Practice Makes Perfect (When in Rome, #2)(78)

“No, brother, I cannot,” Will says deadpan, and I want to push them both off the back of these stands.

Brandon, somehow oblivious to the Two Stooges scene happening beside me, asks, “How long have you owned your flower shop?”

Oh no, flower shop questions. This is what got me in trouble on my last date. However, I’m Annie 2.0, so I’m prepared for this. I crack my mental knuckles and prepare to wow him with a flourishing answer. “Four years.”

Yep, wowed him.

Will bumps my arm intentionally. I toss a quick glare at him, and he widens his eyes with a keep-going look. Wait, so is he here to cheer me on or sabotage me? I feel like I’m on a spinning-teacup ride.

I sigh and turn back to Brandon. “What I mean is…four years in the brick-and-mortar shop. But before that I owned a flower truck and would sell out of farmers markets.”

He looks genuinely impressed and interested. Another check mark. “That’s really cool. Did you travel to other states or stay local to Kentucky?”

“I pretty much stayed within a fifty-mile radius,” I say, and then realize this is the perfect conversational intro for a question that’s become important to me as of late. “Um, which is actually why I think I’d like to travel more in the future.”

“Go Timmy!” Amelia yells again.

Will shakes his head. “Still not Timmy.”

“Rats.” Amelia sits down.

“Do you like to travel, Brandon?” I ask while trying my hardest to block out the man beside me most definitely chewing wintergreen gum. His kiss would taste incredible right now.

Brandon grimaces. “I used to. But I traveled a ton in my twenties—I’m honestly pretty over it. I’m ready to finally settle in somewhere and just explore my own life around me.”

One Month Ago Annie would be jumping for joy. Current Annie is deflating—especially as I realize I’m not sure what I really want anymore. Who I was and who I am becoming are meeting at an intersection and deciding who should proceed. All I know is, for Brandon getting so many check marks on my Perfect Soulmate List, I don’t feel any physical reactions while sitting beside him.

It doesn’t help that Will leans forward suddenly and addresses Brandon directly and with zero shame for eavesdropping. “But, uh, your girlfriend just said she wants to travel. Surely if she wants to, you’d go with her?”

Oh. My. Gosh!

Discreetly I reach behind me and pinch the back of Will’s arm. His jaw jumps, but he doesn’t retreat like I hoped.

Brandon looks just as startled as I do by this question. He laughs lightly to cover his unease. “Oh, well, she’s not my girlfriend, actually. This is our first date. But, um, I guess if she really wanted to travel we could…figure it out.” The way he says figure it out tells me he’s just being polite. He has zero desire to travel. That’s fine, though, right? I’m fine staying put.

“Great,” Will says in a bland tone.

Amelia—or should I say Joe—sits forward. “You know? I’ve been known to do some traveling m’self. And to sing a few tunes as well. It’s always been a big dream of mine to make it onto the big stage one of these days.”

She’s clearly having too much fun with this. I’m absolutely going to have to murder her later.

“That’s…nice. Don’t give up on your dreams,” Brandon says, and he definitely gets extra points for not immediately shunning these two goons.

I stand up. “I’m so thirsty! Who needs a drink?”

Brandon stands too. “I can go get some bottled waters.” Ugh, he’s so nice.

“No! You sit down. Your nephew is about to bat, so you don’t want to miss it.” And then as I pass Will, I widen my eyes and flare my nostrils at him in a get-your-butt-up kind of way that he doesn’t miss.

“Oh, uh, Joe, I’m going to get us something too. Keep your eyes peeled for Timmy.”

“Well, hurry back now.”

“This is not as charming as you think it is,” I tell Amelia quietly as I pass. She pinches my butt cheek, and now I really hope Brandon isn’t watching.

I storm toward the concession stand with Will following a few feet behind me. When we’re finally out of eyeshot, I whirl around on him. “What in the Mary Poppins do you think you’re doing?! Are you trying to sabotage me? Get in my head? Ruin my date?”

“No,” he says firmly. “You were never even supposed to see us.”

“Oh please,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Joe back there could never go under the radar.”

“I told her to leave the mustache in the truck.”

“William.”

“Annabell.”

“You’re ruining my date.”

He scoffs. “That guy was doing it already.”

“No! Don’t do that.” I wiggle my fingers in front of his face. “You don’t get to say things like that and make me second-guess anything. Brandon is a perfectly nice guy. He’s kind, he wants a family, he wants to put down roots. He wants everything I want. This date was going perfectly, and he’s exactly what I’ve been looking for!”

Will’s blue-gray eyes skewer me, and then he puts his thumb against my chin and tugs it back down. Neither of us say anything for a minute. No need to acknowledge that I didn’t truly mean any of that—we both know it wasn’t true.