Page 12 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

WREN

RWL Superfan Discussion Central

Neve Bullock: Does anyone have any info on Wren? No one’s spotted her recently and she hasn’t been active on her socials.

Comments:

Carly Ware: This is all so dramatic when Jude probably kissed that other girl for a publicity stunt.

Jamie McCullough: She’ll have to say something soon. They should be announcing the reno project for season two any day now.

Kerry Winsor: I happen to know that she’s not in Nashville. We’re supporting her through this difficult time.

Alicia Parrish: Who is WE???? What do you know??

Bethany Perry: I don’t believe you. The show is set in Nashville, and they’re gonna start filming soon. You’re just clout chasing for likes.

Madison climbed out of her blacked-out SUV. She faced the library, taking it in, but didn’t bother removing her sunglasses.

“Well. This is certainly something.”

“It’s massive. Way bigger than the mansion.”

“And not where the show should be set.” A hand landed on her hip. “Still don’t love that.”

“Look at the rest of the town. People will love the charm.”

She slowly turned, lips pursed as she looked at everything else. The potted plants were sprouting new flowers in all kinds of bright colors for the incoming summer season. Most of the buildings looked great, as long as they were open.

“It’s cute, but most of our sponsors are Nashville locals. I made it work, but they’re not thrilled about this.”

Sponsors. Money. I hated to even think about it. But it was the reason I’d signed up to do the show in the first place.

That, and Jude.

“Give me the pitch,” she said. “I wanna know what you’ll tell the cameras about why you like this town and library.”

I nodded, trying to get into character. I explained the history, how it had been here for generations but stayed small, how the library was not only the cornerstone of the town, but the whole county, and everyone here missed it.

When I was done, Madison appraised me.

“Not bad,” she said. “You have that excitement people love. I just wish it wasn’t here .”

“Hey,” I said, crossing my arms. “This is someone’s home. They really like their town.”

“And I’m sure it’s great for them, but I also have a business to think about. We need this season to do well. Better than the first, even.” Her gaze was back on the library. “Though I’ll admit, this would be a massive transformation. And it would look good to fix something so defunct.”

While Madison inspected every brick of the town library again, I let my gaze roam over the rest of the square. Quickly, I realized that people were watching. Kerry was at the diner, looking at us through the window. Jackie was in her shop doing the same thing.

My spine straightened. I needed to remember who this was for and why I was doing this.

“Can we agree that this is the project for season two?”

“Fine.” She let out a harsh sigh. “If you’re insisting, then we’ll make it work. Even if the inside is completely trashed.”

“It’s not. A ... few people have been in. It’s in need of work, but it’s as solid as the mansion was.”

“All right, but I want your full cooperation. If we’re not in Nashville, then we need everything else to be perfect.”

“Yes. I’ll be present and ready to make this place incredible.” That was what I could promise. The stuff with Jude was something I’d have to make myself do. And I was never good at forcing anything.

Thankfully, she didn’t press for clarification.

“Fine. I’ll track down the owner.”

“I did that. And they’re willing to sell. I’ll cover it like I did the mansion. The network just pays the reno cost. And ... travel for employees.”

Her eyes cut to me. “You should cover that, considering this was all your idea.”

“I’ll cover it for my guys,” I answered. “The ones I work with regularly. Whoever you bring, you need to cover.”

Last season, they’d doubled my team. It wasn’t just contractors. It was personal assistants, a filming crew, and even actors who were designed to pretend they were working on the mansion.

Madison narrowed her eyes at me. I was pushing her, and I knew that, but the show itself was her thing.

“We’ll split it,” she said slowly. “But this better be the best season yet.”

“Once people see this place, they’ll love it. I know they will.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line and she nodded. “Send me the offer once you have it. And tell me who you’re bringing. Not the one from season one.”

Last summer, Madison had a tryst with one of the best men I worked with. He was a notorious ladies’ man and was very clear upfront that he didn’t want a relationship with her.

Madison had hoped for one anyway.

Not having him here would suck. He was great to work with professionally.

“Will do.”

“I’ll get Jude and we’ll film your reunion first thing.”

“R-reunion?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Do I need to remind you that it looked like he cheated on me?”

“Even if he did, you still miss him. You’ll hug and kiss before doing an interview about how you’re angry but are willing to work on it.”

“Once again, I’m not kissing someone who cheated on me,” I said slowly through clenched teeth.

“You said you would cooperate. This is what that means. I know what will sell, and you two are it.”

She was gone before I could say anything else, and I had to ignore the rising panic. Fuck. I should have known she wouldn’t let sleeping dogs lie with this thing with Jude.

Luckily, I didn’t have to worry about it long, because someone was running up to me.

“Oh my God!” Kerry looked like she’d just won the lottery. “Who was that? Why was she looking at the old library?”

I blinked back into focus. “I don’t know if I can share yet.”

“ Please! Is this about the show? She looked so official!”

“It ... might be, but we’re still working stuff out on that.”

“Kerry, I swear!” Tammy had followed her. “Not only did you make me run, but now you’re hounding the poor woman!”

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m sure it’s big news.”

