Jensen’s eyebrows lifted in surprise and then he leaned down to kiss the boy on top of his woolen hat.
“Wow,” Willow echoed, forgetting for a moment that she was making a video.
By the timethe last ride was over, Henry was half-asleep on his daddy’s chest. Jensen carried him back to the truck and opened Willow’s door for her before going to the back and getting Henry settled in his seat.
Happily, the little guy was sleepy enough that he allowed himself to be strapped in without too much fuss. Jensen handed him Dusty, and Henry hugged the little bear to his chest.
“What a day,” Jensen said as he hopped into the truck himself. “Did you have fun?”
“It was amazing,” Willow told him honestly. “This place is incredible, and you guys are so much fun to hang out with.”
Henry whimpered in the back, and she turned to see what was wrong and how she could help.
“Are you okay, Henry?” she asked.
“He’s just sleepy,” Jensen said. “Aren’t you, buddy?”
Henry nodded, a betrayed expression on his face, like he couldn’t believe his daddy would keep him out when he was tired.
“Well, you can take a nice nap in the car,” Jensen told him. “Should we have some music?”
Henry didn’t argue with that, and Jensen was already tapping the button for the radio anyway.
A pretty rendition of “Angels We Have Heard on High” was playing, and Henry did seem to relax as soon as Jensen got the truck moving.
They got out of the arboretum parking lot, down the backroads and onto Route One while “Angels We Have Heard on High” melted into “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”
By then, the heat had kicked in, and Willow peeled her coat off again and placed it on her backpack. As the last strains of the song faded out, a female voice suddenly announced that the Trinity Falls Co-op Grocer now offered fresh-squeezed orange juice daily.
Jensen reached for the radio dial, but Willow put her hand on his to stop him.
“No way,” she told him. “There’s no way you’re changing the station right now.”
“Fresh-squeezed goodness from Florida gems,”Jensen’s voice sang out from the radio. “ORANGE you glad we’ve got juice?”
“You know that’s me?” he asked, his voice sounding alot more resigned here in the car beside her than it had booming out of the speakers.
“Everyoneknows that’s you,” she said, trying her best not to laugh, but unable to keep a smile from her face. “It’s awesome. How did you not tell me about it when we were catching up?”
“I didn’t even really mean to do it,” he said gruffly. “It just kind of happened.”
There was a brief moment of silence while Willow tried and failed to figure out how that could be true.
“I feel like that doesn’t really explain it,” she said at last. “I mean, people try to break into acting their whole lives. You didn’taccidentallymake a juice commercial. Unless you were just saying that stuff anyway, and someone recorded you?”
She held her breath, hoping that making light of the matter might help him feel less guarded about things.
“No,” he said, after a moment. “I wasn’t just walking around sayingorange you glad we’ve got juice.”
She couldn’t help laughing at that and he chuckled too, glancing over at her with real warmth in his eyes.
“Well, you don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to,” she told him. “But you should know that I think it’s the coolest thing ever. And with all the attention you’re getting, I’d say people are thinking a lot about orange juice—so you’re definitely helping the Co-op too.”
“My work has been slowing down,” he said suddenly.
She nodded, pressing her lips together so she wouldn’t make any sound that might stop him from sharing what he clearly needed to get off his chest.
“We’ll be fine,” he went on. “I have savings from whenI was working in the city, but I really want to save that for Henry’s education. Anyway, my online corporate trainings have been tapering off, and my freelance work is always slower this time of year.”
