by Lucy Score
“You’re so lucky you have an Evan,” Summer groaned as she and Carter filed into the aisle behind them. Carter slung an arm around his wife’s shoulders as they took their seats. “We had to piggyback on Jax and Joey’s bribe for Reva. She’s watching the twins and Caleb at our house,” Summer said, biting into an apple.
“Speak of the devil,” Emma said as the youngest Pierce brother and his wife ducked in beside Summer and Carter.
“Where were you guys? You left before us,” Carter asked, leaning over and helping himself to some of his brother’s popcorn.
Jax slapped at his hand. “Dude, we had an empty house for the first time all week. We weren’t going to waste it.”
Joey, a leggy brunette who took exactly zero crap from anyone, kicked her husband in the shin. “Jesus, Jax. Keep it down.”
“That’s what she said ten minutes ago,” Eva quipped.
“Ohhhh!” Gia offered her an enthusiastic high five.
Joey gave Eva’s hair a playful tug. “You’re just jealous.”
“Yes, yes I am.”
The house lights flickered, signaling everyone to take their seats and wrap up their conversations. A minute later, Beckett and Donovan took the stage followed by deputies Colby and Layla in uniform.
The crowd buzzed with excitement, and Eva felt her pulse quicken when Donovan’s eyes scanned the theater. He saw her, his gaze lingering a moment, before moving on. Mr. All Business. She wondered what went on beneath that stoic surface?
It was crowded. Everyone was undoubtedly curious about what prompted the emergency town meeting, and the town had turned out in full force. Rainbow Berkowicz, bank president and wife of a hapless hippie, was live streaming the meeting to the Blue Moon Facebook group from the front row.
Beckett put his hands on the lectern and leaned in to the mic.
“Okay, everyone. We’re going to get started here. I’d like to thank Sheriff Cardona for bringing this issue to our attention, and I expect you’ll be interested in what he has to say.”
Beckett backed away as the applause started and motioned Donovan up to the mic.
“Thanks, everyone, for coming out. I won’t keep you long. Who here remembers the summer of 1987?”
Eva looked around at the scattered hands that rose.
Donovan looked around. “How about who remembers everybody going crazy and acting like the Higgenworth Communal Alternative Education Day Care kids?”
Hands flew up everywhere. It looked to Eva as though everyone over the age of forty had a recollection. Eva leaned over to Gia. “Someone’s going to have to explain that one to me.”
Summer poked her head between their seats, her blonde hair falling over her face like a curtain. “HCAEDC is a free-range daycare that doesn’t believe in discipline. The kids are little monsters who never hear the word no. Don’t ask Carter about them. He’s still scarred for life.”
Carter shuddered convincingly behind her.
“Oh, my God. I love this town so damn much,” Eva sighed.
“I don’t want to alarm anyone,” Donovan said. “But we’re looking at a similar situation now.”
Soap opera-worthy gasps went up around them.
“Now, astrology isn’t my strong suit. So, I’ve invited Charisma Champion to give you a little overview on what we might be facing.”
A woman with black hair that curled to her waist took the stage to enthusiastic applause. “Thank you, Sheriff,” she said grandly before addressing the crowd. She jumped into a description of the solar system, planetary alignments, and astrological signs.
“I’m only catching every other word,” Eva whispered to Emma.
“I’m on every third word. Moon! There. I know that one,” Emma whispered back. “I can’t believe I worked the lunch shift for this.”
Emma managed John Pierce Brews, the Pierce’s brewery and business was booming… or brewing.
“Totally worth it,” Eva predicted. “Just you wait.”
Charisma was finishing up her technical description. She scanned the audience. “Are there any questions?”
Every person present raised a hand, and Eva had the pleasure of seeing the crack in Donovan’s façade as sweat broke out on his forehead.
