5. Willow
Willow
Jade and I spent the morning at Blue Haven Library, and she loved every second of it.
Not only did she sit still for the entire story time, which honestly surprised me with how much energy this girl has, but she also picked out several storybooks for me to read to her.
I read two at the library, and then we checked out a few others to bring them home.
It brought back so many fond memories of being at the library.
When I was younger, Sawyer would take me every other weekend so I could get a few books to read.
It was often the highlight of my week, especially after our parents died.
Getting to escape into a book gave me a semblance of happiness back then.
I still love to read, but my time is limited between classes and homework right now.
Just one more year and then I can put school behind me.
“How’s the milkshake?” I ask Jade as I strap her into her booster seat. After the library, we stopped at Blue’s Diner for lunch. Of course, we had to order milkshakes to go. Wouldn’t be a trip to Blue’s Diner without a milkshake.
“It’s so yummy!” Jade ordered the birthday cake milkshake while I went with cookies and cream.
“Good.” I was a little embarrassed to have Beck in my car this morning, putting in her seat.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for my car.
It gets me from point A to point B, but sometimes I wish I could have something a little nicer.
Macy drives a Mercedes, which is why we always take her car any time we go somewhere together.
I know her situation is different. She has parents who make a ton of money.
I understand it, but it doesn’t mean I’m not a little jealous.
I swallowed all that down this morning while Beck was leaning into my back seat.
He knows what kind of car I drive, and he knows how old it is.
Hell, I’m pretty sure he went with Sawyer to buy it.
But it was a stark wake-up call for me that he is an actual adult with a nice house, a fancy truck, and a real job.
It made me feel young again, and that is not how I want to be feeling around him.
“So, is there anything in particular you want to do this afternoon, or do you want me to pick?” I ask Jade once we’re on the road back to Beck’s house.
“Can we go see Daddy?” she asks.
“Of course we can.” Beck told me we could stop by the stables any time. “You missing your daddy?”
“Yeah.” Her little voice makes my heart melt. “And I want to show him my new books.”
“Alrighty then. To the stables we go!”
Instead of veering off toward Beck’s house, I head for the main lodge at Moonlight Ranch. The place is packed, which is a good sign for Blue Haven. A lot of the places in town rely on tourism from the ranch to keep their businesses going.
The main lodge is huge, and while I didn’t spend a whole lot of time in here when I was little, I do remember coming here with my parents every now and then.
Particularly around Christmas time, we would all come check out the Christmas decorations and then eat dinner in the lodge restaurant.
Everything looks the same and yet somehow not dated at all.
My plan was to head straight to the door that leads to the pool and the stables, but Jade escapes my grasp and beelines it to the front desk, where she must recognize someone.
“Ms. Aspen!” she yells.
The woman at the front desk turns around, and a smile breaks out on her face. “Hi Jade!”
She comes around the counter to give Jade a hug. “What are you doing here today?”
“Willow is taking me to see Daddy. We just wanna check on him.”
I groan internally. She makes it sound like I’m the one who wanted to check on him. While I will take any excuse to check out Beck Sullivan, I’m certainly not going to announce that to a total stranger.
The woman looks up at me and extends her hand. “Hi, I’m Aspen.”
I shake her hand, noticing that she can’t be too much older than me. “Willow.”
“You must be the nanny for the summer?” she asks.
“That’s me.”
“It’s great to meet you! We’re all so glad you were able to help Beck out. He was super stressed there for a bit.”
“Happy to help. And I love getting to play with Jade,” I say, rubbing the little girl’s head.
“She is the best, isn’t she?” Aspen adds, booping Jade’s nose. “Do you want a lollipop before you go see your dad?”
“Yes, please!”
“Come on, you two.”
We follow Aspen down the hall to the staff offices: one part of the lodge I’ve never been to. She takes us to an office where she pulls out an entire bucket full of Dum-Dums. While Jade digs through the bucket to find the best flavor, Brooks Calloway walks in.
“Darlin’, have you seen the guest report for August?
” he asks before he realizes Aspen isn’t alone.
Unless he calls all of his staff darling, I can only assume the two of them are together.
Brooks is an attractive older man, so I can see why Aspen fell for him.
I was a few years behind his son in school, and let’s just say Zach Calloway was nothing like his father.
“Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you had guests.
” He looks from Jade to me before realization sets in. “You must be Sawyer’s sister.”
“That’s me. Willow.”
“It’s been years since I’ve seen you. How’ve you been?”
