Page 19 of Pin-up Girl

“We’re still telling as few people as possible, and then breaking up quietly when it’s all over. How long are you here, anyway?”

Brodie shrugged. “Don’t know yet. When is Sylvie getting married?”

“You can’t just drop everything for a month, and hang out here.”

“Why not? I’ll stick around, play my part, and when it’s over you can tell everyone it’s because I was a big rich jerk and you sent me packing.”

Surreal. No. Really. This all felt too convenient, but I didn’t know how much was real and how much was manufactured.

Yet, I wanted it to all be genuine. I wanted Brodie to be the same guy I’d been talking to online. I wanted?—

“Hey. You should know your sister and some older woman—” Evie started talking the instant she walked into my shop and then stopped just as abruptly. “Brodie? Brodie Watson? I didn’t know you were back in town.”

Evie was a lot of incredible things. A good liar was not one of them.

“You remember me.” Brodie sounded surprised.

He wasn’t completely unflappable. Good to know.

“Us nerds gotta stick together,” Evie said. “And the two of you should know, there are rumors that you’re engaged. I know, nothing to be done about rumors, but?—”

“We are,” Brodie cut her off.

And so it begins. Telling someone besides Grandma made my insides do topsy turvy things. “We’re keeping it quiet.” Though my reply was for meant Evie, I gave Brodie a pointed look.

“She already knows, and the point is to not deny it. Besides, that only makes them talk more if you tell them it’s not true,” Brodie said.

I didn’t like that he was right, or that this came so easily for him.

“I’m sorry. How are you engaged?” Evie was focused on me.

“The normal way. I proposed, she said yes.” Brodie answered anyway.

Evie covered his mouth with her hand. “How are you engaged, Aubrey?”

She was one of my closest friends, along with Alys. We called ourselves the Nerd Herd—rather, I called us that and they went along with it. And we told each other almost everything, so it would make sense that me having a fiancé, or even a serious boyfriend out of the blue would be hard for her to believe.

Before I could answer, the door to my shop swung open again. Where were all these people coming from?

This time it was Alys, and Ravyn, another friend, was with her.

“Did you know—” Alys snapped her jaw shut. “Hey, you have company.”

Ravyn elbowed Alys. “Is that him?” Her hiss was anything but quiet.

Did Grandma walk out of here with Sylvie and announce this thing to the entire town? Was there a flier on the telephone pole outside my building? Aubrey is engaged.

“Probably not.” Alys shook her head. “I don’t know who this guy is.”

Fuck. I sighed. At least I could get this part of things out of the way quickly. I walked past everyone to lock the store and turn the sign on the door to Closed, then looked at Brodie. “I need to talk to my friends. Don’t tell anyone else we’re engaged until I get back.”

“If someone asks, I’m not going to lie.”

I’d say that wouldn’t happen, but given the way things were going this morning, who knew what came next?

I grabbed Alys, and Evie and Ravyn followed us into my back room. There was a large space here that I used as a photography studio, to shoot images of the clothing I had in the store. Because I had it set up to keep noise from drifting into the store, and vice versa, it was also the perfect place for hiding and having conversations without people eavesdropping.

“So it’s true?” Alys asked the moment we stopped.

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