Page 104 of Bonfire and Bliss Bookstore

Penny: You really need me at this appointment?

Tally: You’re her AUNTIE! How could you even consider not being there for her first haircut?!

Penny: She’s a cow.

Tally: I feel as if you’re saying that in a negative way.

Tally: But I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Penny: I was.

Babs: You do have to be there because you are the one who won the competition. Which means you have to be the one to collect the reward.

Penny: And I can’t do that by telling you that Daisy can have my spot?

Babs: Nope. You must be there.

Penny: Fine. If my niece, the cow, needs a haircut, I suppose I can be there tonight.

I huff out a sigh—there goes our quality evening together. The only thing that makes the situation even slightly less frustrating is that Penny seems just as disappointed as I am.

Eli: Looks like we’re switching bowling night!

Penny: Because you want to be there for the haircut too?

Eli: No because there’s no way Walker will agree to be away from Tally for more than one night a week…

Walker: He’s not wrong.

Eli: See, man, this is why we’re best friends. I KNOW you.

Tally: Awe, Walker has a best friend! That’s so sweet, cowboy.

Walker: I’m going back to work now.

“So, you get it now?” Eli says, pulling my attention back to him. “You don’t have plans with Penny tonight but we are going bowling.”

As disappointed as I am to miss out on time with Penny, I’m intrigued by a guys’ night. I haven’t hung out with Eli since I moved back—though we were friends in high school. If not for him asking Penny to be his fake girlfriend when I first got here, I probably would have made time to hang out with him sooner. I barely know Walker, but he is dating my girlfriend’s sister so I should probably get to know him, too. Is Penny my girlfriend? Fuck, this whole thing is getting more complicated by the day.

Before I can respond to Eli, I hear the increasingly familiar moo of Hope Harbor.

Eli and I both spin in time to see Daisy walking toward us on the sidewalk. “Daisy Darling!” Eli says, grabbing for her yellow leash, which trails by her side. “What are you doing here?”

I glance around for Tally but come up short.

Eli tickles beneath Daisy’s chin, babbling away in a baby voice. “That’s okay, Uncle Eli will bring you home.”

“Uncle Eli?”

He grins at me. “Oh yeah.”

I laugh. “You seem very excited to see the cow.”

“Walker’s going to have to thank me.” Eli turns to me, beaming.

“Okay…”

Eli shakes his head. “You’ll get it eventually. The guy doesn’t let people in easily, which means I have my work cut out to stay in his good graces.” He winks at me. “Mind telling anyone who asks that the cow almost got hit by a car?”