Chapter 28
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
WILLOW
I sat in my office the following week, sorting through the mess of papers my daddy had piled on my head. Like I didn’t have enough to do, now that we were mere days away from the Fourth of July parade. But, like always, I took the extra load with a smile and shuffled everything else around so I could make it work. I always, always made it work.
A knock sounded at the outer office door, then the quiet rumbling of voices between Avery and whoever had come in, but I was too lost in my spreadsheet to pay much attention. I had a tight budget to work with for any and all events, and the parade was no exception. No matter how I crunched these numbers, I was still coming out in the red. Which meant I’d have to dip into my own money to foot the bill for some of the items. Again.
“Looks like someone has a secret admirer.” Avery strolled into my office, a gorgeous arrangement of Stargazer lilies hiding her face. She set the vase on the corner of my desk and raised her eyebrow. “You decide to go public?”
My heart skipped a beat before tumbling into a gallop, my stomach bottoming out over the prospect of Finn’s and my pseudo-relationship getting out. “What? No. No, we—” I shook my head and snatched the card from the arrangement.
It didn’t say anything—it was simply a rough sketch of a willow tree. And while there weren’t any words written on the white notecard to give away who the sender was, it might as well have been an ad in the newspaper for as loud as it screamed to me.
“Finn?” Avery asked, slipping around the side of my desk to peek at the card.
“Ohh…what a pretty arrangement!” Edna, our mail carrier, stepped into my office and handed Avery the stack of envelopes. “I didn’t know you were seein’ anyone, Miss Willow.”
“What? Oh, I’m not. It’s just?—”
“Oh my heavens, that’s even better! A secret admirer. How lovely!” She braced her hand on my desk and leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with interest. “Do you know who it might be?”
If Rory was a gossip princess, then Edna was the queen. The woman spread it around our town like bees spread pollen. There was no way in hell I was giving her even an ounce of information. Thankfully, my best friend was well aware of the gossip title Edna held. She was also a master at diversion.
“That sounds like that Hallmark movie you were telling me about last week.” Avery stepped around the desk and placed her hands on Edna’s shoulders, turning her around and directing her out of the office. “What was the title of that one again? Maybe I’ll watch it tonight.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief as she diverted Edna’s attention. The gossip queen and Avery chatted for several minutes about some romantic comedy while I just sat and stared at the drawing on the card, my fingertip running over the slight indentation from the pen.
I’d thought Finn and I had a good thing going. While it wasn’t ideal, it worked for us. And it worked for me . Which, to be honest, was my top priority after how our first relationship had ended. I didn’t think he’d minded the sneaking around, but if this was anything to go by, he did.
Or, worse, he just didn’t care that I cared.
I’d told him point-blank we needed to be discreet if we were going to start something, and he’d readily agreed. So much for that promise.
The more I thought about it, the more hurt I got. It was like he was playing with me all over again. By the time Avery stepped back into my office, I was good and frustrated.
“I can’t believe he did this.”
She snorted. “Yeah, what an ass. Sending you flowers. You want me to key his car?”
Normally, her sense of humor could defuse even the tensest situations, but I didn’t want to hear it now. “You know that’s not what this is about. He’s not supposed to be spreadin’ it all around town.”
“I hardly think sending you flowers is spreading it all around town.”
“No? How do you think he got those flowers?” I held up the card with the sketched willow tree. “He drew this, Avery, which means he had to walk into the shop and order them. Give them my name for the delivery. And now Edna of all people knows about it. I’ll be lucky if I don’t have a line out my office by the end of the day, people wantin’ to know my business.”
“I think you’re overreacting just a bit, Will.”
Before I could tell her exactly how much I wasn’t overreacting, my cell phone rang. Rory’s name and photo flashed on the screen. I wanted to believe it was about the bar reno, or maybe about our dinner we had scheduled for later in the week—something we’d never done before, but something I was actually kind of excited about. Since our talk on our parents’ back porch, things had shifted between the three of us—shifted for the better.
But even with all those possibilities, the probabilities weighed on me as I swiped to answer. “Hello?”
“You’ll never guess what I just heard.”
I swallowed, closing my eyes and saying a quick prayer it wasn’t what I feared. “What’s that?”
“Apparently you’ve got a secret admirer.”
I let out a gusty sigh. Dammit. I didn’t want to be right, just this once. “Who told you that?”
“Edna. Honestly, I don’t know how that woman gets any mail delivered. I swear she just speed-walks to the nearest warm body whenever she gets her hands on some juicy gossip. Mrs. Thompson stopped by while Edna was tellin’ the story, and now they’re talking about a pool as to who the possible suitor could be.”
