Chapter 19 Fried Chicken Tactics
Of course, the do-gooder quickly plastered on her usual perky smile, greeting Hallie with warmth and enthusiasm. “So good to see you, Hallie!”
“Hello, darling,” Luke added, “I thought you were taking a siesta. Nice shirt.” She didn’t catch his initial reaction, but now his eyes were crinkling and misting over at the same time as he seemed to be ogling her figure, or maybe just examining the cartoon squirrel on her tank top.
“So, you two have been working on the charity project?” Hallie began.
“Luke has so many good ideas!” Eloise gushed.
“Maybe I can put in my two cents’ worth,” Hallie offered.
“Of course, you’re welcome to,” Eloise said, though her ability to sound enthused seemed to fail. “I thought you said you didn’t have time for meetings anymore.”
“A woman’s allowed to change her mind. I thought maybe I could help with marketing since that’s my area,” Hallie suggested, as she pulled up a small stool to sit between them. “What colors are you using for your branding?”
“I don’t have any branding,” Eloise replied.
“You should,” Hallie said. “It’s going to make people take notice, and they will see your materials as professional. Luckily, I’ve got my set of markers right here, so we can try out some colors. You can also use an online picture editor to give you much more variety.”
“Are you sure we should be coloring when we have so many more important things to discuss?” Eloise asked.
“Are you kidding? I learned about this stuff in college. It really works.”
Hallie was warming up to the subject. This was some pretty basic stuff she had learned in her marketing courses, and it was exciting to be able to use it in real life.
“Hallie is right,” Luke said, “Branding is important, no matter the size of the project.”
“So what colors should we use?” Eloise wondered, her fingers playing with the little heart-shaped pendant on her necklace.
“The event is to help seniors, so grey?” Hallie blurted out.
“Like grey hair?” Eloise said, wrinkling her nose. “Isn’t that going to be a turn-off?”
Hallie shrugged. “I’m just throwing out ideas.”
“What about silver?” Luke said excitedly. “An event to support our silver foxes!”
“Yes, I like that!” Eloise said. “Maybe we should go with a ‘silver fox’ theme?”
“And we could have activities like ‘pin the tail on the fox!’” Hallie added.
“Oh!” Eloise exclaimed, “What about auctioning off a date with a silver fox?”
“A date?” Luke asked in confusion. “Isn’t that... illegal?”
“What are you talking about?” Hallie said. “Oh, they probably don’t do this in your country, but it’s just for fun. The person who has the winning bid gets to go out with the eligible bachelor or bachelorette. They don’t have to do anything improper.”
“Only we’ll ask older folks to be auctioned,” Eloise said, “It’ll be so cute.”
For a while, she forgot all about the awkwardness of trying to keep her fake boyfriend in line as they planned the event, everyone contributing ideas in a bubbly and fun atmosphere. It was almost a shame to put a pause on the meeting when Eloise’s parents said it was time for dinner.
***
“YOUR FRIED CHICKEN is amazing, Mrs. Onnerly,” Hallie said. She was trying to drag dinner out for as long as possible, just to make sure Luke and Eloise wouldn’t escape her.
They were hinting at going out later, and she couldn’t have that. Even if she tried to tag along, it would be super awkward, and they might be able to escape her. But here, under the Onnerlys’ roof, everybody was safe from making romantic advances.
“Your chicken really is amazing,” Luke agreed. “I don’t suppose you’re willing to share the recipe?”
“Sorry, but it’s a family secret,” Mrs. Onnerly said.
Eloise looked very proud of herself, as if she was already picturing herself marrying Luke and sharing the fried chicken recipe with him.
“I’d love another piece, although I’m getting full,” Hallie said.
“Help yourself, dear!” Mrs. Onnerly said.
“Thanks, maybe just a scoop of potato salad as well.”
“I’d love some of that too,” Luke said. “Maybe staying in Texas is going to increase my waistline, but at this moment, I don’t care.
As the French poet Baudelaire said, ‘One should always be drunk. That’s all that matters.
.. But with what? With wine, with poetry, or with virtue.
’ And to that I might add, with fried chicken. ”
“Y’all are too kind.” Eloise’s mother blushed, passing the big bowl of potato salad over to him.
“Don’t get too full now,” Eloise said, sounding less and less sure of herself, “We could still go out for drinks later.”
“I think I’ll have another piece,” Hallie said. Terry may think I look like a bloated Charlize Theron, she thought, but she ain’t seen nothing yet ‘cause I’m about to get a whole lot more bloated.
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AFTER HALLIE MANAGED to stretch out the dinner to a full two-and-a-half hours, she and Luke finally left the house. They had all agreed that it was too late and everyone was too stuffed to go out for drinks.
“I’ll never be able to move again,” Luke said as they walked to the truck, “But this was one of the most delicious meals of my life, so it was worth it. Too bad we can’t get the recipe.”
Hallie clambered into the driver’s seat, feeling full enough not to eat again for a week.
The night sky was luminous, beaming down the lights of a million stars in the still air.
“We could try to recreate it at home,” she remarked, “Wait a minute. Why am I being all friendly with you? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you snuck out. ”
“That was fun!” he exclaimed. “You should be happy, you outsmarted me. I don’t know how you figured out where I was, but well done.”
“Terry spied on you,” Hallie said as she steered the truck back onto the highway.
“Well done, Terry. Say what you will about that sister of yours, but she has initiative.”
“If that’s what you want to call it.”
“Oh, come on. I think you actually had fun today.” His mischievous grin was almost too much to resist, but Hallie didn’t want to encourage any more of his escapades. “Using fried chicken as a tactic? I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
“You think this is some kind of game?” she asked.
“Sure. The game’s afoot. Let’s see how many secret dates I can get away with.”
“I’m not enjoying it,” Hallie said, just to put an end to this stupid conversation.
But suddenly she realized that deep down inside she liked this game just a little.
Maybe she would never have the guts to look for a job in the city, but keeping Luke under control was as challenging as any job could be.
“So you studied marketing?” Luke seemed to gaze at her with more curiosity than ever before.
“Yeah.”
“You’re really good at it. Seriously. I’m impressed.”
Maybe, just maybe he was right. She wondered if one day she could dare to follow her dream of living and working in the city.