Page 84 of Blue Jeans in Low Beams

“Hmmm?”

“My gut tells me that you and I’ll make it work no matter where you land.”

O…M…G…

24

MILO

I stare at the brightly colored poster plastered to the window of Hickory Hills Drugs, my hand wrapped around the handle of the door, my whole body frozen midmovement. I know I have a dirty mind—that has never, ever been in question—but I cannot be the only one who sees this.

Staring back at me from this year’s Rhythm and Brews poster is a dick.

The longer I look at it, the less sure I am what it’s supposed to be, because the clearer it is that it’s a dick. Complete with streams of expulsion jetting from the top. Whoever the owner of the scribbled signature at the bottom of the illustration is, they should be damn proud of getting this past the old ladies on the committee. Hell, I’m proud for them. Might need to see if they want a job.

Laughing, I walk into the store, nodding at Libby in greeting as I walk to the back toward the pharmacy counter. I can hear voices wafting through the air, and I steel myself, ready for the inevitable third degree.

Until I feel my phone buzz.

I pause, reaching into my pocket, saying a little prayer it’s not Ben. For whatever reason, he seemed a little jumpy when I walked out of Pour Decisions earlier, even though everything was exactly as it should be. He knows what to do, and with no special events planned for tonight, the evening should be uneventful. Tell that to my racing pulse.

The same racing pulse that kicks into hyper speed with the name on the screen. Because it’s not Ben. It’s Brandt.

I swallow hard, knowing that I should pick up. I have no excuse not to talk to him. I should want to talk to him. He’s my best friend. My business partner.

And there’s a part of me that does want to answer this call, then without even saying hello, tell him I can’t talk because I’m on my way to surprise this girl that I’m oddly crazy about and so I’m going to have to call him back. But I can’t.

Because that girl is his baby sister.

So I let it go to voicemail.

“I was just telling Hattie that there might be some trouble between Dana and Marc. I haven’t seen the two of them out together all summer. Not once. He’s been picking up all sorts of extra shifts at the firehouse. Every time someone’s looking to switch, there’s Marc! Sounds to me like he doesn’t wanna go home,” Mrs. Chamberlain says, as if those two things right there were enough to end the entire world.

I turn my focus back to the matter at hand, shoving my guilt for ignoring Brandt’s call down deep enough that it’ll soon be a distant memory.

Mr. Hovland shakes his head. “Oh no, that’s not it at all. They’re trying for a baby. She’s been in here buying up every ovulation kit and pregnancy test I got. He needs all those extra shifts just to pay for them.”

I roll my eyes. Gotta love small towns. It’s no wonder Willa went to such lengths to keep her secret when she thought she was knocked up. These folks would have eaten that up so fast.

Mrs. Chamberlain shifts, keeping her back to me, leaning in toward the older pharmacist. No doubt her eyes are wide with interest, her curiosity piqued with what else he knows. Fine by me. It gives me the chance to sneak past.

Brenna looks up, just in time to see me heading her way. Her face lifts, eyes brightening as a smile takes over, stretching from ear to ear. My stomach does a somersault, unable to handle just how fucking gorgeous she looks in her lab coat. Yeah, I said it. She looks gorgeous in a lab coat.

Holding my finger up to my lips, I signal to her to be quiet. I slip up to the high counter, raising my arms up to lean against it.

“Hi, beautiful,” I whisper.

“Hi! Whatcha doing here? Need a prescription filled?”

Her voice is light and flirty, and the look she is giving me makes me want to hop over this counter and kiss her until we both can’t breathe.

“Well, there is something I’m suffering from that I think maybe you might have the remedy for.” I give her a wink, letting her mind take that wherever she wants. That’s not how I want to start this evening though. End it, sure. But not start. “Before that, however, I was thinkin’ maybe we could try this surprise thing again.”

Brenna covers her smile with her hand, muffling a giggle. “You know, I did just fine with the murder mystery dinner.”

“You did. But I told you dinner was involved there, so…”

Brenna purses her lips, narrowing her eyes, like she’s trying to come up with some witty comeback. My pulse speeds up in anticipation, excited to see what she comes back with.