If you say that, then I think I might be terrified to meet her.”
“Nah, you’ll get along just fine. She likes people who say it like it is.”
A pot crashed to the ground, and Hagen put his hand on my lower back. “Let’s get out of here before you get the urge to clean something.”
He took me to a local pub on the waterfront in Lampton. I’d been there once before and loved it. He couldn’t have picked a better restaurant for our first date. I loved dressing up as much as the next girl, but I wanted to spend more time with the relaxed Hagen that I’d come to know over the past couple weeks.
Hagen held out my chair for me then ordered us drinks and appetizers. After the waiter left, he unzipped his sweatshirt and peeled it off of his arms. You’d better believe I watched. That man had some nice arms. It would have been ungrateful of me to not show some appreciation.
I couldn’t be positive, but it seemed like he flexed a little as he turned around and rested his arms on the table once more.
He had a funny expression on his face, as though he was trying not to laugh.
Then I glanced down.
He was wearing a graphic t-shirt. It had a picture of a smiling potted cactus on it.
I laugh-snorted. He grinned.
“I thought you’d be more comfortable if you felt like you were out with an old friend.”
I couldn’t stop smiling. He was wearing a cactus shirt for me. Where did a person even find that kind of thing?
“I’ve got to tell you, after reading the reviews on this t-shirt, I keep waiting for something miraculous to happen.”
My cheeks were starting to hurt from my new permanent grin. “What do you mean?”
“I always read the reviews before I buy something. When I read the reviews for this shirt, they said it was guaranteed to be a ‘chick magnet.’”
“Please tell me those aren’t the words that were used.”
He smiled. “Oh, they were. I took a screenshot of that review. I’ll send it to you so you can enjoy it, too.”
It hurt trying to hold my laughter in.
“Okay, I have a question.”
His smile dropped at my serious tone. “Alright.”
“You said you read reviews before buying anything.”
“Yes...”
I sipped my sweet tea. “What’s it like grocery shopping with you?”
He didn’t blink, didn’t give anything away. “Very thorough.”
“And I thought shopping at the hardware store with you was bad.”
“Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
Eating dinner with Hagen was turning out to be quite a workout with all the laughing I was doing.
After dinner, he asked if I wanted to walk down the boardwalk. There were supposed to be some musicians performing near the small park close to the waterfront.
He held the door for me as we left the restaurant then grasped my hand as we walked down the boardwalk. It was a beautiful night along the river. He held his sweatshirt in one hand and my hand in the other. I hadn’t really thought about why he would have been wearing a sweatshirt when he showed up to my house, but now it made perfect sense. Every time I looked at that cactus on his shirt, it made me want to burst out laughing. It was such a thoughtful thing. It meant he’d actually been paying attention when I was talking to him.
The streetlights made it easy to see where we were walking. The restaurants and shops that lined the boardwalk in Lampton were picturesque.
We were walking past the nicest restaurant in town. Jean Guyre’s. White tablecloths, candles, black-tie waiters. I couldn’t have been happier that Hagen had taken me to a pub. If we had gone to a restaurant like Jean Guyre’s, it would have felt so formal, so stiff. Instead, we got to talk about things like cactus shirts and his ability to eat a crazy amount of beer-battered fries. I’d had a great time and was already looking forward to a future date with him.
The door to Jean Guyre’s opened, and four women stepped out. They were all tall, blonde, and thin. It was like we had bumped into a model convention.
Hagen squeezed my hand tight and pulled me to the edge of the boardwalk. He sped up as he maneuvered us around the women.
We blazed past, and I was fairly certain my cheeks were getting windburned.
“Hagen!”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw one of the blondes calling to us.
“Umm, I think they know you,” I told Hagen.
“Keep walking,” he muttered.
“Hagen! Wait.” The voice was loud and sounded close. I glanced over my shoulder to see an especially tall woman wearing a sleek black dress with matching black clutch. She was disgustingly elegant. Heavy makeup, but done in a way that suggested she looked good even without it.
She had a smile on her face, but the look in her eye was cold. Ice cold. I was pretty sure Hagen would have kept walking if she hadn’t latched onto his other arm with her slender, manicured hand.
If I had seen people speed-walking past me, I would have assumed they didn’t want to talk. Heck, if my own mother waved at me, I still checked behind me to make sure she was waving at me. I did not, by any means, run down the sidewalk, chasing after a man and his date when they had done their best to avoid me.
But this woman didn’t seem phased at all.
“I’m so glad you saw me, Hagen.”
Wait, what? Hagen had started training for sprints when she’d called out to him. He hadn’t exactly been flagging the woman down.
“Have a nice night,” Hagen said in a way that could have also been telling her to drop dead.
She laughed quietly. “So, who is your little friend? Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
I straightened my shoulders back and plastered an equally plastic smile on my face. “I’m Kylie.”
