Page 110 of Blue Jeans in Low Beams

Those two little words hold so much weight it’s hard to measure. The nonchalance of her text, even more so.

“What?” Mell asks, crossing the room and parking herself next to me on the couch.

I tap over to the text and tilt my phone so she can see it. Mell leans in, pausing for a moment, blinking a couple of times as she reads it.

“Do you think she knows?”

I shrug. “Hard to say. I haven’t heard a single thing from Milo, so…”

“But he and Willa are as close and you and Brandt, so if something went down there, she’d know, right?”

I shrug again. It’s sound logic. Regardless, I’m not holding my breath that this is going to result in a “Milo misses you and wants to know when you’re going to be back” text. Even if that is what I’m secretly hoping for, as if this is the third grade and such a message would come from his sister.

Hi

How are you?

That funny-looking guy from Star Wars appears in the back of my mind, warning me that this is a trap. That somehow that one simple question—three little words—will come back to haunt me. Then I remember that this is Willa—the same woman who turned to me, panicked, in the Pour Decisions bathroom to verify if an antibiotic would make her period late. She is not trapping me by asking me how I’m doing.

I dunno

Totally fair. Been there.

Boys are dumb. Brothers are worse.

I nod, not knowing how else to reply. Not that she can see me. I can feel Mell’s eyes on me, watching and waiting for a response, so I tilt the phone to her so she can read the conversation.

So, what’s this I hear about you buying a drugstore? ;)

“Oh, she knows…” Mell giggles.

So it seems. I huff out a long breath, letting the information settle in. If Willa knows about the drugstore, then she knows about the fight, making me wonder if the rest of the town knows too. Last thing I wanted was to be fodder for the rumor mill.

“What do I say?”

Mell shrugs. “I dunno. What do you want to tell her?”

I think for a moment, lips quirked to the side, thumbs hovering over the screen. I know exactly what I want to tell her. All the things I’ve been afraid to share with anyone other than Mell out of fear of…I don’t even know. Judgment, I guess. Of not being understood.

But no more. I might be throwing a hissy fit in Texas, but I do have to put on the big girl panties eventually, and now is as good a time as ever.

Giving Mell a nod, I start typing as fast as I can, spilling my guts and telling Willa everything. Okay, not everything. But a lot. Big Box USA. The Well Nest. The option to take over Hickory Hills Drugs. Doc Galindo’s plea to be a health partner in Hickory Hills. My feelings for her brother. And how I’m not sure about any of it.

She listens, letting me rattle off text after text after text, finally coming back with one simple question.

Why not just have Hayes buy Hickory Hills Drugs to handle all the business stuff and then you can do the pharmacy part? I mean, if that’s all you care about

Would Hayes do that?

I don’t see why not. I mean, let’s not tempt Gus with a good time, talking acquisitions and all lol

I sputter out a laugh, unable to help it. The idea hadn’t occurred to me, and now that she says it out loud, it seems too simple. But also…wrong.

Think about it.

Think about it…

My thumbs flex, itching to type back that I will, but I can’t seem to make them move. Because somehow, after three days of sheer confusion and brain fog, it’s all perfectly clear. The future I see for myself has never been more in focus than it is in this moment.