Page 13 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

HENRY

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Kerry Winsor: IT’S OFFICIAL! Renovating with Love is coming to Strawberry Springs for season two to renovate the library!

Comments:

Marjorie Brown: Listen, I know I’ve been a pain in your ass, but this is just mean. The library is closed. It always will be.

Kerry Winsor: It’s not a joke!!! I happen to know firsthand that it’s real!

Jade Clark: HOLY SHIT! SHE’S NOT LYING!

Marjorie Brown: NO FUCKING WAY.

Jade Clark: I’m finally gonna read again!

Nicole Rudder: When will it be done? By the next school year or so? I need to see if I can take the kids there for more books. The school one has an awful selection!

Dale Garrett: @Henry Connor Did you see this?

Kerry Winsor: Oh, we know he knows. He knows EVERYTHING.

Henry Connor: Guys, please. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s NOT gonna happen.

Kerry Winsor: But you’ve known all along, right?

Henry Connor: . . . Yes.

I had just finished planting marigolds in the garden when four cars drove by. One of them was a sports car with a rumbling engine that I could hear coming from miles away. If I were anywhere else, I wouldn’t think much of it. But this was not normal for Strawberry Springs.

Filming would be happening soon, though I had no idea when it would start.

Since I’d been outed as the one who knew this was coming, people had been incessantly asking me to tell them what I knew, which was next to nothing.

Wren had all but disappeared in the last few days, and I assumed she was getting the final details worked out.

I wasn’t sure when I would be ready for the chaos of a show to start, but I was happy the town was getting the library back.

The cars returned as I watered the rose bushes in the front of my house, and I found myself growing annoyed.

“Hey, you!” a male voice called.

I slowly turned and saw a man with dark hair leaning out of the sports car. Of course he would talk to me of all people.

For living so close to town, it was always quiet here.

Not anymore, apparently.

“Yes?” I asked. I put on my polite face, ignoring the churning in my gut.

“Can you tell me where the square is? This little town has terrible signage.”

That was because they’d faded a long time ago. “Most people don’t need them. Are you visiting?”

He laughed. “Did you not hear? We’re filming Renovating with Love here.”

“I did, but I didn’t think it would be starting so soon.”

“We’re too popular. Gotta strike while the iron is hot. Now, where’s the town square?”

“Go two roads that way and turn right.”

“Cool. Thanks, man. Tell your wife I said those are some nice flowers.”

He drove off, the loud engine of his car rattling every single one of my brain cells. My grip on the watering can grew tight. He’d said we’re popular .

Please tell me that’s not Jude.

I’d planned on avoiding anything related to filming. I needed my weekends to rest my mind for the week ahead. Usually, I spent the time either reading or catching up on medical journals and podcasts.

But now I was curious. If he were Wren’s costar, then I could see why things had ended as they had. Sure, from the outside, he was conventionally attractive. I usually didn’t let my first impressions of people mean much, but the loud car and the way he’d spoken to me meant nothing good for Wren.

And before I realized it, I was going inside to wash up and head into town.

The square was as busy as a farmers market day. The area near the library had been blocked off. People were concentrated on one side, all facing the filming that was taking place. I froze. How fast was the show moving? Wren had mentioned some time off, but had she even gotten that?

I could see the woman who was on my mind in the distance. Her hair was wavy and down today, falling over one shoulder. Her arms were tightly crossed as she talked to a woman with glossy black hair.

Her eyes met mine. I gave her a polite wave, planning to go ask what the hell was going on. Kerry would know.

But Wren was jogging over to me.

She had light makeup on, her lashes darker than usual. She looked good.

But not like the Wren I knew.

“Henry! Hi.”

“Hey,” I replied. “Weren’t you in the middle of something?”

“It can wait,” she replied. “I didn’t know you’d be here today.”

“I didn’t know this was happening today.”

She blew out a breath. “Yeah. They move fast. The second the location was figured out, they wanted to start. Why wait?”

“Did you get your full break?”

“Like I was relaxing anyway.” She crossed her arms again and looked at the whole crew. “The sooner I do this, the sooner it’s over with.” Her body was tense. Every inch of her was coiled tight.

“You don’t seem thrilled about that.”

“I’ll be fine. Today is a reunion with Jude and talking about the library.”

“And what does that reunion entail?”

“Nothing great,” she muttered.

“Is he here?”

“Yep.” She pointed to a man walking over to the front of the library. His dark hair was visible from a mile away. It was the same man who’d asked me where the square was. “That’s him.”

His eyes flicked to Wren and then right back to the woman he was talking to. There was no second look. No moment to admire how beautiful she was.

Inexplicably, my hands tightened and I shoved them in my pockets.

Her hands gripped the barrier. “I don’t even wanna look at him.”

“Then don’t.”

“What, just, say hello and nothing else?”

“Exactly. You’re in control here.”

She took a breath. “I don’t think the director agrees with you.”

“She might run the show, but you’re still a person. Which means some level of control.”

She nodded. “You’re right. Or at least you should be.” Her lips curved upward. “Thank you. I needed that reminder. How long are you staying?”

I thought about it. I could only mentally handle a few minutes. I was used to my schedule of being alone on the weekend.

But it was Wren .

“Let’s get this started!” Jude called. He pumped his arms at the crowd watching.

