AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Willow sighed, but recognizing the terrier aspect of her aunt’s character, she knew she might as well spill all her beans. Well, some of her beans. She wasn’t ready to talk about Noah with her aunt. She gave her a recap of what she knew, including the Maserati, which had Aunt Helen’seyes bugging wide. Willow said, “I think Mom needs a new interest, and she’s thinking art might be it.”
Aunt Helen had a hint of sulk in her voice when she said, “Good for her. I’m glad, except I don’t know why she had to do that right now. I need her to be my campaign manager.”
“Oh wow.” The idea of it made Willow grin. “The Bennett girls are large and in charge, hmm? Lake in the Clouds will never be the same.”
“That’s the idea. Ol’ Nelson should have told his nephew to give me my stop sign the first time I asked, and we could have avoided all of this. Now I’m going to take his job, break up his little kingdom, and send all his little princes and princesses home. But I need help to do it.” She paused and eyed Willow speculatively. “Wait a minute. What was I thinking? You’re a professional planner. You can be my campaign manager! You’re staying in Lake in the Clouds, aren’t you? You’re not moving back to Nashville?”
“Mo-om!” Drew shot from the cabin door like a bullet. “I finished my worksheet. We’re done for the day, right?”
Saved by the hot rod, Willow thought. “Wrong. But you can have a five-minute recess.”
“You’re such a meanie,” Aunt Helen said, her eyes twinkling.
“True. But we still have a geography lesson to do.”
“Then I won’t keep you. Just tell me you’re not going to move back to Tennessee and break your mother’s heart. You’ll make a fabulous campaign manager.”
“I love you, Auntie, but I can’t be your campaign manager. My plate is full, and your instincts were right, to begin with. Mom is the right woman for that job. Now, I think you’d be smart to send her a text today asking her to take theposition so that when she finally turns her phone on, she’ll see it before she plans another self-discovery journey.”
“Another one?” Helen’s eyes went round and wide. “She’s doing something else?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
Aunt Helen’s expression grew troubled. “I thought the campaign would be something your mom and I could work on together. It seems like I’ve hardly seen her since we returned from our Germany trip in December. I miss her.”
“Aw, Auntie.” Willow reached over and gave her aunt a hug. “Tell her that. I know she missed you, too, while you were on your South Pacific trip. She had a serious case of FOMO.”
“Hmm.” Helen shrugged, not yet appeased.
Willow encouraged her with a smile. “Just when is this election?”
“The end of August. The twenty-sixth.”
“Well, I’m not going to manage your campaign, but you can count on me to be a volunteer.”
That obviously caught her aunt’s interest. “So youarestaying in Colorado?”
“I need to talk to Mom about it before I decide. I want to be certain that this would be right for Mom, too. After all, she moved to Colorado to start a new life.” Willow’s heart gave a little twist as she gave voice to the doubt that had been niggling at her mind. “I don’t know if it’s right for her old life to follow her.”
Helen opened her mouth, then shut it. Then she opened it again and closed it again without saying a word. This was very unlike Aunt Helen.
Willow’s stomach sank. “Okay, say it. What has Mom told you?”
Helen shook her head. “No. It’s not that. Not her. Yourmom hasn’t said anything. It was me.” She drew a deep breath, then exhaled loudly. “What can I say? I acted like a green-eyed teenager. I got jealous of all the time your mother was spending with Drew and Emma. She went all ‘supernana’ on me, and I felt left out.”
“Oh, Auntie.” Willow caught her breath at her own blindness. She’d never thought about the situation from Helen’s point of view. How many times had Willow’s mother canceled on her sister to help care for her grandchildren? “I’m so sorry.”
Helen held up her hand, palm out. “No, I was wrong.”
“You were right.” And this was one more thing to add to the list of things to talk about with her mother. “That’s why I’ll wait and have a long, heart-to-heart talk with Mom before I decide where the kids and I will settle.”
“She’ll want you here.”
“Yes, I think you’re probably right. But it needs to be the right thing for all of us. I want us all to be comfortable. I’ll promise you this. If the kids and I end up here, there will be a lot more Genevieve time to balance out the nana time. I didn’t see what was happening before. I do now.”
“You’re a good girl, Willow Eldridge. And please, believe me when I say I’m delighted you’re going to stay in Lake in the Clouds.”
“We’reprobablygoing to stay. We’ll need to find a place to live, of course, and I need to do something about daycare over the summer. I’m not going to homeschool next year. It’s way too much work.”
