Love from Scratch by Kaitlyn Hill

Author:Kaitlyn Hill [Hill, Kaitlyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2022-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

I hit the hay early and sleep like the dead that night, exhausted by the day, the week, the whole summer so far. When I wake up—earlier than I normally would on a weekend—there’s a single text from Benny on my phone.

Benny: Hey sleeping beauty, come down to the basement when you get up. Dress for…outdoor activity

I laugh, then get up and try to make myself look halfway decent in my “outdoor activity” attire of leggings, a T-shirt, and my most comfortable tennis shoes. The house is quiet enough that I guess most people still aren’t up, and I venture down the first stairwell I find to an expansive finished basement. I weave around pool tables—plural—an air hockey table, and a few old-school arcade games, calling out, “Benny?”

“Over here, Reese’s Pieces.”

I follow his voice and find him sitting on one of three couches that frame an entertainment center. He’s pulling hiking boots on and is dressed for the day in jeans and a red-and-black plaid flannel over a white T-shirt. He stands when he’s finished and I look him up and down, crossing my arms to try to mask how flustered he’s gotten me.

“You look like the Brawny paper towel man,” I spit out, as if it’s a bad thing. On Benny, it is very much not. “What are you up to?”

“Get with the program, girl, this is my great-outdoors uniform. We’re going hiking.”

I raise an eyebrow, mildly amused that he wants to go hiking bright and early on a Saturday morning—everything about Benny says city boy, but good for him for trying something new.

“We?”

He adjusts his black baseball cap. “Well, I am. And I’m inviting you to join if you want. Pretty please with Reese’s Puffs on top? I texted Aiden and he, well, he asked me not to text him before nine a.m. ever again. But he also confirmed we’re free to do our own thing for the morning. I looked at the cabin’s info packet and there are a few trails that start right outside. Eh?”

I pretend to mull it over a couple more moments before relenting. “Lead the way.”

His smile is wide as he gestures for me to follow him up the stairs, out the door and toward one of the trails he read about. This one begins by a tree marked with a single stripe of white paint. We’re supposed to follow these markers until we reach a loop trail in a state park that’ll take us down to the water and back.

We walk the first few minutes in relative silence, me behind Benny, definitely not stealing glances at his butt. Mama would be washing my mind out with soap if she had any clue. My attraction to this guy is at a level that I’ve never felt for anyone. Not just physical, either. It’s in how he talks to me and listens to me and makes me laugh; it’s how I want to be around him more and more, all the time basically.

And he’s been giving me space to figure out what I want.

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