“I don’t need a box. I need to fix a loose board on my deck.”
“You may need more than three nails, and then you’ll have to walk back here.”
Sam smiled and headed up to the cash register with his three nails in hand. “Like I said. At my age a man’s got to have a purpose.” He paid for the nails, and when they left the store, Sam stood on the sidewalk looking out over the lake. “What’s your purpose, Zane?”
“That’s a tough question.” His goals were clear—to do whatever it took to win Willow over once and for all, to be the best man he could be for her, and to get up the guts to bring his screenplay to the big screen, but his purpose? That was much more difficult to define.
“Goals and purpose are two very different things. Your goal might rely on others, but your purpose? That’s all you, son. And I guarantee, when you figure that out, the rest will follow.” He checked his watch. “It’s time for me to head down to the library. Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For giving me a purpose to reach my goal,” Sam said. “I made it around another block. That’s a good day in my book.”
Zane watched him stroll away and called after him, “Hey, Sam. How does a deep-sea fisherman from San Diego end up in Sweetwater?”
A smile crept across the elderly man’s face. “My right opportunity came in the form of Ruthie McGee, the sweetest woman to ever come out of Sweetwater. That is, until your Willow came around.”
Emotions bubbled up inside him. “My girl is something, all right.”
“So are you, Zane. You’re not that scared kid anymore. If you believe in that story in your pocket, you’ll find a way to bring it to life. But I’m not telling you anything you didn’t figure out a long time ago.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“LOOK WHO WANDERED into my shop.” Bridgette came through the arched doorway from her flower shop after closing Thursday afternoon with Aurelia Stark, looking just as fresh and beautiful as she had first thing that morning.
Willow wiped her hands on her shorts, which were stained with flour, frosting, and grease from trying to repair her oven. “Girls, you’re right on time. My oven went wonky again, and the cupcakes came out funky. We have no choice but to eat them.” She locked the door to the bakery and hugged Aurelia. Her long, naturally wavy brown hair fell to the middle of her back. She was as petite in height as Piper, but curvy like Willow, and at twenty-seven she still wore some of the same clothes she’d worn when she was eighteen—today it was jeans with holes in the knees, white Converse, and a simple white tank top. And somehow she managed to look like a million bucks.
“You look incredible. Whatever you’ve done, it suits you.”
“Long story.” Aurelia made a beeline for the kitchen.
Willow and Bridgette exchanged a concerned glance.
“I’ve been texting you all week. What’s going on?” Willow grabbed plates from a cabinet and slid them across the counter.
“My phone is having issues.” Aurelia took a big bite of cupcake and set two more on the plates for the girls.
“Bummer. What happened?” Bridgette nibbled on her cupcake.
“I think it has something to do with being thrown at a moving car.”
Willow nearly choked on her cupcake. Aurelia’s phone always took the brunt of her bad days.
“I know, right?” Aurelia stuffed more cupcake in her mouth. She glanced at Willow’s ring, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Holy crap. So it’s really true? You and Zane? You guys own the Internet right now. They’re running the pictures of you two in Lake George with different headings every day.”
True and becoming more real every day. Willow had made a point of avoiding the Internet since she and Zane had gotten together. She didn’t need to see what she already knew, and the Internet cheapened everything. Between gathering recipes for the set breakfasts, keeping up with the bakery orders, and Zane preparing for his filming and working on his screenplay, which he hadn’t stopped tweaking since he met Sam, the past few days had flown by. And the nights? They’d made love into the wee hours of the mornings. Willow was running on pure adrenaline, or as her mother had said when she’d come by that morning, she was living on love. Willow couldn’t deny the way her heart soared every time she and Zane were together, or that he hadn’t ogled a single woman since he’d made his feelings toward her clear. Or the way his laugh made her stomach flutter, his kisses turned her inside out, and seeing his stuff in her apartment made her never want him to leave.
“It’s really true,” Willow finally answered. She and Aurelia had been close in high school, but Willow realized that while she’d clued her in on other meaningless crushes throughout those years, she’d never told her about her crush on Zane.
“Wow. So does that mean you’re moving to California? What about the bakery? Oh my God, you can’t move that far away. Your mom would go crazy.” Aurelia spoke a mile a minute, and she grabbed Bridgette’s hand. “What about Bridge? No. You can’t do it, Willow. You can’t leave Sweetwater.”
“Oh my gosh, Aurelia!” We aren’t even really engaged. “We haven’t even set a wedding date.” Willow had been trying not to think about how all those things would play out. She couldn’t expect Zane to move to Sweetwater, but she wouldn’t want to move away from everyone she knew and loved, and her business. She was getting way ahead of herself. He hadn’t proposed to her, no matter how much Zane wanted it to be real. Or how much she fantasized about it. He’d handed her a gaudy ring under a cloud of trickery. They were only playing house. That was the bottom line. She drew in a deep breath, feeling strangely relieved and sad at once.
“So where is he?” Aurelia asked. “He starts filming next week, right? Is he out rehearsing?”
“He’s been rehearsing like a maniac. He finally took a break and went to hang out with Ben.”
“How is Benny boy? Believe it or not, I miss that pain in the ass.” Aurelia and Ben had a love-hate relationship. She finished her cupcake and grabbed another. “You meant it when you said I could eat these, right?”
“Ben’s great. Still the luckiest man on the face of the earth where investing is concerned, and yes. Eat all you want. Please.” Willow was used to Aurelia bouncing between topics. She’d done it her whole life.
“Can we please get back to the phone throwing?” Bridgette pleaded. “I have to pick up Louie soon. Harley bought him a Spider-Man bike, and he’s giving it to him tonight.”
“Have you nailed that big, sexy hunk yet?” Aurelia asked.
“Tsk! No. He’s just a friend.” Bridgette bit into her cupcake. “Besides, I think he has the hots for Piper.”
Willow’s ears perked up. “Seriously?”
Bridgette nodded. “He’s always asking about her.”
“You guys,” Aurelia said conspiratorially. “They used to call him the muff marauder. The guy is packing major heat.”