Chapter 15 Willow
WILLOW
Oh. My. God. Why did I think he was attracted to me?
I pace around the stall. Call Josie again. No answer. Crap.
I’m so stupid. Of course a guy like him wants Taylor Grace. Sex with crazy girls is amazing, right? A guy with a body like that and a huge bank account—he doesn’t want to deal with a girl who lives at her grandmother’s house, has no savings, and has a certifiably insane ex-best friend.
Though the crazy part certainly doesn’t seem to dissuade him.
“Ugh, I can’t believe I tried to invite him over to basically live with me. That’s so thirsty. He must have thought I was such a weirdo. I misread signals—that’s what I always do. I misread signals. I miss red flags.”
“Willow, there you are.”
I flinch.
“I’m sorry, did I startle you?” Taylor Grace smiles.
“Oh, Willow,” she says with fake friendliness.
“I just wanted to check in, see how you were doing. I feel like all this”—she waves her arm—“business stuff has really come between our friendship. And I just want you to know”—she grabs my arm—“that I really value your friendship. Why don’t we go get dinner later?
Just us girls. Get drinks and apps. We can gossip about guys.
I have to tell you about Hughes,” she drawls.
“I cannot wait for my divorce to be finalized.”
Ah, there it is. She knows he rejected me, and she wants to gloat. It’s crappy because part of me still wants to go hang out with her. When Taylor Grace is on, she’s funny and smart. But it’s hiding a cesspit of crazy.
“I have to run this shop.”
“Right, right,” she says sympathetically. “I forgot, you do need the money, don’t you?”
I have whiplash. My head hurts from grinding my teeth.
“And you need the distraction. I see Josie’s gone back to her old ways.”
“What?”
“I think she just really doesn’t want to be your friend anymore. I mean, she and Lydia are spending so much time together. I was talking to Hollis about it earlier. She agrees with me. She’s worried Josie is being really callous with your feelings.” Taylor Grace nods sagely.
Hollis and Taylor Grace… They’ve been in cahoots this whole time. The realization is sudden, clear. They both teamed up to kill Jonah, probably out of jealousy. Taylor Grace is crazy, and maybe Hollis is too. I don’t know.
“I saw her and Lydia out with their children. She has such a cute little baby. Did you ever want to get married and have children?” Taylor Grace says in that syrupy, passive-aggressive way.
“I—I don’t know anymore.”
“Probably for the best. All Lydia talks about are those stupid children. They’re terrible too.
So dirty. But everyone is all, ‘Oh, poor Lydia with her three children, one on the way. What can we do to make Lydia’s life easier?
’ Why don’t my parents ever do anything for me? No one does anything for me.”
Like put myself in debt to make your dreams of a Christmas café a reality? Like that? I want to scream.
Taylor narrows her eyes. “You know what Lydia said to me at family dinner? It’s so crazy.
You’re going to die when you hear this.” She grabs my arm like we’re still friends or something.
“She told me that Hollis is her best friend. Lydia is my sister. That makes her my best friend. Me. Not Hollis. Hollis is just sucking up to my sister because that’s how everyone treats Lydia.
She can do no wrong. She’s perfect. She’s a mom.
Hollis is probably getting ready to wear her skin as a suit. ”
“Taylor Grace, I’m—” I straighten. “I really need to go. I have to work the shop, so unless you want to help—”
“Help you?” The fury is back. “Help you? This is my shop. You need to help me!” she screams. “I do literally everything around here. Everything!” Taylor Grace storms out.
My ears are still ringing when, a few minutes later, Hollis creeps in.
“Sorry, I was hiding out in the yarn stall. I just can’t face her right now.”
We stare in the direction in which Taylor Grace stormed off.
“I really think she’s gotten more unhinged in the past couple of months.” Hollis sounds a little shell-shocked.
“Yeah, I noticed that too,” I say dryly then remember who I’m talking to. Right. Hollis is potentially a murderer. Back on track. “What do you think triggered it?” I ask her carefully.
