Chapter Ten
You were right,” Willow admitted to Noah. “I don’t have a lease. I had a verbal agreement with my landlord. He dropped by yesterday after we’d left.” She waved her arm around the room. “Saw that it was a disaster and decided he wants me out by tonight, not two weeks from now. Instead of calling me, he called my family, and because I’m going behind their back, I’d turned off my phone so I didn’t have to outright lie about where I was if they called, and my mom couldn’t reach me. So they did what they always do. Clean up my mess.” She blew out a soggy breath and then realized what she’d done.
The last thing she needed was Noah thinking he couldn’t depend on her. How would he ever trust her ideas for Channel 5 if he thought she was a flake?
“Okay, that didn’t come out right. It’s not like I make a mess of my life every other week. I’m honestly very dependable. You can ask Don and my coworkers at Channel 5,” she said. “Today was the first full day I’ve taken off since I started working there. I never call in sick. Last winter, I did the weather, outside I might add, with a temperature of a hundred and two. I’d never let my coworkers down. Ever.”
“You don’t have to convince me, Willow. I believe you. But I don’t like to think of you going to work when you’re sick.”
“I didn’t have a choice.” She made a face. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this because it makes me look irresponsible, but I’m in debt and live paycheck to paycheck. I can’t afford to lose a shift at either Channel 5 or the restaurant. But no lie, it’s not my fault.” She tilted her head from side to side. “It’s partially my fault. I like to have fun and party, or at least I used to, so I didn’t have much of a rainy-day fund when things went sideways with the house flip.”
“Your business with Megan?”
Willow nodded. “There’s good money to be made in house flipping. I’d bought my first home the year before and wanted to have extra money set aside in case… Well, I wasn’t a fan of appearing on air in a bikini, and Don and I had a few arguments about it so I was worried—”
She knew she should’ve kept her mouth shut when Noah got that stone-cold expression on his face but she didn’t want him to think she’d thought about quitting her job and needed the extra money in case she did. She’d actually thought Don might fire her, and then she’d need the money. But she didn’t want to tell Noah that.
“Excuse me. Don made you wear a bikini to do the weather?”
“Yes. But it’s not what you think. He wasn’t exploiting me.”
“What do you call it if not exploitation?”
“I didn’t know it then, but he was trying to save the station by increasing revenue, and Beach Babe, a local swimwear shop, would only advertise if I wore their suits on air.” She pulled her phone from the back pocket of her jeans, went to her photos, and scrolled to one from the previous July. She showed him. “See, it wasn’t that bad.”
She pointed to the yellow rubber duck she wore around her waist. “My cameraman at the time didn’t shoot me below Super Duck. And just to clear up something Megan said, I’m not a heartbreaker. I used to date my previous cameraman, and we remained good friends after we broke up. I’m friends with all my ex-boyfriends.” At least the ones who weren’t jerks.
She glanced at Noah and sighed. His face was no longer stone-cold but the muscle jumping in his clenched jaw suggested he was still ticked. She nudged him with her elbow, and his eyes came to her. Oh boy. There wasn’t a hint of indigo in his irises, they were entirely black.
She needed to change the subject. “So… my house flipping business with Megan. You’ve probably guessed that it didn’t work out as we’d hoped. Definitely not how I hoped anyway. Megan put up the money, at least in the beginning she did, and I was the working partner. And let me tell you, all I did was work. But there were some issues with the house, which by the way we got for a steal, something Megan took credit for, but I later found out it was because she’d waived the inspection. Hence the problems we ran into.”
She pulled up some before photos of the house on her phone and showed Noah. “Along with the interior needing to be completely updated, the house needed new wiring, plumbing, and a roof.”
She showed him a photo of herself and her ex-boyfriend tossing the old, moldy tiles off the roof. “That’s my ex. I couldn’t have done it without him. I retiled the kitchen with help from another ex-boyfriend, same with the cabinetry and countertops. But even with my exes helping, and me working what sometimes felt like twenty-four-seven, we were delayed.”
