Page 82 of Three Little Wishes

“Oh,” Veronica said, “I thought it was a ‘He loves me, he loves me not’ kind of deal, not that you were nervous.”

If she were plucking daisy petals about Noah, it wouldn’t be about his feelings for her, it would be “He’s my cousin, he’s not my cousin.”

Naomi frowned. “Why are you nervous? I might not be Megan’s biggest fan, but she did a great job on the offer.”

“I know she did, but it’s less than Noah’s asking price, and we only have guarantees for half the amount we’re offering.”

“But once everyone we talked to comes through, we’re two-thirds of the way there,” Veronica said.

After Megan had presented her research for the buyout to everyone at Channel 5 the night before, they’d voted. Ninety-five percent of Willow’s coworkers were on board while the other five percent opted to take Noah up on his offer to help them find jobs, which Willow had shared before they’d voted. She’d also shared that she’d received a job offer from Ted. She wanted to be fully transparent. As an added benefit, it showed how much she believed in their ability to make a go of this.

While Don and Megan went over the details of the offer and the presentation, Willow and her coworkers had worked the phones, offering members of the community the opportunity to invest.

“Don has the list of potential stakeholders, but he can’t include them until their agreements have been signed and verified,” Willow said.

“I can’t believe we’re having to convince Ms. Positivity that the deal will go through,” Naomi said to Veronica while raising an eyebrow at Willow. “We expected you to arrive this morning in your cheerleader’s uniform, pom-poms waving, entertaining us with backflips and side splits. The guys are disappointed in you.”

“They would’ve been more disappointed if I attempted a backflip and broke my neck.”

Naomi laughed. “I forgot. You never did manage to nail one, did you?”

“No. I didn’t. And you’re right. We can do this. The committee members for the silent auction are all on board, so we’ll make one last pitch to the community tonight.”

“Was that supposed to be a pep talk?” Naomi asked,frowning. “What’s up with you? You haven’t been yourself in days.”

“Naomi’s right, Will. What’s going on with you?” Veronica asked.

“It’s my mom,” she admitted. “She’s not coming tonight, and she withdrew her paintings from the auction.”

“I’m sorry. I know how excited you were to showcase her talent.” Naomi hugged her. “There’ll be other opportunities, Will.”

“Naomi’s right. We can feature her onGood Morning, Sunshine!” Veronica said. “But I kind of get it, Will. It can’t be easy for her with all the coverage about Cami and your family’s estrangement. If I were Gia, I wouldn’t want to come with the amount of press in town.”

“How’s Cami holding up?” Naomi asked.

Willow had told Naomi and Veronica that Cami was her biological mother. She trusted them to keep it to themselves. Although she thought it was only a matter of time before some ambitious reporter ferreted out the truth.

“She’s oblivious. It’s the one good thing about her not having her memory back. Seventeen-year-old Cami doesn’t know social media exists, and she’s convinced herself that the crowd at Last Call mistook her for Camilla Monroe. Riley’s been keeping her busy at the beach house. Obviously, she won’t be coming tonight either.”

Willow didn’t share that Cami wasn’t acting like herself. At first, Willow had thought it was because Noah had been angry about her taking Riley to Last Call. But she’d begun to suspect there was more going on. Cami was spending an inordinate amount of time in her bedroom, and she hadn’t asked to go to La Dolce Vita, which obviously they wouldn’thave allowed because the press had camped out in front of the restaurant. Well, they had until her grandmother had run the reporters off.

“Don’s coming out of Noah’s office,” Veronica whispered.

Willow was afraid to look. “Does he look happy? What does Noah look like?”

“Hot, but then he always does.” Naomi laughed. “Here comes Don.”

Don walked over. “The Big Boss wants to see you, Willow.”

“Oh, okay,” she said, and started to walk away. “Wait a sec. You didn’t tell us how it went.”

“I think Noah wants to tell you himself.”

As she walked toward his office, Naomi yelled, “Yes!” and Veronica yelled, “Woo-hoo!” and then cheers broke out in the station. She should’ve known Noah would agree to the offer.

He raised an eyebrow when she walked into his office. “No happy dance?”

She did a little dance instead of running across his office and throwing herself into his arms like she wanted to.

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