‘I’m going in two days anyway,’ Jenn said, hands onhips. ‘It will give me great pleasure never to see your moon face again, Greg Stevens.’
‘Moon face!’ Greg rounded on her again. ‘What the hell? If anything, my face is a perfect oval. An art student once used it as a study.’
‘A study for what? How weirdly large it is?’
Lucas sighed. He smiled wanly at Willow. ‘They get like this. It’s worse than school. I think really, they have found deep love for each other.’
‘As if!’ Jenn spluttered, making a face as if she had just been sick.
‘No offense, but I wouldn’t touch her with a twenty-foot pole, let alone a ten-foot one. I don’t know what I might catch.’ Greg sniffed, stuffing his keys back in his pocket. ‘I’m going to open the bar – finally! I take it I won’t be seeing any of you there tonight.’
‘Thanks for the invite, buddy, but I’ll be working,’ Lucas said stiffly.
‘And I will be settling Willow back into town,’ Jenn said more brightly. ‘Although we’re bound to come by tomorrow. Serve us with a smile, hey Greg? Perhaps we can grab some food here first, Luc?’
‘I’ll look forward to it,’ he replied, sounding anything but.
Jenn walked Willow further down the road towards her wooden cabin. It was part of a group of small one-bedroom ones that bordered the fields and the wonderful backdrop of the mountains beyond.
‘I’m renting it from Macguire,’ she told Willow as they approached the front door. ‘But he is happy for me to pass the rental over to you while I travel. It’s dirt cheap, butplease don’t be expecting much. I’m lucky if I get hot water most days.’
Macguire ran a small property company in Westpine Ridge but had a lot of places here too. Willow recalled that he was a short, skinny guy with a nervous laugh and a tendency to look at girls’ chests rather than their eyes. He had also dated Lucas’s mom for a while.
The cabin was cute though: small, but sturdy looking – with a red-painted front door and one small window facing the front, which Jenn had decorated with bright, floral curtains.
‘I mean, this is going to seem so shabby compared to your city apartment.’ Jenn chuckled as she struggled to open the door. ‘You have to watch this – the lock gets stuck sometimes and in the winter, the door can get stiff. It’s kind of a pain. Get on Macguire’s case to fix it.’
‘Honestly, I’m just so grateful you have a place for me to stay,’ Willow replied. ‘I really didn’t want to grab a room at the Parkers’s inn.’
‘Now, why would I expose you to that! Those women would be nosing through your luggage within hours of you checking in.’
Light was already flooding the main room as the women walked in, and Willow could see that Jenn had made every effort to make it as homely and cozy as possible. There was a double bed in the far corner, concealed by a curtain. In the main space was a sofa and a bashed-up La-Z-Boy chair. The kitchen was on the far side, small but perfectly stocked with brightly painted wooden units.
‘You might not remember, but old man Malc used to live here. When he passed, the place was a mess, so I got a discount from Macguire for fixing it up while I lived here.I never really planned to stick around, but it got easy to stay. Lucas’s sister Mia stayed with me for a while before she moved to New York. That was kind of cool. She’s a nice girl.’
Willow flopped down on the chair, which creaked gently under her. She hadn’t realized how tired she was. ‘So, how come you’re going now?’
Jenn pulled a face. ‘I dunno. I had this bright idea to fix up the van. That was Malc’s too, so I got it for a bargain price. I had this dream of selling coffee and cakes from it. But as soon as I finished the van, I realized my heart wasn’t in it.’ She paused. ‘I guess I just need a break, Willow. I love it here, I really do – but I’ve never been anywhere else. It feels like the right time to go.’
‘I totally get that. Sometimes you have to follow your heart.’
‘Well, that certainly sounds like what you did. I think it’s exciting. Embracing the new and all that!’
‘When do I get to see the van?’ Willow asked hesitantly. It still felt weird. She was buying this thing. It was going to be her new business venture. If someone had told her a few months ago that she would be back in Honey Springs – planning this – she would have laughed in their face.
Jenn slammed her hand against her face. ‘Jeez, I’m such an idiot. The van is behind The Diner at the moment. I could’ve shown you when we were there, but I totally forgot. I was too swept up in trying to calm gorgeous Greg down.’
The icy way she said ‘gorgeous Greg’ clearly meant she thought he was anything but. Willow couldn’t help laughing.
‘We can go back there now?’ Jenn offered.
‘Oh no – I’m way too tired and this chair is way toocomfy …’ Willow said, sinking into it even further. ‘We’re going back there tomorrow. You can show me around then.’
‘Cool. Sure.’ Jenn nodded, looking just as tired.
‘Is that where the spot will be though, right by The Diner?’
‘Yeah.’ Jenn looked nonplussed. ‘I’m going to move it out by the parking lot, prime spot.’