Willow brought up interior and exterior photos of the house from when it had gone up for sale. No matter that the house flip had turned Willow’s life upside down, she was proud of what she’d accomplished with a lot of help from her friends.
“Megan had anticipated putting the house on the market within three months. It took us nine. Even though I was the working partner, Megan insisted I contribute, which I understood. We weren’t only delayed. We were way over budget. But the only way I could come up with the money was to sell my house and use the little equity I had in it.”
Scrolling through her photos, Willow found one of her house. It was a cute two-bedroom Cape Cod with pink window boxes and pink shutters. She’d loved her house, and she got a little emotional looking at the picture. She turned it to Noah.
“Megan sold my house for me and waived her commission, but she wanted to sell it fast, so she dropped the price within two days of putting it on the market. I didn’t get what I’d expected, and of course, I’d promised Megan the expected amount so I had to take out a loan.” Willow gestured to the room at large. “She found me a place to rent, though. It was a little over my budget, but the rental market was tight. Luckily, Mr. Lowell’s her uncle, and she was able to convince him to rent to me.”
Noah stared at her, opened his mouth, and then closed it.
“What were you going to say?”
He raised a finger. “I need a minute.” He bowed his head, gave it a slow shake, and then raised his gaze to her. “Have you heard the saying With friends like that, who needs enemies?”
“She’s not that bad.”
He made a disbelieving sound in his throat.
“Okay, you’re right. But she hasn’t always been like this. Her husband cheated on her, and they had a messy divorce.”
“What time did Mr. Lowell call your mother?”
She frowned. “What does that have to do with Megan?”
He tapped his finger on her phone. “Check if Megan called you earlier today and the time of the first call your mother made to you after hearing from Megan’s uncle.”
She went to the recent calls and scrolled through them. “Megan called at nine thirty this morning.”
“Which is thirty minutes after Robyn informed her that I was pausing the sale of the beach house.”
“Okay, but—”
“What was the time of your mother’s first call to you?”
“Ten.” She lifted her gaze from the screen to Noah. “Do you really think that because Megan believed I’m the reason you paused the sale that she’d tell her uncle to kick me out?”
He raised an eyebrow.
She bowed her head. “You do.”
“It doesn’t matter what I think, Willow. What do you think?”
“That I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot. What you are is a woman who sees the best in people, is loyal, perhaps to a fault, and trusts that the people she cares about are as good and kind as she is.”
“Ugh, you make me sound like a cross between someone who walks around wearing rose-colored glasses and a doormat. I’m not a pushover, you know.”
“You weren’t a pushover when you were fifteen, and within the past twenty-four hours, you’ve demonstrated you haven’t changed. Several times, as a matter of fact.” He once again tapped her phone. “So what are you going to do about your landlord?”
She wrinkled her nose. “I thought maybe you could call him and go all lawyerly on his culo?”
His lips twitched. “Culo?”
“Ass.”
He smiled. “I have a better idea. You call him and go all Willow Rosetti on his culo.”
With some coaching from Noah, that’s exactly what she did. And Noah had been right. Megan had called her uncle and told him to kick her out. Total mean girl move, and Willow planned to have it out with her, just not today.
She disconnected the call, wishing that she had a landline. Stabbing her finger on the End button wasn’t nearly as satisfying as slamming the phone in Mr. Lowell’s ear would’ve been.
Noah leaned against the boxes he’d begun piling in a corner of the living room when she’d started her call with her landlord. In the time she’d been on the phone, he’d cleared the floor of boxes. She felt as if she could finally breathe again.
His arms crossed over his broad chest, he grinned. “You didn’t just kick his culo. You stomped on it.”
“I so did,” she said, grinning back at him as she got up off the couch.
“No celebratory dance?”
“Only if you join me,” she teased, walking toward him.
He shook his head. “I don’t dance.”