“Oh, Willow.” She grabs my hand. “I don’t think it was you.
Taylor Grace is just like that with people.
She’s all besties with them, then the discard happens.
It’s like that with everyone. I tried to be her friend—really, I did—but she’s just so…
Taylor. I want to be there for her, I do, but—” She sighs.
“And her birthday is coming up next month. She keeps saying she wants to go on a big girls’ trip, but, like, who’s going to plan it?
Lydia? Now she’s saying that she has something bigger and better planned and her fake friends aren’t invited. ”
“She’s probably planning a romantic getaway.” I think of Hughes.
Hollis grimaces. “She told you about the affair, then.”
“Oh, yeah,” I say, trying to lead her on. Is this the confession?
“I seriously—I did everything for her, you know.” Hollis is anguished.
Including killing for her?
“I really tried to be her friend. I lent her my car, let her live with me, spent hours on the phone with her each night. She did nothing but complain about everyone in my life, trying to alienate me from my friends and family. From you, from my mom, from Lydia. From—” She chewed on her lip.
“I just made horrible decisions when I was with her.”
“That’s understandable, Hollis.” I try to sound reassuring. “You couldn’t have known.”
“It’s like she sucks you into a trap.”
“Exactly. The same thing happened to me, then I found myself in horrible debt with this shop in the red. All this money spent for nothing. It almost makes me want to kill something. I get so angry and frustrated sometimes.”
“I know.” Hollis sobs. “She just ruins your life, and then, when you try to explain it to someone, they just think you’re crazy. And then you find yourself doing horrible things, and you think, ‘Oh my gosh, I am crazy.’”
“I completely understand.” I decide to make my move. “What happened exactly with Jonah?”
“Oh, you… you know.” She collapses, wailing. “Oh, Jonah. It was a mistake. I didn’t mean for it to happen.”
“Just tell me how he died.”
“How he—” Her eyes widen. She blinks up at me. “I don’t know how he died. I thought you were talking about the affair.”
“The affair?”
She sniffles. “Jonah and I were sleeping together.”
“But you said you did something horrible.”
“I did,” she wails. “The reason I’m working for you?
Taylor convinced me you were evil, that you were out to get her.
I believed her lies. She claimed she had an abusive childhood and that everyone always lied to her, and she was convinced that you were trying to steal her company. She wanted me to spy on you.”
I wish she would take this company. I would love to just be rid of it.
“I know,” Hollis says earnestly. “You’re such a hard worker, and you always make sure Rose and I get paid, and you give people free food.
I saw that I was wrong. I’m so sorry. She and I used to talk so much shit about you.
” Her chin wobbles. “And I feel so terrible. I hope you can forgive me. I want us to be friends.”
I rub her back as she sobs.
“I don’t suppose—” I start to ask when she calms down.
“You cannot tell Taylor Grace. Promise?” Hollis begs. “She will go bananas if she finds out that Jonah was having an affair with me. She’s so unhinged. Jonah wanted to leave her. He told me. He said, at first, he thought she was just a poor, abused girl, then he talked to her sister.”
“He talked to Lydia?”
Hollis nods. “Lydia told him that Taylor Grace had a charmed childhood and was never abused, that she’s always been insane. And that she’s dangerous.”
“Jonah told me that he tried to bring it up in a therapy session, and Taylor Grace went ballistic. He told her that they needed some distance, then—”
“Shit. I knew it. Taylor Grace killed Jonah.” I pace in front of the counter.
“That’s what I think,” Hollis whispers. “You should come hang out with me and Lydia. Lydia cannot stand Taylor Grace. She and I really bonded over her craziness.”
“Yeah, Taylor Grace was complaining about it to me.”
“I’m not surprised. She is very possessive about her sister.” Hollis’s eyes widen. “You need to tell your friend Josie to be careful. Taylor Grace will probably go after her next.”