Against the Rules (Even The Score #4)

92. willow

CHAPTER 92

WILLOW

MORE PERSONAL CONFESSIONS

The balcony was quiet. I could feel how uncomfortable Dan was. He started pacing before he told my mom he was going to close the curtains and we could spend as much time as we wanted out on the balcony, alone.

"Mom, I’m not upset about it anymore," I said. "I promise."

"This is hard to talk about." My mom fidgeted with her purse. "Your dad was the one who asked for the divorce."

What? That couldn’t possibly be true, I saw how devastated my dad was, and it killed me when that happened. My mom was the one who lived between Houston and San Antonio while I went to college, the one who immediately got married, how…?

My mom took a deep breath. "I was working on my book, I was spending a lot of long nights traveling, and one of the days when I came back home, you had this assignment where we had to talk about the emergency procedures for the family. Your father and I realized that in our separate plans, our first and only thought was the kids. That’s it. It wore away at your dad when he realized we had this big love for each other, but we just assumed we’d be okay and that was it. He wanted to do counseling, he wanted to spend more time together, but the more we did that…"

"How is this the first time I’m hearing about this?"

"Willow, why would I tell you about any of this? How am I supposed to tell my daughter how my marriage failed?"

"It would’ve changed things."

"When you’re young, you want someone to blame." She hesitated. "Your dad was the one who stopped the counseling, your dad was the one who asked for the divorce, and all of those poems that won those awards weren’t even about me?—"

"Oh." I hesitated. "He’s seeing someone?"

"Willow…that’s why he moved to Boston."

Hurt pulsed through me. I crossed my arms over my chest. "So, he didn’t move for the job. He could’ve stayed here."

"I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to blame him. Your dad’s an amazing dad. He loves you so much and he’s going to do everything he can to still be your life. We made this agreement, I’d move to Houston first while he stayed behind for you?—"

"If you told me, I would’ve tried to understand."

"The truth is, the divorce was so painful. It was embarrassing—it still is. How do I tell my daughter I couldn’t make my marriage work? And a big part of that was because I just didn’t want to? He stopped the counseling because I honestly didn’t have the effort in me." She sighed. "We wanted to spare you from that."

"But…dad was hurt about the divorce."

"Your dad was upset his girlfriend moved to Boston."

"You didn’t spare me, Mom. This still hurt. Why didn’t we ever talk about this?"

"Like how you’re so open with me? The open mics? And your football player boyfriend you’ve had this summer?"

Silence.

A realization struck me. "It’s not the shared interests that bring Dad and I together. It’s because we talk to each other. I guess not as much as I thought but it’s still talking. Really talking." I hesitated. "And if I’m actually talking, I want you to know I love King."

"Trust me, you don’t know what that means."

"Then whatever version of love I have, I love him. That’s me being open and honest."

"I don’t know how I feel about this."

That was fair and it was honest, even if it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. I held up a finger. "I have to grab Dan, I’ll be right back."

I made my way inside and motioned Dan to follow me. Before we went to mom though, we needed to lay down some groundwork for how this discussion would happen.

"Dan, it’s been good at the house, right?"

There was an uncomfortable pause. "Yeah."

"I want to talk to both of you and I can’t have you undermine me and talk over me. Right here, right now, I need you to agree to listen because I know mom’s going to look for your opinion and I want you to actually hear what I have to say, no jumping to conclusions or judgments."

"Kid, there’s more about King that you don’t know?—"

"What part? The fact that he’s been to jail? That he used to do illegal street racing? That he beat his dad senseless? I know all of it."

He grunted.

"I need you to listen. That’s it. You can have thoughts, I’m not stopping you, but I want you to listen ."

"Your mom isn’t going to?—"

I pointed towards my mom, waiting for us. "If you sabotage me, I’m moving out tonight and telling her it’s all your fault."

" What?! "

"I am so tired of everyone having an opinion on my boyfriend, and I’m tired of all the petty sidestepping, and the lies, all I want to do is talk, so we’re going to talk. You need to listen. That’s it."

Reluctantly, he nodded, and I gestured for him to follow me before I began.

"Here’s the truth. My boyfriend is Travis King, number seventy-two of the Marrs Romans. He’s been reading poetry—he’s on Maya Angelou right now—because he’s trying—and succeeding—in getting closer to my dad."

My mom’s eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"Poetry?" Lawson repeated. "Poetry? King?"

"Yes. He fixed my car for me, that took him since Austin, and even though I now have my car, he still drives me to therapy twice a week because he likes to spend the drive with me. We literally schedule the visits during his breaks." I counted down the reasons off my fingers. "He’s protective, he’s loyal, he’s so incredibly kind, he’s patient with me, even when I am certainly not patient with myself."

My mom sighed. "He took you to a college party?—"

"I took him to a college party. The whole reason I went was to support a friend, and if King would’ve had his way, we would’ve skipped it." I took a deep breath. "I’m making music again and he’s the most supportive person I’ve ever met, he genuinely loves what I do, and he goes out of his way to show how much he supports me."

