"—and the children would be so excited—"
"I said NO!" Raven practically shouted.
Silence fell over the garden.
Annabelle just kept smiling. Like Raven's shouting hadn't registered at all. Like she was dealing with a slightly difficult toddler instead of a grown woman who was very clearly telling her to fuck off.
"Please?" Annabelle said hopefully.
Raven stared at her.
At her stupidly optimistic face. At her ridiculous cheerfulness. At the way she stood there in a bright yellow cardigan covered in embroidered flowers, looking like she genuinely believed Raven was going to say yes.
And suddenly, all Raven could think about was those dinosaur pajamas.
The way Annabelle had stood in her doorway at midnight, apologizing for asking Raven to be quiet. The way she'd laughed off the viral video like it was nothing. The way she'd made tea and offered biscuits when Raven had come over to apologize, even though Raven had humiliated her in front of half a million people.
The way Annabelle had been nothing but kind, even when Raven had given her absolutely no reason to be.
"Fine," Raven heard herself say.
Everyone stared at her.
"What?" Annabelle breathed.
"I'll help with your fundraiser." Raven folded her arms. "But only if you all promise, and I mean promise, to never, ever come to my house and sing at me again."
"Deal," Annabelle said immediately, her entire face lighting up.
"And I'm not joining your village drama society or becoming the local entertainment or whatever other ridiculous ideas you people have."
"Of course not."
"And you have to let me rewrite that song because it's genuinely awful."
Gloria looked offended, but Annabelle was already nodding enthusiastically. "Absolutely. That would be wonderful."
"And after this fundraiser is done, you leave me alone."
"Definitely," Annabelle said, in a tone that suggested she had no intention of actually doing that.
Raven sighed. "Right. Fine. Whatever. Now get off my lawn."
But Annabelle was still beaming at her like Raven had just offered to donate a kidney instead of grudgingly agreeing to help with a village fundraiser just to make them go away.
"Thank you so much," Annabelle said. "This is going to be wonderful. The children will be so excited, and…"
"Just go," Raven said.
She went back inside and shut the door, then leaned against it with her eyes closed.
What the hell had she just agreed to?
She'd come to Bankton to hide. To write. To forget about Alissa and the band and the fact that she hadn't written a decent song in six months.
And somehow, she'd just volunteered to help with a village fundraiser for a library she'd never even seen.
Because Annabelle had stood there in her garden, smiling that stupidly hopeful smile, and all Raven could think about was dinosaur pajamas and the fact that she probably owed her neighbor a favor after the whole viral video disaster.
