Practice Makes Perfect (When in Rome, #2)

by Sarah Adams

I think turning a man off in the first ten minutes of a date is my new record.

LOL

I’m a person who avoids attention at all costs. Who can’t think of a single thing to say when a man sitting across from her is intently staring at her.

Fairly certain the author stole my journal

It was the brownie.

What?

One, he must live in town and have roots here in Rome, Kentucky; two, he must have a stable job; three, he must be kind and also be supportive of my career; and four, he must want a family. Those are the only things that matter to me.

Again. DID THE AUTHOR STEAL MY JOURNAL?

And when I looked it up, Yelp said this place has an excellent giant brownie. It doesn’t get better than that.

Yelp is for the anxiety girls

I wish I could text my sisters right now and ask them what to do. But that requires them actually knowing I’m on a date, which would open me up to the sort of attention I’ve been trying to avoid.

shy, socially anxious, introvert extraordinaire who senses this man doesn’t want to spend another second in my company. And that makes my smile feel like a wobbly grimace. I imagine it resembles a snarl. My nostrils might even be flaring. I can’t do this.

ok so other people think about how they smile too... Noted

I want to unzip my skin and run my bones all the way to Mexico.

I am the quiet one in my family. The one with her nose always in a book because she prefers worlds where she doesn’t have to interact with other humans. It’s so much easier to read about relationships than to foster them. Less dangerous too. I can’t offend anyone written into a book. I can’t say the wrong thing. And book characters don’t make judgments about me.

Clearly my stab at conversation went right through him, and he’s bleeding out.

I love this metaphor

Like she was always meant to be in our family. And despite the fact that she’s new to the family, I trust her in a way that I don’t trust many other people. Which is why I text her now.

My sister in law <3

Immediately his face morphs into something frowny, and I replicate it because I want an Oscar too.

It’s possible I’m reading too many romances.

Will

I love dueling pov

Rome, Kentucky,

I mean how many times are they going to say Rome, Kentucky? Can we just shorten it to here or kentucky

He’s two years younger than me, and we look nothing alike.

So are they brothers?

he lives on the other side of the country in New York,

Idk where will lives most of the time but NY is not on the other side of the country from KY

Rome, Kentucky.

There it is again

“I’m sorry, but I won’t support you in this. You’re making a huge mistake, and I can’t sit by quietly while you do,”

I get his reason for being marraige adverse but come on... Thats freakin bananas

We had a terrible upbringing, but not all relationships have to be like that.

Rome, Kentucky,

Irrationally, I hate him.

And now I want to run him over with his own truck. Am I jealous? No, I’m never jealous.

James clears his throat. “Why do I feel like I just missed out on an important opportunity?” Because you did. Now, get lost, she’s mine.

“Meddler! Beautiful meddler actually, because you’re honestly glowing today—but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m mad at you!”

Even though Amelia has only been in my life for a little over a year now, I somehow feel closer to her than I do my sisters.

“Yep. Mondays are my day to visit my grandma, so Jeanine works the shop for me for the second half of the day while I cut out a little early to do my grocery shopping, grab my grandma a box of her favorite vanilla wafers, and then head over to the assisted-living center to check on her.”

I take my grandma grocery shopping on mondays... I think I'm being stalked

“It’s all right. I just enjoy the moments I have with her now,”

Yet another book i didnt expect to make me cry

That gave me chills because there’s nothing I like more than a good bullet point list.

I see Will place his hands on Mabel’s shoulders and guide her the opposite way. She whistles lightly. “Now, William. At least take me to dinner first.” The only person in town who is a bigger flirt than Will is Mabel.

“Didn’t you just have the siding replaced last month?” “Yes,” everyone says in unison, including me under my breath.

But then when I realized you’re living in one of the Golden Girls’ rooms,

“Well, I don’t love that name.”

How is it possible to crave change and relish familiarity at the same time?

“I needed to get to the truck so I could cry.”

Me

But a side effect of being the one who listens and comforts is that people rarely offer to listen or comfort me.

I look over my shoulder as we cross the street and find no less than twenty faces peering out the window of Gemma’s quilt shop.

Okay, but it’s adorable how embarrassed he looks all of a sudden. If there was a little rock in front of him, he’d kick it.

This one is for the softies. The tenderhearted sweeties. The introverts who are afraid to shine.