I looked at my father in disbelief, waiting for him to deny it, which he never did. He actually looked proud.
“You’re the reason?” Willow whispered. She stepped away from her mother, her stare fixed on my father. I had no idea what she meant, but I knew I needed to diffuse the situation quickly.
I crossed the short walkway and took Willow’s hand, turning her. “Now isn’t the time. You were just attacked or God knows what. You need rest, but first you need to finish your discharge.” I nudged her towards the receptionist desk. The nurses had stopped working to watch the drama unfold, but with one hard look, they snapped back into action.
*
I nursed Willow back to health over the next week, despite the protests of her mother and father. All they managed to do was argue who was the worst parent. It had driven Willow up the wall, so I kept them away from her with orders not to come around until all her scars had faded.
It had been a long, hard week considering everything that had unraveled. Willow had come clean about everything, even the fiancé she hypocritically never mentioned and her attempt to butcher my best friend.
In the end, I could do nothing more than nod and accept the truth of what is all the while wondering if I could truly forgive her.
After a week, the answer came to me when the bitter truth had transformed into resentment, and I could no longer pretend anymore.
I came home after working from sun up to sun down and found her in the kitchen making lasagna. The apartment smelled delicious, but I couldn’t bring myself to appreciate the smell or the sentiment behind it.
I stood against the doorframe for long moments, watching her move around the kitchen. She seemed like a natural. She had always been someone I could just sit and watch do mundane things like brush her hair and never get bored.
I waited and waited for the familiar stirrings I normally felt when just looked at her, but none came. I felt dead inside.
“You weren’t just coming to visit your mother, were you?” The words were out before I could stop them. She jumped at the sudden sound of my voice and clutched her chest with deep breaths. I continued to watch her dispassionately from my perch.
When she finally collected herself, she asked, “What are you talking about?” She looked around nervously and now clutched her middle.
“And you weren’t going to return to Seattle either,” I continued, not really requiring an answer. “You were going to run.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not so ridiculous. What is ridiculous is why you would condemn me for being engaged when you were engaged, too and for the very same reasons.”
“I never agreed to marry him.”
“So did you run?”
“I didn’t, Dash. I—”
“You did!” I roared. I swear my voice could have shaken the world.
“Why would I run?” she screamed back. “It was a stupid idea. Where would I have gone? There was nowhere for me to go!” Her screams turned into sobs, never realizing she had confessed. One thing that hadn’t changed in the week since I found her in the hospital was how I hung on her every word.
“You thought your father would make you marry him, so you ran, and you came to say goodbye, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” she cried, finally admitting the truth. I should have felt victorious, but I didn’t. Like I’d said… I was dead inside.
I looked into her eyes and held them. I needed her to know what she did to me. “Well, then I guess this is it.”
I saw the shift in her eyes. The fear that was in them was painful to watch, but I couldn’t bring myself to console her. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I can’t survive you walking away for a second time. This time it could be for ten years or twenty.” It could be forever.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I’m choosing myself this time. I’m saying that I’m the one walking away.”
“Dash—”
“Goodbye, Willow.” Her name tasted bitter on my tongue, but I couldn’t bring myself to call her Angel anymore.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
TWO MONTHS LATER