Page 3 of Meet Me in the Blue
“That’s cool.”
“I think so, too.” He smiled up at the sky. “It happens in the morning and at night.”
“Does it look the same in the morning?” I asked, watching as the light dimmed around us to a gray blue.
“It’s supposed to. We should check it out Saturday.”
“I have hockey practice.”
“Not that early in the morning.”
“Yeah, but Dad will be mad if I’m too tired to run drills.”
“Then this will be our blue hour, Rook.” His smile spread wide as he turned to look at me. “This will always be our time.”
• ••
“Hey, Stace.” Avoiding her expectant smile, I kept my head down as I grabbed a pint of Rocky Road from the freezer.
I preferred Moose Tracks, but Rett refused to carry it. If he didn’t love my father so much, I’d think it was personal.
“I tried to get him to order it, but you know him...” Stacey cringed and narrowed her brown eyes. “He’s a stubborn asshole. Rett said…” She lowered her voice to something akin to the man himself and my lips twitched at her attempt to mimic the old bastard. “Rocky Road is a staple.”
“I suppose he’s right. Can’t argue with traditions.”
“Isn’t the customer always right?” she asked, and I set the pint on the counter.
Chuckling, I shook my head. “I don’t think Rett gives a shit.”
Stacey bit the corner of her pink-stained lip and looked over my shoulder, grinning like she had some sort of secret. Picking up the ice cream, she shoved it into a brown paper bag. “Well, I give a shit.” Her flirty smile and bold eye contact made me wish I’d skipped coming to the pharmacy in the first place. I stared at the bag on the counter instead, feeling my pulse in my fingertips as the seconds ticked by uncomfortable and loud between us. “It’s on the house,” she said, her confidence fading. “My treat.”
“Stace, I—”
“Stop being so nice all the time, Rook. Let a girl buy you a pint of ice cream.” I could hear the smile in her voice but kept my eyes down. “I insist.”
“Thanks,” I said, conceding even though I knew better.
I glanced up and found her big eyes, hopeful, staring back at me. My face heated as her triumphant grin stretched across her face.
“Anytime…” She fiddled with the small stack of flyers next to the register.
My chest ached a little, wishing I could summon some sort of attraction for her. She was sweet and conventionally attractive with a lean, athletic build. She used to be a cheerleader way back when in high school, and I remembered all the guys on my hockey team would talk about her, mostly crude locker room shit. But Stacey was just Stacey to me. Rett’s niece. Rett, who’d owned this damn pharmacy longer than I’d been alive. She could hit on me every time I walked through those front doors, which she did without regard for her own feelings, and it wouldn’t change the fact I wasn’t into her. Or anyone, really. This town was too small and too nosy, at least that’s what I’d tell myself when I got home and made dinner for one and ate this ice cream like a sad cat lady. I wasn’t sad though, and it was hard for people to understand. Especially my family.“You’re thirty-two, son. The older you get the slimmer the pickings.”And“I worry about you, worry you’re lonely in that big house of yours?”And“Stacey… she’s a sweet one.”And my personal favorite.“Son, your mother and I… we want you to know you can tell us anything. We want you to know we love you unconditionally, straight… or gay, we love you and want you to do whatever makes you happy.”
I wished it was as easy as gay or straight. What if being alone was my happily ever after? Would that be so bad?
“I heard Luka’s coming back to town,” she said, and my heart skipped at the mention of his name, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Yeah?” I swallowed past the twinge in my throat. “I saw Nora at the clinic last week, said he was coming home soon.”
“Too bad about their dad. He was a good man.”
“Is…” I corrected. “Heisa good man.”
He was still alive, still breathing.
She bit the side of her cheek, her face pale. “I didn’t mean… I shouldn’t have said—”
“It’s okay, Stace.” I tried to conjure a smile on her behalf but failed. “Dr. Abrams’s prognosis isn’t a secret.”