“What’s wrong?” Noah asked, glancing at her as he pulled out of the driveway and onto the road.
“The Beaches! They’re harassing Megan on social media.It’s awful, and I have no idea why they’re doing it.” She’d been a little surprised when they’d shown up to help her move. She’d sensed they still weren’t over what they considered her betrayal of Megan, and it wasn’t as if she’d set them straight. “Last night, it was obvious they were still on Team Megan, wasn’t it?”
“Willow, there were at least thirty people helping you move. I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Noah said.
Not only had the Beaches shown up to help, so had Willow’s exes and half the station.
“I know who they are,” Riley piped up from the back seat. “Cami and I, um, heard them talking when they were carrying the boxes to your bedroom.”
She could tell by the way Riley hesitated that her friends had had a few things to say about the way Willow had treated Megan, none of it good, apparently. “Don’t worry about it. They’re just being protective of Megan. They don’t know the whole story.”
“And the reason they don’t is because you’re protecting Megan for some unknown reason,” Noah said, sounding unhappy about it.
Willow held up her phone. “Because I was afraid something like this would happen.”
“Um, well, they kind of know everything now,” Riley mumbled.
Willow turned in her seat to look at Riley. “What do you mean they know everything?”
“We didn’t like how they were talking about you, and I might’ve said we needed to tell them what really happened, but I chickened out. Cami didn’t, and she marched into your room and told them what Megan had said and done to you.And then she told them what she thought of them talking about you behind your back and called them a bunch of beaches. Only she didn’t use the wordbeaches, if you know what I mean.” Riley couldn’t hide her smile. “Cami must’ve really been the queen of the mean girls in high school. It was awesome.”
Scrolling through the comments on social while listening to Riley, Willow groaned. She had to do something.
Noah reached over, curving his warm hand around the back of her neck and giving it a squeeze. “Megan had to know there would be consequences to her actions. This is on her, not you.”
“And your friends,” Riley said. “It wasn’t nice what Megan said and did to you, but they’re not being very nice either. They should know better than to bully someone on social media.”
Willow smiled at Riley. “I told you, Noah. You don’t have to worry about your sister. She’s the smartest kid I know.”
“Of course she is. She takes after her big brother,” Noah said, smiling at Riley in the rearview mirror.
The smile Riley gave her big brother in return made Willow’s heart squeeze. It took so little of Noah’s attention to make Riley happy, and Willow felt bad about how much of his time and attention she’d taken in the past few days. She knew Riley liked having her and Cami around, but Willow vowed to put more of an effort into thinking of ways for Noah and Riley to do things on their own and develop the close brother-and-sister relationship Riley so badly wanted.
No time like the present, she thought, and held up her phone. “I have to shut this down so why don’t you two play ‘get to know you’?” Noah and Riley stared at her. “You know the car game, don’t you?”
“No, and we’re less than seven minutes from the farm,” Noah said.
She looked out the windows at the passing scenery. “That’s okay.”
“I’ll play,” Riley said.
Since neither of them knew how to play, Willow had to come up with a work-around. She smiled when an idea came to her. “I’ve got it. What’s your favorite book?”
Riley groaned. “I can’t pick one favorite.”
“You sound like your brother. He said the same thing when I asked him to name his favorite book. Yours wasHarry Potter and the Chamber of Horrors, wasn’t it?” she teased.
He shook his head. “You never did get the titles right. But the Harry Potter series wasn’t one of my favorites, which I know you know, since you teased me relentlessly about it.”
“The Harry Potter series is the best,” Riley objected.
Willow hid her smile, and while Noah and Riley argued the merits of their favorite books, she texted the Beaches in their group chat, which she noticed no longer included Megan. Willow let them know she wasn’t happy about their posts on social. Told them to grow up and take them down or else she was done with them.
By the time they reached the farm, the posts were gone, and the parking lot was almost full. “Yay!” Willow cheered. “We’re going to raise so much money for the shelter today. Come on.”
She hip-checked Noah as they walked through the gate. “I promise, you’ll have fun.”
He lowered his sunglasses. “Remind me how you talked me into this.”