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“Hmm,” Willow said.
They walked a little bit without speaking. Then Noah asked, “What do you mean ‘hmm’?”
“You and me and our temporary arrangements—I wonder which of us will have the longest ‘temporary.’”
“Probably better that we don’t think about it,” he said, his tone rueful.
“Yes. Probably.” At the storage shed, she showed him where to store the cart, then they walked toward the lake to join her mother and children. Genevieve happily turned over the children and the fishing poles to Noah while giving Willow a questioning look that managed to convey about twenty-seven questions.
Willow was willing to answer maybe twelve of them, tops.
And she’d have to answer them another time because just then, Aunt Helen arrived at Raindrop Lodge in a car plastered with campaign signs. Genevieve snickered and said, “Told you she’d show up.”
Aunt Helen parked in her usual spot close to the lodge’s side nearest the business office, climbed out of her car, and waved them to join her. Genevieve suggested, “Why don’t you stay here with the children? Let me see what she wants.”
“Okay.”
As her mother walked off, Willow knelt beside Emma to help her tie her shoe and looked up at her son. “Drew. Stop. Take a breath. Give Mr. Tannehill a chance to answer your first question before you ask a second one. Better yet. Stop asking questions. He’s liable to change his mind.”
“No! You won’t, will you?” Drew turned a pleading gaze upon Noah.
“Don’t worry. And I don’t mind—”
Aunt Helen called, “Willow! Willow? Please join us for a minute. I have a campaign question.”
Willow snorted. To Noah, she said, “That’s a lie. She’s going to quiz me about you.”
He chuckled. “I knew what I was getting into when I invited you to stay at the Hideaway. Go talk to your mother and your aunt, Willow. I’ve got the kids.”
“You sure?
“I’m sure. We’re good.”
Willow gave Drew and Emma her best mom look and told them to behave, then walked to join her mother and aunt, who swept her into a hug. “Honey. Noah Tannehill? Color me impressed. I need all the deets.”
“There are no deets,” Willow lied. “He has a big house and a separate apartment.”
Genevieve and Helen shared a skeptical look, then her mom asked, “And he’s come over here now because…?”
“He’s a friend, and he’s offering me support. Just like the two of you are doing.”
“But we’re family,” Aunt Helen pointed out.
“Friends and family. Like the saying goes, it takes a village.” Her phone pinged, and she read the text. The nanny. Willow’s stomach made a slow roll. She felt nervous. She felt a little nauseous. She was overwhelmed. “They’re here.”
Genevieve suggested, “Why don’t you ask her to meet on the lodge’s front porch? That way you’ll have a moment to collect yourself after seeing the boy.”
“Good idea.” Willow texted the instructions, then glanced up from her phone and over her shoulder to find Noah watching her. Had he sensed her turmoil? Both children had abandoned their fishing poles. Drew babbled on about something while throwing rocks into the lake. Emma claspedNoah’s hand and swung it back and forth, back and forth. He held Willow’s gaze, nodded, and winked.You’ve got this.
She heard the words as clearly as if he’d spoken them aloud.
A car approached the Raindrop Lodge parking lot and pulled into an empty spot. The driver’s-side door opened, and a dark-haired woman who appeared to be in her late twenties climbed out from behind the wheel. She walked around the back of the car and opened the back passenger-side door, where inside, Willow could see the figure of a child strapped into a car seat.
The dark-haired woman took less than a minute to release the child from the car seat. It felt like an hour.
They couldn’t see anything once the woman set the child on his feet. The car door slammed shut with athunk.The front passenger door opened, and the woman removed something from the seat.Thunk. Beep. Beep.The door closed and locked.
With a rolling suitcase and diaper bag in one hand and the child in the other, the woman walked toward the front steps of Raindrop Lodge.
