Darling headed back to the center of town, crossing her fingers that the pharmacy would be open so early on a Saturday morning. It was only eight thirty, but she couldn’t wait anymore. She had menstrual cramps, bloating, and a headache that was killing her. She’d felt too crappy to eat the country breakfast Madison had whipped up for everybody that morning. It had been almost impossible to keep from running straight from the breakfast room when he walked in all tousled hair and tight jeans. He hadn’t put a shirt on, and she couldn’t help but admire the tattoos covering his upper arms and chest. He looked all man. A spattering of hair covered his broad chest, and slabs of muscle flexed as he moved toward the coffeepot. Zach had been skinny and pale with the chest of a young boy. She shook the enticing thoughts away.
One thing Ross had been right about was Link and Madison’s son getting them up at the crack of dawn. His shrieks echoed through the high-ceilinged house. They had tried to keep the baby quiet, but it was no use. Once she’d woken up, Darling knew her time of the month had come on strong, and there would be no going back to sleep. At least the pain distracted her from feeling like too much of an idiot. She couldn’t believe she’d kissed Ross. What the hell had she been thinking? His wife had died not that long ago, and there she was leaning into him and enjoying his taste, his strong arms, his smell. He had the intoxicating scent of cinnamon, mint, and something all his own that she wanted to absorb. Ugh, she was such a fiend. She should never have drunk that much wine; it made her way too bold. That and her anger at Zack calling. She’d made a fool of herself for sure in front of Ross, tearing up over a boy and then kissing Ross like that just hours later. Thankfully he would be leaving Sunday afternoon, and she’d likely never see him again.
She parked her car in the practically empty lot and exhaled a sigh of relief upon seeing the OPEN FOR BUSINESS sign displayed in the pharmacy window. The door chimed as it opened to the small mom-and-pop drugstore. The pharmacy counter was at the back of the store, and the rows neatly contained the usual toiletries, sundries, tablets, and tonics. There were a couple other customers out shopping during the early morning. A cashier at the front and a lone pharmacist in the back made up the store’s staff. She checked a couple aisles before she found the sort of feminine painkillers and products she was on the lookout for.
She heard two men talking in the next aisle. “Hey, Doc, I gotta tell you our baby girl is doing fabulous, and we owe it all to you.” The young man in khaki shorts and a blue golf shirt was talking to another young guy in jeans and a Uniontown Warriors T-shirt. T-shirt Man nodded his head. “I’m just glad the delivery went okay and everybody’s doing well. Heck, your wife did all the work.” He laughed at his little joke and headed toward the back of the store.
Darling snatched up three products and followed T-shirt Man to the back checkout. He was chatting with the pharmacist, and when their conversation paused, she worked up the nerve to blurt out her question. “Can you tell me which of these would be best for heavy bloating, cramps, and…well, a headache that makes me want my eyeballs to explode?” She dropped her packages on the counter, looking at the doctor expectantly. His face started turning a bit red; he coughed awkwardly.
The female pharmacist bit down on her lip and shook her head. Darling couldn’t figure out what was wrong with people in this town. It was a simple question. Finally the T-shirt-clad man cleared his throat and said, “For something like this I would talk to the pharmacist here.” He gave a quick wave and abruptly turned and headed out the exit.
Darling glanced at the now laughing pharmacist, a woman about her age with dark red hair and a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Her pale skin was turning pink from her mirth. “Look, I just want to know which one of these to buy if one’s better than the other?” Darling asked, beginning to get annoyed with the townies of Uniontown.
The pharmacist took a deep breath before speaking. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to laugh at you. It’s just I think you embarrassed poor Matt, and he’s my boyfriend, so that makes it extra funny to me.”
Darling more confused than ever asked, “How can I embarrass a doctor asking about menstrual products?”
“Because Matt Whitaker’s not really a doctor. He’s one of the town firemen and a paramedic. He just happened to deliver a baby that arrived faster than her folks could get to the hospital, so folks nicknamed him ‘Doc.’” Now the pharmacist was in a full giggle.
