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Felicity smiled at her and nudged her brother, “See, being short isn’t a bad thing.” Felicity leaned forward and whispered like she was telling a secret, “I personally like being shorter. It makes me different. But poor Eddie feels like a runt. I told him five-ten is perfectly normal in the real world.”
Eddie huffed, “We are in the real-world butthead. I just want to be over six feet. Girls like tall guys!”
Kenzie shrugged, “Not necessarily. I actually prefer shorter guys. It’s easier to dance and you don’t have to wear heels all the time.”
Eddie motioned to Aiden, “You can’t say that when you’re with this guy. He’s six-two!”
She smiled at Aiden who was watching her closely, laughter dancing in his eyes. “Yea, but technically he was chosen for me by the Goddess, right? So, Aiden is just going to have to deal with neck problems from looking down at me the rest of his life.” She shrugged, “I will only be wearing heels when absolutely necessary.”
Aiden laughed, “Thanks. I’ll put my chiropractor on notice.”
He leaned into her and growled in her ear, “But you know, height doesn’t matter if we’re horizontal.”
“Oh my gosh! Mom!” Everyone at the table chuckled at Felicity’s exclamation, making Kenzie blush.
“I will get you back for that later you mutt.”Aiden only grinned at her threat.
As their food arrived and everyone started eating, Felicity and Eddie started telling her about their summer plans.
Apparently, they were working here for the summer to save up to buy a car together. Juliet and Ben said they’d offered to buy them one for their seventeenth birthday, but the twins had refused. They wanted to do it on their own.
Kenzie respected that and told them so. She strongly believed in learning how to make your own way and learning responsibility young. The twins hung out with them for a few more minutes but had to get back to work.
When they were finished, Aiden paid for lunch against the protests of his parents. “Do ya’ll want to go to the bakery with us?”
Ben shook his head, “No, you kids have fun. We need to get back. One of the goats is acting funny.”
“You work with the goats?” she asked.
Juliet smiled, “Sometimes. Ben is a vet, so he takes care of all the animals, but he has a clinic here in town too. I just help sometimes. I run two art galleries. One here in town and another one in Ashville. Luckily, I have managers that handle the day to day though. So, I occasionally get to be lazy and play with goats.”
Kenzie chuckled, “That sounds amazing actually.”
“Thanks. You should come out for our next opening. It tends to be quite the party.” Juliet did a little dance, then pulled Kenzie into a tight hug. “I haven’t seen my son this happy in a while.”
With a final squeeze, she pulled away from Kenzie. She glanced over to see Aiden talking with his dad, not paying attention to them, so Kenzie turned back to Juliet, “He makes me happy too. So, thank you for raising such an amazing son.”
Juliet placed a kiss on her cheek, “Thank you sweetheart.” Then a little louder she said, “Alright, we’ll leave you to your day. Have fun.”
They all said goodbye and went their separate ways.
Aiden spent the next hour showing Kenzie around the town and wandering in the little shops. They stopped at the bakery last.
When they walked in, Kenzie realized they hadn’t been exaggerating about the bright colors. It looked like the shop had gotten stuck in the past. There was tie dye, neon tables, a mirror wall and stained-glass windows. She was surprised there wasn’t a disco ball.
“So, your renovation can’t happen soon enough.”
Aiden shook his head, “So true. It makes my eyes hurt.”
“Well, hello you two! It’s a beautiful day for a walk, isn’t it?” It was the woman from the grocery store.
Aiden waved at her and walked up to the counter, “Hey Mrs. Jones. It definitely is. I’ve been showing Kenzie around and we just had to stop in for some sweet treats.”
“Oh well now, you’ve come to the right place.” She looked at Kenzie, “It’s nice to see you again dear. Kenzie, is it?”
“Yes, and it’s nice to see you too. So, what would you recommend? Anything but chocolate.” Kenzie figured talking about dessert would distract her from asking any questions she didn’t want to answer.
It worked perfectly, “Oh there are so many options. We have cheesecake, regular cake, pie, fudge, macarons, tarts. We also have bread, buns, croissants, and bagels. What sounds good dear?”
