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Meanwhile, Willow picked up and cuddled the pup who had finished his meal and become interested in the laces on Willow’s sneakers.
“What else did she say to you?”
“I really don’t want to get in the middle of family drama.”
“I think it’s too late for that, Noah. Mom sent me here.” When he grimaced, she laughed. “Hey, anything is bound to be better than me thinking you’re playing Benjamin Braddock to Mrs. Robinson. I had to watch the movie again last night after the kids went to bed, you know. I couldn’t remember much about it other than the music.”
“Great music.” Noah carefully stroked color on the tiny shingle.
Willow gazed at him with interest. “You like Simon and Garfunkel?”
“I do.”
“Me, too. Although they’ve been a source of trauma for me.”
Noah finished painting the shingle and reached for another. “How so?”
“Oh, it was like fifteen or twenty years ago. My mother was in Las Vegas chaperoning one of my little sister’s cheerleading group competitions, and Mom went to see Simon and Garfunkel in concert at the MGM Grand. It was their Old Friends reunion tour. She splurged on a ticket way up front. I’ve heard the story so many times I feel like I was there myself. Anyway, my aunt Helen was so jealous. I mean,Wizard of OzEmerald City green. She’s six years older than Mom, and she was growing up when they were popular.It still gets her goat when that concert gets mentioned.” Willow paused, then added reflectively, “Maybe that’s why my mind went to Mrs. Robinson so quickly.”
Noah decided it was safe enough to tease. “Well, Genevieve is pretty hot.”
“I know. She should have a man in her life!” Willow declared.
“Has there been anyone since your father?”
Willow lifted her shoulders. “No one serious. No one she brought to family events. Well, except for… hmm.” Willow scooped up a second puppy and clucked and cooed over it.
Noah wasn’t going to ask. He wasn’t. “Hmm?”
“It’s only a friendship thing, but she invited Gage and Zach Throckmorton to our family Fourth of July celebration in Texas last summer. Gage is a recent widower. He’s not dating. But he and Mom have become friends.”
“She’s working with him on another project.” Noah dipped his brush in paint. “She mentioned it during her, um, our conversation.”
“Her meltdown.” Willow set the puppies down and rose gracefully to her feet. She bent over, gave all the non-actively-nursing pups a belly rub, then wandered over to his desk and grabbed the chair he’d pointed out to her upon her arrival. Instead of turning it toward him and taking a seat as he’d expected, she tugged it over to his workbench and sat beside him. “Can I help?”
“Can I trust you with a paintbrush?”
She scowled at him. “Yes.”
He handed her a clean brush, a stack of rectangular planks, and a drying tray. “These will be white.”
“Cool.”
He returned to his shingles. For a few minutes, theyworked in companionable silence. Willow interrupted the quiet by asking, “What did my mom say about our own John Dutton?”
“John Dutton?”
“The television showYellowstone? The rancher? Kevin Costner?”
“Ah. Yeah.” Noah shrugged. “I don’t watch much TV.”
“Never mind that. What did my mother say about Gage Throckmorton? I think they would make a great couple. He danced with Mom at the wedding. Did you see that? I had hoped that he would ask her to dance. It was part of my evil plan when I made the seating chart. So, what about Mom and Gage?”
Once again, Noah found himself in a pickle.Well, Genevieve, if you didn’t want me spilling your secrets, you shouldn’t have sent your daughter to me.“The conversation wasn’t so much about him as it was about you. I guess Gage suggested they hire you to plan the grand-opening party for their theater renovation. It took a little wind out of your mother’s sails. She recognizes that you’ll do a fantastic job, but she had some ownership over that project and…” Noah shrugged.
Willow winced. “Oh no. It’s just like with Jake. He swooped in and hired Tess to do the interior design for the lodge. That was Mom’s project, too.”
Noah finished painting the final shingle and dropped the brush into a jar of water. He planned to tackle the fencing next, so he reached for a clean brush and the pot of pink paint.