“Hang on,” he said, leaning into the mic, to quiet the crowd. “This is what you need to know. You might be tempted to do something out of character. You might feel compelled to act out in some way or to make a big decision this month. All we’re asking is that you don’t do anything at all.”
Willa, owner of Blue Moon Boots and a self-proclaimed psychic, raised her hand from the third row. “I can’t stop thinking about getting a perm. Is that because of Uranus?”
Eva couldn’t quite stifle her laugh, and Joey leaned over her shoulder. “I think Willa just said Donovan’s anus talked her into getting a perm.”
Tears pricked Eva’s eyes as she struggled to hold in the laughter.
Willa’s blonde hair was straight as a stick and hung to her waist in the same style she’d worn since she was eight years old and told her mother to stop giving her bowl cuts. The idea of the woman getting a perm was laughable. The idea of the woman getting a perm because Donovan’s muscled ass told her to? Priceless.
Emma elbowed her in the ribs. “Stop snorting. I can’t hear what they’re saying.”
“Sorry,” Eva snickered. “I’m just so glad I moved here.” God, this town and its Ken doll sheriff were just the inspiration she needed. Maybe Donovan could unwittingly help her along by playing a starring role, she thought. She just needed to spend some time with him.
“Why are you smiling like an evil genius?” Gia demanded.
“I’m just thinking about Uranus.”
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The meeting wrapped but not before Donovan assured everyone that his department would distribute a PDF on the signs of the coming astrological apocalypse and step-by-step instructions on how to fight the urge to do illegal and/or immoral things. Wading through the crowd, he spotted Eva standing on one of the theater chairs waving at him.
He started toward her when she slid off the cushion and landed hard on the armrest.
Donovan shook his head. The woman should be wearing bubble wrap.
Of course, in Blue Moon, navigating the crowd after a town meeting took the same amount of time it took to make it three city blocks in Manhattan after five. A dozen greetings and required personal reassurances that would be rehashed on Facebook for the next twenty-four hours stood between him and the woman who was smiling at him like he was her personal hero.
He could have been a cop in a city. He could have been a sheriff in any other small town in the country, yet he’d chosen this life. For the most part, his job was peacekeeping and reassuring Blue Moon’s citizens of their safety. He’d rescued ferrets, dried tears, bought candy for lost kids at carnivals, pulled over the occasional speeder—Phoebe at least twice a year. He spoke at town meetings, attended ribbon cuttings, and visited the schools. He talked about the dangers of drugs with teenagers and stranger danger with kindergartners. He taught self-defense classes, spearheaded food drives, triple checked car seats. He did whatever it was that his neighbors needed.
The Blue Moon Police Department was more outreach than crime-fighting, and he’d like to keep it that way. So he stood and listened while Mrs. Nordemann explained how just this week she’d felt compelled to buy a murder mystery novel instead of her usual contemporary erotica. And he nodded thoughtfully when the flannel-clad Fincher brothers who ran the campground outside of town told him how “wild” the wildlife had been acting recently.
He made his way methodically through the crowd until he spotted her again. He’d seen her, eyes laughing, hand clamped over her mouth, when Willa had brought up Uranus. Evangelina Merill was already nothing but trouble. He could only imagine what the alignment of planets would do to her. She’d need a full-time babysitter just to make sure she didn’t blow up Beckett’s guest hous
e making popcorn.
She stood in a loose circle with the Pierces, laughing at a shot her brother-in-law Nikolai was showing her on the screen of his camera.
“There’s our fearless leader,” Summer said, patting him on the shoulder. “You realize this all sounds completely insane to people who haven’t lived here their whole lives.”
Niko looked up and grinned. “I think it might sound the same to a handful of others,” he said, turning the camera screen to Donovan. It was a picture of him, standing behind Charisma in the middle of her explanation. He was mid-eye roll.
“It’s nice to know you’re just a little bit human,” Eva said at his elbow as she peered at the screen.
“You expect someone to say Uranus that many times, and I won’t have a reaction to it?”
