Page 82 of Her Wicker Guardian

The immediate answer surprises me. “No?”

“You don’t need another person standing in your yard making this look like an emergency command center. Call me if you actually need a lawyer.”

“That may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“I’m billing you for it.”

We hang up.

Tessa approaches once I put the phone away. “We should probably go.”

“Probably.”

“If people are already coming out here to see him, four more kids standing around probably won’t help.”

“That’s a surprisingly mature observation.”

“Please don’t tell my mother.”

Locke takes the request seriously. “Why?”

“Because then she’ll expect me to be mature all the time.”

He considers that seriously enough that Tessa starts laughing. “I understand,” he says.

I’m not convinced he does, but teaching Locke about teenagers can wait.

The four of them start toward the corner of the cottage. Tessa pauses before following them. “I didn’t take a picture.”

“I know.”

She nods once. Connor looks back toward the bear. “It still looks awesome.”

“Go home, Connor.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They disappear around the cottage. A few seconds later, doors close and the engine starts.

Locke listens until the engine fades, then turns back toward the bear. “They came to see me,” he says.

“Yeah.”

“But then they talked to me.”

I look at him. “They did.”

He picks up the willow he set aside. “That was better.”

My phone buzzes again before I can answer. Locke looks at it, then at me.

“Many people are talking to you too.”

I glance at the screen. Another name I haven’t seen in years. “Seems so.”

“Because of me.”

“Some of them. Some are just nosy.”