Silence hung in the air for several seconds before Ash was the one to break it.
“So… I’m going to shower and get out of your hair.”
Willow nodded. “Yeah. Of course. I’ll leave you to it.” She nodded back toward the kitchen. “I’ve gotta see a man about some cookies. Wait…that sounded like innuendo, and it was not innuendo. I really do have a lot of cookies to deal with back there, so…yeah. I’ll leave you to your naked. I meanshower. Oh my god.” She clamped a hand over her mouth and backed away. Slowly.
Ash watched her go until she bumped into the wall and waved him off with her spatula.
He laughed and disappeared through the bedroom door, making sure to close it behind him.
***
Willow fidgeted with the spaghetti strap of her pale-pink maxi dress. She’d worn the same dress onstage on more than one occasion and felt nothing but confidence in what had become her performance look—a simple dress and her calf-high boots. Tonight, though, she couldn’t help wondering if it was too much or maybe not enough. Did it look like she wastryingto look good? The follow-up question being, did she look like she was trying to look good forAsh? And why did she care one way or another?
“You are allowed to put in the effort simply for yourself,” she told the woman in the bedroommirror. But what kind of fool would she be if that wasn’t the case?
Rather than overthink to the point of tossing on jeans and an oversized sweatshirt, she squared her shoulders and strode to the kitchen where she found the tin she had lined with wax paper and three layers of her late mother’s famous toffee shortbread cookies. She dropped her phone in her pocket and with her other hand grabbed the bottle of red she picked up at the local market the day before, anticipating a quiet Saturday night in the guesthouse. She guessed now she’d have to share.
“The clinic will be closed, so just head around back,” Colt had told her. “Everyone will be outside.”
So, Willow exited the safety and cocoon of the guesthouse and ventured the handful of yards over to the rear of the Murphy Veterinary Clinic where she found a stamped concrete patio looking out on a fenced-in field where Holiday, Cirrus, and Midnight grazed. And gathered around a built-in grill stood four men, three of whom looked like the spitting images of one another from different stages in life, save for the unexpected addition of Eli Murphy’s beard. The odd man out was, of course, her brother, Colt.
“Am I interrupting the bro portion of the evening?” she asked, stepping onto the patio and making her presence at this strange reunion official.
“Wills!” Colt called, striding toward her with hisarms outstretched, a bottle of beer dangling from one hand.
Willow held up her own hands, both occupied, and her big brother immediately set his beer down on a long wooden table set for eight and grabbed both the cookies and the wine, placing them next to his beer. Then Colt scooped his sister into a giant hug, lifting her off her feet as she yelped with laughter.
“Okay! Okay,” she told him, her grin growing wider every second she was with the person she loved most in this world.
He set her back down on her feet.
“Don’t you think I’m getting a little too old for that?” she asked him with raised brows.
Colt shrugged. “Not until I’m too old to do it without breaking a hip or something like that.”
She laughed again, and from behind her brother she saw Eli approach. Boone waved from the grill, and Ash seemed to be preoccupied with something in the field beyond. Or maybe he was simply avoiding her like she had been avoiding him since the clearing.
“Willow!”
“Eli. Hi!” she replied, extending a hand. But Eli Murphy—who she’d only met once and didn’t remember being the openly affectionate type—followed Colt’s lead and drew her into a warm hug. “Oh,” she said as the eldest Murphy gave her aquick yet warm embrace before taking a step back and offering her a welcoming smile.
“How’s the guesthouse?” he asked. “Everything working okay? Do you have enough space to…um…to work?”
Ah. So that was where the warm greeting was probably coming from.
Is it okay that my brother crashed your stay, and if not, do you want me to toss him out on his ass? Because I’ll do it. Just say the word.
At least, that was what Willow imagined as the subtext Eli was trying to convey.
“The house is lovely,” she told him. “And there might have been some space issues at first, but I think I’ve got everything worked out,” she assured him.
Eli let out a relieved breath. “Good,” he replied. “Good. Wouldn’t want the first review of our vacation rental to tank just because of a not-quite breaking and entering.” He laughed.
Willow’s eyes widened. “Vacation rental?” she asked. “I thought it was a family residence.”
Eli nodded. “It is. I mean, it was going to be. But Beth grew up in the hospitality business, and you know your brother here knows a thing or two about running guest ranches.”
Colt grinned. “Not that the Meadow Valley guest ranch is looking for competition, but the Murphy property is a great opportunity for more of anintimate ranch experience. And if the first review comes from someone who others might consider a celebrity…”
