Willow in Bloom by Victoria Pade Read Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t wait to be off alone.
    But Jenna also seemed to have an attack of conscience about not really wanting Willow to tag along, because she said, “It seems like I haven’t seen you forever, though, Will. Think we could have lunch? Maybe Saturday?”
    â€œAs a matter of fact I’ve hired a few high school kids to come in Saturdays now, so I probably can sneak away for lunch.”
    â€œOh good. One o’clock at the coffee shop?”
    â€œI’ll be there.”
    Bram had stayed out of the exchange to that point. But then he said to Jenna, “Maybe you can get her to tell you what’s going on with her.”
    â€œWhat’s going on with you?” Jenna asked Willow, surprised.
    â€œNothing. Carl is imagining things and telling tales out of school about it.”
    Jenna looked from Willow to Bram, clearly confused and not thrilled at being put in the middle of whatever was going on between brother and sister.
    â€œI’ll fill you in over our coffee,” Bram promised.
    â€œThere’s nothing to fill in,” Willow said.
    But neither her brother nor her friend paid much attention to that.
    Instead Bram placed a hand at the small of Jenna’s back to steer her toward the door again. “Let me know if you find anything tomorrow,” he said to Willow.
    â€œI will.”
    â€œAnd I’ll see you on Saturday,” Jenna added.
    â€œOne o’clock at the coffee shop.”
    â€œSee you later, delicate little daisy,” Bram said then in a near singsong, referring back to his earlier remark about her not lifting grain sacks.
    Willow just made a face at him as he ushered Jenna out of the office.
    It was difficult for Willow to return to work, because she knew she was about to be the topic of conversation between her brother and her friend, and it wreaked havoc on her concentration. She couldn’t help worrying that the more people thought about and talked about what was going on with her, the greater the chance that someone would guess her secret.
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    Willow took off work not long after Bram and Jenna left her office. She wanted to do some shopping for herself before her evening of furniture shopping with Tyler.
    Ordinarily she bought most of her clothes out of catalogs, so the local boutique was not a place she frequented. In fact, her going into the place was such a change of pace that the owner and the clerk assumed she was there to buy a gift. Neither of them hid their shock very well when she informed them that she was looking for a few things for herself.
    They recovered fairly quickly, though, and then pounced on her like hungry tigers attacking fresh meat.
    Still, it served her purposes.
    By the time Willow left she had several new outfits, with shoes to match. She also had chopsticklike things to put in her hair—if she could twist it up the way the salesgirl had shown her—plus mascara, blush and a lipstick that was not quite as dark as the one she’d worn in Tulsa, but a good color for her just the same.
    She didn’t even care that the clothes wouldn’t fit soon and would probably be out of style when she could wear them again. She was only thinking of the here and now, and here and now she wanted a few things that would make her feel more like Wyla.
    With bags in hand, she returned to the Feed and Grain, made sure everything was going smoothly, and went up to her apartment to change so she would be ready well in advance of six o’clock. She didn’t want Tyler guessing that she’d done all this just for a simple evening of picking out tables. He might suspect how eager she was to see him again, and she definitely didn’t want that.
    She didn’t even want to admit it to herself.
    Truthfully, she didn’t know what she hoped would come of this plan to let him get to know her. It wasn’t as if she had some fantasy that he would spontaneously regain his memory, pull her into his arms and pledge