“Ava doesn’t like anything.”

“I heard that.” There was a clunk as the fridge door shut again. Ava emerged from the back, still looking as if she’d run a four-minute-mile, and wiped the bottom of her tank top over her face. “I like plenty of things, but running in the heat isn’t one of them.”

Unbothered, Halley said, “I told you to wake up early this morning.”

Ava looked at her. “We might have to break up.”

I laughed when Halley rolled her eyes. Since they’d started running a few weeks ago, Ava had threatened it at least twice a week.

It was yet to happen.

“Hey, you guys—”

Halley’s phone rang, cutting me off. “Sorry. Hold on.” She stood to pull it out of the zip pocket in her yoga pants and answered it. “Hello? Yeah—no, shut up… For the love of God, she’s supposed to be supervised! … Ugh, fine. I’ll be there soon.”

I shared a look with Ava.

Halley hung up and looked at us. “My grandmother escaped and is terrorizing the village.”

I fought a smile. Ever since she’d made the choice to move back in with Halley’s dad and stepmom, Margaret Dawson had made as much of a nuisance of herself as she possibly could without getting arrested.

Given that my great-aunt Bethel and her partner in crime were also now living back in Creek Falls, there was only one way to put it.

We were all fucked.

Halley looked at Ava. “My car is parked a couple blocks away. Do you want a ride home?”

“Sure.”

“Okay. I just need to use the bathroom before we leave. Give me a second.” She slid off the stool and headed for the back.

Ava looked at me. “Hey, Reagan, weren’t you going to say something before Halley’s phone rang?”

“I forgot,” I lied, lifting my shoulders in a slight shrug. Right then, the store phone rang. “Hi! This is the Wright Bouquet, Reagan speaking. How can I help you?”

The woman on the end said she needed a bouquet for her grandma’s eightieth birthday to be delivered to her front door. I confirmed that we could absolutely do that and waved goodbye to Reagan and Ava when they left halfway through the call.

It took ten minutes, but we eventually narrowed down the selection options. I wrote down her email and promised I’d send example photos over as soon as I could. She thanked me profusely before hanging up.

I pulled my cell out from beneath the counter to email her. A new message was on the screen from a number I recognized from this morning, and I pressed my fingerprint against the screen to unlock it.

DICK GUY: Shit, I’m so sorry. Sorry if it offended you in any way.

I raised my eyebrows. It took a lot more than a dick picture to offend me. I hit the reply box to assure him it was fine.

ME: Don’t worry about it. I’ve seen worse dicks. Yours is pretty nice, as far as dicks go.