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Donations would be accepted while the town got together to start unboarding shop windows and cleaning them up. The Blums had come up with displays for all the windows that marketed to new businesses. We’d be pulling down signs and sweeping out spaces. Cleaning windows and setting up displays. Poppy was working on sourcing local businesses in the nearby metro areas to open up shop in Lindenbach.
The swiftness and efficacy with which the town had mobilized was astounding. Just like everything else here.
When we pulled into a spot near the park at the end of Main Street, the sidewalk was full of people in work clothes heading into town. A pack of guys near Jo’s age spotted us, leaning in and whacking each other on the arms. One of the guys seemed to have been nominated to approach and sauntered over, leaning into her window.
“Heya, Jo.”
“Hey, Chris,” she said politely—and with as much disinterest that she could manage—while she gathered her things.
“Haven’t seen you around much.”
“When do you ever see me?”
“Aw, come on. I’ve been trying to see you since freshman year.”
“Are you for real?” I shot.
He acknowledged me with the jerk of his chin. “Nice car. But it takes more than that to hook a Blum girl.”
“Are you drunk?” she asked.
“Why, want a sip?” He reached into his pocket for a flask.
“It’s nine in the morning,” she noted.
He shrugged, then tipped it back.
“And I’m sleeping with Grant.”
He ducked when his drink shot out of his mouth, which was lucky for him. I’d have put him in traction if he’d spit bourbon all over Jo and the interior of my car.
Chris stood and wiped his mouth with the back of the hand. “Jesus, Jo. Marjorie said you were whoring around, but I didn’t think you’d show it off.”
I’d unbuckled my seat belt and was half out of the car when she opened hers hard enough to knock him over, in part because he was trashed and in part because she was out for blood.
“Oops,” she said, slamming the car door behind her. But she bent over him as he sluggishly tried to rise and said, “Watch your fucking mouth, or next time I’ll let Grant at you. You don’t want that, do you?”
He shook his head stupidly, shooting me a dirty look. I’d have laughed if I wasn’t doing everything I could to keep myself from separating his limbs from his torso.
She patted his cheek hard enough that it was more like a series of curt slaps. “Good boy.”
And then she was smiling her way over to me and tucked in my side.
“You just saved his life, do you know that?” I asked.
“I do. Although I can take care of myself, you know.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to take care of things for you.”
“Look at you, Mr. White Knight.”
We walked for a second in silence. “Does it bother you? What he said? What people are saying?”
“You’d think it would, but not really. Thing is, I don’t have boyfriends—I date. They’ve called me a whore since junior high.”
“And that’s something someone can get used to?”
“Not used to, more like I know they’re all assholes, so what do I care what they think? I’m not running around sleeping with strangers I never see again. I just don’t do commitment, so guys like Chris weaponize it when they realize I don’t want to date them. Until they figure that out, they think they can score. Then they get told no, and suddenly I’m a whore. It’s a bullshit double standard, and I don’t have time for bullshit. Anyway, I told Chris ten years ago, and he’s been ignoring that no ever since.”
“How many men in this town have tried to date a Blum?”
“All of them. Age aside. At one point, Daisy even had a DILF after her so hard, I’m surprised he didn’t just up and propose.”
“Too much gray hair?”
“Psh. Listen, I’ve got no qualms with a silver fox, and the daddy jokes were endless, but he used to date my mother in high school.”
I gagged, laughing.
“Billy and Bobby buzz around my sisters like flies, but they won’t pick one. Both of them are going after both my sisters at the same time. Dummies. A dozen more are actively trying to get in our pants, which is astounding since we haven’t said yes to anybody in town in forever, but it has its perks. A Blum woman hasn’t had to open a door for herself in at least a decade.”
“So the curse doesn’t stop everybody.”
“Oh, they think they’re immune. The smart ones stay away.”
“You callin’ me stupid?”
“Nah, you’re smart enough to know to leave.”
“Love ’em and leave ’em. Is that our motto?”
“Guess so. You don’t have all the girls waiting for you back home?”
“I don’t date either, but I don’t have a curse to blame.”
