The Pregnancy Plot. Carol Ericson

a soldier and a writer wind up being handy with a hammer and saw?”

      “I learned everything from my grandfather. He liked working with his hands, even after...” He tugged on his ear before the truth came spilling from his lips. “Even after he got old.”

      He didn’t need to clue in Nina that his grandfather had been a self-made millionaire and that his father had expanded the family fortunes and gone into politics. That reality wouldn’t mesh with Jase Buckley’s.

      “Do you mind if we make a stop before heading back to the B and B? I need to pick up a couple of things.”

      “There’s a drugstore on the main drag, a few doors down from Mandy’s.” She swung the truck around in a U-turn and rumbled back down the main street of town.

      When she parked, he grabbed the handle of the door. “You coming with me?”

      “Sure.”

      As they walked inside the brightly lit drugstore, the clerk behind the register called out, “You have ten minutes until closing.”

      “We’ll make it quick.” Jase nudged Nina with his elbow. “Toothpaste.”

      They rounded the corner of the aisle, which gave them a straight shot to the pharmacy counter, where a couple was arguing with the pharmacist.

      “I think someone else was using my driver’s license.”

      “I don’t think so, ma’am.”

      “God, don’t call me ma’am. I’m only thirty-one.”

      Nina tugged on his sleeve to try to escape her stepsister’s notice, but Lou caught the movement and turned.

      “Nina, can you help me out?”

      “Ma’am... Miss, you can’t have someone buy the antihistamine for you after just trying to buy it yourself.”

      Lou cussed at the pharmacist and slapped the counter. “Hick town.”

      “C’mon, babe. Let’s go back to the bar.” Kip, looking more beat-up than before, wrapped an arm around Lou’s waist.

      “Hold on.” She shrugged him off. “What are you doing back in town, Nina? I thought you were headed to Moonstones.”

      “Needed a few things.” Nina tipped her chin toward the pharmacist, who was hastily rolling down his window.

      “Why are you trying to buy antihistamines?”

      “You know, runny nose.” Lou pinched the bridge of her nose and sniffed.

      “Antihistamines are for stuffed-up noses.”

      Lou plucked a tube of lip balm from a hook and put it in her pocket. “You have any room at the inn?”

      “What?” Nina visibly recoiled.

      “At Moonstones? Any vacancies for me and Kip to crash?”

      “I...I thought you were staying here in town.”

      “We are, but we’re running out of cash.”

      Jase reached his arm behind Nina and gave her hip a pinch. Surely, she could say no to her stepsister. The woman tried to drown her just this afternoon.

      “I can’t help you, Lou.”

      “Of course not. You got what was rightfully mine, and now you can’t even spare a room for me.”

      “Jase and I were expecting to be alone.”

      His heart slammed against his chest. What was she playing at?

      Lou narrowed her reddened eyes. “You and your handyman?”

      Nina tossed back her shoulder-length hair. “I just didn’t want to get you all wound up, Lou, but I’m getting sick of tiptoeing around you.”

      “What does that mean?” Lou’s voice had taken on a dangerous edge, and Jase inched closer to Nina.

      “Jase isn’t my handyman. He’s my fiancé.”