“If you’re gonna be fixing that old thing up, you’ll be under a lot of stress. And Kerry here wants to know too much.”

“This isn’t a bad topic this time,” Kerry said with her hands on her hips.

“You and the rest of the town are on thin ice after starting a betting pool in the town square.” Tammy narrowed her eyes.

“It’s how we welcome people. And you joined the bet later.”

“You joined?” I asked. “What did you bet?”

If she’d said it would never happen, then she was going to be a rich woman. I was still considering making a fake identity to get the winnings, but something was stopping me. I knew Henry and I wouldn’t happen, but if hell froze over and we did, it would be mortifying to lose a bet with myself.

“She bet that you two would be in denial and be together by late summer.”

Tammy went red in the face. “Kerry, I swear to God ?—”

“It’s fine,” I said. “It’s your money to lose.”

“Lose?” Tammy asked. “What, do you know something we don’t?”

“I’m not single, guys.”

“You’re still with that little twerp?” Tammy nearly yelled. I realized my mistake.

“No, not really. I mean, it’s just complicated. I’m not ready to move on.”

Kerry and Tammy looked at each other, seemingly silently exchanging words between them.

Then Kerry spoke. “I think you had something on the denial thing.”

“I’m not dumb.”

“Can we get back to whatever we were talking about before?” I begged. There was something about the idea of me and Henry that made my entire body hot. In the early summer heat, it wasn’t good for me.

“Oh, right!” Kerry said with a laugh. “I have information to get.” She suddenly turned serious. “The library. What’s happening with that?”

“Kerry,” Tammy warned.

“She’s on a major show, Tammy! We could be featured! Do you know what tourism does to economies? Good things. This could be great for us.”

“Mollie’s gonna kill me for saying this, but we all know she’s going through something because of the twerp she was with. Can you give her a break?”

Suddenly, I wished we were talking about the bet again. Thinking about whatever post must have gone up about me was my worst nightmare. I hated that they even knew about Jude, but what I hated more was that they would all see me cave and go back.

“I’ll get over it,” I ground out. I had to. “I’ll have plenty to focus on if the show comes here.”

“So it’s a possibility?” Kerry asked.

“It’s getting more and more real by the second.”

“Can I post this on the Facebook group? Please? I’ll do whatever you want!”

“Let me finalize the sale. It would be worse if this didn’t happen and everyone was excited.”

“Okay. So don’t post. But I can draft it!” She ran back to the diner, obviously thrilled by the idea of drafting a post.

Tammy sighed. “She never stops.”

“It’s sweet. Definitely different than Nashville.” I looked at Tammy and bit my lip.

She caught it immediately. “Got a question for me?”

“What did they say in the Facebook group?”

“You really wanna know?”

“No. Yes. I’m not sure.”

She pulled out her phone and handed it over. “I’m only doing this because it’s nothing bad. And because you have a good friend.”

I scrolled through everything. Just like Mollie said, they were on my side. Tammy, inexplicably, seemed the angriest.

“Hypothetically,” I said slowly, “if I were to ... forgive him, what would they say then?”

Her voice was low. “If you were to what ?”

“Move on. Move forward.” My skin crawled just saying it. “With him.”

“Once a cheater, always a cheater.” Tammy shook her head. “You deserve better.”

I did. “Still . . .”

“I’ll tell you what I tell my daughter when she’s considering something dumb. It doesn’t matter what I think or what anyone else does. If you do this, in the end, you have to live with it. Is that something you can do?”

“I think I have to. For the show.”

“You know”—Tammy walked close and put a hand on my shoulder—“things might seem like they have to go a certain way, but nothing is ever set in stone. You’re a smart woman, Wren. Whatever you don’t wanna do, I bet you can find a way out of it.”

“I don’t know if I can this time. And I keep trying to figure out some way to move forward and get work done?—”

Her hand tightened. “You just got done fixing up a whole mansion. You keep busy. What you need is to fill up your cup and relax .”

“I’m terrible at that.”

“Step one. Come inside the diner and get a drink and some food. I’ll make sure you get well fed. Step two. We figure it out.”

“I’m sure you’re busy. I’ll be?—”

“None of that.” Her hand squeezed again and she started pushing me toward the diner. “I’m not above giving you a coloring page if it means you sit still for a bit.”

“Does that ever work?”

“It does. I gave one to Jade until she was twenty. What a relief that was.”

The cool air of the diner hit me as we walked in, and Tammy gave me a table and a coloring page. I planned on working on the design for the library, but every time she caught me, she took away my crayons.

“What, am I in time-out?”

“That’s what you get when you don’t listen. Now you just have to sit and talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Oh, there are a lot of things. Let me tell you about the time Ron figured out about those internet trackers and tried to throw out my phone. That always gets people to laugh.”

She launched into a story about her husband. At first, I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy hearing about a man I’d never met, but Tammy was a good storyteller. I was laughing by the time she was done with her tale, and she immediately launched into another one about Kerry.

I didn’t get a chance to think about the show or the library the entire time.

And honestly, it was nice to be free of it for a bit. It felt like I was a part of something for once.

Even if it wouldn’t last forever.