Chapter Five
LUNA
The next morning
“What do you think?” Casey spun to face me, her ponytail bouncing with the motion.
I took a swallow from the frothy coffee drink she had just made me. “Mmmm. It’s delicious. It’s the perfect blend of coffee with the sweetness of chocolate and fruit. Honestly, I was a little skeptical when you told me you were making this,” I told her.
“I hoped blackberry was subtle enough that it would give it a little zing.” She looked so satisfied with herself that I snorted a laugh.
I took another swallow, letting out a happy sigh as I slipped my hips onto a stool in the kitchen at Firehouse Café.
This was one of my favorite places to be and maybe my favorite part of the day.
It was early in the morning and the café wasn’t open yet.
This is when Casey and I, and anyone else who happened to be here, could chat while I baked donuts and she got things ready for the front.
Sometimes Janet James, the owner, joined us, but more often than not it was just Casey and me with Josie occasionally here.
“How’s Leo?” I asked when Casey sat down across from me at the wide table that ran through the center of the kitchen.
She sighed, her gaze a little dreamy. “He is so good, and so good to me.” She shook her head, looking legitimately puzzled by this.
I slapped a hand on the table. “You deserve all the goodness life is bringing your way,” I said firmly.
Casey’s smile was soft as she looked over at me. “You’re a good friend.” She lifted her chin and nodded.
“Well, you are too,” I pointed out.
The oven chimed, and I slipped off the stool to open it, quickly sliding out several trays of donuts. A moment later, they were cooling on the table while Casey was studying me. “You look like you’re thinking really hard,” I said, starting to feel a little squirrely inside.
“I am thinking.”
“What about?”
“Well, you. You’re always cheering everyone else on.
You’re so positive and optimistic, but you don’t talk a lot about yourself.
You talk about your baking and all that, and I know you have a cute little house.
You come to card night, but—” She paused and shrugged.
“I feel like there’s a giant hole in your life story. ”
My heart stung a little. Sometimes, when it came to being a friend, I felt a little lost. Although I was born here and went to elementary school in Willow Brook, everything changed when I turned eight.
My parents wanted to do the RV life and took me with them.
I’d done online schooling and barely stayed anywhere long enough to make friends.
I’d felt like a literal rolling stone. The one friend I thought I had turned out not to be much of a friend, but it took me a long time to figure that out.
Casey had been through her own challenges and had confided in me.
Now, I felt like I’d let her down. I didn’t even know how to explain what my experience was and why I struggled with it.
I took an unsteady breath and told the truth as best I knew how.
“My parents were RV influencers. They have an online channel and do the whole thing. I hated it, like hated it. They were part of the early wave when that kind of stuff was taking off online. They have millions of followers. They post stuff on there and travel. But when I was with them, the videos that got the most publicity, and therefore the ads, were ones that I was in. So, that was my life.” My throat ached with the emotion I’d kept corked tightly inside.
It was difficult to explain how the pervasive loss of all privacy for so much of my late childhood and adolescence felt so traumatic.
“Ohhhh.” Casey’s mouth twisted to the side. “That doesn’t sound great,” she said slowly.
“It definitely wasn’t great,” I said earnestly.
“My parents are still doing it, and they’re disappointed that I refuse to be part of it anymore.
Frankly, I’m surprised they haven’t tried to adopt a kid just so they can produce more content.
” That last word—content—was laced with all the bitterness in my heart.
Casey was quiet for a few beats. When I met her gaze, sadness flickered in her eyes. “That sounds really shitty.”
“It was—” I paused, pondering my words. “Lonely. I mean, all I knew was being with them in the camper and being on camera for everything. We were all over the Internet with cute little clips. There were tons of people commenting, but I—” I took a deep breath, letting it out in a soft sigh.
“I didn’t have any friends. We were always on the move, traveling all over Alaska.
We drove down to the lower 48 every winter.
