Page 40 of Good Directions

Jace doesn’t answer, just keeps heading down the hall, marching straight to the conference room. The doors are already open, Miss Harriett, Hayes’s catering manager, putting the final touches on today’s meal.

“You boys aren’t wastin’ any time today,” she greets us, smiling wide.

Miss Harriett has been in charge of the kitchen at Hayes Industries for as long as I’ve been alive and is easily one of the best cooks in Hickory Hills. If not the best. And every week, she makes sure we eat like royalty at Munch.

“I heard a rumor there was pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes on the menu today,” Jace replies, holding out an arm to give her a side hug.

“What spy do you have in my kitchen?”

She accepts his hug, giving him the side-eye, trying to appraise him for an answer.

“I’m not revealing my sources.”

Shaking her head and tsk-ing, Miss Harriett looks at me. “You know, sometimes I don’t know which one of you is the troublemaker in this family.”

“We take turns,” I answer.

“Are those fried green tomatoes?” Gus asks, stopping short just inside the door.

“Get in line!” I say, pointing at him.

“Yeah,” Jace tacks on, loading up his plate. “Anton didn’t hide out here all morning for you to cut.”

“I wasn’t hiding!”

“Who aren’t you hiding from?” Gus asks as Jace rolls his eyes.

“Sawyer, duh,” Hux answers, appearing in the room.

For fuck’s sake…

I glare at both of them, grabbing my food to go sit at the table. Taking a big bite of my sandwich, I ignore my brothers’ chatter around me. The last thing I need to do is give them any more ammunition. Especially since they’re right.

Maybe not about the hiding part. That’s not the word I would use. But…avoiding. That’s maybe a better term. Because yesterday did not go as planned at all.

Sure, I got the date I needed for Willa’s wedding. But I also feel like Sawyer and I took about six steps backward. I’d finally found an in with her, and thought maybe after running into her at the Giddy Up that we’d be able to find firmer footing. Something to build on.

But no.

To make matters worse, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how fucking cute she looked covered in powdered sugar. About how I wanted to lick it off her.

“We need to talk about that, by the way,” Hux says, pulling me from my thoughts.

“Talk about what?”

“This whole Sawyer’s my date thing.”

Errr…what?

“What about it?” I ask, trying to play it off.

“Well, she clearly hates you, for one,” Jace says.

“She does not.”

Okay, she does. Which, for some really weird reason, I kinda like. It makes me want to annoy her more. Lends itself well to me being the designated button pusher that she’s extra cute when she’s all flustered and pissy at me. Less so when she’s bossy and trying to tell me how to live my life. It’s a fine line.

“She tripped, almost spilled a plate of beignets, and then ran away when you said you were her date, dude!”