That look of longing Willow swore she’d seen on Rory’s face at the bar swept over her features once again. “You two always were the closest, weren’t you? I know you think I’m impossible most of the time, but it was tough growin’ up as the oldest. Tryin’ so hard to please Daddy when he wanted somethin’ I could never be. No matter how many tests I aced or how many trophies I brought home, he’d never get his boy.” She kept her gaze on her leg as it pushed off the porch, gently rocking them back and forth. “Sometimes I wonder if I went from one overbearing, insensitive know-it-all to another.”
Without trying to give away how shocked she was, Willow slid Mac a look out of the corner of her eye. Her younger sister shrugged, clearly at a loss, same as Willow. She’d always assumed her sister and brother-in-law’s marriage was perfect, just like everything else in Rory’s life. But maybe Willow had been so busywantingto see that perfection so she could hold a grudge that she hadn’t really paid attention to what was there.
“Is everything okay between you and Sean?”
Just as fast as the conversation started, it ended. “What? Of course. Everything’s just fine. You know who you should be worryin’ about is Trish Parkins. Poor girl’s workin’ three jobs just to keep a roof over their heads while her deadbeat husband drinks all day. Honestly—”
Willow tuned out as Rory expertly shifted the focus from herself to others who seemingly had more problems weighing them down. And now that Willow really thought about it, her older sister did that an awful lot. Maybe she wasn’t the annoying gossip Willow assumed she was. Maybe she was just as confused and lost as the rest of them but was desperate not to show it to anyone.
Honestly, Willow was…relieved. For the first time in as long as she could remember, she finally felt a connection with her older sister. Rory didn’t have it all together? Welcome to the club. Willow might as well be president.
Willow sat in her office the following week, sorting through the mess of papers her daddy had piled on her head. Like she didn’t have enough to do, now that they were mere days away from the Fourth of July parade. But, like always, Willow took the extra load with a smile and shuffled everything else around so she could make it work. She always,alwaysmade it work.
A knock sounded at the outer office door, then the quiet rumbling of voices between Avery and whoever had come in, but Willow was too lost in her spreadsheet to pay much attention. She had a tight budget to work with for any and all events, and the parade was no exception. No matter how she crunched these numbers, she was still coming out in the red. Which meant she’d have to dip into her own money to foot the bill for some of the items. Again.
“Looks like someone has a secret admirer.” Avery strolled into Willow’s office, a gorgeous arrangement of Stargazer lilies hiding her face. She set the vase on the corner of Willow’s desk and raised her eyebrow. “You decide to go public?”
Willow’s heart skipped a beat before tumbling into a gallop, her stomach bottoming out over the prospect of her and Finn’s pseudo-relationship getting out. “What? No. No, we—” She shook her head and snatched the card from the arrangement.
It didn’t say anything—it was simply a rough sketch of a willow tree. And while there weren’t any words written on the white notecard to give away who the sender was, it might as well have been an ad in the newspaper for as loud as it screamed to her.
“Finn?” Avery asked, slipping around the side of Willow’s desk to peek at the card.
“Ohh…what a pretty arrangement!” Edna, their mail carrier, stepped into Willow’s office and handed Avery the stack of envelopes. “I didn’t know you were seein’ anyone, Miss Willow.”
“What? Oh, I’m not. It’s just—”
“Oh my heavens, that’s even better! A secret admirer. How lovely!” She braced her hand on Willow’s desk and leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with interest. “Do you know who it might be?”
If Rory was a gossip princess, then Edna was the queen. The woman spread it around their town like bees spread pollen. There was no way in hell Willow was giving her even an ounce of information. Thankfully, her best friend was well aware of the gossip title Edna held. She was also a master at diversion.
“That sounds like that Hallmark movie you were telling me about last week.” Avery stepped around the desk and placed her hands on Edna’s shoulders, turning her around and directing her out of the office. “What was the title of that one again? Maybe I’ll watch it tonight.”
Willow breathed out a sigh of relief as Avery diverted Edna’s attention. The gossip queen and Avery chatted for several minutes about some romantic comedy while Willow just sat and stared at the drawing on the card, her fingertip running over the slight indentation from the pen.
She’d thought she and Finn had a good thing going. While it wasn’t ideal, it worked for them. And it worked forher, which, to be honest, was her top priority after how their first relationship had ended. She didn’t think Finn had minded the sneaking around, but if this was anything to go by, he did. Or, worse, he just didn’t care thatshecared. She’d told him point-blank they needed to be discreet if they were going to start something, and he’d readily agreed. So much for that promise.
The more she thought about it, the more hurt she got. It was like he was playing with her all over again. By the time Avery stepped back into Willow’s office, she was good and frustrated.
“I can’t believe he did this.”
Avery snorted. “Yeah, what an ass. Sending you flowers. You want me to key his car?”
Normally, Avery’s sense of humor could defuse even the tensest situations, but Willow didn’t want to hear it now. “You know that’s not what this is about. He’s not supposed to be spreadin’ it all around town.”
“I hardly think sending you flowers is spreading it all around town.”
“No? How do you think he got those flowers?” She held up the card with the sketched willow tree. “He drew this, Avery, which means he had to walk into the shop and order them. Give them my name for the delivery. And now Edna of all people knows about it. I’ll be lucky if I don’t have a line out my office by the end of the day, people wantin’ to know my business.”
“Honestly, Will, I think you’re overreacting just a bit.”
Before Willow could tell Avery exactly how much shewasn’toverreacting, her cell phone rang. Rory’s name and photo flashed on the screen. Willow wanted to believe it was about the bar reno, or maybe about their dinner they had scheduled for later in the week—something they’d never done before, but something Willow was actually kind of excited about. Since their talk on their parents’ back porch, things had shifted between the three of them—shifted for the better.
But even with all those possibilities, theprobabilitiesweighed on her as she swiped to answer. “Hello?”
“You’ll never guess what I just heard.”
Willow swallowed, closing her eyes and saying a quick prayer it wasn’t what she feared. “What’s that?”
