Chapter Ten
Willa and Cal rushed down the stairs of the Seaglass, only to find Delia waiting at the bottom, her phone in her hand.
“I just saw the video,” Delia said, one eyebrow arched in that mom way. “Didn’t know you two were actually together.”
“We’re not,” Willa blurted, but the words tangled as her chest tightened. Because maybe they were. Maybe she and Cal were together together.
But right now?
Right now, they had video-leaking vloggers to confront.
Without another word, Willa and Cal pushed through the side exit of the Seaglass, crossing the street toward the crowd that buzzed around Lark and Sawyer. Phones were out, people laughing and chattering, the pair of vloggers grinning as they signed autographs.
Lark’s smile lit up when she saw them. “There they are! The soulmates of Wild Rose Point.” She said it like it was a fact, as if she had known them forever.
The crowd giggled and muttered, some pointing, some snapping photos, everyone thoroughly invested in the legend now unfolding live in front of them.
Cal leaned in close to Sawyer and spoke quietly. “We need to talk. Now.”
Sawyer’s grin didn’t falter, but his eyes sharpened. “Gladly. Lark and I have actually been wanting to chat with you. We were hoping to do a vlog about you two.”
Willa crossed her arms and shot him a flat look. “Maybe you already started. Maybe you posted a certain video online.”
Sawyer’s easygoing expression slipped just a little. His gaze flicked to Lark. Lark’s smile faltered too, and for a heartbeat, neither of them said a word.
Yeah. Willa thought so. She felt Cal stiffen beside her.
They weren’t here for games. Not now.
Before Willa could get the conversation started, a cold burst of wind took a swipe at her. Neither she nor Cal had remembered to grab their coats. She crossed her arms, trying to fight off the shiver that rattled through her.
Cal noticed. And without hesitation, he slipped his arm around her shoulders, tucking her close to his side.
The move sent a fresh ripple of excitement through the crowd. Phones came up faster, a few people whispering not-so-quietly about that video. Some of them had definitely seen it.
Great.
Willa cut through the noise and locked eyes with Lark. “Come inside the Seaglass. Both of you. We need to talk.”
Lark and Sawyer exchanged a look, but they followed.
Inside the Seaglass, Delia was hanging a string of tiny, glittery turkeys across the bar, humming as she worked. She paused when she saw them, her gaze moving quickly between Willa, Cal, and the vloggers.
“I’ll make you all some hot cocoa,” Delia said, setting her decorations aside. She had obviously already claimed her role as supportive onlooker. “I even have some mini turkey marshmallows I can sprinkle on top.”
Willa opened her mouth to object to both the cocoa and turkey marshmallows, but the idea of having her mother not present for this conversation suddenly seemed like the best plan ever. “Thanks, Mom. That’d be great.”
Delia smiled knowingly and disappeared toward the kitchen.
Willa led them to one of the corner tables, far from the windows, and they all sat down.
Cal wasted no time getting this party started. “Why did you leak the video?” he demanded.
Sawyer leaned back slightly, his grin fading as the weight of the question settled over the table. Willa stared at both of them, waiting for their answer, her pulse drumming loud in her ears.
Lark blinked, her smile tight. “What video?”
Willa huffed, dragging her phone out of her pocket. “This one.”
She pulled up the grainy footage, the video that had thrown her life into complete chaos, and pushed it across the table.
Lark and Sawyer leaned in, watching it play, their expressions tightening as they took in every frame. They looked like they were genuinely seeing it for the first time.
Sawyer shook his head slowly. “We didn’t post this.”
Willa’s brows shot up. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” Sawyer said, his tone firm. “First of all, the quality is garbage. If we were going to post something like this, it would be clean, high-def, fully branded.”
“Definitely,” Lark chimed in, flipping the phone back toward Willa. “No product placement, no camera angles that highlight the story, no mention of our sponsors. This doesn’t do anything for us.”
Sawyer gestured toward the phone. “We build every vlog around a narrative, a feel-good, adventure-romance story that we carefully control. We don’t just post grainy, sketchy clips like this. It’s not our brand.”
Willa stared at them, the knot in her chest tightening. Either they were telling the truth, or they were very good liars. She glanced at Cal. His jaw was set, his eyes steady on Sawyer.
They weren’t getting the answers they expected, but that didn’t mean they were done. Not even close.
Willa steadied her breath, trying to keep her frustration from boiling over. “The video of Cal and me was filmed from the Driftwood Manor across the street.”