“How seriously do we need to take this?” Jax demanded. “And is this going to do anything to stir up livestock? We’ve got a stable full of prime horse flesh that doesn’t need any encouragement to get uppity.”
“Oh, geez. Apollo with a bigger attitude?” Joey shook her head. “That narcissistic bastard can barely fit his head through the stall door as it is. No way. We’re all packing up and moving away for a month.”
“You try creating perfect equine gods and goddesses and see how big your head gets,” Carter teased her.
“Oh, hell. What’s this going to mean for kids?” Gia asked. “We’ve got babies on up through teenagers. What kind of a living hell is this month going to be?”
Good. Donovan would rather they be scared. Scared meant vigilant. And vigilant meant at least some of them some of the time would maintain their hold on their marbles. He’d die for these people. Any one of them. But he’d prefer it to be over something big, something meaningful, not being poisoned by perm chemicals or run down in the street by an irate farmer in his combine.
Eva put her hand on his arm, and all heroic thoughts vanished.
“Do you want to get a drink?” she asked.
“More than anything in this world.”
She grinned up at him, and he felt six stories tall.
He let Eva pull him toward the door.
“Hey! Where are you guys going?” Jax called after them.
“Getting a drink,” Eva said.
“I could go for a drink,” Jax said, tugging Joey to her feet.
“No, you can’t.” Carter shoved his brother down in an empty seat and sent Donovan a wink and pistol fingers. Message received. Donovan was officially on his own with Eva.
CHAPTER NINE
To: Blue Moon Citizens
From: Blue Moon Police Department
Subject: Planetary Crossing Signs & Symptoms
Dear Citizen of Blue Moon,
In light of recent information, the Blue Moon Police Department has compiled this list of signs and symptoms that you may be affected by the Pluto-Uranus crossing. This is not an exhaustive list. Should you feel a strong desire to do anything out of character, we in the police department ask that you refrain from making any important decisions until November.
1. Beginning or ending a relationship.
2. Eating foods that you have a known allergy to.
3. Altering your physical appearance by any semi-permanent or permanent means.
4. Anything with fire.
5. Making any large purchases that haven’t been planned prior to now (tiny house, time share, new farming equipment, etc.)
Together, by applying caution and careful logic, we will look out for each other and survive this trying time.
Sincerely,
Sheriff Cardona and the Blue Moon Police Department
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This was a date. It had to be. Didn’t it? Why else would she have asked him and not everyone else? Donovan’s mind chugged through the possibilities for a third time as he followed Eva’s curvy hips to a cozy two-top at John Pierce Brews. The host tucked them into the corner with windows on two sides. Donovan took the chair facing the room so he could ward off any planetary dangers that materialized or any bamboozled Blue Mooners.
He tried to calm his date nerves by looking around. The building rehab had been a tedious process but worth it in Donovan’s mind. The Pierces had revitalized the old barn after decades of neglect. It was hard to recognize that livestock had once lived in this very spot. Impressive beam work held up the roof two stories above them. Industrial lighting and fans gave the place an eclectic, loft-like feel. The hardwood floors were scarred with age. The windows, built into thick walls, overlooked pastures and fields. There was a patio behind them and someone had started up the fireplace for the handful of customers who weren’t yet ready to face the transition to fall.
The bar, a long L-shape, was rustic, beefy. There was a comfortable dining room with more seating to the right of the kitchen and a loft above that overlooked the action in the bar.
Eva slid onto the high-backed stool and picked up the beer list.
She was pretty, he thought, studying her. No, not just pretty. Fresh and bright and bold. There was an energy beneath her exterior that buzzed just loud enough to alert him to the fact that she was walking, talking trouble. And that made her beautiful.
She wore her hair loose tonight. Curls tumbling over each other to her slim shoulders. She had a gloss on her lips that she must have put on in the car on the way over. Her sweater, a rich, deep green, looked soft to the touch.
