Page 68 of Everything I Crave

“It’s Evelyn, only this bag of dicks is allowed to call me Evey, and I still hate every second of it.” She pulls Willow in for a tight hug, just like she did me.

“Evelyn.” Hunter clears his throat from next to me.

“Hunter.” She looks at him with disgust and turns back to Willow and I. “Neil! Come here, babe!”

She calls a man that looks like he belongs in an office in the 1950’s. He’s got on a polo, khaki pants, and loafers. A far cry from the casual board shorts, or cargo shorts the rest of us are wearing. He also looks like I could break him in two pieces with one pinky. I'd be shocked if this guy has ever seen the inside of a gym.

“Guys, this is Neil.” She stares directly at Hunter. “My boyfriend.” She lays her head on Neil’s chest, still keeping eye contact with Hunter.

I can’t make out what Hunter mutters under his breath, but he walks away pretty pissed off.

I shake my head.

Despite the fact that I think Neil is a complete jackass I sit and talk with him as Willow and Evelyn start getting to know each other and Emma joins them. On about the twentieth minute of listening to Neil talk to me about making wise financial investments for my future, I make an excuse to leave and beeline it to Cooper.

I look back and mouth, “I’m sorry,” to Willow.

She laughs, knowing exactly why I left them.

I can’t wait to get her alone again.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Willow

I spent a much needed five days in Balsam Cliffs with Gunnar and his family. Five days of sunbathing on the private beach with Emma, sharing our favorite books, singing along to our favorite songs. We got a lot of projects done around the inn, Gunnar and I did the live stream where Emma made her disgust of the comments known, which made me laugh hysterically.

The women in my comments ate it up, egging her on. I was so sad to leave her behind.

It was a really successful week on so many fronts.

We had dinner with all the siblings and his parents on video call at the inn on the last night of our trip. His Dad finally got into the rehab hospital and he is doing really well. They’re hoping he’ll be able to come home in a couple weeks. He took the changes with more acceptance than anyone anticipated. Thank goodness he and Liam were able to come to an understanding that Liam only asks to be kind, but he is going to start making final decisions he thinks is best.

But now, it’s back to my own reality, it’s time to deal with Jake. He’s continued to make nasty comments on my videos, even had his lawyer send me a letter saying that I can’t post any videos singing.

I laughed with Donna when I got that in the mail.

I dial her number as I read his latest comments on my new video so we can go over the cease and desist letter she’s sending him for his comments.

It only rings once before she answers, “Donna Smith.”

“Hey, Donna, it’s Willow. Harper. Willow Harper,” I fumble over my words.

“Oh hey! You ready to serve this guy his cease and desist? Anything new I need to add?” she asks.

I read her the most recent comments and she adds a few more lines about what he needs to quit doing per our court agreement. I’m so glad she’s taking my case pro bono. She is expensive as hell, and Jake is making sure to wrack up the hours with bullshit for me. Probably a strategy he thinks is going to get me to shut up. She jokes that when I make it big, I can pay her back by keeping her on retainer.

“Got it. Will send this today, and let you know when I hear from his lawyer, who I’m pretty sure he hired before he even completed law school.”

I roll my eyes. The letter we got does sound like something that Addy’s high schoolers would have written up. Hopefully Jake will stop. But I doubt it. I would really love to see Donna tear him apart in the courtroom.

I go into my music room. Our music room. Gunnar has uncovered his guitar, and placed it next to mine. We’ve been singing together every night, and the videos are doing so well. We’ve added a few more hashtags that are trending with our videos. #countrysweethearts is my favorite. My followers are calling us the country version of America’s Sweethearts. It’s definitely gone to Gunnar’s head. Especially at The Bar when people ask us to sing together nightly. They all love him as much as I do.

We still haven’t let on to where we are living because I’m not ready for the followers to know. In Nashville, the bars would be packed. And I want to keep my small town bubble closed right now.

I set my phone up, and grab my guitar. I pull my notebook off the desk and start strumming along to the words I wrote, trying to find the right music for it. I want to have ten original songs ready for my show at Rebels Brewing. Roman agreed to let us host a show there since we don’t want people to know where we live. So The Bar was out.

Ever since we posted the live stream from the inn, they’ve seen an uptick in bookings. Which, since all the rooms aren’t renovated yet, is pretty much selling them out every weekend. If we host a show in Balsam Cliffs, there will be plenty of people who want to book a room or cabin at the inn.

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