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“Don’t joke. She’s thirteen, and she’s already a handful. I can’t even imagine eighteen.” But he’d been doing a great job with his only kid since his wife, Candy, passed. “Anyway, what’s up?”

“Nothin’. Just wanted to call you back. I’m on my way to town, actually. Got me a date.”

“A date for your birthday? You sure you wanna risk tyin’ the memory of the day you were born to a disaster? Who you goin’ out with? Please tell me it’s not the woman who disabled your engine when you told her you wouldn’t impregnate her after three weeks of ridin’ the Rye train?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. That was Tiffany, the barrel racer. Nope. Not her. And what’s with this Rye train? You’re the second person to use that stupid phrase in a week.”

He laughed. “Who is it then? If you’re comin’ to Wisper, do I know her?”

As much as I’d dreamed about her, I’d never told anyone how badly I wanted Aubrey. Devo had guessed because I usually spent time with her when I came to town since her job was across the street from Red’s store, and apparently my face gave a lot away.

“You might. It’s Aubrey George.”

Bax was quiet for a minute, and I pictured the confusion and then the dawning on his face while he put two and two together. “Wait a minute. The bookstore chick? Isn’t she, like… older?”

I laughed. “Yeah, Bax, she’s a few years older than I am. But you and me? We ain’t so young anymore. You yourself, sir, are pushin’ forty.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me. Some days it feels like sixty. But we used to go in her store all the time,” he said. “Remember she used to sell us comics?”

Oh, I remembered. To this day, I’d never even opened a comic, let alone read one, but I’d bought one from the lovely bookseller every other week so I didn’t miss out on Aubrey’s warm smile. She must’ve thought I was the biggest nerd, coming to town to buy comics at twenty years old when she worked part-time at the bookstore while her boys were in school. She bought it from the previous owner six months after Tommy died and revamped the whole thing.

I also remembered the argument I’d overheard between her and Tommy at José’s Diner a couple years before that when Presley and I had gone for lunch one Saturday. We sat at the booth behind Aubrey’s, and when she told her husband she’d gotten a job at the bookstore, he was pissed. She’d tried to tell him how much she loved being around books and that she really needed time for herself, but all Tommy had focused on was that his friends might think he couldn’t provide for his family if his wife had to work. I still remembered the look of disappointment and sadness that flashed across her face that day.

And I’d never forget Presley’s reaction to overhearing an argument between two people he didn’t know from Adam. He wanted to drag that fucker, Tommy, to the alley behind the restaurant and teach him a lesson for talking to his own wife like she was a disobedient child.

Good ol’ Presley. He didn’t talk a whole hell of a lot, but when he did open his mouth, I’d learned to listen because he was wise.

I wasn’t sure what had changed Tommy’s mind, but Aubrey did take the job. Whatever the reason, I was still grateful because it had allowed me to see her, and that I’d gotten glimpses of her in her happy place, around books, was probably the reason the fake-dating idea had come to me. She’d do anything for her store.

“Listen,” I told Bax, “we’re doin’ the spring drive in a few weeks at the ranch. You wanna bring the family, eat some barbecue, and listen to Presley fuck up a fiddle?”

“Yeah. That sounds good. I’ll ask Mama. Brand might like to tag along too. He’s been stayin’ here with Athena and me while he’s workin’ on the new cabin rentals and Abey’s and Mama’s houses. He could use the opportunity to get out and see someone other than his problematic brother. I think I’ve stressed him out enough lately. Maybe we can get him to drink a little and cut loose.”

“What’d you do to your brother?”

“Nothin’, it’s just that we lost some of our funding for the new business. Brand’s already put a good chunk of his own money into the project, not to mention his time and skills. The dude put up the bare bones of a cabin by himself in a day. It’s insane.”

“What happened? How’d you lose the funds?”

“Oh, some big shot investor from South Dakota skipped town. Nobody seems to know how to get in touch with him. But I’ve got it figured out. I’m gonna sell off a piece of the farm.We’re not using all this land anyway, and the family agreed. It’ll be on the market by the end of next week.”

Hm.Suddenly, my brain got stuck on the spin cycle. So many ideas popped into my head.

Good farmland for sale right outside Wisper?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

RYE

“Whatcha want?”The teenager at the concession stand inside the Jackson movie theatre looked dead bored while I tried to figure out what to buy.

I held out my credit card. “Just give us one of everything.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Aubrey had been perusing the “Coming Soon” movie posters lining the theatre’s walls, but she jerked her head in my direction. “I’m not eatin’ all that!”

“Okay, young lady, then what would you like?” Like a gameshow host, I waved my arm out toward the menu board and the lit-up case full of boxes and packages of candy.

“Popcorn, Rye. Just popcorn with butter and a Coke, please.”