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“A pediatric doctor?” I ask. “So, you’re a saint, then? A wannabe saint?”
He smiles again at my snarky comment. “Something like that, I guess.”
“I bet you would love being a saint,” I reply. “Showing off and all that.”
Are we... flirting?
“And what about you, Emma?” he asks. “You want to be a dancer?”
“Something like that.”
“Ah, I see. Very astute.”
“You like walking and reading?” I ask him. “For me, I can’t focus on two things like that at once. I’d fall over.”
“Walking and reading helps me think,” August replies. “I like to get away from my family sometimes and hide out here. Mother can be a bit...too muchsometimes.”
I would openly agree with him, but then I remember that his mom is technically my boss, and a dangerous woman to gossip about, so I keep my trap firmly shut.
“It’s nice out here,” I remark, not knowing what else to say.
The smirk on August’s handsome face grows larger.
“It’sniceto bump into you, Emma.”
My cheeks blush bright red, and I turn away from the boy’s penetrative gaze.
“I guess I’ll leave you alone, now,” I whimper toward the ground at his feet. “Let you become a pediatric doctor in peace.”
“It’s always nice to bump into you, Emma,” August says coolly and confidently as I turn my back on him and scurry home into the maid’s quarters on the other side of the gardens, my face still a bright red. “I hope we do it again sometime.”
* * *
For the next few weeks, the frequency of bumping into August seems to ratchet up a hell of a lot, and it ain’t my fault. It just seems to... happen.
We have a very short interaction in the hallway as I go about my cleaning jobs.
“How’s wiping down my mansion going?” he asks me.
I poke my tongue at him.
“It ain’t your money or your mansion,” I reply.
“You’re always ready with a witty remark, aren’t you?” August asks me. But before I could come back at him with another witty remark, he’s gone.
He has a habit of just turning around and walking away.
It’s so annoying.
Another time, we nod at each other as we pass by on the main foyer staircase as I look for Mom. It’s actually friendly, and nothing like the weird quasi-aggressive flirting that we’ve been engaged in.
Another time, we see each other in town. I’m at the bus stop after school while he drives past in some loud Penmayne sports car. I see his steel-blue eyes glaring at me from behind his glasses as he shoots by. That time there aren’t any witty remarks.
Just the thought of August staring at me. Into my soul.
And I can’t help thinking that we somehow share an intimate connection - some kind of an instant attraction to each other. It’s something I can’t deny.
I swear I don’t see the other Penmayne brothers as much as this.
