“She just told him? She’s been planning it for a month. Making sure the food and drinks are better than what Mindy-Ellen Shroeder provided when she last hosted the meeting.” She shook her head. “I rarely say this, but poor Dad.”
Scarlett nodded, climbing up the porch steps. She pulled up the second patio chair and sat. “Yep. On top of the Fort Kyle guests, he has to deal with the county elite.”
“Every town in a fifty-mile radius. Poor, poor Dad. It’s bound to be long and drawn out. Hobnobbing and small talk and...” She shook her head, laughing.
“You’re going to be there, too, right?” Scarlett asked, her smile fading. Her sister didn’t do well in crowds.
“Of course. We can team up.” India grinned. “I just hope the committee decides to do the right thing. We need the Monarch Festival. No matter how much work it requires.”
“Be careful saying that too loudly or you’ll be nominated to some action committee. Or put in charge of programming or something.” Scarlett drew her feet up and under her. “Sure is quiet out here.”
India nodded. “I was just thinking that.”
“Sort of a nice change from the main house.” Scarlett glanced her way. “How’s it going? The studying and the working? And life? And, that thing with Brody?”
India smiled at her sister, who was two years younger. Scarlett was a gentle soul. India worried about her getting lost in the shuffle sometimes. The rest of the family were all loud and stubborn, but not Scarlett. She was the peacemaker. The one who wanted to make everyone happy. Which was impossible. “Good, really. The kids are adorable. It’s nice being able to see what Cal’s learning and getting to know the kids he goes to school with. Working with Mom and Dad is, as you know, a challenge. And my studies...I just have to keep the goal in mind, you know?”
“I’m tired just listening to you.” Scarlett laughed.
“I was feeling a little antsy when you showed up. Must have been your sisterly intuition,” India teased.
“I aim to please. What do you have in mind? Hair braiding, polishing each other’s nails and boy talk?”
India perked up. “Boy talk? Scarlett Ann Boone, is there a boy we need to talk about?”
Scarlett laughed. “No. I was thinking about you.”
“Me? Cal is the only boy in my life.”
“I saw you two together, India. And now you’re avoiding my question, so I know there’s something going on. With Brody Wallace.” Scarlett shrugged. “That was the most intense thank-you hug I’ve ever seen. And Miss Francis sort of implied something might be going on.”
India stared. “Are you kidding me?” She knew Miss Francis liked to talk, but there was nothing to tell.
Scarlett shook her head. “I’m not. Are you saying it’s not true? I’m sort of bummed.”
India didn’t know what to say.
Scarlett’s sigh echoed in the still of the night. “It’s okay if it’s true, you know. I’ve always liked Brody. He’s a good guy. And, I promise, I won’t say anything to anyone.”
“He is a good guy,” India agreed. She looked at her sister, tempted to confide her new and alarming reactions to Brody Wallace. She’d forgotten how it felt to have someone on her side. JT hadn’t liked her family, and in time, she’d learned to avoid anything that upset him. In hindsight she realized he was cutting her off from the people who’d have stepped in to prevent his ill treatment of her. It had worked. She’d blocked them out—something else her father had yet to forgive her for.
“And?” Scarlett prodded. “India? Go on.”
“And we’re friends. But...” She swallowed.
Scarlett waited.
“I think I’m lonely. And Brody is...” What was Brody?
“Hot? Sweet? Funny? Awesome?” Scarlett offered. “Ya’ll have been secret pals for years. Now he could be potential boyfriend material?”
India bit her lip. She was ridiculously attracted to him. Off the charts aware of him. But that didn’t mean she needed to do anything about it. Or consider Brody Wallace boyfriend material. “He did buy me a coffee because I gave him mine.”
“What about the hug?” Scarlett asked.
“It happened. I hugged him. He hugged me back. We sort of stuck that way.” She sighed, savoring the memories of his arms around her and the brush of his breath on her neck. A slight shudder ran down her back. “And I didn’t want to let go.” She looked at her sister then, nervous and uncertain about sharing like this.
“What’s wrong with that, India? Nothing. Nothing at all.” Scarlett took her hand. “Just be extra careful. There’s not much to do in this town except talk. Now, with the election, a budding romance between a Boone and a Wallace would be the juiciest thing this town has seen in a long time.”