Page 34

Jack

I woke to find her side of the bed empty, my arm outstretched, and hand curled as if hers had never left.

I rolled over and checked the clock by the bed to find I’d woken much later than usual, but fuck I needed it. The last few weeks had taken a strain on both of us, though I’d never admit that for fear of adding guilt to the pile of emotions Willow was experiencing.

I registered music coming from below. Curious, I slid out of bed, quickly freshened up headed downstairs to discover the source of the music.

I opened the kitchen door to find Willow with her back to me. She was in the same clothes she’d gone to bed in, hair in a wavy ponytail, dancing around the kitchen island to Bon Jovi’s greatest hits.

I quietly shut the door, crossed my arms and leaned back against the door frame.

She looked free, young. She was young at twenty-nine, but somewhere along the way, she’d dealt with more than most in their eighties and she’d lost her youthful spark. Watching her dance around my kitchen, barefoot, and eyes closed. She was carefree, and it was a sight to behold.

She spun to Born To Be My Baby. Time stopped for us both – for her as she was lost in the music, using a ladle as her microphone, for me because look at her.

What an unfortunate song. You were born to be my baby, and baby I was born to be your man.

The lyrics tortured me, mocking the teenage crush that consumed this forty-seven-year-old.

Laughing at my idiocy for making a promise to stay away.

Watching her like this, free and happy, after everything she’d been through, my ability to stick to my promise and not divulge every feeling, my desire was waning.

Her skin glowed as she played with her air guitar, and when the final chorus hit, she spun around the island, completely unaware of her surroundings.

I pushed off the door frame, drawn in by her, a grin tugging at my lips.

She was so lost in the moment that she didn’t notice my body as she spun and slammed into my front.

I caught her before she fell, holding her by the top of her arms, but it was too late as her body stiffened, and it was definitely too late when her eyes snapped open, darting around until they met mine.

A cherry blush spread over her cheeks and down her neck as she shrunk in on herself, hiding her perfect face behind her hands and ladle.

Smiling, I pulled her hands away. Her chin was pushed down, avoiding my gaze. With the tips of my fingers, I gently pulled her chin up to force her eyes to meet mine.

When she saw my reaction, her expression softened into the most radiant, beautiful grin I’d ever seen, and my resolve began to crumble before my eyes. The music fell into the background until I wasn’t sure if it was there at all.

Her lips were like an invisible string, pulling me in. Her smile faltered as her eyes dropped to my lips. Slowly but surely, we pulled towards each other.

A loud knock at the front door pulled us apart, both taking sharp breaths in as we jumped. In unison, we turned to the kitchen door, unsure if the noise was a figment of our imaginations, until the brass knocker knocked again three times.

“I’ll grab that,” she rasped, her voice cracking as she jumped towards the front door, dropping the ladle at my feet.