Page 126 of How Good It Was (Excess All Areas 3)

21

Willow looked at the cup of tea in front of her. She’d choked down the one at Izabel’s, but somehow, the one the band’s nan had made looked strong enough to melt asphalt.

When Willow had arrived, Nan had hugged her and told her she needed a cup of tea strong enough to stand a spoon up in.

It looked grim, but as she watched Izabel, Chaya, Cerys, and Zoe chug the stuff down, she decided to give it a go.

She sipped it, and piping hot liquid burned her tongue. And, yup, grim.

“I saw that face,” Chaya whispered across the small dining table.

“It’s tea,” Willow whispered. “I can’t get my head around your obsession with it.”

Chaya laughed. “Perhaps if you’d drunk it instead of throwing it all into the harbour, your ancestors would have gotten a taste for it and passed it on to you.”

“Funny. I feel bad because Nan got Pat to pick up a box of decaf tea when she came over.” She leaned back slightly in her chair to confirm that Nan and Pat, who were busy making sandwiches, couldn’t hear her.

“This is Izabel.”

Willow looked across the table to where Izabel held the cell phone they’d bought for the sole purpose of receiving calls. It had been Zoe’s idea to get it.

It had been Izabel’s idea for her to field the calls. It had been Chaya’s idea for the five of them to work together. It had been Cerys’s idea to let her and Zoe work on the statement. It had been Matt’s idea to move it to Nan’s when the press had tracked down Luke’s apartment building. It had been Nan’s idea to invite Pat over so they could take care of all of them.

Six women who had her back. Six women who barely knew her. Six women who hadn’t asked for payment or access or anything.

“No, she has no comment on that right now,” Izabel said, her voice as saccharine as sugar. “She’ll be making a joint statement with Mr. Bryson in the next twenty-four hours ... yes, I understand ... no, she does not owe you or anybody a comment at this time. And please be aware we will be taking action against egregious misstatements. Thank you.”

“Lunch,” Nan cried, placing a large platter of sandwiches down on the table. “Ham and cheese, egg and cress, and cucumber with tinned salmon I stocked up when they had that special on at Aldi. On fresh barms that Pat picked up on her way over.”

“Barms?” Willow asked.

“Barm cake, bap, bun, cob, batch, bread rolls, bin lid. That last one is Liverpool,” Cerys said. “Our country has about seven million ways of saying it. Each town will fiercely contest that their word is the correct one.”

“You English are weird.”

“As a Welsh woman, I agree,” Cerys said. “The English are weird.”

Chaya laughed. “Says the country with the second longest place name in the world. Can you say it?”

Cerys rolled her eyes. “Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. It’s the trick pony we pull out on special occasions.”

“Eat up, chick,” Pat said, running her hand over Willow’s hair softly.

She could see where Ben and Alex got their good looks from. Their mom was attractive, but tired. Weary. “I don’t feel hungry.”

“I know. It’s not easy being in the eye of the storm, is it? But you need to keep your strength up. And Luke is only out of contact for another ten minutes until his plane lands. And it’s less than fifteen minutes from the airport to here.”

Her phone rang, making her jump.

“I’ll get it,” Chaya said, reaching for it, but Willow noticed the name.

Riley.

“No, it’s my bestie. I’ll take it.” Willow could feel the sting of tears as she answered. “Oh my God, Riley. Did you see what happened? What the hell am I supposed to do? I don’t know how, but I know my dad was involved somehow.” She jogged up the stairs to Nan’s small bathroom and pushed the door. “I don’t know all these people, and I know they are so loyal to Luke, but somehow, one of them must have mentioned something to the wrong person.”

“I’m so sorry,” Riley said, her voice choked. Her hair was still in the braid she always slept in, and she wore her glasses instead of her contacts.

God, Willow was just so happy to see her best friend. “It’s not your fault, babe. It just really sucks. I thought this was going to be the best way to get through it, and now it’s all backfired. What do you think I should do?”

---