Free Wishing on Willows: A Novel by Katie Ganshert Page A

head. “We’ll be in touch. Have a lovely meal, ladies.”
    Robin glared after him.
    “It should be illegal,” Amanda said.
    “What?”
    “That smile.”
    The heat in Robin’s chest expanded. “Who cares about his smile? He wants to knock down my café.”
    Amanda tapped her finger on the profit and loss report. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to listen to his offer.”

NINE
    Robin yanked off her oven mitts and threw them down on the counter. She closed her eyes and pressed her fingers against her temples. After Val’s Diner, she’d baked an entire pan of strawberry-rhubarb muffins and two dozen of Caleb’s favorite chocolate gingerbread cookies, and she still couldn’t get the picture of Ian and his raised eyebrow out of her head.
    Lord, why do I feel so unsettled about this?
    Caleb’s little fingers grazed her forearm. “Are you taking a nap, Mommy?”
    She opened one eye and found the face of her boy, head tilted up as he smiled his father’s smile. “No, silly man, I’m praying.”
    “About my cookies?”
    She opened her other eye and cupped his chin. “I’m praying for my sanity.”
    He scrunched his nose. “What’s sanity?”
    Robin laughed, then plucked the strawberry-rhubarb muffins from the pan and set them onto a large cooling rack on the prep table. The meet and greet had officially started, and as much as she wanted to avoid Kyle and whatever awkwardness their lackluster date left behind, it was time to get out there and mingle. As if hearing her thoughts, Bethany popped her head into the kitchen/supply room.
    “We’re filling up fast and everybody’s raving about your lemon bars.”
    “Just as long as they don’t have to pay for them.”
    The door swung on its hinges, breaking apart the chatter filtering inside the kitchen. Bethany stepped over the assortment of Tonka trucks Calebhad dug from the toy chest she kept in the kids’ corner below the loft. “I’m the cynic, remember? Not you.”
    Caleb dropped to the floor and raced a truck in circles around Bethany’s feet. Robin untied her apron and flopped it on the counter next to the oven mitts.
    “Are you going to tell me what’s bothering you?”
    Concern whipped her insides into stiff, pointed peaks—sharp and overbeaten. Robin didn’t want to give voice to her worry, but even after all these years, she could still hear her mother’s words.
“Better out than in,”
she would say. “With the way news spreads in this town, I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon enough.”
    “Hear about what?”
    “Did Evan tell you who we ran into outside of church while you were getting Elyse from the nursery?”
    “Who?”
    “Remember the guy Amanda spilled coffee on?”
    “The cute auditor?”
    “Turns out he’s not an auditor.” And he wasn’t
that
cute. Robin took a deep breath and let her fears whoosh past her lips. “He wants to buy Willow Tree so he can knock it down and build condos.”
    Bethany’s eyebrows disappeared behind chocolate-brown bangs.
    “I don’t know why I’m getting worked up over it. It’s not like he can force me to sell and I already told him no. So I should let it go, right?”
    Bethany folded her arms and leaned against the counter.
    “But he turned up at Val’s with Mayor Ford when I was going over numbers with Amanda. Supposedly he’s meeting with town council on Friday.”
    “Sounds serious.”
    Robin threw Bethany a withering glance. “That doesn’t make me feel much better.”
    “Look, there’s nothing you or I can do about the condos at the moment. Today is about extending hospitality to Kyle, right?” Bethany came to Robin’s side and wrapped one arm around her shoulder. “So let’s find thatcaring, eternally optimistic Robin everybody loves and adores so we can go mingle with the guests.”
    A smile poked at Robin’s lips as Bethany led her to the door.
    “You can nod in humble gratitude as everybody worships your baking skills. Maybe play the piano and hypnotize your guests with