I put the truck in park and get out, jogging to the front door. “Willow!” I yell her name and run to her bedroom, seeing it empty. My eyes scan the room, and I see only one black bag there. “Fuck,” I hiss, the pain in my heart coming on so strong I have to sit down on the bed. “She’s gone.”
Chapter 26
Willow
“Thank you.” I look over at Amelia sitting beside me. “For taking me.”
She shakes her head and smiles at me. “Anything for you,” she says softly, and my heart almost explodes in my chest. No one has ever said those words. Better yet, I’ve never believed them before last month.
After I left the barn, I took the golf cart to the house and walked into the house the same time that Amelia was stumbling to the coffee machine. She took one look at me and asked me what was wrong. I couldn’t really say anything to her. I didn’t trust myself not to sob. How could he think I don’t want to unpack? How can he assume such a thing? “Can you take me to see Mayson?” I ask because if anyone in the whole town knows or has seen what I’ve seen, I know it’s Mayson.
“I know you came home late this morning,” I say, and she shrugs.
“I’ll nap later,” she says. “Besides, I’m hoping that Chelsea will whip me up some biscuits and gravy.” She smiles so big as we turn into the driveway. I rub my sweaty palms on my jeans before reaching for the door handle to open the door. The sun shines so bright in the sky I have to squint to see the white door.
I walk for the front door, following Amelia, and she looks over at me. “Normally, I would just walk in, but when you come face-to-face with a naked ass even one time, you learn your lesson.” I laugh at her as she rings the bell. “If only I was kidding.”
The sound of the lock clicking open makes my heart speed up just a touch. Maybe this isn’t the greatest idea I’ve had. I’m about to turn to Amelia and make a run for it when the door opens. “Oh, she rings.” Chelsea stands there wearing shorts and a tank top. A coffee cup in her right hand comes up to her mouth as she tries to hide the smile that fills her face. But the crinkle by her eyes shows us that she is smiling.
“Oh, shut your pie hole,” Amelia says, pushing into the house and then halting in her tracks. “Are we all decent?”
“He’s in the shower,” Chelsea says.
“Phew,” Amelia says, walking into the house. “Did you cook yet?”
“I was just starting to,” she says, closing the door behind me. “Did you just come for food?” she asks, looking at Amelia, then at me.
“Yes for me. No for Willow.”
Chelsea looks over at me. “I was wondering if I could talk to Mayson.” I look down. “It’s fine if he doesn’t want to, or if you don’t want me to.”
“Willow,” she says my name softly. “He would love nothing more.”
I just nod as she pulls my hand to bring me into the house. I take a second to look around. Pictures of the family hang along the walls, and my eyes stop on one with a woman and a man sitting in two chairs with everyone behind them. “That was last Christmas,” Chelsea says. “Finally, everyone was in one place at the same time.” I smile over at her as my eyes find Quinn’s right away. He stands with his arm around his father.
“Can you make biscuits?” Amelia sticks her head around the corner. “And gravy.”
Chelsea shakes her head and walks ahead, and I follow her, the open concept very much like Quinn’s house. “Coffee?” Amelia says, starting the coffee. I’m about to tell her no. The last thing I need in me is coffee, not with my nerves.
“Hey.” I hear Mayson behind me and see him coming out of what I’m assuming is the bedroom. His hair is still wet as he walks closer and kisses Chelsea on the lips and then looks at me. “Good to see you.”
“I rang the bell,” Amelia says, leaning on the counter with her coffee mug in her hand. Mayson chuckles and shakes his head. “There are things you can’t erase from your mind.”
“You didn’t see shit,” he tells her.
“I saw your ass, and then I saw that one”—she points at Chelsea—“running away from you.”
“I was not running.” Chelsea looks at Mayson.
“I had my weapon exposed,” Mayson cuts in. “She was running for cover.”
I roll my lips while Amelia puts a hand to her stomach. “I’m going to be sick.”
“Why don’t I start cooking, and you show Willow the backyard,” Chelsea says, and Mayson looks over at me and nods his head.
“Right this way,” he says, turning and walking out of the house. I follow him, my heart is beating so fast in my chest, and my mouth is suddenly so dry. I should have gotten a water bottle. He walks outside, and I see the difference now. There is no pool here, just a hammock. “Do you mind sitting on the steps?” He points at the concrete steps, and I shake my head. He walks first, and I follow his lead, sitting down next to him. He must sense my nervousness because he talks first. “We come out here every morning to watch the sunrise.”
I laugh, looking down at my hands. “This family is obsessed with sunrises and sunsets.”
“I think if you grew up like them, you can see the beauty in it.” His voice goes soft. “But if you grew up like us, it’s just a sign you are going to live another day.”
I look over at him. “I …” The only word that comes out of my mouth. “I’m trying to see it.”
“It took me a while,” he admits.
“Are you okay talking about it?” I ask him. “I don’t want to make you feel weird or uncomfortable.”
“There is no one in this whole world besides me and you,” he says, “who understand what the other is going through.” Those words hit me right in the chest.
“I never thought I would ever meet someone who would know what I felt,” I say softly, the tears coming even though I have been fighting them off. “I would lie awake at night.”
“And look up, wondering what you did.” I look over at him. “It took me a long time to figure out there wasn’t anything I could have changed.”
“How did you do it?” I ask. “How did you take that leap of faith?” He doesn’t have a chance to say a word. “How did you take that chance?” I look down. “Like I want to. I want to do it all. Take the help that people give me.” He nods his head, knowing that I need to talk this out. “I want to smile and be okay with smiling and not smile, looking over my shoulder to see if someone is watching. Because you know the minute they see you smiling, they have leverage over you.”
“That was the hardest part for me, too,” he says softly to me. “To see the good in people out there. To know they weren’t taking notes to use on you later.”
“Exactly,” I say. “Quinn, he’s …”
“I know,” he says, nodding his head. “But not everyone is our parents. There are good people out there,” he says. “People who would put their lives before others. If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it either.”