The Problem with Falling (Problems #3)
Chapter 10
25%
CHAPTER 10
Willow
From: [email protected]
Subject: Willow News Update
Hey Old Man,
My first few nights in Westin Lake have been adventurous, to say the least. I’ve been here a bit over three weeks, and everyone has been pretty welcoming. About a week ago, I accidentally ate too many special brownies without knowing they were special brownies, and let’s just say the night went in a direction I didn’t think it would. Remember when Anna and I got into your edibles and took too many when we were sixteen? Now imagine that times fifty.
Gosh, I was a handful for you. I’m surprised you didn’t ground me forever after that—though six months did feel like forever back then.
I’ve been thinking about Anna a lot lately. I wish I could turn off that part of my brain sometimes. I wonder how she is. I always wonder how she is. I guess that’s life, though—a blend of memories and regret and words left unsaid.
Molly asked if her grandson Theo and I could move up the anniversary party for her and Harry. She came back the other night upset after a doctor’s appointment for Harry. I think they got some bad news after a fall he had last week. They thought it wasn’t that serious, but his hip is having a lot of struggles. I feel awful, and it makes me want to pour everything into their anniversary celebration. Theo and I are going into town to meet with a few caterers and shop for decorations tomorrow.
Theo’s a hard nut to crack. I still can’t tell if he likes me, but he did give me his cookies, so that’s a good sign. Then again, afterward, he told me not to eat any more of his food with the grumpiest expression.
Anyway, I love you, Dad.
I’ll see you soon.
-Your Little Bird
PS Don’t worry. I’m okay.
From: [email protected]
Subject: Dad News Update
Little Bird,
I’m sorry to hear that about Molly’s husband. That’s a hard situation to be in. It probably means the world to Molly to have you there to help out. Just remember to take care of yourself, too. I know those issues can be very heavy.
I saw Anna the other day in town. I’m sorry you’re still struggling with that. I would say I could talk to her for you, but I know it wouldn’t help much of anything. Grieving people who are still alive is tough. Also, I forgot about that edibles incident. It just upset me again, so you better come home because you’re grounded again. Okay, maybe that’s just me trying to get you home.
If this Theo guy is rude to you, let me know, and I’ll come kick his ass.
Or if he tries to cozy up to you, let me know, and I’ll come kick his ass.
Avery is twenty-five weeks now, which is wild to me. I can’t wait to meet the twins. And I’m grateful that you’ll be home for their birth. Something else to look forward to.
I love you, Willow.
You said you’ll see me soon. Make it sooner than that.
-Your Old Man
PS I’ll always worry. But I know you’ll be okay.
“ D ad said you’re living with a grumpy asshole,” Avery said on the Zoom call that she, Yara, and I were on. I sat on the edge of the deck in Theo’s backyard, bathing in the sunlight as my sisters and I caught up on life.
Avery looked beautiful pregnant, but she’d been put on bed rest, which must’ve been driving her up a wall. Over the past few days, ever since she was told the news about being on bed rest, she’d texted Yara and me dozens of Instagram reels that I’d already seen weeks ago on TikTok. Avery hated social media, but she must’ve hit her boredom threshold. Now, she was leaving me voice memos with random social media sound clips.
“I wouldn’t say he’s an asshole,” I stated as I put on my sunglasses. “I mean, there are asshole moments, but I think that’s just him trying to be an asshole, not because he’s an actual asshole. If that makes sense.”
“That makes absolutely zero sense,” Avery stated.
I chuckled. “It’s like he’s trying to be an asshole just to keep people away.”
Avery pursed her lips together in understanding. “Oh. That’s a concept I can respect. I like keeping people away, too. People are the worst.”
“Not if you get to know them,” Yara chimed in as she stood in her doggy daycare, mixing up a batch of homemade dog treats.
I nodded. “I agree. Some people put on an act until you get to know them. But I can definitely say he’s a grump.”
“As someone who fell in love with her own grump, marry him,” Yara said.
“As someone who married a golden retriever, I can vouch that a grump and golden retriever pair well together,” Avery agreed. It was odd seeing my two sisters so happily married and in love. For a long time, I thought that would be me. I thought we’d all live in Honey Creek together and raise our families. I thought I’d have Dad build me a house on the lake with a view of the most stunning sunsets. I thought I’d be married young and deep in love.
That all changed after the accident with Anna.