“Oh, come on. You can’t not dance. Everyone dances. And I know you can because I spent an entire day teaching you that summer,” she said, bringing up the song they’d danced to on her phone. It was Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me.”
She turned up the volume and set the phone on the nearest box, holding out her hand as the lyrics filled the room. “Remember?”
He nodded, surprising her by taking her hand and drawing her into his arms. “Of course I remember. You changed loved to liked.”
She smiled at the memory. “I thought you were going to run off when the song started playing.”
“I nearly did. But I wasn’t about to waste an opportunity to get you in my arms, even if I was terrified I’d mess up and step on your toes.”
She leaned back. “You wanted to get me in your arms?”
“I was fifteen, you were beautiful, and I had a crush on you, Willow. Of course I wanted to get you in my arms.”
She stared at him. “You did not have a crush on me. I would’ve known if you did. We were friends, best friends, and I was far from beautiful. I had clown hair.”
His lips lifted at the corners. “You did, but I still thought you were the most beautiful girl in the world.” He angled his head. “You must’ve known how I felt. I kissed you, and it was definitely not a forgettable kiss.”
Despite being shocked that Noah had had feelings for her back then, Willow laughed. “It was a memorable kiss.” His braces had gotten caught on her bottom lip. “No one I kissed before or after you has left such a lasting impression.”
“I should hope not. I made you bleed. But in my defense, you weren’t just the first girl I had a crush on or I had danced with. You were the first girl I kissed.”
He lifted his hand from her waist and brought it to her mouth, gently rubbing his thumb back and forth over her bottom lip. “I’m glad I didn’t leave a scar.”
“Is that why you didn’t come back to Hidden Cove on your last day?”
“I was embarrassed. Mortified, actually. But no, my grandfather had a heart attack a few hours after I got back. We left the beach house right away and never came back. At least I didn’t. Life changed after my grandfather died, and not for the better.”
“I’m so sorry, Noah. I wish I had known. I wish we’d found a way to keep in touch. I missed you.”
“I missed you too,” he murmured as his head lowered, and her heart skipped an excited beat, maybe two or three or four.
Her lips parted on a sigh, and it felt as if she were floating on air. She went up on her toes, meeting him halfway. His lips touched hers, and she was about to close her eyes and allow herself to bask in the moment. They’d been back together for a little more than forty-eight hours, yet it felt as if she’d been waiting forever for him to kiss her.
He brushed his lips softly over hers and then raised his head. “We can’t do this, Willow. I wish we could, but we can’t.”
“Trust me, we can,” she said, looping her arms around his neck.
He smoothed his hands up her arms, took her hands in his, and stepped back. “We can’t. Technically, I’m your boss.”
“Yes, but I want you to kiss me.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s consensual.”
“I get the whole power imbalance thing, Noah. And if it was anyone other than you, I’d agree with you. But—” His ringing phone interrupted her.
She didn’t miss his murmured, “Saved by the ring.” Or the smile playing on his lips.
Lips that would be on hers if she had her way. “I hate your phone,” she said, at the same time noting that he was no longer smiling. His face was stone cold, and his jaw was clenched. “Who is it?”
“Billy,” he said as he brought the phone to his ear. Her worry must’ve shown on her face because he reassured her. “She’s staying with us this summer, Willow. No matter what he tries to pull.”
She nodded, unable to keep from smiling and smiling hugely. She was relieved Noah wouldn’t give in to Billy, but even better, he’d referred to them as an us.
As though he knew what she was thinking, he raised his eyebrows and shook his head before saying, “Billy” into the phone in his low, cold voice. Willow shivered, glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of that voice.
Then her phone rang, and she glanced at the screen. She wouldn’t be on the receiving end of Noah’s scary voice but she’d be on the receiving end of her sister’s. “Hey, Sage.”
“What have you done?”
“Why are you assuming I’ve done something?”
“Your voicemail. You used your chirpy voice.”
“I don’t have a chirpy voice.”
