“Don’t ever say that again,” he growls. “You’re perfect,” he says loud enough for everyone to hear, but not in an ostentatious way. Then he turns me sideways on his lap, my back to the wall so we can see each other. Picks up a potato chip, homemade by Chloe, from a bowl in the center of the table and… brings it to my lips.
“They’re the best,” he says. “Come on, open wide.”
Across the table, Kiara averts her gaze from us, her cheeks tinting. I open my mouth, letting Noah drop the chip on the tip of my tongue, briefly feeling the rough pad of his finger.
“You like it?” he asks.
I clench my thighs and try not to choke as air rushes inside my lungs.
He takes another chip and pops it in his mouth. “Go ahead,” he says, pointing to the overflowing shared plate he made for the two of us.
There’s no way I can push anything down right now. Everything in me is clenching. Belly. Lungs. Thighs.
“Willow, when are you giving up your apartment?” Grace asks.
“Yeah, the new bartender at the restaurant was hoping to rent it,” Chloe chimes in, “but he found another place.”
Water. I need water. “I’m locked into my lease for a little bit,” I lie. “I was gonna take my time sorting through things.”
Kiara leans in, clearly enjoying this moment. “Let us know, and we’ll help with the move. Colt will take some of his stuff back. He’s been missing his big ass TV.” Colton left a lot of his furniture to me when he moved in with Kiara, and now I feel totally selfish for not moving out faster.First my job, now my apartment. Everything that made my life seems to be taken from me.
“I have not,” Colton counters. “I have you,” he says as he kisses her neck. To me, he says, “Take all the time you need.”
His reassurance isn’t enough to lift my anxiety. I wasn’t going to give my apartment up. I was going to keep it so I could go back to my home when all this is over, but clearly I didn’t think this through! Because of course people would notice.
Stupid, horny me for thinking about the PDA—right—and not the most obvious: not just moving into Lilyvale but officially moving out of my apartment.
Noah wraps his arm around my waist, pulls my side to his front, and nuzzles my ear lobe. “Stop worrying,” he whispers in my ear.
My spine arches in delight before I can stop myself. Then Chloe says, “So, Willow, when did you know Noah was the one?” and the whole table quiets down.
Chloe is fairly new to town. She’s been here what—a year? She loves the caring tapestry that this whole town weaves; she doesn’t know the history of each strand.
She doesn’t know about my long-standing crush on Noah, and how my childhood friends kept warning me against it. I suppose this means they didn’t tell her about it either, which in a sense is super respectful but also puts me in a pickle.
Especially now that Owen has wandered to our table, plate in hand as he makes the rounds like the politician he is.
I open my mouth to answer, but Noah answers instead, “Willow believes in soul mates.”
“Ooh,” Chloe coos. “And you don’t?”
I feel more than see him shrug. “I believe in Willow.”
Suddenly that shepherd’s pie is a fascinating object to study.
The whole table awwws, except for Kiara who, I find out when I finally raise my gaze, is throwing daggers at me.
Thankfully that closes the chapter of questions people have for me. For the rest of the evening, I’m snuggled on Noah’s hardthighs, listening to Chloe go on about how their dog Moose keeps running away, Chris explaining to the guys what it means when a baby drops, and Kiara talking wedding cakes with Grace and Alex.
When we leave, Noah walks me out with an arm around my shoulders. “Owen is onto something,” he whispers under his breath, and I instinctively tug myself closer to him.
“Little weasel,” I say into Noah’s neck, and push my hand in his back pocket. “I hope he’s watching.”
He doesn’t answer, just runs his lips on my temple as we head for the wide-open doors, onto The Green.
I almost trip on Moose, Justin’s massive dog, as he sneaks inside, his fur matted with mud. “Hey buddy,” Noah and I say at the same time, but the dog just continues on.
A cool breeze coming from the river envelops us, and I instinctively wrap my shawl tighter around my shoulders, while Noah runs his warm hand up and down my upper arm, like a proper husband.