“Willow,” someone called out behind me. I turned to find Theo standing there, staring my way with his always stern look. “We should get going if we’re gonna pick up decorations and meet with the caterers to sample the food.”
“ Holy shit !” both my sisters exclaimed as they got as close as possible to their cell phones.
“ That’s the asshole ?!” Avery hollered without thought.
“Avery!” I whisper-shouted, feeling my cheeks flush from her bluntness.
“Sorry, sorry.” She cleared her throat and then whispered, “That’s the asshole?”
“Hmph,” Theo huffed, arching an eyebrow.
“Oh, he is a grump,” Yara commented. “I know that huff. I fell in love with that huff in Alex.”
“Hey, asshole! Over here!” Avery said, waving her hands in the air.
Theo stepped closer, his body directly beside mine, and he kneeled to get in front of the laptop’s camera. “Yeah?”
“Come closer,” she urged.
He inched a little closer.
“You see that, Yara?” Avery asked.
“Oh, I see it. The blue eyes,” Yara agreed. “He’s giving extreme Bradley Cooper vibes circa The Hangover .”
“Hey, asshole, did you know that Bradley Cooper was Willow’s celebrity crush? It’s almost like she’s living with her celebrity crush. If she hasn’t told you, Willow thinks you’re super ho—”
“ And that’s enough ,” I said, rushing to shut my laptop. Note to self: Kill my sisters.
Theo arched an eyebrow. “Did you tell them my name was Asshole?”
“No,” I disagreed. “My dad did.”
“Your father thinks I’m an asshole?”
“My father thinks anyone near his daughters is an asshole.”
“Fair.” He narrowed his eyes. “Did you give him the idea that we were…something?”
“What?! No. Of course not.” The embarrassment that crept up my body was almost unbearable.
“Even though I’m your celebrity crush?”
“You are not my celebrity crush.”
He scrunched his nose in disbelief. “I don’t know. It sounds like you have a crush on me.”
“I do not have a crush on you!” I rolled my eyes dramatically as my heart began to pound at the wildest speed ever. “Don’t get a big head. You look nothing like Bradley Cooper.”
He looked everything like Bradley Cooper. In fact, I found myself drooling over him last weekend as he chopped wood in the backyard. He was shirtless. Shirtless !
Theo almost smiled as he stood beside me.
Almost.
I saw the twitch at the corners of his mouth, but instead of melting into the smile, he shook it into a frown. “We should get going.”
I grabbed my laptop, stood, and followed him to his truck. He opened the passenger side door for me, and I said, “Thank you.”
“Anything for my number one fan,” he responded instantly, with a bit of sparkle in his eyes and a little wink.
Was I in the twilight zone? Was he being…playful?
I paused and stood taller. “What is this?”
“What is what?”
I waved my hand in his direction. “This. Are you…happy today?”
He grimaced but shrugged his left shoulder. “I’m happy today.”
What kind of human grimaced while saying they were happy?
“Since when do you do the happy thing?” I questioned.
He couldn’t hold it in. A teeny, tiny grin came out. He puffed out his chest. “I caught a northern pike last night.”
I blinked at him repeatedly, trying to understand why he was so excited about catching a fish. “You fish all the time. Don’t you catch fish often?”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But this was a big boy.”
I stared blankly at him. “Forgive me, but I don’t know the ins and outs of fishing. Define a big boy.”
“A forty-inch northern pike!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands and rubbing them together. “ Forty inches !” Now, Theo had a full-blown smile, and it almost made my heart burst with joy. I didn’t know a mouth like his could do such a thing. He looked completely different, almost as if he were transformed into a child. He looked so, so good.
Like a freaking smiling Bradley Cooper.
He held his arms out to show me the size of his fish. “It was massive. The biggest thing I’ve ever caught in a lake. This isn’t a common thing. I almost lost it as I was reeling it in, but I got that bastard. So thank you.”
“Thank me? What for?”
“For getting high as a kite. I wouldn’t have been on the water when I was if it weren’t for you stuffing your face with Doritos and cookies.”
I laughed. “Not all heroes wear capes.”
“Yeah. Some wear crumbs.” He shook his head, still pleased. “A forty-incher.”
“The things I would do with a forty-incher,” I teased.
Theo snickered slightly.
I arched an eyebrow. “Was that a laugh?”
“Laugh? Me? Never. I don’t laugh.”
“It sounded like a laugh.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t happen again. Unless I catch another forty-incher.”
“Do people eat northern pike?”