“Well, well. The sheriff and Emma Jr. Isn’t this interesting?” Lila, the server raised her newly pierced eyebrow at them.
“Emma Jr.? Is that the best you can do?” Eva feigned pain.
“You’re right,” Lila grinned wickedly. “What can I get you, Naked in Town?”
“I think you should have stuck with Emma Jr.,” Donovan said to Eva.
“I’m going to kill that Anthony,” Eva grumbled. “I’ll have the Belgian triple please.”
“Stout for me,” Donovan said, handing Lila the menu.
“Any snacks?” she asked. “It’s been a slow night because of the meeting you called, so you should probably order food so you have to tip me more.”
Eva laughed and eyed Donovan. “I know it’s late, but I wouldn’t say no to nachos.”
“Nachos and the beer cheese soup,” he ordered. “Two spoons, please.”
Lila winked at them. “You got it. Be right back with your drinks.”
They sat staring at each other in silence for a moment.
“Sooo,” Eva began, propping her chin on her hand.
“Sooo.” He was nervous, and that was ridiculous. It was just a casual date. He could do this and not end up marrying the girl if he didn’t want to.
“What made you decide to be a cop?” she asked.
Okay. They were playing getting to know you. He could do that. Keep it casual, he reminded himself. Don’t mention marriage and white picket fences. Don’t do it.
“My mom was sheriff here for twenty years.”
“No, kidding? Really?” Eva’s eyes danced. They were lighter than her sisters’, more hazel than green. He couldn’t seem to look away from them.
“Yeah. Mom was sheriff, and Dad was fire chief.”
“Wow. So, public service is in the blood?”
He nodded. “How about you? A technical writer, right? How did you get into that?”
Eva waved a hand. “It’s what happens when a creative writing major can’t land a six-figure book deal right out of college. We take whatever job that comes along involving writing words. It’s nothing like what you do. I mean, you would put your life on the line to stand between your town and whatever danger is out there, right?”
Donovan ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I mean, that’s part of the job.”
“Part of the job?” she grinned. “You realize to us civilians that sounds insanely heroic. Your job requires you to put yourself in danger.”
“There’s not a lot of danger in Blue Moon,” he pointed out. He didn’t wa
nt Eva thinking he was something he wasn’t.
“Still. Bad things happen everywhere, and you’re one of the people who stops those bad things. What is it in a person’s character that makes that an acceptable risk? Are you less selfish than the rest of us?”
“Are you saying you wouldn’t take a bullet for someone?” Donovan asked, skirting her question.
“Sure, I would. But it’s a select few on the bullet-taking-for list.”
Lila returned with the drinks and napkins and then bustled off again into the thickening crowd.
“What about a stranger?” he pressed.
“I’d like to think I’d be brave and selfless and heroic, but how can anyone know how they’d react in a dangerous situation? That’s what training is for, right?”
Donovan picked up his beer, sipped. “Yeah. The training is so ingrained that it becomes reflex. You don’t have to fight your instincts. You just act.”
“Wow.” She took a contemplative taste of her beer and then switched glasses with him. “Mind sharing?”
“I don’t mind.” He drank from her glass, watching her. She closed her eyes and made an “mmm” noise. When they switched back, his fingers lingered over hers, or hers under his, and their gazes met.
She was the first to pull her hand away. “So, you got into this line of work because it’s what your family does. What do you think you’d be doing if your mom hadn’t been sheriff?”
“I don’t ever remember not wanting to be a cop,” he admitted. “And I always wanted to be one here. This place is home. These are the people I care most about. It’s an honor to protect and serve here.”
“Damn,” Eva shook her head slowly. “You’re a really good guy, Cardona.”
He laughed. “I don’t know about that. I’m sure there are some tarnished spots on this armor,” he joked.
“We all have our secrets, I suppose.”
The way she said it made him wonder exactly what her secrets were and how long it would take before he could find out.
