“It’s not his fault,” she sighed as Reggie sat down in an easy chair. “Jensen is wonderful, he always has been. It’s my brother.”
“What happened between the two of them?” Mrs. Lennox asked. “I thought they were close friends, but I heard from, uh, through the grapevine that they don’t speak anymore.”
The grapevinesquirmed in his easy chair, but didn’t confess to being the spreader of the very accurate gossip.
“It was my fault,” Willow said softly. “I guess everyone knew I had a big crush on Jensen when I was a kid. When I asked his advice about joining the service, he heard me out and then encouraged me to consider it, and my brother never forgave him for it. He thought I only went for it because of my crush.”
“He still thinks of you as his baby sister,” Mrs. Lennox said, nodding.
“He stillcalls mehis baby sister,” Willow said, shaking her head in frustration. “It doesn’t seem to occur to him that I might have made up my own mind on what I wanted to do, or that I’m capable of choosing who I want to spend time with.”
“He catch you over there?” Reggie asked, cutting to the chase.
Willow nodded, and then told the story as calmly and simply as she could. By the time she got to the end, her friends were nodding and clucking sympathetically in a way that made her feel a little better.
“It’ll all be okay,” Mrs. Lennox said after a minute. “I know it hurts now, but it will all work out somehow.”
“Thank you,” Willow said, knowing the other lady was just trying to be kind. “Time will help me get over it. I just can’t believe I ruined everything with both of them. We all need each other, the kids too. And now we’ll finally all be right here in the same town, and we won’t even be able to lean on each other.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Mrs. Lennox said carefully. “I really do believe that things will work out between the three of you. From the way you describe it, it sounds like you truly care for Jensen, and he cares for you. And of course your brother loves you. He’ll see the light eventually.”
“Yes,” Mrs. Ying agreed. “You just have to give it time.”
“That’s hard at your age, isn’t it?” Reggie asked, chuckling a little. His eyes were filled with sympathy though. “You still have so much in front of you, but it all feels so urgent, doesn’t it?”
Willow nodded. Itdidfeel urgent.
“Well, your real job is to love them,” Mrs. Ying said. “That’s the only thing in your control right now, and you can’t always do it up close. You did just right today. Walking away and putting it all in your brother’s hands like you did was a great way to show him you love and trust him. Now it’s up to him.”
“It’ll all work out in time,” Mrs. Lennox said, nodding.
“Now, the time will pass anyway,” Mrs. Ying said. “But I was thinking we could spend some of it baking my famous almond cookies and watching a nice movie. What do you think?”
Tears prickled Willow’s eyes again at the sweetness and the wisdom of her new friends.
“That sounds amazing,” she told Mrs. Ying, leaning on her shoulder. “Let’s make some cookies.”
As they were gettingthe second batch out of the oven, with the whole place now filled with the delicate aroma of almond cookies, Willow’s phone started buzzing.
She grabbed it out of her pocket, praying that it was Ransom.
But her mother’s number lit up the screen instead.
“Hey, Mom,” she said after picking up.
“No luck getting tickets out there,” Mom said sadly. “We even came to the airport very early this morning to see if anyone canceled. I think it’ll have to be January.”
In all the drama, Willow had forgotten that her mom and Aunt Rhonda were still trying to come out. Maybe itwas for the best that they couldn’t be here when so much was up in the air.
“That’s okay,” she told her mom. “We’ll see each other soon. How’s Aunt Rhonda holding up?”
“She’s disappointed too, honey,” Mom said. “But she’s just fine. And we’ll be glad to see you in January. Once we head back to her place and I start cooking, she’ll cheer up right away.”
“I hope you have stuff to cook,” Willow worried.
“Oh, you know we have that chest freezer down in the basement,” Mom laughed. “Wealwayshave stuff to cook. What are you up to?”
“I’m just making cookies with some friends and then we’re going to watch a movie,” Willow told her.
