Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
WILLOW
It’d only been a week since Finn had left Havenbrook without a goodbye. Though, could I really blame him? I’d told him to get out of my life for good. Hadn’t answered his calls or his texts when he’d tried getting ahold of me. And by the time I’d found out the truth from my daddy, he’d already been gone.
Only a week, and yet it felt like a lifetime. I’d thought the pain I’d felt when I was younger had been raw and intense, but the truth was it had nothing on what I felt now. Because now, it wasn’t just sadness over his absence. It was regret for not listening to him when he’d tried to tell me—and I had no doubt that was exactly what he’d tried to do. And mourning for a lost love so powerful it could’ve moved mountains.
Despite wanting to hide away in my house, I’d done the adult thing and had gone back to work. The whispers had stopped, surprisingly. I wasn’t sure what had their attention that was more intriguing than Finn and me, but I wasn’t complaining.
I’d been home for a couple hours already. Had made myself a gourmet dinner of frozen pasta in a cardboard box. I had all the fixings to make my favorite, but those damn sandwiches were so intertwined with Finn now that I couldn’t stomach them. It turned itself inside out at the thought. So instead, I was the frozen meal queen, at least when Mac wasn’t home to shove something down my throat.
My half-finished painting still sat displayed on the easel in the living room since I couldn’t bring myself to complete it, nor could I bring myself to put it away. So that meant I was in my room, on my bed, reading the same paragraph over and over again because I couldn’t concentrate on anything.
The front door opened and closed, murmured voices filtering up the steps followed by feet pounding the stairs. Avery and Mac stood in my doorway, both looking ready for a night on the town.
“Will.” Avery looked me up and down, disgust curling her lip. Possibly over the ratty clothes I was wearing. Or possibly over the spilled marinara sauce on said ratty clothes. “What’re you doing.”
I held up my paperback. “Reading.”
“Last I checked, you aren’t eighty years old, which means you shouldn’t be reading at eight o’clock on a Friday night.”
“I don’t know what age has to do with it,” I said. “What’s wrong with reading, even on a Friday night?”
“Absolutely nothing, except you’re on the same damn page you were on this morning.” Mac raised a brow. “Yes, I checked.”
“Well—”
“C’mon. Come out with us. The grand opening’s tonight. They’re doin’ two-for-one drinks till nine.”
My stomach clenched as overwhelming sadness swept over me. “I…can’t.”
Avery plucked my book from my hand, then yanked me up by the arms until I stood next to my bed. “You can and you will. This is the final piece in the Square revitalization, and you deserve to see it. You did this, Will. We want to celebrate it with you, and everyone in Havenbrook does too.”
I looked from my best friend to my sister, both of them imploring me with sincerity in their eyes. They were right, of course. This was what I’d been working on for the past five years. Was what I’d fought with my daddy over—because I believed in what was coming, and in what it could do for the hometown I loved so much.
“Someone find me something to wear, because I obviously can’t go in this.”
Avery and Mac exchanged a look, then Avery strode to my closet and began shuffling through, mumbling about this color matching that. Mac gave me a one-armed hug and pulled me close.
This would hurt. Seeing the business Finn worked so hard on without him there would crack my heart open, no doubt about it. But I wanted to. Wanted to see the outcome of my hard work and determination for the past five years. Wanted, too, to see what he’d been able to accomplish with the odds stacked against him. Especially since he wasn’t there to see it himself.
By the time the three of us got to the Square, it was packed. Nearly as full as it’d been during the Fourth of July parade. Hundreds of Havenbrook residents convened outside the space as they didn’t seem to be letting anyone inside.
I allowed myself to take it in, really look at it for the first time since the Fourth. The once-peeling paint of the window casings and rotted front door had been replaced. The cracked pavement in front of the building had been repoured. And since I’d last paid attention, a sign now hung above the front door, a white drop cloth draped over it hiding the name they’d finally settled on.
Mac waved to get someone’s attention, but I was focused on the building, where everyone else seemed to be looking. Waiting for…what, I didn’t know. And then Nola’s head popped up over the crowd as she stood on a raised platform directly beneath the covered sign. She brought her fingers to her mouth and let out a loud wolf whistle, quieting the crowd immediately.
“Hey, y’all! Thanks for comin’ out tonight to help us celebrate the grand opening of Havenbrook’s very first bar .” A bright smile swept across her face as hoots and whistles burst from the crowd. “Now, I know y’all’ve been promised somethin’, so I won’t take up more of your time. I just want to welcome everyone”—she grabbed the white cloth draped over the sign and yanked it down, revealing the logo beneath—“to The Willow Tree.”
Claps and hollers sprang up around me, but I couldn’t pay attention to any of them. My gaze was fixed on the sign Nola had revealed. Letters spelling out The Willow Tree were punched out of steel, and beside it was a logo with a beer bottle as the trunk of the tree, leaves sprouting from the top and spilling out on either side.
My heart thrummed in my chest, my eyes filling with tears, my throat clogging with emotions so deep I could hardly breathe. Finn. Finn had done this—one last thing to show me how much he loved me, even after he was gone.
And now, I was going to have to walk by it every day, was going to have to see it outside my window at work, and ache . Ache knowing I’d lost the love of a lifetime not once but twice. Knowing I’d never, ever get it?—
“Are those good tears or bad?” a voice whispered right in my ear. A voice I’d know anywhere.
