Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 83992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
The kid’s eyes went wide with worry. “See? That’s why I can’t do it.”
He looked back to the window, then at us. “I’ve got an idea! Why don’t you guys go in and maybe mention me, and see what she says.”
“You’ve got to be kidding, right?” I asked. “We don’t even know who the hell you are.”
“Oh!” he said with a laugh, reaching his hand out to Gavin first. “I’m Tanner Browning.”
“Related to Harper Browning?” I asked.
He smiled big and bright. “Harper’s my cousin. Are you friends with her?”
“She’s dating my brother, Sean.”
Tanner frowned. “They broke up.”
“That’s what we all thought,” Gavin stated.
I shrugged. “Apparently, they’re back together.”
Tanner’s frown deepened.
“What’s with the look?” I asked.
Tanner shrugged. “It’s just, well…it was pretty obvious that Sean didn’t want to be with Harper anymore, and she even said they weren’t good together, so…I’m just wondering what changed.”
“People break up and get back together all the time,” Gavin said. “But back to your problem. Dude, you need to go in and ask the girl out.”
He looked at the bookstore, then back at us. “Will you guys come in with me?”
I let out a bark of laughter, and when the kid didn’t laugh in return, I sobered up.
“You need to do this on your own, Tanner,” Gavin said. “The worst she can say is no, and at least then you’ll know how she feels and you can move on.”
“Agreed,” I said. “We need to get going. And stop staring into the window, it’s creepy as fuck.”
Tanner grinned sheepishly. “Got it.” Then he drew in a deep breath and gave a firm head nod. “I’m going in.”
We watched as he made his way to the door and walked in.
I sighed. “Please tell me we’re going to see more action than just the town gossip and an introverted twenty-something creeping on a woman.”
Gavin chuckled. “I would think you’d be glad for the calmer work environment.”
“Trust me, I love not having bullets flying toward me. I was just hoping for a bit…more.”
“There’s a jaywalker.” Gavin pointed to a guy crossing in the middle of Main Street. “We can chase him down and give him a ticket. If we’re lucky, he might even call us assholes.”
I stared at Gavin. “You’re not being serious right now, are you?”
When the corners of his mouth twitched, I pushed him away from me. “Asshole.”
“It’s Moose Village, Declan. You grew up here. You know what this town is like. We occasionally get a robbery or something like that, but not often. The last real action that happened in town was when Cadie got kidnapped and we had the FBI bossing us around for an entire day. That really wasn’t any fun.”
I laughed. “Then I guess I should be glad for a more relaxed work environment.”
“You just jinxed us, I hope you know that.”
“So what you’re saying is, we’re going to get called to a cat stuck in a tree any second now.”
He smirked. “That’s not as easy as you would think. Do you know how fucking hard it is to get a scared cat out of a tree? I nearly lost an eye.”
“Wait, that was really a call you got? To get a cat out of the tree?”
“The fire department was out on a call, so it fell to me.”
I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging open. I cleared my throat. “Maybe I should be a firefighter instead.”
“Don’t get all excited; their call was to help a goat whose head was stuck in a fence.”
“Holy shit. I’m going to be bored out of my mind.”
“Or…we could figure out what’s happening with your brother and Harper. Does that look like a happy couple to you?”
I glanced across the street and saw Harper outside the Crazy Daisies flower shop. She was watering the plants outside while Sean stood there, his arms folded across his chest and a scowl on his face.
“Looks like a lovers’ spat going on.”
Frowning, I nodded. “It sure does. What do you know about their breakup?”
Gavin shook his head. “Not much. I don’t hang around your brother; he has his own set of friends. And I know Harper, but not on a tell-me-why-you-broke-up level.”
“Something is really off with them, and I’m going to find out what it is.”
Rubbing his hands together, Gavin said, “I’m all in. Let’s go!”
He started to cross the street—by jaywalking—and I held him back. “Don’t you think we should set an example and go to the crosswalk?” I jerked my head down the road.
Gavin looked at the crosswalk and then back to me. “But it would be a hell of a lot faster to just walk across here. Besides, it’s not a crime to jaywalk.”
“You were trying to get me to give a guy a ticket for it just two minutes ago.”
Smiling, he winked and started to cross the street. I quickly fell into step next to him.