Her smile turned positively lethal. “I’m Brooke. I’m sure you’ve heard all about me.”
I bit my tongue to keep from exclaiming about her being Hagen’s ex-girlfriend. “Hmm, that does sound familiar.” I pretended to be searching for a recollection of her name. “Where do you work? That might help me place you.”
She dropped the smile completely, and Hagen rubbed a hand over his mouth.
“Hagen and I have been together a long time. We’re just taking a little break right now.” She said it with such a straight face that I was certain she believed her own lie.
“That’s nice.”
“Is this that cousin you were telling me about, Hagen?”
“Brooke, this is my date. Goodnight.” He wrapped a protective arm over my shoulders and urged me forward again.
“Give me a call when you get home tonight. You’re smarter than Branton. Your parents are excited to have you in the business. I’ve already hired the decorator for your new office.”
“Wow, she’s really a treat,” I whispered to Hagen as we walked away.
“Delusional.”
I glanced at him. He looked angry. I couldn’t blame him. I was angry, too. Angry for him. Angry that somehow she still had a hold on his family. Angry that she could act so serene when she was so crazy. Angry that she still affected Hagen.
“You know,” I told him as I let go of his hand and instead looped my arm around his. “They say it’s the ones who look normal on the outside that are the most crazy on the inside. I, personally, have not been around very many normal people in my life, so I feel like I can check that off my list now.”
Hagen snorted. “You know you’re crazy, right?”
“Yes, which means I’m perfectly normal. Now, if I thought I was normal, like Brooke obviously does, then I would be worried.”
Hagen chuckled stiffly and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. He kissed the top of my head. “Thanks for cheering me up. I’m sorry she ruined our night.”
“She didn’t ruin our night. I’ve had a great time.”
Hagen sighed as we made our way to the truck. “I wish she would stay away from my family. I’ve been avoiding them because all they talk about is Brooke and how they want us to get back together.”
Hagen opened the door for me, placing a hand on my waist to help me into the truck. It wasn’t easy to climb up in a dress.
The drive home was the most awkward moment of the night. I watched as Hagen receded into himself.
At first, he responded to my attempts at conversation with a nod or a small smile. Then, it was a small blink. I realized he wasn’t even listening right around the part where I offered to reorganize his garage and he’d readily agreed with a nod. I stopped trying to draw him out. Whatever was going on in his mind was something he was going to have to work through on his own.
That was the trouble with caring about someone. You couldn’t fix everything for them. While I could plainly see Brooke’s toxicity, I couldn’t force Hagen to see it for what it was. He had been with her for a long time. She had a hold on his family. Of course he would feel drawn to her.
I didn’t want to imagine him getting back together with her. He had seemed so miserable when he first moved to this neighborhood. I wanted him to be happy. He had seemed happy with me, but if I tried to force him to be with me, would I have been any different than Brooke?
Hagen backed into his driveway and shut the truck off.
He turned in his seat to look at me. “I had a nice time tonight.”
“So did I. But why do I feel like you’re about to say something else?”
He sighed. “Because I am. I can’t give you more.”
“What does that mean?”
“I can’t pretend to be different than I am. I really like you, Kylie. That’s why I want more for you. You need someone who wants those things.”
I held my hand in the air. “Hold up. I’m pretty sure I know what I want in life, and it has nothing to do with how much money a person makes or where he is socially.”
Hagen shook his head slowly. “I know you’re not like that, but you deserve better.”
Now I was getting mad. “Shouldn’t I decide what I want more of? You’re making this decision as if I’m just like Brooke. Have I ever made you feel like you’re less?”
“No, and that’s exactly what I mean!”
“So you want me to be a jerk to you?”
“No.” Hagen ran a hand over his face. “It’s because you’re such a good woman that I want you to have the best. I want you to have everything, and I can’t give you that world. I don’t want to be a part of my parents’ world.”
I tapped my fingers against my knees.
“Say something,” Hagen whispered.
I nodded and kept tapping away on my knees.
“Please.”
I turned to glare at him. “I’ll say something. I think you’re crazy, and I’d like to strangle you—and maybe your crazy ex-girlfriend, too. Let me see if I’ve got this right. You like me, but basically, you think you’re not ambitious enough to give me the life I want.”
“You deserve more.”
“What if I just want to see where this takes us?”
“You deserve the best in life.”
“I think that there are a lot of things better in life than money and social standing. Love, family, adventures, a place to belong.”
Hagen smiled and reached across the middle console to squeeze my hand. “You’re amazing, Kylie Boone.”
I glared at him. “I feel like stuffing you in my garbage can right now.”
He rubbed a hand against his forehead. “Maybe I rushed into this. Maybe I just need some time to deal with what happened with Brooke. I like you a lot, Kylie, but right now, I’m too focused on what I’m not.”
I sighed. “Well, when you figure out what you are, you can find me across the street. Probably eating muffins.”