Page 32 of More Than My Hometown

What? No, we’re not…

“Like actual bets? Money bets?” Rose clarifies. “If so, I’ve got twenty on the Fourth of July.”

Excuse you?!

Dolly must see the panic on my face, because she reaches across the table, taking my hand. “We’re kidding, Mais.”

Her voice is calm and even, but does little to assuage my internal panic. My worry that Ewan’s be mine wasn’t the ask that I thought it was.

“How long was it until Hux kissed you?”

I blurt out the question like a cat hacking up a hairball. The need to know burns inside me as if it’s going to eat me alive. Because somehow a little insight into the brain of one Hayes brother might shed some light into another.

Granted, of all the Hayes brothers, Hux and Ewan aren’t the most alike. Then again, they aren’t the most unalike either. Come to think of it, all six of them are pretty unique. So my logic might be flawed here.

“Kissed me? Or kissed me?” The waggle of her eyebrows doesn’t leave a whole lot up for interpretation as to her meaning for her second question.

“Regular, everyday, you’re my girlfriend, kissed you.” I toss in a little shrug of my right shoulder, trying to play it off.

It doesn’t work.

Anxiety rises up in me again, and I know that my friends see right through me. Because there is no way that it’s not written all over my face—Maisey is a lovesick wreck.

Stabbing at my pie again—this time breaking off a piece of the crust—I shovel it in like it’s my job. At the rate I’m going, a second piece is going to be needed. Stat.

“Things moving slower than you’d like?” Rose asks.

Sighing, I slouch back in my seat, trying to separate myself from my pie. Eating my feelings is a seriously bad habit—a vice that I’ve always had and have leaned into more and more since I’ve been away and haven’t had the best support system around me—and I need to stop. This is Hickory Hills. These are my girls. Those who listen and don’t judge.

“I dunno. I just…”

I just what? Want to discover if the taste of Ewan’s lips solves all of life’s unanswered questions? If the feel of his hands on my body fills the gaps and cracks that I feel deep in my soul? If being with him—in that way—will be what’s been missing this whole time?

Actually, yes. That is what I’m wondering.

“We’re Ewan and Maisey again, and it’s great. Better than great. We got it all out there and slipped back into being us again so easy. But you know what Ewan and Maisey never did?”

“Kissed?” Em offers up.

I point to her, signaling that she hit the answer square on the nose. “Kissed. And we’ve had all these little moments since that would have been perfect. Ones where I think he’s going to, because it’s like he starts to lean in and then he stops or something happens and we get interrupted by a fish or something and⁠—”

“You got interrupted by a fish?” Alice asks, reappearing.

I nod, unable to help my smile thinking about the little guy and that perfect morning spent out on Silver Lake. That was our only catch of the day, the sun rising shortly after and warming everything up. But that didn’t matter. It was the first step in being us again. The first step in patching up one of those cracks inside me.

“That’s the most Ewan thing I’ve ever heard,” Em says with a laugh.

“You could kiss him, you know,” Dolly sasses. “It’s no longer 1956, so you don’t have to wait for him to make the move.”

I stare back at my cousin, part of me wanting to smack the know-it-all, shit-eating grin right off her face, another part wanting to smack myself for not telling myself the same thing. Because I’m pretty sure that’s the advice I gave her about asking out a guy in college.

Actually, I know it is. And the growing smirk she’s wearing confirms it.

“And then, once you’ve put him in his place—or well, kissed him into place—you can drag him back to the bank and get what I know you really want,” she continues, giving me a knowing wink.

I swallow hard, my insides clenching at the thought of Ewan’s hands on me. On the two of us tumbling into his apartment, mouths fused together, not watching where we’re going, knocking things over as we try to make it to the bedroom, a flurry of limbs trying to undress each other. Fuuuuuck…that’s exactly what I want.

Dolly leans forward, lowering her voice, her smile turning borderline evil. “And Mais, when you get what you want, don’t be quiet about it. Because I promise you, Ewan is dying to give Willa some payback.”