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“She’s your wife,” Aster said matter-of-factly. “You just don’t seem to know it yet.” The truth was her brother was terrified of Tyler. Smart, successful, pretty, and likely made him feel things he didn’t know what to do with. Tyler had his number, and that left him on his heels. One day, he’d come around. Aster took a bite of her sandwich. “You’re too good at chicken salad,” she told her mom, who nodded.

“I’m going to enter the chicken salad Olympics and win.”

“I know it. I’ll bet cash.” Aster continued eating.

Sage eyed them. “You two are weird.” He glanced over. “And you can’t bet on the Olympics.”

“Can so,” Aster shot back, just to mess with him. “And will. And at least we don’t drink milk from someone else’s carton and deny our very real feelings for someone awesome.”

Sage flipped his ball cap around, flashing curls. “Doesn’t matter. Tyler is up and fleeing town next week. You hadn’t heard?”

That had Aster’s attention. They’d known Tyler her entire life. She was a fixture in Homer’s Bluff, their all-around sweetheart. Aster couldn’t imagine this place without Tyler to wave or offer you half her lunch. “What are you talking about? Where is she going?” Aster asked, squinting.

He scratched the back of his neck. He didn’t seem to like the idea either. “Headed to Chicago for some sort of specialty certification in veterinary dentistry. She wants to treat teeth now, too. Not sure why her regular vet practice isn’t enough.”

Aster sighed. She hated this news. Tyler Lawson was at the helm of the town’s one veterinary clinic, and she was great at it. Everyone loved her and the gentle time she took with each and every animal. This would be quite a loss for everyone.

“Well, good for Tyler,” her mother said. “We’ll all miss her, but we can root for her, too. She can go out and learn all she can and bring it right back here to us. Hopefully, soon.”

“That’s her plan,” Sage said. “Six-month commitment for school. Let’s just hope she doesn’t get a wild hair and never returns.” He looked royally pissed off and terrified of the possibility.

Aster swallowed. She recognized Tyler’s trajectory as similar to what she’d envisioned for herself someday. She loved Hole in One, but she’d always imagined it would be a stepping stone to something bigger. Aster dreamed about life beyond Homer’s Bluff and what it might be like to chase down a little excitement. Live theater. A train ride. One of those hip wine bars where she could establish herself as a regular and sip merlot and read fancy poetry while pretending to be more of an intellectual than she likely was. Hell, even somewhere with a few more traffic lights would be an improvement. She had a tentative plan for an escape in her back pocket and had quietly been looking into culinary schools with a focus on pastry arts. Aster wanted to get better at what she loved, challenge herself in ways she couldn’t on her own. In fact, she’d already received an admittance letter from one of her top choice schools in Boston and would have to accept or decline their offer within the next two months. She kept that part to herself even as they discussed Tyler.

“What about the clinic?” Aster asked. She clocked the next available veterinarian at over forty minutes away. Quite the haul for a simple case of the dog sniffles.

“A friend of hers from school has agreed to fill in. Tyler says she’s dynamite, so Buster Britches will be in good hands.” Sage walked through life with a bull terrier by his side. Buster had swagger and a fan club of his own around here. People clamored for the laid-back dog with the ability to smile. When Sage walked Buster in a smartblue bandana, the duo set off alarm bells in the home of every single woman within a five-mile radius. As if beckoned by an unseen force, the women grinned and smiled and appeared right on cue to chat up her brother, who—bless his heart—didn’t know anything other than universal female adoration. Aster had to wonder what that must be like.

“When does she go?” Aster asked. Nothing ever changed in Homer’s Bluff, so a new vet, even temporary, was quite the shake-up.

“Soon,” Sage said. “Six months without Tyler…man, gonna be weird around here.” Sage and Tyler spent a lot of time together, watching football, laughing at movies, or just taking Buster for long walks. She wasn’t sure what Sage was going to do on his own. Tyler was his right hand.

“You could bite the bullet and propose now. Give her a big romantic send-off.” Aster set down her sandwich and placed a deliberate hand on her hip.

Sage gaped. “Not that easy and you know it. We’re just friends.” Her brother was clueless.

Aster and her mother exchanged a look because Tyler certainly had shown signs to the contrary. In fact, maybe those feelings were what prompted her to flee town. Aster rocked back on her heels, feeling bad about that now. “Just don’t blow a good thing because you’re stubborn, okay?”

Sage scoffed and took off his cap. “I’m gonna miss her is all. Doesn’t mean we’re meant to be or whatever.” He held up a hand. “Tyler is…Tyler. She’s pretty great.”

Aster resisted an eye roll. “Well, I hope I get to see her before she leaves.” Tyler had become a bonus big sister, sometimes a touch kinder and gentler than her own sisters, who, for years, tried to pull Aster into their world of clothes, hair, makeup, boys. It was only recently that they seemed to finally understand that she truly wasn’t interested. Tyler, though, had taken the time to learn and understand Aster from early on. She’d been more than welcoming when a younger Aster followed her and Sage around like their pesky little shadow. It was in those days that she’d witnessed the soft way Sage had looked at Tyler and the looks she stole right back. Maybe they weren’t meant to be in a romantic sense, but there was an undeniable bond between the two that didn’t come around every day.

“There’s a going away party for her tomorrow night at Larry’s,” Sage said. “You can ride with me. Leaving at seven.”

Larry’s Last Stop was the semi-broken-down bar smack in the middle of town, a stuffy notary’s office on one side, and a neon lit ice cream parlor by the name of Lick Luster on the other side. That was Homer’s Bluff, a hodgepodge that didn’t always make a lot of sense. “Great. I’ll bike over.”

“You be careful on that bike after the sun goes down,” her mom said, stirring a pitcher of lemonade. “You terrify me. I’m serious.”

“I’m always careful,” Aster said. She wasn’t a risk-taker or a go-getter. She preferred to watch life’s action from a safe distance. She dipped her toe into life’s pool every once in a while, like with her short stint in the online dating world, but more often than not, she pulled it right back out again.

Underneath it all, she longed for…something. Whether it was school in Boston or just a change of pace, Aster wasn’t quite sure. But something important was calling her name. She could feel the tug and, more than anything, wanted to follow it.

She just didn’t quite have the courage.

Yet.

Part One

Chapter One