Page 37 of The Reason I Married Him
“Good.” He nods at me. “Why are you limping?”
“I’m not limping,” I say. “Just . . . uncomfortable walking at the moment.”
He chuckles. “Get your hands dirty today?”
“Probably too dirty.” I shuffle toward the front of the store, where I grab a bag of Red Vines and then set my basket on the conveyor belt.
“Hey, Dee Dee,” Hayes says to the cashier.
“Farrow, are you treating our girl kindly?”
“Grabbing her favorite pickles.”
Dee Dee smiles. “Good man.”
Hayes gestures toward me. “This is Wyatt Preston, Hattie’s brother-in-law and Clarke’s brother.”
Dee Dee’s face registers with shock. “Wyatt, it’s nice to meet you. Are you visiting?”
“I am,” I say. “Not sure how long. Hard not to fall in love with such a beautiful small town.”
“It is, isn’t it? I believe Ethel was telling me something about a famous author visiting who is related to the Rowleys in some way. Does that happen to be you?”
See how the grapevine works in this town?
Let’s just hope it continues to work in my favor.
“That would be me.” I lean in and whisper, “But I’m trying to keep the author part on the down-low.”
“Shouldn’t have told Ethel then.” She laughs as she finishes ringing me up, and I pay with one tap of my card to the credit machine.
I laugh. “She’s a great lady. Love her inn also. Clean and comfortable, beautiful setting. Amazing breakfast. She’s making it hard for me to move on. I might stay there forever.”
“I bet she’d love that,” Dee Dee says as she rings up Hayes’s pickles.
He pays with cash and tells her to keep the change.
I pick up my one paper bag, and Hayes skips the bag, opting instead to hold his jar.
“It was nice meeting you, Dee Dee. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
“Yes, you will,” she says with a wave before she helps the next customer.
“Want me to walk you down to the pharmacy? If Abel is in, I can introduce you as well.”
“That would be awesome,” I say.
“It’s right across from Five Six Seven Eight, so you’ll be headed in the right direction.”
“Perfect.”
Together, we move down the boardwalk, passing Pieces and Pages once again as well as The Sweet Lab. I look through the window to see what they have. Seems like a lot of pie. Yup, I’ll be going in there.
“So what did you do today that made you require ibuprofen and Icy Hot?”
“Well, took a tour from Aubree at first. I think I made her mad by offering different, what I thought were helpful suggestions at the time, but probably came off as a know-it-all.”
“Ooo, yeah, she undoubtedly hated that.”
