Page 214 of The Path to Loving Him
Hattie:Perfect description. Very blek.
Ryland:That’s not what Gabby thinks. Quite the opposite actually. She thinks I’m hot!
Aubree:Call the firefighters, Hattie. She thinks he’s hot.
Hattie:*Cue the sirens* Weee-ooo, weee-ooo. Someone has to put out the fire that is our hot brother.
Aubree:He’s so hot, he’s burning on the spot. Water, stat.
Hattie:Where’s the fire extinguisher?
Aubree:Grab a blanket, flour . . . anything to put him out.
Ryland:Are you two nitwits done?
Hattie:Ooo, nitwit. Look, he’s getting flustered.
Aubree:It’s cute.
Hattie:I agree. I kind of like it.
Ryland:You’re not going to like it when I stop telling you about my life. Then you won’t have anything to obsess over.
Aubree:I’d hardly say we obsess over you.
Hattie:I barely even think about you. Like . . . last thing on my mind.
Ryland:Says the girl who took a picture of me with my girls.
Aubree:*whispers* Hattie, he said MY GIRLS.
Hattie:I know, I saw it. I inwardly squealed.
Ryland:You realize I can read these texts, right?
Aubree:It’s quite astounding to see the kind of change he’s gone through.
Ryland:Me? What about you, Aubree?
Aubree:I’m the same human I’ve always been.
Hattie:Okay, now you know I like giving Ryland a hard time, but I can’t let you just slip on by with a comment like that. Same human? Ma’am, not even close. Wyatt has mellowed you out in the best of ways.
Ryland:Hattie’s right. You’re not the same human, and the fact that you think you are is laughable.
Aubree:Yeah . . . well . . . Hattie’s changed too.
Hattie:Facts, I have, and I’m not afraid to admit it. We all have, and I think . . . in all seriousness . . . Cassidy would be proud of us. I mean, hell, we never had a text thread like this before. Ever. And now I talk to you guys every day.
Aubree:That’s true.
Ryland:Yeah, I guess we didn’t really talk all that much before Cassidy passed, even slightly after.
Hattie:Makes you sad, doesn’t it? That our sister had to leave us for us to come together.
Aubree:I don’t think I’d put it that way.
Ryland:How do you see it?
