Page 28 of Romantic

Sounds good. I’m sorry about what I said last night. I’ll pick her up around noon.

Annie

Come hungry. I made you apology bars 🙂

Brandon

Is that like humble pie?

Annie

No, because they are delicious. Humble pie is bitter

Brandon

Nah! Humble pie is sweet.

Annie

You are so wrong about this

Brandon

Nope.

Annie

Wait till I present my full case to you. I’ll make a PowerPoint and everything

Brandon

I look forward to it.

I smile to myself as I read his texts. It feels good to be back on good terms with Brandon, even if we’re joking about something dumb.

“Who are you texting?”

“Your dad.”

“Really?” Pepper asks with a sly smile before taking another bite of her berry bar. The little rascal may have promised not to sabotage my relationship with Jack, but I don’t think she’s finished with matchmaking.

***

“Next, you need to start adding hair to the braid,” I say to Pepper who is braiding my hair. I’m sitting on the rug in the front room and Pepper’s on the ottoman. Half of my hair is twisted up in a clip and the other half Pepper is holding. After several failed attempts teaching her how to braid her own hair, we decided it would be easier if she first learned how to braid my hair.

“Okay, now what?” she asks.

“The same thing you did before. Move the bottom strand to the middle. And then the top to the middle. Got it?”

“Yeah, maybe, I think so.”

“Hello? What’s this?” Edward asks as he and Elinor walk into the house.

“I’m teaching Pepper to braid.”

“So you’re putting me out of a job,” Brandon says, following them into the front room.

“No, just giving her options for when you’re busy.”