Only Kerry clapped. Silence then followed.

Jude’s smile fell and he loudly grumbled, “Tough crowd.”

“How long do you want me to stay?” I asked.

“I’m sure you’re busy.”

“I can make time.”

She bit her lip before answering. “Four hours. Can we talk after it? I’ll buy you dinner.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver.”

She rejoined the director and Jude, only giving him a shallow wave. I stood there like a fool before walking over with everyone else.

“She’s not even giving him the time of day,” Marjorie said. “Good for her.”

“I hate that she has to do this at all,” I muttered.

“Ooooh, protective.”

“Not you too.”

“I can’t help that I have eyes and live for annoying people. But if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t get in on the bet.”

“Oh, please.” Henrietta rolled her eyes. “You were in the bathroom when everyone was talking about it. Otherwise you would have joined in too.”

Marjorie shushed her and I shook my head. I was glad the town was having fun, but they would be proven wrong when Wren made it look like she was dating Jude.

My fists clenched again at the mere thought. I hadn’t realized it at the time, but I’d avoided the topic of filming not only because of the chaos, but because I wasn’t sure I could watch her be with him.

But she’d asked me to stay. And I would.

Wren didn’t smile or even hug him the first time they interacted. She was focused solely on the camera. I heard Madison bark something about Wren running to Jude, but she only shook her head in response.

Good. She deserved to be able to say no.

They did multiple versions of the reunion before the woman behind the camera threw her hands up and told them to go inside, presumably to film the tours.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen those doors open,” Marjorie said. “Oh, I can’t wait to run that place again.”

I turned to her. “You’d be coming out of retirement?”

“Me and Henrietta both. We started our life in that building. We might as well be back there.”

It was rare to see her so serious, but everyone knew both of them had been crushed when the funding was cut.

“I bet you’ll both be happy.”

“It’ll be like old times. Maybe I can sneak her to the back like before we told everyone we were together.”

“Gonna carve more desks while you’re at it?”

“She’d kill me if—” Marjorie paused. “How did you know about the desk? That was before you moved here.”

“There’s no chance you’d forget you heard that?”

“Nope. I’m always gonna need an answer. Just ask Theo. He knows I don’t let things go.”

“Wren and I ... snuck in a while ago.”

Marjorie gasped. “You what ?”

Now people were turning to us. “Keep it down. I don’t want Mike hearing about it.”

“That’s the final straw. Where’s Dale?” She turned and hobbled away. “I have a bet to enter!”

I winced and looked at Henrietta. “Sorry.”

“Oh, don’t be. It keeps her entertained.” She shrugged. “Oh, and I’ll be entering it too. You sneaking in somewhere? You have it bad .”

I sighed. “You people never let stuff go.”

“Watching you young people fall in love is all we have.” Her eyes traced the crowd. “Oh, Marjorie’s handing money over. I better place mine too.”

She was gone before I could tell her not to waste her money. People were gonna be pretty mad when they lost it all. Maybe Hugh would finally win something. He was known for being negative.

Eventually, Wren came back out. When she finally did, her shoulders were tense, and I stepped away in case she needed me.

She walked over the second she saw me.

“How’s it going?” I asked.

“We’re about to refilm the reunion scene.

” She took a long drink of water. “I’m sticking to my guns and focusing on what really matters.

” Her eyes moved to the people behind us.

Kerry, who had been recording the whole thing, waved.

Wren waved back, which turned into nearly everyone in town waving at her, grins on their faces.

“Good.”

“I don’t know if it’ll change anything in the end, though. It seems like it’s pushing back the inevitable. The show needs its love .” She said the word as if it were a curse.

“You can make it about any love. It could be for the town or ... someone else.”

She raised her brow. “Someone else?”

This was treading near something I couldn’t follow through on. “I meant some thing else. Work with anything you have.”

She considered the words, looking between the town and me. “You’re still staying, right?”

“I will.”

The director called her back over. I watched closely as she was instructed on what to do. From here, I could barely make out the conversation.

“You’ll run and hug him,” the director said. I could hear her far better from my new spot. “He’ll apologize, and then you’ll say you’re happy to see him. And then you’ll kiss.”

“I already said no to kissing him. I don’t want to.”

“Rude,” Jude said. His voice was louder, and the town all heard him. “Come on. What I did wasn’t that big of a deal.”

Someone in the crowd scoffed. I was pretty sure it was Jade.

Wren glared over at him, and I had to resist the urge to step in.

“We’re filming this now ,” the director said. “No more putting this off. Go down the road and run to us.”

My chest tightened when she did what they said. I didn’t want to see this, but she’d asked me to stay. The director yelled action and Wren started to jog. I watched every movement she made as she got close to both of us.

I expected her to run to Jude and pull him into her embrace. And at first, she was. But then her eyes cut to me and she hesitated. The entire square was silent.

When she finally got moving again, she didn’t go to Jude.

Instead, she came to me .

As she got close, I opened my mouth, expecting her to ask for advice. I was going to tell her to end it for the day. Everyone was frustrated and she needed to figure out some common ground to get her out of what she didn’t want to do.

All of those words vanished in a puff of smoke when she got to me.

Because she grabbed the nape of my neck and pulled me into a searing kiss.