1
(Four months later)
Willow
Willow sat on a bench in Hope Park, drinking a latte whilst staring at a group of people over by the small dome where local theatre performances were shown. ‘You know, they only used to put on shows during the summer,’ she said to Cody, sat by her side. ‘Now it gets used for the Sandly Choir, pantomimes, and whoever wants to showcase their own play. If a talent show ever happens, you can whip out your guitar.’
Cody wrinkled his nose. ‘No thanks.’
‘Looks like a new theatre company is in town.’ She nodded towards the two men struggling to tie a poster to one side of the stage.
‘I wonder how much they get paid.’
Willow turned to her friend. ‘Gran’s going to pay you to do the farm accounts. That’ll help.’
Cody hit her with one of his warm smiles. He had five smiles in total, she’d notice over the years. Warm, loving, sarcastic, fake, and I hate your guts but I was raised to be polite and not kill people.
Willow smiled back.
‘Stop worrying about me, Wills. I’m good for money. Zach’s already sent some to your gran for bed and board.’
‘What? No. He didn’t have to do that. Gran said you didn’t have to pay for anything. You’ll only be with us five minutes.’
‘Hardly. Zach’s not back till November.’
‘It’s September now, so yeah, five minutes, Sully. You’re our guest. Gran won’t take the money, hope you know. Knowing her, she’ll put it into a savings account for you or something.’
Cody laughed, then sipped his coffee.
Willow shuffled back on the wooden bench. ‘I can’t believe I’ll be stepping into my grandfather’s shoes tomorrow.’
‘You nervous?’
‘A bit. I’m just hoping I don’t mess it up.’
Cody nudged her elbow. ‘You have a degree in botany now. Besides, Benton taught you everything about Silver Wish Farm as soon as you understood words. You’ll smash it, Wills.’
‘I admire your confidence in me.’
‘I know you’ll be fine, that’s all.’
‘I just wish Grandad was still alive. We were going to run things together.’
Cody placed his arm around her shoulders.
‘I’m okay,’ she told him, with a small huff. ‘It just hits me sometimes. Oh, I wish we were still travelling, don’t you?’
‘My stomach prefers the food here.’
‘On the Isle of Wight?’
‘Just English grub. I swear my digestive system won’t ever be the same again after that bout of food poisoning.’
‘And whose fault was that?’
‘Erm, whoever undercooked our meal.’
‘Yeah, but you insisted we eat it, even though it looked off.’
‘We’re English, Wills. It’s what we do.’
‘I’d rather be rude and leave the food.’
‘Yes, well, lesson learned.’
They sat in companionable silence for a while, watching the men from the theatre company faff about with a measuring tape, the ducks waddling around, a few dog walkers mooching nearby, and a yoga club setting up further afield.
‘I can’t believe we have no more uni,’ said Willow, sighing loudly into her disposable cup.
‘I won’t miss it.’
‘You were happy, Sully.’
He shrugged, then removed his arm from her body. ‘Not with my course.’
‘Why didn’t you change?’
‘Zach wanted me to study business. He thinks it will benefit me in the long run.’
‘You could have told him your interest is in gaming.’
Cody breathed out a laugh through his nose. ‘Please. This is my big brother we’re talking about. He wouldn’t take that seriously.’
Willow faced him. ‘What job are you going to look for?’
‘I don’t know. Zach’s occupied with his own job in London right now, but when he comes back to reopen the Boat Hut, he’ll expect me to up my game. Speaking of games, I’ve got a great idea for a board game, so I’m—’
Willow gasped, slapping Cody’s thigh. ‘Oh my…’ Her eyes couldn’t stretch any wider, and her gaping mouth was closed by Cody’s hand. ‘Look,’ she mumbled through his fingers.
‘What am I looking at?’
‘It’s him.’
‘Who?’
Willow stood, placing her latte on the arm of the bench. She took one step forward, straining her eyes towards the dome.
