Maybe Jake had saved him from embarrassing himself completely.
He buried his hands in his pockets, watching as Willow answered the phone with a breathy hello. She waved at him briefly before turning back to the cabin and closing the door behind her.
Greg had been wrong about one thing. Those two certainly weren’t breaking up. They didn’t even seem close to it.
Slowly, he trudged away, back towards The Diner.
Tonight had taught him a lesson. He couldn’t afford to get close to Willow. Not again.
He wasn’t sure if he could survive being smashed to pieces once more.
Chapter 17
Willow
How’s it going? I’m so glad you jumped off the train too. Isn’t it fun being brave? Send me lots of photos of Honey Springs – I love the sound of it. I’m going to persuade Jed to take me there in a few months. You can show me all the sights. And make me a killer matcha. My favorite is vanilla btw.
Willow smiled at the message as she took a break from the van. It was so good to hear from Esmae, who was clearly totally loving it in LA. Willow had already sent her lots of photos of the matcha wagon and some of the sights around town and Esmae had been so encouraging. Willow hoped she would come and visit; she deeply believed that Honey Springs was best seen in real life – even if some stupid YouTubers hadn’t seen its beauty before.
Willow had spent some time rewatching the video that had been uploaded in the comment section of the Honey Springs website. She had a sneaking suspicion this was what had upset Lucas, and after he had left her cabin a few nights ago, she curled up with her phone and made herself view it again.
It was brutal. And Lucas especially did not come off well. She could understand why his view of influencers was not favorable.
Even so, that did not mean that all influencers were bad, nor did it excuse his crappy behavior towards her. No half-baked apology could excuse his attitude; she was sick of it. In fact, she had made sure to avoid Lucas completely over the past few days, so that she didn’t hear any more of his excuses. Although he had come over to her cabin the other night, Willow wasn’t sure that she was ready to hear him out and was actually pleased that Jake interrupted them, even though it was only to boast about his latest viral post. Now she was simply focused on getting the wagon up and running properly and improving sales, and business was slowly building as a result.
The flyers had done their trick; more locals had visited and bought drinks and as Willow suspected, once they tried one, they were hooked. Willow was pleased that she was getting some regular return customers including Adam, the Henrys, Greg and more surprisingly, the Parker sisters.
‘I wasn’t expecting to be a fan,’ Alice had told her this morning, after buying her favorite strawberry iced version. ‘But it has a great taste to it. I think it might actually be steadying my nerves.’
‘Sometimes new things are good, I suppose,’ Ava had sniffed, grabbing her own cinnamon favorite. ‘I admit I wasn’t convinced, but it makes a change from the usual coffee options. Lots of caffeine is so bad for women our age.’
Willow had laughed back. She wasn’t even sure how old the Parker twins were; as kids Willow and her friends used to think they were ancient, but now it was harder todetermine. Even though they had always looked old, they never seemed to actually age. Another good thing was that the Parkers had agreed to put some of Willow’s flyers in the reception of their motel. Willow knew from experience that they didn’t usually do helpful things like this, so they must really like the drink.
But Ava was right. New things were good. It was what Honey Springs needed; she was sure of it. Willow was only glad that Lucas hadn’t been there to hear that comment, but fortunately, he seemed to be staying away from her too. She had wondered briefly if he was just busy in The Diner, but Janice’s regular visits to the wagon told her a different story.
‘He’s out back a lot. Or up in his apartment,’ she confided in her. ‘He says he’s busy, but there really aren’t that many customers. I’m not sure what he’s doing.’
Staying away from me, Willow thought – but she didn’t say these words out loud. She was happy to avoid any kind of confrontation. Hopefully in time, Lucas would get used to her being there and they would just put up with each other. Surely, that was a reasonable ambition?
Willow could tell Janice was worried about him. She didn’t like leaving The Diner for long, so Willow didn’t push her for too much information. She simply had to hope that time would solve these issues.
Willow had also made contact with Sapphire, who wanted to come tomorrow and film. The small problem was, she had seen the ‘cute little photos’ of The Diner online and wanted to visit there too. Willow wasn’t sure if Lucas would be up for that or would even talk to her about it. Especially if he was avoiding her.
Also, there was the small matter of Esmae. Willow still didn’t know with any certainty whether it was Sapphire thathad caused Esmae’s downfall, but a lot of people seemed to think it was her. Willow felt a rush of guilt at the thought of involving herself with someone who might have hurt her friend.
But like Toby said – right now she needed someone like Sapphire. Not only that Honey Springs needed Sapphire.
They needed to show the online world another side of their sweet little town.
Willow woke up excited the next day. Sapphire was driving into town and was planning to be there by mid-morning, so Willow wanted to make sure she was fully ready for her. She had a long, cool shower, using up the last of her expensive body wash – hoping that the scent of luxury would somehow entice this influencer. As she ate her breakfast, Willow tried to fight back the bubbles of anxiety that were threatening to rise from her stomach. It wasn’t as if this was new to her! She had spent the past five years meeting and wooing social media stars. Not only that – she had been good at it. Most had been eager to engage with her.
Why was this so different?
Willow mused on her thoughts as she finished her breakfast. Maybe it was because this was personal, it meant so much more to her. And Honey Springs was her childhood town; it was part of her too. It didn’t matter how much Jake had tried to convince her that it should be forgotten; the place was important. And it needed her help.
Willow thought again about the horrible video that had been posted. So many people had liked and shared it, and the comments were damaging. No wonder tourists were staying away; they must believe that Honey Springs was a dull little place with rude inhabitants and awful shopsand places to stay. Lucas had come off so badly. Willow wondered if he had known the guy was filming him when he ordered him out of The Diner. It looked really bad out of context, but despite her run-ins with Lucas recently, Willow knew that this wasn’t how he acted really. Something must have driven him to act like that.
Also, she had checked the date stamp on the video. It had been uploaded in May last year. Mel had died in May the year before that. He must have been thinking of her, still grieving.
