As Avery answered the phone, Willow straightened her shoulders, arranging the paperwork on her desk into some semblance of order. Her day had been upended, and it wasn’t even noon.
“Hey, Will?” Avery called.
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna run and grab a couple of cupcakes from The Sweet Spot.”
Willow’s mouth immediately started to water. They had the best cupcakes in Havenbrook. The menu changed with the season and with the day. A Wednesday in May meant Triple Chocolate Raspberry. The divine chocolate concoction, topped with heavenly ganache and filled with chocolate raspberry buttercream, was her and Avery’s guilty pleasure, reserved for the very worst of days. And todaydefinitelyqualified.
Willow smiled her first genuine smile of the day. “You’re a mind reader. I could use one. Or a dozen.”
“You sure could. Especially when I tell you Rory’s on line one.”
Apparently, Willow’s original guess of the gossip taking seven minutes to spread through Havenbrook had been a bit generous. She dropped her head back on her shoulders and closed her eyes, exhaustion cloaking every inch of her. After her morning, she didn’t know if she had the strength to put on a good face for her older sister. But she didn’t have much of a choice. She’d learned long ago not to let Rory see her sweat.
“Of course she is,” Willow said to the ceiling. “Maybe later the grim reaper’ll show up to take me to lunch.”
Avery laughed, grabbing her purse and waving as she headed out to grab the treats. “Be right back with enough sweets to keep you in a sugar coma for the rest of the day.”
Willow took a deep breath before picking up the phone and pressing the button to connect the call to her line. Pasting a smile on her face, she answered like she had no idea what would prompt her sister’s call. “Hey, Rory. How’re you doin’ today?”
“Will, you’re never gonnabelievewhat I just heard,” Rory said, diving in without pleasantries. Very unlike her, which meant she deemed the gossip juicier than usual. She wasn’t wrong. “Mrs. Thompson was out waterin’ her flowers—honestly, she waters them fifteen times a day just so she makes sure not to miss Edna with the daily gossip.” She tsked, despite the fact that it was the same reason Rory sat in her porch swing all day, even when it was twelve thousand degrees outside. But as it was Rory, of course her hair always looked perfect, her makeup precisely applied, neither daringto step out of line despite temperatures rivaling hell. “Anyway, you’ll never guess what she heard.”
Oh, Willow probably had a couple good ideas.
Without waiting for Willow to say anything, Rory continued, “Rumor has it, the Thomas boys are back in town.”
“Yep, they sure are.”
“They got in—wait, what?”
“I said, yep, they sure are. The Thomas boys are back in Havenbrook. You heard right.” The number of times she’d thought about saying those words… Lord, she’d dreamed about it for months after Finn had left. That it had all been just a misunderstanding, that he was coming back any day. She’d spent her time daydreaming about it. But at some point, she’d stopped dreaming about it, stopped hoping. And she could honestly say she hadn’t ever thought she’d be uttering them ten years after the fact.
“How do you know that?” Rory asked.
“Because they just left my office.”
“What in heaven’s name were they doin’ in youroffice?”
Willow felt every ounce of disdain Rory put into the word office, like Willow having dared to pursue a career instead of finding a nice man and popping out babies was akin to peddling drugs on the elementary school playground. She took a deep breath, knowing it was a delicate balance, playing this game with Rory. Especially when their daddy didnotneed to be informed of all the plans just yet. But word was going to get around to Rory one way or another, whether Willow delivered the news or not. It might as well be the truth coming straight from the source… “You know Pete’s place in the square?”
“The old soda fountain?”
“That’s the one. I thought it was just Nola who bought it, but it turns out Drew and Finn are her partners.” She paused, closed her eyes. “They’re opening a bar.”
Rory gasped. “Abar? For heaven’s sake, Daddy’s gonna throw a fit. Does he know?”
There wasn’t a doubt in Willow’s mind he had no idea, because if he did, there was no way he’d have been gone at his conference this week. He’d have done everything in his power to make sure he was there to keep an eye on the Thomas boys while they ran around in his town.
“No, and I’m not tellin’ him. Neither are you.”
Rory made a sound that managed to project irritation and superiority all at once. “I can’t believe you’d ask me to lie to Daddy, ’specially on account of them.”
“I’m not askin’ you to lie, Rory.” Willow rolled her eyes. Their daddy wasn’t even there to see Rory suck up, and still she did it. “I’m just askin’ you not to say anything right this second.” Willow would rather pull out each of her eyelashes, one by one, than admit defeat to her perfect older sister. Because of that, she couldn’t tell Rory how challenging her job had been lately, how letting their daddy in on this was going to do nothing but make her life even more of a hell than it had been the past few weeks. So she fibbed. “Daddy needs to focus on this conference. It’s important. He can’t afford any distractions. And the Thomas boys are a big one.”
Rory hummed. “I suppose they are. EspeciallyFinnThomas. At least where you’re concerned.”
Willow didn’t say anything in response—didn’t need to. Of course Rory knew about Willow’s history with Finn—at least the basics. Daddy had made sure everyone in the family knew of her misguided path…and how far she’d fallen when the boy she’d thought was the love of her life had bailed without so much as a Post-it note stuck to her window.
