“I hate you,” Willow mumbled under her breath, elbowing Mac’s thigh.
“No!” Nat’s eyes widened, and she shot forward, her face crowding the screen. “Oh my dear sweet sparkling baby Jesus in heaven, tell meeverything!”
Before Willow could even register they had company, Rory stepped into her office, followed by their momma and gran. “Tell you everything about what? And why don’t I ever get Skype calls? I never even getphonecalls.”
Willow snapped her head up and slammed her laptop shut, effectively cutting off Natalie’s call. There was absolutely no way she was going to let Nat stay on the line while her momma, gran, and the person set on this earth specifically for the task of making Willow look bad were in the room. Her youngest sister would shout out the details because she gave zero shits about that kind of thing, despite the fact that it wasn’t her story to tell.
Willow would have to text her later and apologize, though she knew that wouldn’t suffice for long. Natalie would blow up Willow’s phone until she finally gave in and answered. And then the pestering wouldn’t stop until Willow spilled every dirty detail of what was happening, had happened, and what would happen between her and Finn.
“Nothing. No one.” Willow pushed back her chair and stood, smoothing out her skirt. “Y’all ready to go?”
Mac snorted quietly. Out of the side of her mouth, she whispered, “Smooth.”
Willow elbowed her in the side and slipped around to the front of her desk, greeting her momma with a kiss on the cheek.
Momma sighed. “I wish Nat would try to time her calls a little better so she could catch all of us. Honestly, that girl doesn’t think sometimes. If we hadn’t stopped over to see your daddy first, we could’ve chatted with her.”
“Next time.” Willow grabbed her purse and shuffled in behind as her momma and sisters filtered out of her office, offering her elbow to her grandmother. “Hey, Gran,” she said, bending to press a kiss on her cheek.
“Afternoon, honey.” Her grandmother wore a bedazzled track suit—she must’ve owned a dozen, each one more hideous than the last—her short, dark hair perfectly coiffed from the salon she went to every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to get styled. As she looped her hand through Willow’s elbow, she pursed her lips. “Talked to Maxine earlier today.”
Maxine, the owner of said salon, and her grandmother had been best friends for going on seventy years now. And Lord, were they trouble when they got together.
“Oh, yeah? What’d she have to say?”
She hummed low in her throat and slid a look at Willow out of the corner of her eye. “Apparently, one of the Thomas boys placed a special order for some of her granddaughter’s specialty cupcakes.”
“Is that so?”
“Mm-hmm. Say, wasn’t that a box of The Sweet Shop’s cupcakes on your desk?”
Willow nearly swallowed her tongue, her heart speeding into a gallop. She’d been worried this whole time about Finn giving them away, but in the end, it’d come down to Willow turning as red as a tomato in front of her gran and spilling every single sordid detail.
Gran tsked. “Need to give you some lessons on being discreet. For shit’s sake, girl, you might as well be wearing a billboard that saysI’ve been up to no good.”
Willow’s eyes grew wide, and she stumbled a bit as they made their way down the hallway toward the front door. The others led the way and were, thankfully, oblivious to their conversation. She opened and closed her mouth half a dozen times, but nothing came out. What the hell could she say, really?
“See? That’s what I mean.” Gran shook her head. “Worst poker face I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve lived a long damn time, Willow Grace.”
Willow swallowed. “I know you have, Gran.”
“Yes, well. About time you got up to some nonsense. Last time was right about ten years ago if I remember right.” She shot Willow a side-eyed glance, even as Willow attempted to pretend this was fine. Totally fine. Completely, one hundred percentfine. “Oh, relax. I won’t tell your daddy. That son of mine could stand to get the two-by-four removed from his ass and have a little fun.” She patted Willow’s arm and gave her a wink. “Just stick with me, honey, and I’ll teach you a thing or two.”
Of that Willow had no doubt.
* * *
Willow didn’t comeout to Old Mill Road very often—or ever, really. Hadn’t had much of a reason to since Finn left. For one thing, it held a lot of memories she wasn’t sure she’d wanted to face. And for another, she was a grown woman, and if she wanted to see someone, she didn’t need to sneak out to the middle of nowhere to do so.
Except that wasn’t exactly true now, was it?
Because despite being a grown woman, she was still sneaking around with a Thomas boy while they got up to no good. Which was how she found herself leaning against the side of her car, watching the breathtaking rainbow of colors as the sun set. The comfort of it, even being out here in the middle of nowhere, was like a blanket wrapping around her.
As soon as she’d slipped back into her office after lunch with her family, she’d sent a text to Finn, thanking him for his delivery and asking if he’d meet her later that night. She hadn’t heard back from him. For all she knew, he hadn’t even gotten her text or had no intention of—
The rumbling of Finn’s borrowed truck on the deserted road cut off her thoughts. He brought it to a stop next to her car, the wheels kicking up a cloud of dust behind it. She couldn’t deny how relieved she was to see that beat-up truck. To see Finn slide out of the cab and stride straight toward her, his eyes dark and hungry.
He stopped mere inches from her, his fresh scent invading her lungs as she inhaled deeply. His wet hair confirmed her suspicion that he’d just showered—a fact that, for some reason, just made her want to mess him all up.
