Return to Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs Read Free Book Online

Zach’s glass from a frosty
pitcher of beer.
    Eddie raised his glass of root beer. “What’s up, my brother?
Shit, don’t tell me somebody’s pregnant.”
    “No,” Zach said instantly, shuddering with a chill at the very
thought. “It’s complicated. See, I kind of…you know, I’ve always been one to
play the field.”
    “Boy slut,” said Eddie. “We’ve all been there.”
    “That’s why I’m telling you this,” Zach said. “So now—and I
never thought I’d be saying this—it’s getting old.” He thought about Shakti, who
had rolled out the welcome mat earlier in the evening. He hadn’t taken advantage
of the welcome. Instead, he’d bought her dinner, dropped her off at her house,
and called this meeting with his friends to confess that he was losing his
mind.
    “Dude,” said Bo. “Welcome to adulthood. We all take a while to
get there, but we get there. I know I did.”
    “You did it by marrying a woman who looks like a supermodel,”
Zach said. “That must have been so hard for you.”
    Bo laughed. “I reckon it was harder for Kim. So what’s on your
mind?”
    “Who, not what. Sonnet Romano. Yeah, that Sonnet Romano. The one I’ve known since she was Willow Lake’s
hopscotch champion. We had…we did…”
    “Nina’s girl? You finally nailed her? Awesome,” said Eddie,
high-fiving him. “Doesn’t sound like so much trouble to me.”
    “Then you don’t know Sonnet. She could make a copper penny
complicated.”
    “Let me guess,” said Bo. “You nailed her, and now she wants
a…what’s that word? Oh, yeah. Relationship . It never
fails. Give ’em a few X’s and O’s, and next thing you know, they’re picking out
the china pattern.”
    “Jesus, you’re a tool,” said Zach. “How come a tool like you
gets to marry a supermodel?”
    Bo glanced from him to Eddie. “What?”
    “Here’s the complication,” Zach said, “and believe me, it pains
me to admit this. I want the relationship.”
    To his relief, Bo and Eddie did not look too aghast, merely
interested.
    “Okay,” Zach went on, “maybe not the china pattern, but yeah,
all the stuff most guys want to run away from. I can’t stop thinking about her,
even when I’m trying to move on to another girl.”
    “In my very educated opinion,” Eddie said, “other girls tend to
be distractions from what you really want.”
    “Yeah,” said Bo. “What is it you really want?”
    Zach took a large gulp of beer and let out a lengthy belch.
“The whole thing—love and family, stability, even kids one day. Yeah, kids. I
want kids, how crazy is that?”
    “It’s not crazy at all,” said Eddie. “Maureen and I are having
loads of fun working on that. Kids are awesome. It’s the parents who screw them
up. All you got to do is promise you won’t be that kind of parent.”
    “That’s getting ahead of things. We’re not even back on
speaking terms these days.”
    “Why the hell not?”
    “After we… After I—”
    “Nailed her,” Bo supplied.
    “Yeah, it was in the boathouse up at Camp Kioga. Shane Gilmore
figured it out, I think.”
    “Now, there’s a tool for you. Can’t stand that guy,” Eddie
said. “What the hell do you care?”
    “I don’t, but Sonnet’s father is running for Senate, and
Gilmore’s driving around with a Delvecchio bumper sticker on his car, so he’s
supporting the opponent.”
    “Whoa, I didn’t know she was Jeffries’s daughter,” Bo said.
    “Like I told you, she’s complicated. Anyway, I saw a stupid
rumor about the candidate’s daughter hooking up at a wedding—did I mention we
hooked up at Daisy Bellamy’s wedding?”
    Bo refilled Zach’s beer glass yet again. “Drink up. It’s gonna
be a long night.”
    * * *
    Sonnet rushed into the restaurant approximately ten
minutes late to find Orlando in the foyer, jabbing his finger at the keypad of
his phone.
    “Sorry,” she said, slightly breathless. “I got caught in the
rush-hour craziness.”
    He put away his phone