Page 18 of Three Little Wishes

It was a video of Willow delivering the weather in a lobster costume. Not once, but several times, and in each one, something hysterical happened to her.

By the time the video ended, Riley was laughing so hard that she could barely speak. Once she’d stopped laughing, she said, “You have to put that on TikTok.”

“No way. It’s bad enough everyone in Sunshine Bay thinks I’m an idiot,” she said, then groaned. “If my coworkers think there’s a chance it’ll go viral, and they can figure out a way to monetize the video, they’ll totally do it, especially now that we’re all going to lose our jobs.” She squeezed her eyes shut and gave her head a small shake. “Ignore me. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“It’s okay. I know my brother is selling off Bennett Broadcasting. Our mom would want him to. I want him to.” She bit her lip at how that must sound to Willow and tried to explain. “It’s a lot, running the company. Noah’s a lawyer and the head of the legal department and mostly doesn’t have a life outside of work. It’s worse now that he’s taken over from our mom.” She clenched her teeth before continuing, her voice barely a whisper. “Our mom worked all the time too. Running the company killed her. She wouldn’t want Noah to have a heart attack and die like she did.”

“Oh, Riley, I’m so sorry about your mom.”

Riley didn’t know why, maybe it was the compassion in Willow’s eyes or maybe it was because she’d kept everything bottled up inside since her mom died, but she threw herself sobbing into Willow’s arms and told her everything, evenabout her wish list. And while she did, Willow murmured words of comfort and stroked her hair, and then she muttered what she’d do to Billy if she ever saw him, and that made Riley snort-laugh.

When Riley finally stopped crying and snort-laughing, she pulled away from Willow, embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I—”

Willow cut her off by putting her hands on Riley’s shoulders and looking her in the eyes. It was then she realized Willow had been crying too. “You don’t have a single thing to apologize for. I’m honored that you felt comfortable sharing with me.” She swiped a finger under her lashes, gave a firm nod as if she’d convinced herself of something, and smiled. “Now we just have to figure out a way for you to accomplish your goals, starting with spending the summer in Sunshine Bay.”

Riley stared at her in awe. “You’re going to help me?”

“Of course I am. Just think of me as your fairy godmother.”

Riley giggled. Giggled! “You look more like a fairy princess than a fairy godmother.”

“You’re sweet,” Willow murmured as she glanced down the hall, looking preoccupied. Then she returned her gaze to Riley. “The first thing we have to do is convince your brother to go along with my plan.”

Riley’s shoulders slumped, and she shook her head. “He won’t.”

“He has to,” Willow said with a determined expression on her face. “There’s nothing more important than family. And Riley, I think, as much as you need him, your brother needs you. We just have to make him see that.”

Riley wasn’t as confident as Willow. Her brother didn’t seem to need anyone. “He doesn’t really like to be told what to do.”

Willow laughed. “You’re not telling me something I don’t know.” Her laughter faded, and she took both of Riley’s hands in hers. “I need to be honest with you. If we can convince Noah to let you stay at the beach house for the summer, it works for me too. I’m trying to convince him to sell Channel 5 instead of closing the station, and I need time to do that.”

“He’s not selling it?” Riley asked, surprised. Her mom had always told her that the TV station on Sunshine Bay had a special place in Riley’s grandfather’s heart. It was where Bennett Broadcasting Group had gotten its start.

“No, he supposedly tried and got no interest. I think part of the problem was that he doesn’t feel Channel 5 is a viable investment and didn’t try very hard. But my coworkers and I have some really good ideas to increase revenue and viewership. We just need time to implement them.” She smiled and gave Riley’s hands a little shake. “But even if I didn’t personally benefit from you, and hopefully Noah, staying in Sunshine Bay this summer, I’d still want to help you.”

“Why?”

“Because I remember what it’s like being fifteen. It can suck, and even having a loving and supportive family like I did, and still do, it took a fifteen-year-old nerd with dark hair, glasses, and braces, who at first didn’t want anything to do with me—”

Riley’s eyes went wide. “How could he not want anything to do withyou?”

Willow laughed. “You’ll have to ask your brother.”

“Noah was the nerd?”

“He was, and he also turned one of the worst summers of my life into one of the happiest. And I want to do that for you.”

“So Noah was like your fairy godmother?” Riley’s voicegurgled with laughter as she pictured her tall and handsome big brother wearing a dress and waving a wand.

Willow grinned. “More like my Prince Charming,” she said, then wrinkled her nose. “It would be easier to convince him if he was still my Prince Charming instead of Mercedes Man and CEO Noah.”

Riley frowned. She was about to ask Willow what she meant when she heard a sound. She glanced over Willow’s shoulder, letting out a smalleekto warn her that Noah was walking into the living room.

Willow must’ve mistaken her warningeekfor a distressedeekbecause she didn’t look around or stop talking. “Don’t worry, honey. You leave everything to me. I’ll convince Noah—”

Her brother fisted his hands on his hips and said, “No.”

Willow whirled around. “What do you mean no? You don’t even know what I was going to say.”

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