it’s fun. Within a few minutes, Josie’s stomach is going to be rumbling and they’ll be off to eat. Want to grab a coffee?”
His breath feathers along my neck and I take a step back—the heat almost too much. “Sure. Just let me check these out.”
He eyes my books. “You sure you have enough time to read all those before they’re due back? Not returning your library books is just like stealing.”
I shove a couple off the top back into the revolving wire rack. “I’m good.”
“There’s a Starbucks right down Superior. You can get one of those chocolatey chip things you love. My treat.”
I blow out a breath. “After dealing with Nana on this for days, I might need something stronger.”
He waggles his eyebrows. “I’m not sure that any of the bars that serve whiskey this early in the day are places you’d feel comfortable.”
“You’re probably right. Double chocolatey chip Frappuccino it is. After I say my goodbyes, I’ll check these out and meet you there.”
Chapter Nine
Blaine
After a great convo with Cora about me coming to her classroom for career day involving an electric fireplace, a comfortable leather wingback, and a dark roast, I decide to head to the family farm.
The family pot farm.
For generations, the Rice family grew hay, but after my grandpa passed away, the farm stayed idle for a few years. But when my folks bought their snowbird condo in Florida and my dad sold his business, my older brother Brian took over the old hay farm, concocted a vision, and renamed the Rice Farm to Grows Like A Weed. It specializes in the best organic CBD oil in Minnesota. Brian—AKA Chief—wants to dominate the entire industry.
And probably utilize his firstborn son, overachiever anxiety in the process. Chief and I have never been that close. I always had hockey—he’s kind of a loner by nature. But despite all that, blood runs thicker than water. Whatever Chief wants to do, I support him in that one hundred percent.
The bell above the door jingles as I walk inside, inhaling the familiar scent. Chief has edibles available on the counter, available to sample with a prescription, and he’s behind it, playing with a new blend. His glasses are shoved down at the end of his nose and his brown curls look more like a mop on his head.
The farm’s head botanist, and sometimes tarot card reader and energy healer, Gwenivere Burch, traipses about, a silk flower headband holding her long, blond hair back to cascade in waves down her back. Her hair is about as flowy as her dress and floats effortlessly down her willowy body. I don’t even think she has shoes on. She reminds me of Jenny from Forrest Gump.
“Hey, bro,” I say. “Hey, Gwen.”
Chief’s head snaps up and he gives me a little wave. Gwen, on the other hand, envelops me in a long hug that she tops off with a moan of pleasure. “Blaine, it’s been so long since you’ve been here. We’ve missed you. You’re such a stranger.”
“Yeah, what she said.”
I flip him the bird behind my back, so Gwen doesn’t see it. She’s about the most positive, sweetest woman in all of Duluth. She’s stunning, too. But she’s totally not my type. I like my women a little more petite. A little snarkier. A little geeky.
A little more like Cora.
Then why do you keep making out with girls who are the opposite of Cora? Because, asshole conscience on my shoulder, the only antidote to the desire to possess Cora is the anti-Cora. Kissing women who look like her would just make that already intolerable ache even worse.
“What you up to over there?” I stride toward the counter and peek behind it, grabbing a brownie bite on my way by.
Of course, I don’t have an official prescription for weed, but no one’s inside the tiny shop and office right now but the three of us. Hell, I’m on the deed so I’m part owner of this place anyway. Just the little taste will counteract the caffeine I just had. And I don’t play a game for two days. I’d never do anything that might jeopardize my career if I got random drug tested, which usually happens a couple of times a year.
But when you own a weed farm, I guess you need to understand the product. Once I retire, I’m sure I’ll be involved in some way, and I already help out during the off-season.
“Gwen has come up with the most amazing strain of plant.