Willa’s mouth dropped open.
“You do want to continue with our pre-marital sessions, don’t you?”
Willa shook her head. “I think we’re good.” She started backing away toward his office door.
“Are you sure? I have an hour free Friday morning,” Lucky taunted smugly.
“I’m sure.” Willa gritted her teeth. Just once, she wanted to shut the arrogant pastor up.
“Willa, aren’t you forgetting something?”
“What?” She looked down at the purse in her hand.
“My good-bye kiss.”
“Are you for real?” She stormed back across the room, bending down to place a hard kiss against his lips, then charged back to the door, slinging it open and nearly running into the Wests.
“Excuse me.” Willa forced a smile to her lips. She hadn’t liked the snooty couple before she had almost lost custody of the children, and she disliked them even more now.
“Good afternoon, Willa,” Lisa greeted her, moving to the side to let her husband enter.
“Lisa, Dalton, I was just leaving.”
“No rush. Congratulations on becoming engaged again.” Her eyes flicked down over her simple flower dress then traveled up to her hair. “I see you’ve changed your hair color again.” She gave a tinkling, fake laugh that was like nails grating a chalkboard. “You have a hard time picking colors, don’t you? The next time you go to a hair appointment, I could go with you.” Lisa patted her gleaming black locks. “I have some color swabs from when I decorated. I could bring them over and lay them on top of your boxes. I think a pretty shade of aqua would pop.”
Willa brushed past them.
“Or a light shade of pink. You know, the shade they usually paint piggy banks.”
“Bitch,” Willa muttered.
“What did you say?” Lisa’s eyes widened, while her husband began to look angry. Willa refused to look at Lucky to see his reaction.
“I said watch. Lucky’s carpet is bunched up. I wouldn’t want you to trip,” Willa said, practically running outside, her steps loud on the gleaming, hardwood floor.
She floored her van as she drove home, pummeling her steering wheel in fury. Slamming the car in park, she went to her door, almost breaking the key off in the lock.
She still hadn’t calmed down thirty minutes later when her doorbell rang.
“Hello, Willa. How are you this afternoon?”
“Hi, Douglas. I’m fine. You?”
“Good.” His smile slipped a notch when he saw her puffy eyes and the tissues in her hand.
Willa opened the door, taking a step back for him to enter.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” she asked, her bottom lip wobbling.
“No!” Douglas cleared his throat, lowering his voice. “I just stopped by to see if you still wanted me to build that deck for you. The weather is finally getting dry enough to work outside.”
“Yes. Even if I don’t live here, it will add value to the house.”
“You’re moving away? You shouldn’t let a break-up run you out of Treepoint.”
“What?” Willa gave a smothered sob. “I’m not leaving Treepoint. Lucky and I are engaged again. I was talking about the fact that we haven’t decided yet if we’ll be living in my house or the church.”
“That’s good news, isn’t it?” he asked when her eyes filled with tears.#p#分页标题#e#
“Yes.”
“I went ahead and made the invoice.” Douglas was reaching behind his back when her cell phone rang.
“Excuse me.”
“This will only take a min—”
Willa turned her back on Douglas, reaching for her cell phone on the entry table.
“Hello? Knox?”
“Willa, have you seen Sissy?”
“No, I haven’t seen her since this morning in Jamestown. I thought Killyama was taking her back to Texas.”
“She snuck off the plane before it could take off.”
“Oh.” Willa hated to admit it, but she was glad the girl had been heading back to Texas.
“She’s not in any trouble. Her uncle called and wanted me to check to make sure she was okay and to help her find a place to stay since she’s so determined to be near Treepoint.”
“I can make a list of her friends if you want.”
“That would be a help. This time, I’ll keep it in my files. It will save time. I’ll be there in a minute.”
“I’ll be waiting.” Willa disconnected the call, seeing Douglas’s frustrated expression. “I need to take care of something for Knox. Can this wait until after he leaves?”
“That’s okay. I can stop by another day. I’ll go ahead and buy the materials, and you can reimburse me.”