I’ve never even had a boyfriend. My parents kept saying I had so many people who cared about me online, but they were just comments on posts, and that’s not a friend. ”
Casey blinked. “Oh, Luna.” She stood from the table and rounded it quickly, pulling me into a hug. Casey gave great hugs. She squeezed tightly before stepping back. “You have friends now. Everyone loves you here. And, you need to go on a date! It doesn’t have to be a guy. What’s your flavor?”
I burst out laughing. “My flavor? I’m pretty sure it’s guys, but I don’t need to date. I just want to live my life quietly and peacefully. Just having friends and being in one place is amazing.”
She smiled as she sat back down across from me. I took another swallow of my coffee. “This is so tasty. I still can’t believe the blackberry works with this.”
Casey waggled her brows. “Do you think the donuts are cool enough for us to have one?” she asked, eyeing them.
“Of course.” I reached over, spinning the tray around. “Should we sprinkle powdered sugar on them?”
Casey grinned. “Yes, please!”
Whenever I made batches of donuts, there were always a few bits of dough left over, so I made small ones for the staff here. Casey was partial to the cake donuts with powdered sugar. I slipped off my stool and snagged two plates and the small shaker of powdered sugar.
A moment later, Casey took a bite of one, letting out a happy hum. “So good!” she enthused after she finished chewing. “How did you learn to bake so well if you were growing up in an RV? I know there are fancy RVs, but still, it seems like the kitchen situation would be limited.”
I laughed softly. “I made do. It was one of the few things that my mom let me do off-camera. My grandma taught me how to bake when I was little. She’s the reason I’m back in Willow Brook.”
“Is she here?” Casey asked.
“Yup, I live right next door to her. I was born here. My grandma has some health issues, and I’m a little worried about her, so I wanted to be close to her.”
“Is she okay?” Casey looked worried.
Every time I considered this, a little spurt of anxiety went through me.
“Well, she’s in her seventies and—” I took a quick breath, taking a bite of my donut and chewing my anxiety away.
“She let me move in beside her in a little cabin she used to rent out on her property. Her mind is still ringing on all bells, but her knees hurt all the time, and I worry about her falling.”
“Oh, Luna, that’s not easy.” Casey’s warm gaze held me. “Anything you need, I will do it.”
“Can you turn back time and make her about twenty years younger?” I teased lightly.
“If I could, I would.”
A little while later, Casey was busy in the front, Janet was bustling around in the back, and I was boxing up donuts to sell.
I swear my body had an antenna for Parker.
I’d thought he was cute before, but there were tons of cute guys in the world.
He had a different effect on me, and I was still trying to convince myself he wasn’t who I thought he might be.
I’d been trying to ignore the sparks that exploded inside my body whenever I heard Parker’s voice. Just then, I heard the low rumble of his voice as Casey took his order and joked with him about something. And then, “Luna?” she called.
“Yeah?” I hurried toward the waist-high door from the kitchen and looked over it. As soon as my eyes landed on Parker, those sparks scattered through me again.
“Parker needs two boxes of donuts. Do you have that many left?” Casey asked.
I cleared my throat. “Um, yeah. Any requests?”
“Two variety boxes would be great.” Parker’s eyes met mine, and I willed the heat blasting through me to cool.
I swallowed. “Just give me a minute.”
“Breathe,” I whispered to myself. “Breathe.”
By the time I got back to the front with the donuts, Casey was busy taking orders from a family. She glanced over quickly. “He’s already paid.”
I rounded the counter to where Parker was waiting. “Here you go,” I squeaked.
His eyes met mine. “I just realized how I know you,” he said after a long pause.
I almost blurted out, “Took you long enough,” but I managed to keep that thought inside.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked.
I cleared my throat. “I don’t know. At first, I wasn’t sure, and then I guess I figured you forgot.” My cheeks were on freaking fire.
“Before yesterday, I thought I knew you, but I couldn’t place you.”
“Uh-huh.” I cleared my throat. “It’s been, you know, over a decade.” My breath kept catching as nervousness spun like a storm inside.
Parker’s espresso eyes searched mine. “You just disappeared,” he finally said.
Because that’s what I did. Not like I’d had a choice.
“Is your name Luna or Jane?” he asked.