Page 20 of Pin-up Girl

Ravyn jerked her head toward the shop. “Is that Brodie?”

“Yes,” Evie said.

Alys’s eyes grew wide. “No. Holy shit. Brodie from school?” She was a few years younger than me, so it made sense she wouldn’t know him from anything but mentions around town. “How did you get engaged to him?”

“Probably the normal way. He asks, she says yes,” Ravyn said.

Evie shook her head. “Regardless of what he says, I don’t think it actually happened that way.”

I loved my friends. They always had my back. There were times all our different experiences made a streamlined conversation harder. I should be grateful Elaina wasn’t here adding to the bedlam, but it meant telling her separately.

Come to think of it, why was Ravyn here? “Why are you here?” I asked her.

She jutted her lower lip out. “I can leave.”

“No. Don’t. That’s not…” Slow down, brain. Be nice. “I’m glad you’re here, I just don’t usually see you downtown.”

Ravyn had inherited a farmhouse and barn on the outskirts of Haddarville. She hadn’t lived there long, and really only knew Alys and the rest of us. She would stop by on trivia night, or to pick up food, but she spent a lot of time hiding in her house and painting.

“Onyx was at an estate sale,” Alys answered for her. “Limited edition Bowie vinyl I knew Ravyn had to see, and he has some awesome stuff for you, too Aubrey. A trunk of satin pretties.”

Onyx was one of her boyfriends, and owned the record store a few shops down from mine. I’d forgotten he promised to snag me anything from the sale that looked promising. How did I let such a thing slip my mind? Possibly because I’d gotten married and engaged in the same week. To different people. In that order. And I was helping my sister plan her wedding.

“Awesome. Yay. Everyone has nifty new stuff.” Evie’s voice was flat. “Why are you engaged, Aubrey?”

I could tell them. None of them would go spreading the truth around town—what a weird way to think of this whole thing. Wouldn’t want reality getting out. “No one can know but those of us in this room. Especially not Gage.” I gave Evie a pointed look.

She scowled. “You mean especially not Rohde.” One of Gage’s good friends, who tended to gossip about everything. “But I get your point. This is top secret.”

“Cross my heart, no one will hear it from me.” Ravyn made an x motion over her chest.

“Me three,” Alys said. “It never leaves this room.”

Right. Every one of these decisions made sense in my head, so they should be easy to explain to friends who understood me. “Brodie was flying home—here—and was seated next to my grandma on the plane.”

“What are the odds?” Alys asked.

Evie seemed to consider that. “A billion to none.”

“They live in the same state, and they’re both flying first class nonstop to the same state.” It couldn’t be that random.

“You could probably get Vegas odds on that,” Ravyn said.

I was glad she had my back. “Grandma mentioned me, and what a disappointment I was, because yanno…” And they did. This wouldn’t be news to Alys or Evie. Ravyn’s huff made me think she understood as well. “He realized who she was and that she was talking about me, and defended my honor by telling her he was my rich fiancé.”

Evie scowled. “Seriously? Did that redeem you in her eyes? That you have a man with money?”

“I don’t know.” I hated that part of this as much as Evie did. “But she seems to adore him, so I assume that will make her easier to deal with until after Sylvie’s wedding is over. Her and the rest of the family. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it, and I definitely don’t want to steal the spotlight from Sylvie, but if this saves me from at least a few of the passive aggressive comments…”

“I get that.” Alys squeezed my hand.

Evie shook her head. “I’m not sure I do.”

“I definitely do.” Ravyn should come by more often. “Just because you know who you are and what you want, doesn’t mean it’s easy to hear a non-stop barrage of people telling you they think you’re wrong.”

“Exactly.” This wasn’t so complicated. It’d be fine.

Evie leaned against a nearby display case I had back here for storage. “He’s been gone for almost twenty years. And you’ve been lusting after Deacon for at least that long. Until recently, anyway. People aren’t going to buy this.”

---