“Oh my Lord.”
“Anyway, I just wanted to warn you about what they’re sayin’. In case you didn’t already know.”
“Thanks, Rory.”
“I thought y’all decided to keep this quiet?”
“I thought so too. Apparently Finn needs a reminder.” I hung up with my sister and lifted my brow in Avery’s direction. “Still think I’m overreacting?”
Without waiting for her to answer, I pressed Finn’s number on my phone and hit send.
He picked up after the second ring, a smile in his voice. “Hey, Willowtree. You get my delivery?”
I clamped my teeth together. He couldn’t even sound remorseful? I wasn’t sure which hurt worse—the fact that he’d ignored my wishes or that he didn’t seem to care that he did. I took a deep breath, attempting to keep the emotion from my voice. “Yes, I got it, and half the town already knows about it. There’s a bet going on about who my secret admirer is. You agreed we’d keep this quiet. You promised .”
Clanging came through the line, the far-off noise of a saw, before it quieted, like he’d walked to another room. “Wait…are you upset ?”
So much for tamping down that emotion.
“ Yes , Finn, I’m upset. How did you think I was gonna react to you goin’ back on a promise, not to mention half the damn town discussing my love life?”
“I didn’t—shit, Willow, it wasn’t my intent to break the promise. I wanted to send you somethin’ nice, and I just thought?—”
“I’m pretty sure you didn’t think. And that’s the issue. We had a deal. Keep this quiet, period. And you agreed to that.”
“Feels pretty damn quiet to me with you sneaking in and out of my apartment at all hours of the night.”
“Yeah? Well, it doesn't feel so quiet to me when half the town's placing bets on who I’m seeing. They’re going to find out.”
A noise of frustration came across the line. “And, apparently, that’d be the worst thing in the world. For the good people of Havenbrook to know Willow Haven is sullying herself with one of the Thomas boys. Again.”
“Don’t turn this back around on me, Finn. That’s not fair.”
“Seems pretty clear to me that’s exactly what it’s about. Doesn’t matter that I’ve made something of myself. Doesn’t matter that we’re takin’ a building no one else wanted and finishin’ the revitalization of your precious downtown. None of it means shit, isn’t that right? Not when I’ve got Thomas tacked on the end of my name.”
My ire died a little more with each word coming out of his mouth, reminding me of what he’d said in his apartment the other day. I’d mentioned it was just my daddy and sister who’d thought that, but was I really any better? My once-heated temper cooled until it was nothing but steam, and I felt each of Finn’s accusations like a spear through the heart.
While I was worrying about my daddy finding out about Finn and me, he was dealing with years of shit that’d been heaped on him because of his teenage rebellion. Or worse, simply the stigma of being born with his last name.
“Finn, I’m?—”
“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Wait—” But the line was already dead, so all I could do was stare at my phone, my stomach somehow churning more now at the thought of hurting him than it had when I’d thought the whole town would know my business.
“I take it that didn’t go over well?” Avery asked.
I stared at the phone and blew out a sigh. “I don’t know what to do. He wants something I’m not ready to give. Not after—” I swallowed, not quite ready to say the words aloud. Not after he left me all those years ago. Not when he’s going to leave me again.
“Look, I’m not going to pretend I understand what you went through back then. Your relationship with Finn is hella complicated, and your worries and concerns are completely valid.”
“Why do I feel a but coming on?”
“But…” She reached forward, tapping her nail on the drawing of the willow tree. “He’s into you. I feel like you’re carrying too much baggage from the past to see it for what it is. And, really, who cares if people know you’re together? You’re a grown-ass woman and can make your own decisions. Even if your dad doesn’t want you to realize that.”
I finally gave life to the one thing that’d been weighing me down since I dove headfirst into this thing with Finn. “He’s leaving, Avery.”
“Yeah.” The main phone rang, and she stood and strolled to the edge of the office, glancing back before she stepped out. “But wouldn’t you rather have something real while he’s here than spend the next ten years wondering what could’ve been?”
I stared down at the card again, replaying Finn’s words in my head. Hearing the tinge of hurt lacing them. We were at an impasse—both of us wanting something the other couldn’t give. And I could admit that now—that I wanted Finn as much as I’d wanted him when we’d been teenagers. What I felt for him had never truly faded over time. With him being back, with us spending time together, those feelings had only blossomed and grown.
And now here I was, almost exactly where I’d been back then: in love with a Thomas boy who had no intention of staying in Havenbrook.