“Good. Going into my senior year of college, but thought I’d spend the summer here with Jade before I have to really buckle down.”
“That’s great. Good for you.” The way he smiles and gently puts his hand on my shoulder makes me miss my own father.
Sawyer took care of me the best he could, but he was always my older brother.
Never a dad. You can tell that Brooks is a father.
I should ask him how Zach is doing, but for some reason, I can’t get the words out.
“These two were on their way to the stables to see Beck. Just grabbing a lollipop for the road,” Aspen explains. She extends the bucket to me, and I take one off the top. I’m not one to turn down candy. Even if I did just have a huge milkshake.
Jade and I pop our lollipops into our mouths before we say goodbye and head out to the stables. It’s a short walk out to the two large barns on the property. When we enter, a younger guy I’ve never seen before is locking one of the stalls. He turns to greet us with a smile. “Can I help y’all?”
“We’re here to see Daddy,” Jade says.
The guy looks at me, and I chuckle. “Daddy is Beck.”
Realization crosses his face. Even if he has met Jade before, I imagine he sees a bunch of little kids working at the ranch. It’s probably hard to place them all. “Right. Beck is just finishing up with a group. If you wanna wait, I’ll tell him you’re here.”
“That’d be great. Thanks.” Once he’s gone, I ask Jade, “So, which horse is your favorite?”
“Sparkly Tutu,” she says, like it’s obvious.
“Sparkly Tutu?” I fail at holding in my laugh.
She nods. “Mr. Brooks let me name her. Daddy calls her Sparkles, though.”
“Ah.” I nod in understanding. “Which one is Sparkles then?”
She walks to a stall in the corner with a beautiful brown horse in it. The horse pokes her head over the stall door and leans down toward Jade. Jade reaches her hand up and rubs her nose. I hope Sparkles doesn’t mind sticky hands.
I’m so busy watching her that I don’t realize Beck is standing beside me until he says, “She’s cute, isn’t she?”
I jump. “Oh, you scared me.”
He chuckles. “Sorry.” His eyes drop to my mouth as I pull my lollipop out. I’m not sure why, but I run my tongue along my bottom lip. Maybe just to see if he’ll watch. He definitely does.
“Sorry to bother you at work,” I say, pulling us both out of whatever blip that was. Beck quickly looks away. “Jade wanted to come see you.”
Beck takes a step away from me. “Not bothering me at all. I love visits from my favorite girl.”
Jade moves away from the horse and gives her dad a big hug.
It’s so cute watching the two of them together.
When Beck told us he was going to be a dad, I couldn’t believe it.
He still acted like a kid most of the time.
But now, seeing him as a dad, it suits him.
In fact, it actually makes him more attractive.
I’m surprised he’s still single. At least I assume he is.
Neither he nor Sawyer has mentioned anything about a girlfriend.
Jade excitedly tells Beck about the book we got for him to read to her tonight at bedtime.
It had horses on the cover, so she thought he would love that.
Beck listens attentively and smiles the entire time, even though I know he must be tired.
His T-shirt is smudged with dirt, and the ends of his hair are a little damp, so it’s safe to assume he’s been sweating today.
With the summer season ramping up, the heat does too.
When Jade finishes telling him all about our morning, he turns to me. “I’m actually glad you stopped by. I might be a little later tonight. Had a last-minute booking. Are you able to stay a little longer today? Maybe ’til around six?”
“Yeah, that’s not a problem.” It’s not like I have anything else to do. Might as well get paid a little extra. Plus, I really do like hanging out with Jade. She’s a fun kid.
“Thanks, Willow. I appreciate it. If she gets hungry, she can tell you what she’d like for dinner. The fridge and pantry are pretty stocked.”
I nod. “Got it, boss.”
Then he turns back to Jade. “Don’t worry, I’ll be home with plenty of time to read you that story.”
“Ok, Daddy. I love you.”
“Love you too, princess.”
“Come on, Jade,” I say, reaching my hand out to her. “Let’s go see what trouble we can get into before Daddy gets home.”
She happily takes my hand and skips next to me as we leave the stables. Before we’re out of the barn doors, I glance over my shoulder to wave goodbye to Beck and find his eyes glued to my ass.
He glances up and sees that he’s been caught.
He can’t even pretend that he wasn’t doing it because it was glaringly obvious.
Instead of calling him out on it, I wink at him.
Yes, I, Willow Banks, wink at Beck Sullivan, a man twelve years older than me and also my brother’s best friend.
Why did I do it? Because I liked that he was checking me out.
I’m just not sure what to make of that yet.