It can’t be .
A tall, dark-haired man around her age was talking to a member of the theatre production. She couldn’t tell if he had eyes that drew you in, like Mystic Maureen had predicted, but he definitely had the athletic build and looked very similar to the pencil-drawn psychic portrait.
‘The man in the picture,’ she muttered.
Cody groaned, then chuckled. ‘Okay, let’s go check out lover boy.’
Willow whipped her head around so fast, she creaked her neck. Rubbing the top of her shoulder, she disagreed with his idea.
Cody stood, placed their cups into a nearby bin and took her arm in his. ‘If this dude is your soulmate, then don’t you think it’s a good idea to go say hi?’
‘No,’ she mumbled, whilst being led away from the safety of the bench. She abruptly stopped as they closed in on the handsome stranger, as her breathing had decided to forget how to work. Before Cody could tug her further, or her legs could take control and run away, the man glanced their way. And just like that, she could clearly see he looked so much like his picture.
Cody raised a hand in a short wave, and Willow wanted to throttle him right there in the middle of the park.
Every part of her froze as the man moved their way. ‘He’s coming over. Oh. God. Act natural,’ she whispered through clenched teeth.
‘You could be a ventriloquist.’
‘Yeah? That makes you the dummy.’
Cody blew out a quiet laugh.
‘Shh!’ Willow tightened the hold Cody had on her arm as the stranger approached.
‘Hello,’ he said politely. ‘Are you here to audition?’
‘Yes,’ she blurted as Cody said, ‘No.’
Soulmate’s eyes flittered between them. His gorgeous, dreamy, sage-green eyes.
Willow’s knees were buckling under the pressure of coming face to face with her other half. It was all a tad surreal and quite the nerve-wracking experience. She wouldn’t mind, but she had rehearsed what she would say if ever she had the magical chance to meet her one true love in this lifetime.
‘We really need more actors for this show. Lance is freaking out because we had a couple drop out.’ Soulmate gestured to a man fighting with a deckchair, clipboard, and takeaway coffee cup. ‘He’s the writer, director, and producer. Come and meet him.’
Willow’s red pumps gripped the grass, but Cody tugged her forward against her butterflies’ wishes.
Lance flopped into the blue-and-white stripy deckchair and straightened his oversized dark glasses slipping down his button nose.
Willow simply stared at the man, wondering where on earth her words had gone.
‘Lance, newbies,’ announced gorgeous green eyes.
Cody shook his head. ‘Well, not really. You see—’
‘Can you sing?’ asked Lance.
‘Yes,’ said Willow, before Cody could reply. ‘He’s very good.’ She felt him lightly squeeze her arm, which he still held.
Lance flapped one hand to the dome. ‘Go up on the stage. Go on.’
Cody looked reluctant. ‘What?’
Soulmate turned to Willow. ‘Oh, come on. Join our play. We really need you.’ He flashed a money smile, and Willow felt her heart leave the planet to dance amongst the stars.
She nudged Cody, noticing his tight lips and knitted eyebrows. Lance was waiting, so she asked him to give them two secs, then pulled Cody to one side. ‘We can do this, Sully.’
‘Are you kidding me?’
‘It’s my soulmate. I have to be around him.’
‘Don’t you think that if he actually is who you think he is, then he would notice too and be drawn to you like a magnet or something?’
‘Give him a chance. We’ve only just met. In this life.’
‘Oh, please.’
‘Sully, don’t laugh at me. You know I’m serious about this. What if this is my one chance?’
‘But… This is… I can’t just…’ Cody let go of her arm and clenched his fists. ‘The things I bloody do for you,’ he mumbled. ‘Fine.’
‘Really?’ Willow squealed, then lowered her voice. ‘I love you, Sully.’
‘Hmm.’
She trotted after him as he made his way to the stage. ‘What’s the show about?’ she asked Lance, glancing at the poster advertising The Dawning of Midnight .
