Page 86 of Three Little Wishes

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Don’t mind us. We’re just leaving,” Cami said to the couple on the hammock under the elm trees. Noah was reading a book with an arm around Willow, who was snuggled up against him reading something on her iPhone.

It was the happiest and most relaxed Cami had seen them in almost a week. If Cami hadn’t overheard them talking to Riley earlier that morning when they’d gotten home, she would’ve flipped the hammock over. But she’d learned Flynn was Willow’s father, not Will, and that had sent her tiptoeing back to her room. She didn’t want them to know she’d overheard them or to catch her crying her eyes out because she’d deprived Willow of her father and Flynn of his daughter.

Neither Flynn nor Willow deserved what she’d done to them, even if it had been unintentional on her part. She had a feeling they’d be hard-pressed to believe her after the lies she’d told. Especially if they found out about the heinous act she’d committed.

That was one truth she was desperate to keep to herself, despite Gail and Hugh pressing her to confess the part she’d played in Will’s death. They both believed she couldn’t heal without unburdening her soul. But as much as she trustedthat they had her best interests at heart, she couldn’t do it. She’d lose her family all over again. She’d lose Noah and Riley too.

It was going to be bad enough when she revealed she no longer had amnesia. No one would pull any punches then. Despite that, she had to do it. She couldn’t pretend she was seventeen forever, and she couldn’t try to assuage Gia’s fears or make amends to her family until she came out as herself.

She just wanted one more happy day, pretending to be a family with Willow, Riley, and Noah. She’d miraculously recover her memory tomorrow. Gail had bought her a reprieve from the press, releasing last year’s photos of her in Italy. She’d hidden out there after Jeff’s affair. Someone would eventually put it together. But for now, it was working. There were just a few die-hard paparazzi remaining in Sunshine Bay.

Noah and Willow turned their heads. “Where are you going again?” Willow asked.

Riley closed the door, giving goodbye kisses to Lucky through the screen. The kid seriously loved that dog.

“To La Dolce Vita. We told you like three times already,” Riley said. “We’re making you a special dinner to celebrate”—she glanced under her lashes at Cami—“uh, the good news that Channel 5 isn’t closing.”

It was wonderful news, and Cami couldn’t be happier for her daughter. But she knew that wasn’t what Riley wanted to celebrate. She wanted to celebrate Noah and Willow’s good news that they were free to be in a relationship. Cami knew Riley hoped that the couple would marry one day soon.

The Rosettis didn’t have a great track record when it came to love and marriage, but if anyone could beat the Rosetti curse, it was her daughter and Noah. Although Cami’s sisterEva and her niece Lila appeared to have beaten it too. Maybe it was just Cami who was cursed, her and Gia.

“Oh right,” Willow said, then worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

Cami knew exactly what she was worried about but she couldn’t tell her daughter they’d be careful of the paparazzi or not to worry because Cami was tracking their whereabouts online.

A few of them were hanging out at the airport while the rest were keeping an eye on Eva’s house, where her sisters and mother regularly filmed their Instagram and TikTok videos. Cami didn’t put it past them to be covertly staking out La Dolce Vita, although her mother had done a great job scaring them away.

Cami would’ve just as soon made a special dinner for Willow and Noah at the beach house, but she figured the couple wanted time alone, and Cami had missed spending time with her mother. If she got lucky, and she figured she deserved some good luck for a change, Gia would make herself scarce.

“It’s okay, Willow,” Riley said. “I know about the video from Last Call going viral and that there are photographers trying to get pics of me to sell to the tabloids.”

Cami wanted to kiss her. No one had connected Riley in the video to heiress Riley Bennett. The kid was so damn smart. But seventeen-year-old Cami… “They do?” she asked, making big eyes. “That’s da bomb!”

“It’s not da bomb,” Riley said. “They’re calling the videoPoor Little Rich Girl Goes Wild!”

Cami pressed her lips together while casting a covert glance at Noah and Willow, whose shoulders were shaking in an effort to contain their laughter. Willow clapped a handover her mouth, which Cami also pretended not to see. She put her hands on her hips. “So? Your face will be plastered like everywhere. You’ll get discovered!”

“I don’t want to get discovered.”

“I do!”

“Too bad. We’re going in disguise.” Riley held up hats, wigs, and sunglasses. “And if you don’t promise to wear them and promise not to do anything stupid to draw the photographers’ attention, we’re not going to La Dolce Vita. Got it?”

“You sound just like my mother!”

“Thank you,” Riley said primly.

“It wasn’t a compliment,” Cami muttered, while inside she was killing herself laughing.

“Well, um, it sounds like you’ve…” Willow burst out laughing, burying her face in Noah’s chest.

“What’s wrong with her?” Cami asked, fighting back a smile.

“She’s punchy. She didn’t get much sleep last night,” Noah said.

“Well, maybe she should go back to bed,” Cami said in a snotty voice.

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