Realization dawned on Darling. She felt ridiculous. How stupid she must’ve appeared. She had to laugh at herself, which was about the only thing that morning that made her cramps feel any better. “Oh my God, when I heard that man call him Doc and talk about delivering the baby, I just assumed, you know—obstetrician. I’m such an idiot.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s not like the whole town isn’t going to find out about it once Matt gets back to the firehouse and tells the tale. Ha! They’re all a bunch of gossips; you might as well have worn a shirt labeled, ‘I have PMS.’” She smiled and selected one of the boxes on the counter. “I’d go with this one. It will help with the bloating, and the acetaminophen is for the pain. Hopefully that combo will make you feel at least a little bit human.”
“Thank you. I’ll try anything if it helps this. It’s miserable this month.”
“No problem. Although, you may want to consider asking your doctor about going on the pill without breaks so that you wouldn’t have any periods if it’s that bad.” The young woman tilted her head sideways and looked Darling up and down a bit. “You’re Darling Roberts. You used to live here in the summers when you were a kid, huh?”
“Yeah, how do you know me?” Darling waited with a slight smile on her face.
“I’m Carrie, Carrie Reynolds. We always used to play together in the summer. My folks owned the grocery store here and the one in Granby. You and I used to go to the day camp in town, and we’d get a candy from my folks’ shop while we waited for your mom to pick you up. Wow, you just look so much the same, only grown up now.”
“Carrie? Yes, I remember you. You dared me to go into the walk-in freezer at your parents’ store, and when I got all the way in, you locked it and made me swear you were the prettiest girl in the whole town before you’d let me out. I always got in trouble when we hung out.” Darling had to smile at Carrie’s raised eyebrows and wicked grin. “Oh my, and now you’re a pharmacist here, dating the fireman I just humiliated myself in front of, and you’re assuring me that the whole town is going to find out I have really bad menstrual issues. I guess you’re still a little bit of a hellion.” Darling finally paused to take in a breath.
“Oh, there are a few ladies in this town who would give me a run for my money. Who knows, you might be one of them. I had heard your house was being cleaned out and put on the market so hadn’t really expected to see you here. At least not until June Bailey over at the grocery mentioned someone had come in buying a whole bunch of supplies and what not, and here you are.” Carrie nodded before ringing up her bottle of Midol.
“Yes. I’ll be here at least through the summer. I’m just trying to figure out what to do with the house. I guess you heard about what happened.” Darling waited, watching several different expressions flit across Carrie’s face. She knew she was onto something when her childhood nemesis blew out a breath, sending a tendril of her hair out of her face.
“Well, which version of what happened should we go with?” Her former childhood friend smiled mischievously. “The house is considered cursed. Your mom was last seen there, and that hasn’t left people’s memories. I also heard your grandmother was pushed off the balcony by some evil spirit that haunts the house. Then Carl Jenkins goes over to check on the dock, only to turn up at the top of the driveway, having fallen on his screwdriver a couple of times.” She paused dramatically before leaning closer to continue. “The more grisly version is that his corpse had been mutilated by the killer or eaten by coyotes. But the latest word is that now you’ve come to stay with a few friends who are all some rock ’n’ roll people, having wild group sex and crazy parties with drugs at the lake house. Would it be one of those stories you thought I might’ve heard?”
“I guess gossip is still a way of life around here. I should point out that the sheriff still hasn’t ruled Mr. Jenkins’ death anything other than a horrible accident, and my grandmother was a woman with poor balance in her eighties. A fall from a balcony isn’t all that odd; she could have been trying to fill the bird feeders and slipped.”
Carrie paused, raised one arched brow, and threw Darling’s purchase in a small plastic bag. “Don’t worry about the small-town talk. It just gives people around here something to pass the time with. Maybe in a couple of days when you’re feeling a little less bloated and miserable, you and I can go out for a couple of beers and give them all something new to talk about.” Carrie swiped Darling’s credit card and finished ringing up her purchase. It was nice to know there was at least one friendly face in this town. Though Carrie was obviously still a bit wild. Then again, Darling hadn’t been out in so long she readily agreed and swapped phone numbers. After all, Madison and company would be leaving tomorrow afternoon to go to Europe, and she’d be on her own again.