I choke on my coffee, my glasses instantly steaming up.
Willow laughs. “Over my dead body.”
“It was my idea,” Ms. Angela says, instantly sobering us, “and it’s genius.” She raises a hand to silence us. “Just listen. A week ago, Gail checked into the resort. Since then, she’s been badgering everyone in town to give them information corroborating the fact that your marriage is fake. You have to say, circumstantial evidence is very much against you. For years, Willow has been pining after you, Noah, but you barely even noticed—”
“That’s not true!” How can she say such a thing in front of Willow? It’s so insensitive. I place my hand on Willow’s nape, but she tilts her chin to Ms. Angela, indicating to let her continue.
“The point is, no one can even testify having seen you grab a cup of coffee together at Millie’s or even just a drink at Lazy’s before you came back from Vegas.” She looks at me pointedly, and I have nothing to say to that. It’s true. She turns her attention to Willow. “Remember that time at Game Nights, right after Kiara’s wedding? It’s not like I didn’t try to get you to say something was up—”
Willow nearly chokes on her coffee. “Ohthat’s what you were doing? ’Cause it seemed to me you were just—” Ms. Angela’s glare shuts her up. “Never mind,” Willow whispers.
“I was giving you an opportunity to share the news. Course, I didn’t know there was nothing to share. Sheesh. You really made it look like there was absolutely nothing going on between you two, and next thing you know, you’re eloping! That doesn’t look too good.
“What’s worse, there’s got to be someone who saw you go to the mansion after you dropped me off at home, and we don’t know if this person will speak up or not. It’s easy to put two and two together for someone who doesn’t know you. Willow went to Lilyvale to offer Noah a deal, which he took.”
“Or she just came to cuddle with me,” I offer.
“Nope, that won’t stand. She looked too uninterested in you at Game Nights.”
“Is that so?” I ask, faintly bruised.
“Turns out your wife is an excellent comedian,” Ms. Angela says. “Problem is, this wasn’t the time to hide her true feelings.”
I take Willow’s hand in mine. I should have seen who she was, and how she felt about me, but feeling guilty about my blindness isn’t going to do anything. Instead, I’m grateful she’s who I’m sharing my life with.
“What does Gail staying at Lilyvale have anything to do with all this?” Willow asks.
“Right,” Ms. Angela says. “So, Gail has been staying at the resort with some gentleman and his son—developers. She’s been showing them around, asking questions about you, digging through documents at town hall. Now, last night, her suite at the resort experienced a spider infestation. They moved her during the night, but less than an hour after she was settled into her new suite? Spiders again crawling on the walls, on her bed. A real horror story.”
I resume sipping my coffee, actually reveling in the woes of my stepmother. “Seems like good company for her.”
“It gets better. She calls Wendy and Todd at the hotel, but they’re sold out. So she calls me, begging for any room at the bed-and-breakfast.”
“I hope you’re charging her double,” I say.
“You haven’t been paying attention. I told her I was full as well, but that as the widow Callaway, she should sleep at Lilyvale, as was her right.”
There goes my coffee again, down the wrong pipe. “Why would you do that?” I croak.
“Oh, I love it,” Willow coos. “You’re such a devil.”
Ms. Angela points at Willow. “She’s got it,” she says with a big smile. She leans over to pat my wife’s leg. “Good girl.”
forty-six
Willow
Ms. Angela, orAuntAngela—I’ve never been so proud to be related to her—reallyisa genius. We hammer out a rough plan, praying it works, then Noah calls Colton to figure out a timeline. “She has enough signatures on her petition to warrant an emergency meeting,” Noah confirms when he ends the call. “Colton believes the sooner we have the meeting, the better. I tend to agree with him. We don’t know what these people are up to.”
“What’s the meeting about?”
He takes a deep breath. “Just like we suspected. She wants to convince the town to challenge our marriage in court, soshedoesn’t have to spend money on it.”
I interrupt him, appalled by what he’s saying. “Thewhole townwill know about the trust?”
Noah shrugs. “To be honest, I’m surprised we could keep it a secret that long around here.” Adjusting his glasses, heresumes his explanation. “If the marriage were to be declared null and void, it would serve her interests—she’ll be appointed trustee. But if that claim is dismissed, she’ll have saved herself a lot of money. There’s also the fact that a judge might be more favorable to a claim coming from a town in the Northeast Kingdom, where life is notoriously rough, rather than from a young widow living the life in the Caiman islands.”
“I think it’s Turks and Caicos,” Ms. Angela counters. “Or somewhere in the Bahamas?”