"You’re…you’re making music again?"

"I have songs written about you, Mom," I confessed. "Songs about how much I love you and how much you mean to me. Music is such a big part of my life, like King, and it feels so wrong to have these parts of myself you don’t know anything about."

My mom was quiet in contemplative silence while Dan slipped off his Romans cap and held it between his hands.

"Dan, you’re becoming a big part of my life too," I added and he glanced up at me. "I wish I would’ve known all the details about the divorce, we could’ve been in a better place. You and I could’ve been in a better place." I took my phone out of my purse. "I have an audition for the Shbair music program, and I put down both of your names as guests and I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you."

" Music school?" My mom blinked. "But you’re doing so well in comms?—"

"I’m miserable in comms."

"Willow…I don’t want you to go out in the world with the wrong expectations and get disappointed."

"That’s part of life, Mom. I’m fine with the disappointment if none of it works out, but I don’t want to regret not putting myself out there." I gestured towards them. "If anybody wants to talk about missing out on time, it’d be you two."

They shared a loaded look with each other and Dan put his face in his hands, mumbling under his breath.

"King is the one who pushed me to audition," I told them. "He’s been with me every step of the way."

My mom held up her hand. "Can you—um—bring him here?"

This was progress. I walked back inside to a bunch of people pretending like they weren’t staring my way, making my way over to King, frozen next to a table. I wove my arm through his and pulled him towards the door.

"What’s going on?" he muttered.

"We’re doing the introductions. Come on." Outside, all three of them were silent while I presented King, arm in his. "Dan. Mom. We were supposed to do this tomorrow, this is my boyfriend, Travis King. He’s excited to meet you."

Excited was a strong word but I couldn't think of anything else to say.

"You don’t actually have a tattoo for my daughter?" my mom asked.

"Uh…I have willow leaves on my ring finger."

"Why did I ask?" my mom said under her breath.

"Son of a bitch," Dan muttered.

He cleared his throat. "And I’m getting headphones over my collarbone, her lip print on my bicep, a jade rock on my thigh, angel wings on my?—"

"Woah, okay, they don’t need to know about that—" I stopped him, flushed with embarrassment. " I didn’t even know about that."

"And you…know my ex-husband?" my mom finally asked.

King nodded. "He—uh—invited me to Thanksgiving."

"In San Antonio? With the family?"

He nodded again.

My mom went full steam ahead. "You will not be taking Willow to more drinking parties until she’s twenty-one."

"Yes, ma’am."

"Willow’s not getting a tattoo—she’s twenty years old."

"Yes, ma’am."

"Willow’s not moving out."

I could taste King’s disappointment in his silence, but he nodded anyway. "Yes, ma’am."

"I know this isn’t my place," Dan started to say and slipped on his Romans cap. "But, King, you’re taking anger management classes. Or talking to a shrink. Whatever works. Something."

I geared up to argue on King’s behalf but he surprised me by nodding once again. "Yes, sir."

Dan pushed himself up from the bench and held out his arm to my mom. The four of us didn’t shake hands or anything but my mom gave me a quick hug and patted King on the back before they took their exit back to the party.

It was so incredibly awkward and the most uncomfortable, painful minutes I’d experienced in a while, but it went so much better than I could’ve guessed.

"I think we’re dating now," I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.

"We were dating before but now—uh—yeah."

Adam toasted his drink to us when we returned. "Hey. Lawson didn’t kill you, that’s good. It was dicey there for a second. He’s not waiting to attack with no witnesses, right?"

"I…don’t think so?" King said slowly, glancing over his shoulder.

"I really thought he was going to hit you," Kassie admitted.

King’s eyes flickered to mine and something new passed his face. "Holy shit, we told them."

"Yep."

"We’re dating. Officially."

I nodded. "No one died."

"We—uh—hold on, I’ve been waiting to do this." King pushed his phone to Kassie and wrapped an arm around my waist. "We have to take a photo together."

"What?" I gazed up at him. " You want to take a photo?"

"Yeah, I have to put my girlfriend on all my socials."

I leaned into him while King dipped down to ease our height difference. Kassie snapped a dozen pictures while we smiled for the camera—our first official couple’s post together—and she turned over the phone for us to check the photos.

"That’s a very friend-like pose," Piper commented. "You can kiss the top of her head? Or—wait—what’s the caption going to be?"

King grinned. "I have an idea."

He dipped down and his lips brushed my neck, sending a jolt of electricity?—

"Six inches, King!" Dan barked.

King jerked away. "Yeah, the others will be fine."

Considering how much experimentation King and I got into during the summer, I burst into laughter and curled against him, kissing his arm. Maybe King had to keep his distance, but I was sure I’d get special treatment.

Ryan cleared his throat. "So…how did your mom take finding out about Jade the Architect?"

I stared at him.

Oh, goddammit.

"I knew I forgot something." I jogged away from the table. "Mom! Dan! Wait! We have more personal confessions!"