‘Think sci-fi meets romance meets the ocean.’
That wasn’t something easily coming together in her mind, so she decided to focus on Cody instead, as it was a lot more settling than swapping glances with her potential husband.
Cody called out from centre stage. ‘What do you want me to sing?’
Lance’s sedated voice seemed to drift into the light breeze. ‘Whatever takes your fancy, dear boy.’ He stroked his thin, shoulder-length, dark hair and smiled a grin the Cheshire Cat would have been proud of.
Willow met Cody’s glare.
Oh, he hates me right now .
His lips twisted to one side, and Willow could see his cogs turning. She was sure he would abandon the audition and head back to Silver Wish Farm, but then he flashed his fake smile and belted out ‘Material Girl’, adding some funky dance moves into the act.
‘Ooh, I love him,’ said Lance, leaning forward.
Willow pursed her lips at Cody trying to mess up as spectacularly as possible. He was even singing some parts off-key. But he was the least of her problems, as it was her turn next, and she couldn’t sing at all. ‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked Lance.
He wiggled a finger at the dome. ‘Go stand next to him.’
She left the forty-year-old fiddling with his clipboard and headed for the stage, where Cody was still all flailing arms and batting eyelids. He’d been a major fan of the 980s for a few years now, so his song choice didn’t come as a surprise, but what he was doing with it did.
‘You all right there?’ she asked through gritted teeth, stepping to his side.
Cody stopped singing, sniffed, then threw out his sarcastic smile to Lance.
Lance struggled to free himself from the deckchair. ‘Fabulous. You’re both in. See Lavender for scripts.’
Willow and Cody looked at each other before a woman their age waved them towards the steps leading off the stage.
‘Hi. I’m Lavender Lockwood. Welcome aboard.’ She placed a small booklet into Cody’s hand whilst fluttering her eyelashes his way and lightly stroking his thumb.
Willow slid another script from the woman’s hand, as she didn’t think she’d get one otherwise, seeing how Lavender only had eyes for Cody.
‘Do you live local?’ asked Lavender, twirling her mousey hair around her index finger.
‘Pepper Bay,’ replied Cody, flicking through the booklet.
‘Sounds lovely.’ Lavender smiled, then headed over to Lance, who was waving at her.
‘Sounds lovely,’ Willow mimicked sarcastically.
Cody glanced up. ‘Don’t be mean. She was just being nice.’
‘Coming on to you, more like.’
‘Shouldn’t you be more worried about your own love life?’ He gestured over at The One .
A valid point. Willow swallowed her nerves and marched over to the psychic drawing. ‘Hi. I’m Willow Silver, and he’s Cody Sullivan.’ She thumbed over her shoulder, pretty sure Cody was still there.
‘Kip Kirkland.’ He placed a hand on her shoulder for all but a second. ‘I’ll see you on Wednesday for rehearsals. Seven p.m. at the Scouts hut.’ Before she could say another word, he dashed off.
A huff flew into the back of her neck. ‘Seriously? Lavender Lockwood and Kip Kirkland. Who created those names?’ Cody chuckled as she turned.
‘Oh, crumbs, Sully. We’re in a show.’
‘Yes, well done.’
Willow glanced at her script. ‘Says here, I’m Lucky.’
‘Not the word I’d use.’
‘No. It’s my character’s name. Who are you?’
‘Apart from stupid. I’m…’ He checked the front page of his booklet. ‘Rags.’
Willow slapped a hand to her mouth to help control the giggle escaping, not that it did any good.
‘You owe me big time,’ said Cody.
‘You’re doing a good thing. All in the name of love and that.’
‘I’d rather you bought me a box of chocolates.’
‘Come on, let’s head over to Edith’s Tearoom, and I’ll shout you a chocolate muffin.’
‘I can live with that.’
‘Cheers, Rags.’ Willow squealed as he tickled her ribs and ruffled the tip of her curled ponytail.