Lark and Sawyer leaned in, both listening but still wearing unreadable expressions.
Willa hesitated, not sure how to phrase it without sounding like a complete lunatic. “There was a couple in the manor… doing, well, some role play. A camera was set up to film them, but Cal and I must have gotten caught in the background.”
Blank looks. Lark blinked. Sawyer scratched his jaw.
Willa’s patience frayed. “Was it you? Were you the couple in the Driftwood Manor?”
They both stared at her for a beat, then burst out laughing. Loud, full-on, doubled-over laughing.
Sawyer clutched his chest like he was trying to breathe. “Oh no. No, no, no. First of all, we don’t film ourselves.”
Lark was still laughing, tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes.
Sawyer wiped his eyes and added, “That’s what Misty does. She films everything for us. We don’t handle the cameras ourselves.”
Willa’s stomach dipped. Brent had mentioned Misty. Said he was seeing her.
Cal’s brow lifted. “So maybe you didn’t film it for your brand, but you filmed it for your own private fun.”
Sawyer let out another sharp laugh, shaking his head. “Not a chance. What Lark and I do is performance. Every bit of it is for the vlog, for the clicks, for the story. We don’t waste moments like that for personal gratification.”
Lark grinned. “It’s all about the spectacle, not the… well, you know.”
Willa sat back in her chair, both irked and completely thrown. If it wasn’t Lark and Sawyer in the window, then who had been? And why did Misty’s name suddenly feel like a puzzle piece snapping into place?
Cal’s hand found hers under the table, his grip steady. Willa didn’t say a word, but her heart was already racing toward the next question. Who had leaked that video of them… and why?
Willa leaned in. “Is Misty usually off in the evenings?”
Lark nodded without hesitation. “Of course. We don’t have her working twenty-four seven. She’s got her own life.”
Willa’s pulse ticked up. “And you’re sure? Evenings off?”
Lark paused, her mouth twitching like something had just clicked. “Well, yeah. But Misty has been talking a lot lately about wanting to build her own brand. She wants her own vlog someday.”
Before Willa could press for more, both Lark’s and Sawyer’s phones chimed.
Lark’s phone gave a bright ding that sounded like an old bicycle bell. Sawyer’s phone buzzed with the sound of cartoon ducks quacking in a fast rhythm.
Lark glanced at the screen. “Speak of the devil. Misty needs us back at the cottage to film today’s vlog.”
Sawyer pocketed his phone and stood, his smile returning as if the entire conversation had been a pleasant detour. “We’ll have Misty reach out to you both about setting up an interview. We don’t want to leave Wild Rose Point without featuring the Mooncatcher soulmates.”
Willa opened her mouth to argue, but Lark just smiled and gently cut her off. “Don’t worry. I thought this soulmate thing was all baloney, a cute little marketing trick, but I can see the fire between you two. It’s the real deal.”
Willa’s throat went dry.
Lark winked. “And let’s be honest. That real deal makes for better views anyway.”
Then they were gone, slipping out the door in their effortless, camera-ready way, leaving Willa sitting there, her head spinning.
Cal squeezed her hand, his thumb brushing lightly over her knuckles. “You okay?”
Willa let out a long, slow breath. “I think I might know who filmed us.”
Delia came back in, balancing four mugs of cocoa and a plate of oddly shaped cookies.
“Sorry I missed your chat with the vloggers,” she said as she set everything on the table. “Thought you could all use some sugar.”
Willa’s eyes landed on the cookies. “Mom. What are these?”
“They’re supposed to be cornucopias,” Delia said proudly.
Willa leaned closer, squinting. “They look like… you know. They look like… dicks.”
Delia frowned, inspecting one. “Oh. Huh. Well, that explains why the dough kept sagging to one side.”
Cal snorted.
Delia shrugged and happily picked up a cocoa and one of the questionable cookies. She took a bite without a flicker of shame. “Good though.”
Willa wrapped her hands around the warm mug and took a sip, grateful for the cocoa, but there was no way she was risking one of those cookies right now.
Her gaze hardened. “I think Brent leaked the video.”
Delia’s entire body stiffened. “That little shithead,” she spat out. “It sounds exactly like something he’d do. No spine. No class.”
Willa set her cocoa down and stood. “I’m going to grab my coat. I’m having a word with him.”
Delia bit off another piece of cookie and pointed it like a weapon. “Don’t hold back.”