I spun around and there stood Finn, in the middle of Havenbrook Square, like it was the most normal thing in the world. “Finn, what?—”
“Come over here with me for a sec?” He held out his hand and tilted his head toward the other side of the Square where no one lingered.
I looked down at his hand and bit my lip, then looked back to find my sister and Avery. They were already swallowed up by the crowd, but I could still make them out. Avery smiled at me, and Mac gave me a thumbs-up. So I did the only thing I could. I slipped my hand into his, exhaling as his fingers closed around mine, his grip steady and firm. Comforting. Easing an ache in my chest that’d been there since I’d told him goodbye.
When we were away from prying ears, he pulled me to a stop in front of him, our hands still connected between us. Then he just stared. Ran his eyes over every inch of me, cataloging each one of my features while I did the same to him. My hair was wild—like it got when I’d been running my fingers through it—his jaw covered with several days’ worth of scruff. Light bruises marred the skin beneath his eyes, as if he’d been sleeping about as well as I had. Which was to say, not at all.
I wanted to throw my arms around him, feel his wrap around me. Wanted to kiss him and tell him I loved him and I’d missed him. But I had so many questions, I didn’t know where to start. So I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You’re supposed to be in California.”
His lips quirked up at the side, and he reached out tentatively, his hand inching closer to my face. When I didn’t flinch or pull away, he swept his fingertips down my face from my temple to my chin. “Why would I be there when the woman I love is right here?”
“But you… Everyone said you’d gone?—”
“You listenin’ to all that blatherin’?” He shook his head. “Just went back to pack up, sweetness. And to get Momma, but we were comin’ back. We were always plannin’ to come back.” He slipped his fingers around my neck. “I couldn’t leave you again, Willowtree. No threat was great enough to get me to go this time.”
But last time, it had been. My daddy and I’d had a long talk, where I’d listened as he’d confessed every detail of what he’d done all those years ago. My momma had sat next to me, anger and disappointment cloaking every bit of her body. He’d told us of what he’d done back then, and what he’d tried to do now.
I hated Daddy for forcing Finn’s hand. For making him choose between jail time for a crime he didn’t commit, leaving his brother to fend for their sick momma, or leaving Havenbrook with enough cash to help his momma get better but leaving me behind. I couldn’t begin to fathom having to make that choice—between the love of your life and the person who gave you life. I wasn’t sure I could.
I squeezed his hand. “My daddy told me. All of it.” I took a deep breath, dropping my eyes before meeting his gaze once again. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen before, when you tried to tell me. I’m sorry?—”
He tutted, pressing his thumb to my lips to silence me. “Now, you’ve got nothin’ to be sorry about. This was all on me. I made a mistake—a whole damn lot of them, actually—and this lands squarely on my shoulders.”
“But Daddy?—”
“He had a hand in it, yeah. He was the one who put everything in motion, but I was the one who walked down the path.” Finn removed his thumb from my mouth and slid his hand around so he cupped my face. “I wanna get that right out in the open. I don’t want to keep any more secrets from you. If we’re gonna make this thing work—and, Jesus , I really want to make this thing work—I need you to know everything. Will you let me tell you?”
If that was what we needed to start fresh, I’d do it. The truth was, I’d already forgiven him. But it seemed like he needed to get this off his chest, so I simply nodded.
Blowing out a deep breath, he relaxed his shoulders. “I wish things had gone differently. I wish I hadn’t had to leave in the first place, but I can’t say I’d go back and change it if I had the chance. It allowed Momma to get the treatment she needed—something I’m not sure we’d have been able to do while stayin’ here. And I wouldn’t chance that again, even if it meant I had to rip out my own heart and leave you behind.”
He stepped closer, bringing our bodies flush. Brushed his thumbs along my jaw as he lowered his head to stare directly in my eyes. “But I want you to know, Willowtree, I’m never, ever leavin’ again. If you say yes—if you want to do this thing with me—I want you to know what you’re signing up for. This is it. Me by your side for the rest of my life. I love you. So damn much. Have always loved you. And this time, it really will take Jesus himself to pull me away.”
I’d believed him the last time, and he’d taken my trust in him and ripped it to shreds. But things were different now—I could see that in the way he looked at me. And he’d proven it, hadn’t he? He hadn’t succumbed to my daddy’s threats a second time. Had given back every bit of the money Daddy had paid him off with. Had come back, put everything he had on the line for another chance with me, despite the possible outcome. Because that was what you did when you were in love. Soul-crushing, mind-bending, all-consuming love.
I licked my lips, my gaze dropping to his. I wanted to feel those on mine with an ache I could hardly ignore. “I just have one question.”
“Anything. You can ask me anything, and I’ll be honest with you. I swear it.”
“How’d you get everyone to keep quiet about this? About the name of the bar and about you bein’ back in town?”
His entire body must’ve been coiled tight waiting for my question, because everything in him seemed to relax on an exhale as he smiled. “Bribed every one of those meddlers with a free first round.”
I breathed out a laugh and shook my head. “And Mac and Avery?”
“One round wasn’t enough for them, so I’m afraid I’m indebted to them both indefinitely.”
I tsked. “Tough luck there. I sure hope it was worth it.”
“Oh, sweetness. Don’t you know by now you’re worth absolutely everything to me?”
He leaned down, pressed his lips to mine. And I did know. Knew it was the same for him as it was for me. Knew it’d take a force of nature to tear us apart again. Because as soon as our lips touched, everything inside me shifted into place. Settled and calmed, while at the same time sparking anew and coming to life.
A life I couldn’t wait to share with Finn.