Willa seemed taken aback by the sudden change in topic, but responded anyway.“Uh, yea, I guess.”She scoffed lightly.“I don’t know how anyone believed they were teenagers.”
Lottie smiled sadly.“People will convince themselves of anything if they want it badly enough.I think that’s what I did with Nathan.Allowed my heart’s desire to override the logical part of me that knew that we would never be together.”Nabbing a handkerchief from her pajama pocket, she swiped it under her eyes to gather up the remaining moisture.“I think I need to leave.”
Willa nodded and grabbed the purse she had placed on the coffee table.“Where do you want to go?I know you just ate a whole bowl of whipped cream, but are you hungry for some actual food?We could go to the Old Mill Restaurant.”
The thought of seeing anyone related to Nate or possibly even the man himself made the whipped cream in Lottie’s gut curdle.That was the problem with Applewood, she loved the town, and she knew that most of the town loved her, but the one person who never would was also the one she would never be able to face again.“I meant I need to leave town.”
“What?”Willa gasped.“You can’t leave, I just got here.”
Lottie’s watery laugh filled the silence in the living room she’d immaculately decorated to look like something out ofMad Men, but even the sight of all the sleek, mid-century modern furniture or the photos she’d kept up in honor of Mrs.G giving her the house couldn’t cheer her.“And you’ve managed to accomplish in just over a year what I haven’t been able to in almost thirty.”Lottie touched the wedding band on her friend’s left hand as she nodded at her baby bump.“You’ve got a whole new life going on here and honestly, mine’s been stalled out for quite some time.”
Willa shook her head.“Just because Nate is an idiot doesn’t mean you have to leave.You love this town.”
Lottie nodded.The words were true enough, but deep down she knew that didn’t matter.“I do love this town, and a lot of people in it, but it and they will do just fine without me.”She tossed the handkerchief onto the coffee table and leaned back on the couch, the thought of leaving town making her feel incredibly tired.She turned her head over to Willa, smiling sadly as her friend regarded her with disbelief.“Besides, can you tell me you’d be able to stick around in a place where everything reminded you of Beckett but you couldn’t be with him?”
Willa’s returning smile looked about as happy as her own as she shook her head.“No, I guess I can’t.”
“Didn’t think so.”Lottie stood and walked over to the kitchen, reaching up above the fridge and grabbing the white porcelain cookie jar in the shape of a teddy bear.Taking out the envelope she’d been holding onto since Willa first moved in with her, Lottie passed it across the counter to her friend who’d come to join her.“I’m not sure what I’ll do with the house if I go, and I know you and Beckett are looking out at the newer developments anyway, but I figured the least I could do was give you this now that you seem closer to buying.”
Willa eyed the envelope suspiciously before pulling out the small card that held nothing but the name of the local bank and an account number.“What’s this?”
Lottie shrugged and leaned against the island that separated them.“It’s the account where I’ve been putting all the money for utilities and food you’ve insisted on paying me.”
Willa’s mouth opened and closed for a minute before she was able to speak again.“Why?I know the house is paid off, but you could have been putting it toward your newsletter or whatever else you wanted.”
Lottie winced slightly, not liking that she’d kept something so big from her friend.It seemed necessary at the time, but now that it was impossible not to reveal, she felt silly for not having done it sooner.“Well, that’s the thing.The house is paid off, but I still didn’t need the money.”When Willa merely raised a brow, Lottie decided to just divulge everything she’d kept to herself over the years.“You know Mrs.G left me the house and the car when she died, but she also left me everything else along with it.”
Willa nodded slowly.“Okay, but like how much could that possibly have been?”Lottie told her the number, leaving out the finer details about her kindergarten teacher being the widow of an apparent financial genius who’d purchased stock in companies like Apple and Microsoft as well as a bunch of other tech companies that she didn’t know anything about.“Holy shit.You’re like, super rich.”
Lottie waved off the comment like it wasn’t true, feeling uncomfortable with talking about money.She’d grown up with enough money to have a decent life, but not enough love to get by, and that’s part of the reason why she’d kept the whole thing to herself.Money changed the way people saw you, and Lottie wanted people to see her for who she really was.Love her for who she really was.“It doesn’t matter.I just wanted to give that back to you and let you know that if you guys need any more help I can do that for you if you want.”
Suddenly, Willa launched herself off the stool and tearfully ran around the counter to pull Lottie into a hug.“I don’t want your money, I want you to stay.”Willa’s sniffles made Lottie wonder how long she would survive without her best friend after finally having her in the same town.“You can’t leave us.My baby needs their Auntie Lottie.”
Lottie sniffled too, the thought of not seeing Willa’s baby grow up making her rethink her sudden plans to leave.“Auntie Lottie does have a nice ring to it.”
Willa leaned back and nodded fiercely.“It does,” she agreed, wiping her nose.Her expression fell as she looked over at Lottie.“I don’t want to guilt you into staying, but will you at least think about what you really want before making any rash decisions.”
Lottie smiled and poked Willa on the shoulder.“You mean like moving across the country and getting engaged to a man you knew for all of three months?”
Willa poked her back, a wide smile on her face.“It was three and a half, thank you very much.”Willa and Beckett’s romance had spread like the fires he put out at his job, and burned just as brightly.It had been fast, but Lottie could tell theirs was a love that would last.
Lottie chuckled and walked her friend back to the couch where the movie was still playing, only now it had gotten to the happy ending.“Well, no matter how long or short, I’m glad you found someone to love you the way you should be loved.”Her eyes followed the car on the screen as it floated off into the air, something that had never made any sense to Lottie and still didn’t.“Everyone deserves love like that.”
Willa smiled sadly at her.“They do, and I know you might not feel this way right now, but you’ll get it, I know you will.”Willa leaned back on the couch and sighed.“Maybe one of the guys that’s always flirting with you at Branch and Brew will finally get up the courage to ask you out on a date.”
“About that...”Lottie bit her lip.“I quit working there.”
Willa gasped for what seemed like the millionth time that night, and as Lottie explained that she’d found her replacement before telling Felix, making sure not to leave him high and dry, she wondered what exactly she would do if she did decide to stay in Applewood.Bartending was always more about socializing for her than anything else, but she couldn’t be near that place anymore, not with Nate being a frequent visitor.As Lottie looked at the piles of papers on her coffee table, another idea came to her.It would take a lot more work than her newsletter did, but maybe that was what she needed, something to take her mind off her troubles.She didn’t bother to wonder if it would take her mind off of Nate.No matter how far she traveled, Lottie’s mind would always be here with him in some form or another.So would her heart.
