Page 37 of Choosing You

That response had Devin quirking a brow at him. “Vague much?”

“I don’t think that was vague at all. You don’t really know who she is.”

Devin sighed dramatically.

“Okay. Fine.” And for fifteen minutes, he told his friend all about how he met Sloane in the parking lot in front of Books & Beans and about how they spent the weekend together. He left out the specifics on the sex, but from the look on Devin’s face, he figured that part out.

“Well, I’ll be damned. She really exists.”

“Was there any doubt?” Will asked.

“To be honest? Yes! I mean, how was it possible that you kissed this woman at every festival for three years straight and no one in town noticed or saw her? You have to admit that it seemed a little odd.”

As much as Will wanted to deny it, he couldn’t. “Okay, fine. But she does exist,” he said with a confident grin. “And she’ll hopefully be back for the festival, and I plan on introducing her to everyone in Sweetbriar Ridge.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Dude, she lives in Fort Lauderdale, and…um…long-distance relationships take a lot of work. You sure you want to waste that time hanging out in town?”

“It wouldn’t exactly be wasted, and…” Straightening, he let out a long breath. “Turns out she already knows a bunch of people in town.”

Frowning, Devin asked, “How? I mean, obviously she had to know someone since she kept coming back to Sweetbriar Ridge when she lived so far away, but it always seemed like she bolted after kissing you.”

The thought of making Sloane look bad didn’t sit right with him. No one needed to hear about all her dares where kissing booths were concerned, especially not from him.

“Her last name’s Donovan,” he said, and hated the weariness in his tone.

“Are you freaking kidding me? She’s related to half the town and no one let you know who she was all this time?”

All Will could do was nod.

“Damn. That’s got to sting. You must have asked everyone you came in contact with if they knew her! Hell, you go into Books & Beans several times a week and I know for a fact that you asked both Billie and Jade multiple times.”

Another nod. “Yeah, I know.”

“Are you going to say anything to them?”

“I want to. I really do.”

“But…?”

“But…that’s her family and…clearly, they were respecting her wishes. You have to respect that, right?”

“I don’t know, Will. I get that they’re all related, but…you’re a good guy and they all know that. Someone should have maybe stuck up for you and told her how crazy you were going trying to find her. That would have been the decent thing to do.”

Silently, he agreed, but he wasn’t going to admit it out loud. And Devin must have realized it because his expression was fully sympathetic.

“I don’t want to cause any problems and make things awkward. I thought it would be a good thing…”

“I’m not saying that you have to pick a fight with any of them, but when she comes back for the festival, maybe keep your distance from the Donovans and spend more time getting to know her. This is all still new and there’s no need to burn any bridges and lose friends if this isn’t going to go anywhere. You basically only spent two days with her, I’d think you’d rather have her all to yourself than parade her around the town in the setting she used to tease you at.”

His hands clenched into fists. “That’s not…”

“You’re right. You’re right. That was completely out of line.” Reaching out, he clapped Will on the shoulder. “Look, you’re one of my best friends and I’m not gonna lie to you; I don’t trust this girl yet. She played with your head for three years and so did her family.” Stepping back, he shook his head. “And I’m having a hard time with that one because Levi’s our friend and he even joked around with us about the whole thing. It really pisses me off.”

If Will let himself think about it too much, it pissed him off too.

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