“You have three minutes to tell me what you’ve done, after which I will lecture you for seven minutes, and then I will hang up because I have a ton of work before court in the morning.”
“I’m invoking the Cousins Pact, so no lectures allowed. That’s the rule. You have to support me no matter what.”
Willow, her sister, and their cousin had made up the Cousins Pact when they were young. If any of them had upsetting news to share with their mothers, aunts, or grandmother, they had each other’s backs no matter what. This was the first time anyone other than their cousin had invoked the pact.
“I’m your sister, and I always have your back.”
“You do, but this is bigger than you and me, babe. We need Lila in on this too.”
“It’s after midnight in England so you’ve got me, babe. Now spill.”
Willow spilled, her shoulders inching up around her ears every time her sister yelled either “What were you thinking?” or a swear word, of which there were several. And unlike Willow, her sister rarely swore. After Willow finished, she waited for Sage to say something. All she heard was heavy breathing.
A warm hand settled around the back of Willow’s neck, and she looked up. “You okay?” Noah asked.
“Who’s that?” her sister snapped.
“I told you. Noah’s here helping me pack up my place, and he’s hiding Cami at his beach house.”
“Leave it to you to rope your boss into helping you hide your aunt.”
“She’s your aunt too. And he’s not my boss.” Noah gave her a neck a light squeeze. She rolled her eyes at him. “Okay, so he’s sort of my boss. But he’s also my Summer Noah. I told you about him, remember?”
“The guy you mooned over for months when you were fifteen?”
“I didn’t moon over him. And this conversation isn’t getting us anywhere.” What it was was embarrassing. “We need to come up with a plan. When can you get here?”
“Friday night at the earliest. But in the meantime, we can arrange a time to talk to Lila and figure out how to break the news that you brought home the woman whose name isn’t allowed to be uttered in our family’s presence.”
“It would help if we knew why they’re estranged. You should hear her, Sage. She adores Mom, Nonna, and Zia. At least she did when she was seventeen.” Willow chewed on her thumbnail and then admitted, “I feel sorry for her. I want to help her reunite with the family.”
“This never would’ve happened if it was Lila or me. You’re a soft touch. You can’t resist a stray or a sob story.”
“She’s not a dog. She’s family. And I’m not a soft touch. I’m—”
“A soft touch,” Noah said, his warm breath caressing her ear.
“I think I like your Summer Noah,” her sister said.
“Because he agrees with you.”
“That and he has a great voice. Let me talk to him.”
“I’m not letting you talk to him.”
“It’s fine. I’ll talk to your sister,” Noah offered.
“You are not talking to my sister.” She didn’t trust Sage not to embarrass her further. She had a habit of cross-examining Willow’s boyfriends as if they were the cheating, slimeball exes of the clients her sister represented. Not that Noah was her boyfriend. “She has to go.”
“Actually, I do. Tell Noah I’m looking forward to meeting him this weekend. I’ll coordinate a time for our chat with Lila, little sister. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t… Scratch that. He’s your boss so do not even go there.”
“He’s not my boss.” She sighed when Noah gave her another neck squeeze. “Good luck in court tomorrow. Love you.”
“Love you too, even though you’re ruining my weekend.”
“All you do on your weekends is work. How am I… Oh, is there something we should talk about, big sister?”
“Goodbye, Will,” her sister said, and disconnected.
Willow was definitely following up on that. Sage sounded nervous, and she was never nervous. About anything.
“So… my Summer Noah?”
“It’s nothing. It’s just how I differentiate between you and the other Noahs.”
“You have other Noahs?”
“No. Just you. But you’re m… Summer Noah, Mercedes Man Noah, Bennett CEO Noah, and Now Noah.”
He threw back his head and laughed.
“I’m adding another Noah. Annoying Noah. Although Mercedes Man Noah and Bennett CEO Noah are annoying too.”
“What about Now Noah?”
“Does Now Noah still think he’s my boss or is he going to finish what he started?” She sighed at the look in his eyes. “He’s annoying too.”