Page 35 of Choosing You

“Yeah, but…it wasn’t all that flattering.”

The laughter immediately stopped.

“To me, it sounded like he was complaining about how the Donovans own so much of the town, they’re everywhere, and they all gossip.”

Hailey’s amusement instantly morphed into annoyance. “Well that’s rude.”

“I pointed it out to him and asked if he even liked the Donovans and he swears he does, but it just irked me.”

“I hope you told him your last name at that point.”

“Oh, I did.”

“And?”

“And…it was awkward for a little while. He backpedaled a bit and talked about how awesome all our relatives were—including you—but it just confused the hell out of me.”

“Why?”

“Should I have defended everyone more? Should I have gotten up and walked out? We talked things through and were fine, but I think he’s got a whole other issue with our family now.”

“I don’t see what it could be. Everyone speaks highly of him. We’ve all been talking about it since you went out with him on Saturday.”

Her shoulders sagged. “Really? You talked to everyone about this already? You couldn’t wait until I went home?”

Picking up her coffee with a grin, Hailey said, “What can I say? We are gossips.” With a wink, she took a sip of her drink before asking, “So, what’s his issue?”

“Apparently, he’s spent a lot of time in the last three years trying to find out who I was, asking everyone in town about it.” Then she stared at her sister hoping she’d see where she was going with this.

“Ah…so he’s clearly talked to Ash, Chloe, Billie, Levi, and Jade, and they all said they didn’t know you.”

“Exactly.”

“Okay, I get it. There are some hard feelings, right?”

“He didn’t come out and say it, but he mentioned several times how he couldn’t believe no one slipped up and told him. I’m kind of afraid of what will happen the next time he sees one of them.”

“From everything I’ve heard, Will’s a nice guy. I don’t see him being openly hostile toward anyone.”

“I still feel bad. If there are hard feelings, they’re my fault because I was playing a stupid game and being immature.”

They ate in companionable silence for several long moments before Hailey spoke. “Okay, but…you’re growing up now and you’re not playing a game with Will, right?”

“I’m not. I really like him. It sucks that we live so far apart, so I have no idea how far this is going to go. Obviously, I’m going to be visiting you as much as possible, but not nearly often enough to where I’m spending quality time with either of you.” Groaning, she slowly lowered her head to the table. “I never should have tried to find him.”

“Um…why?”

Lifting her head, she glared at her sister. “Because now I really like him and a long-distance relationship sucks so much! It was selfish of me, and I should have just stopped coming around to the festivals. Chances are, Will and I never would have even run into each other.”

Shaking her head, Hailey gave her a patient smile. “Didn’t we just go over how you will always run into people you know in a small town? The more time you spent here, the more there was going to be a chance of the two of you running into each other.”

“Maybe. A really, really slim chance.”

“Have the two of you talked about the logistics of this whole thing? I know it’s rough and I struggled with it when I found out I was pregnant, but I already knew I was moving here.” She paused before gasping. “Move here!”

“What?” Sitting up straight, she looked at her sister like she was crazy. “No, Hales. We talked about this Saturday night before I went over to Will’s, remember? The whole Mom following me here thing? It would be crazy.”

“I know, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot since then. It seriously makes sense. Think about it. I’m here, so you have a place to live until you get settled. The bar is opening and Dad’s part owner in it. That means he and Mom will be here more and more. Plus…Layla. This is a small town with a ton of new businesses, Sloane! You could talk to Levi about working for him and doing all the social media management stuff! Oh, yeah! This is gonna be great! We’ll get to see each other every day and hang out and Layla will get to know you and…”

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