The Butterfly Effect (Boggy Creek Valley 1)

As she turned and walked away, I mumbled, “Oh, hey, Mom.”

Lacy chuckled. “She ignored me as well.”

Hunter walked up to us and greeted Bree with a hello and a kiss on the cheek before turning to look at me and Lacy. “My God, if you two are not the most beautiful women on this planet.”

Bree cleared her throat. As she walked to her seat, she leaned toward Hunter and whispered, “I’ll ignore that, but don’t think you can sweet-talk me back into your bed.”

He rolled his eyes and then looked back at us. “You’re the last two to arrive. Late as usual.”

Connor walked up, took Lacy’s hand, and kissed the back of it before lifting his gaze to meet hers. “Want to find a janitor’s closet somewhere?”

“Dude, really?” Hunter grumbled with a disgusted look on his face.

Lacy smirked at him. “I’m pretty sure that’s where we conceived Lilly.”

“Okay, this conversation is done,” Hunter said, taking my arm to guide me to my seat.

When I stepped around Hunter, I saw Aiden. My breath caught, and I stumbled.

Hunter caught me, and, during the commotion, Aiden and I locked eyes. He started to stand but then sat back down just as quickly when he saw Hunter pull me up before I could fall.

“You okay?” Hunter asked.

I nodded and tried to ignore the way my body seemed to sense that Aiden was close by. I had to fight the urge to rush to him, pull him to me, and tell him I loved him and that I was going to help, damn it.

“He’s not on a date; Greer is with her father,” Hunter whispered.

I turned and gave my brother a confused look. “What are you talking about?”

Hunter looked back over to where Aiden was sitting. I followed his gaze and saw Greer seated next to Aiden, with her father, Lance—who happened to be the chief of police—on her other side.

I snapped my head back to Hunter. “You think I tripped because I thought he was here with Greer?” At this point I was positive everyone was staring at us.

“Um, sorry?”

I rolled my eyes. “Let’s sit down.” I cleared my throat. “Sorry about that, everyone.”

“She’s getting over an inner ear infection,” Hunter added as he pulled out the chair between him and my father. I glanced up at him with a surprised look. Was he making an excuse for my clumsiness? I smiled. I truly loved my brother. When I looked over at my father, I couldn’t help but notice his confused expression. As far as he knew, I had long been over that problem. My mother hadn’t even noticed, her full attention was on Ben and Lilly.

Aiden happened to be directly across the table from Hunter, and Greer was directly across from me.

I glanced up and smiled at her. “Hey, Greer, how are you?”

She returned the gesture. “I’m doing great! You?”

“Good. I’m—we…Ben and I—we’re good.” I looked over at Aiden quickly and then down at the water glass the waitress was filling for me. “Thank you,” I said to her with a smile and a nod.

“I haven’t seen you guys for story time lately,” Greer said.

I spread my napkin over my lap and focused back on her. “It’s been really busy at the orchard. I honestly haven’t had time to bring Ben in, but I was planning on coming to the Thanksgiving read along.”

“Oh good! I think Ben will love it. We’re making craft turkeys!” Greer said, her voice filled with excitement. I smiled a little wider. She truly did love her job, and the kids seemed to be such a passion for her.

“Ben would love that.”

“Me too!” Lilly called out as Greer laughed.

I could feel Aiden’s eyes burning into me, and I finally looked over at him. The moment our gazes locked, it felt like the entire world slipped away and it was just the two of us. The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly in a small smile.

“Aiden, it’s good to see you,” I said, meaning it. I had missed him so much over the past month. More than I had over the years he’d been gone.

“You look beautiful, Willa. That dress is stunning on you,” he said, his gaze falling to my mouth and then back up to my eyes again.

I felt my cheeks grow hot as I glanced away for a moment before focusing back on him. “Thank you, that’s sweet of you to say. Bree bought me the dress.”

He nodded. “It’s beautiful.”

“You look handsome yourself,” I said, this time with a bit more flirtation in my voice.

He grinned, and my stomach fluttered.

When I let my gaze wander back over to Greer, she had a wide smile on her face as she glanced between me and Aiden. Her eyes met mine, and she smiled even bigger and took a sip of her wine before focusing on another conversation at the table.