“Smart ones do. Most people don’t eat them, but they’re pretty tasty. It’s a whole process to fillet them because you have to cut the Y bone out. Northern pike have a lot of bones, which is why most don’t like to deal with them, but I’m good at pulling the Y bone out with the zipper method.”
“So what I’m hearing is you’re good with your hands.”
“Willow, I’m fucking fantastic with my hands.”
That made me blush more than it should’ve.
Theo continued talking about his big fish, and I couldn’t stop smiling at his excitement. For the first time, I saw Theo. The real Theo that Molly talked about all the time. The light in his eyes made my eyes almost water because he wasn’t an asshole. He was just a man who kept to himself and didn’t let others in easily. At that moment, though, he let his walls down.
My mind couldn’t help but wonder what it was that made him close himself off in the first place. Humans didn’t come into the world shut off. The world had a way of making people distant.
“I’m so proud of you,” I told him, clapping my hands together in celebration. Something was so beautiful about watching someone achieve a goal of theirs. Even if it was on a topic that I myself didn’t completely understand, it was so cool to witness someone else’s joy.
After I said those words, Theo’s smile softened, and he nodded once. “Th-th-th…” He paused for a moment, shut his eyes, then gently said, “Thanks,” before closing my door.
After closing the door, he turned his back to me, placed his hands on top of his hair, and shook his head slightly before he walked over to his side of the vehicle, climbed into the car, and began to drive into town. He glanced my way for a split second before looking back toward the road. He cleared his throat. “We have about a forty-five-minute drive to get to Green Bay for everything. It’s the closest big city from here.”
“Sounds good.”
“So as far as the ceremony… I’m not good at decorations or anything. My cousin’s son, Jensen, said he’ll handle the floral displays since he’s into landscaping and bouquets and stuff. I’m hoping to leave everything else up to you if that’s okay. I have no problem paying for everything, but picking it all out leaves me a bit clueless.”
“Luckily, decorations are my specialty. Plus, your yard has the best backdrop with the lake. I’m thinking just a ton of lanterns and strings of lights and color. Lots and lots of color.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do. Maybe for the table spreads, though, we can do a lot of rainbow things since PaPa calls Grandma his rainbow.”
I smiled. “I think it’s cute that you call him PaPa.”
“It’s all I’ve ever known. Calling him anything else would feel odd.”
“How are you doing when it comes to his health? I know Molly said it’s been hard.”
Theo’s eyes softened, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. “I try not to think about it. Thinking about it doesn’t change anything.”
“It’s okay to feel sad about it, though.”
His mouth tightened, and his grimace and discomfort returned. “We don’t have to talk about it, Willow.”
“Oh, right, okay.” I felt bad because it was clear he was closing himself off again, and my question about Harry was the reason for it. I shouldn’t have asked him. I should’ve just been thankful for conversations about fish.
I bit my bottom lip, hoping to bring back the flash of Theo filled with light. “So…” I sang, patting my hands against my thighs. “What other kinds of fish are there in Westin Lake?”
It was as if a switch was turned on because the light returned to Theo’s eyes as he shifted around in his seat. “Well, there are bluegills, perch, and largemouth bass. Sturgeons are rare, but they can be found in the bigger lakes. Crappies and muskies…walleyes are always good ones to catch…”
He kept talking about fish, and I kept smiling at him, pretending he wasn’t speaking a different language. He continued talking for the remaining thirty minutes of the drive, and I didn’t think about turning on the radio for a second.
Note to self: Ask Theo about fishing. Makes him less grumpy.
We shopped for decorations and tried more food than two people should’ve tried together. The day seemed to be going very well, and Molly would be pleased to know that her grandson and I were getting along. Sure, Theo wasn’t chatty or anything, but he was less moody. His frowns didn’t seem as permanent, either.
Everything was going swell. I talked a lot. He listened. It was all great until we stopped in downtown Westin Lake to pick up a pizza for dinner. Right outside the restaurant, I ran into Peter while Theo was inside grabbing the pizza.
“Well, I’ll be. The woman who stood me up,” Peter joked the moment he saw me. “But as a victim of Matt Turner’s goodies, I don’t blame you for passing out.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How did you know about what happened?”
He gestured around Main Street. “News travels fast in Westin Lake. We don’t have much to talk about outside of each other.” He slid his hands into the pockets of his black athletic pants. “So do I get to cash in my IOU card for us missing our hangout? I’m having a party over at my place next weekend. More dancing will take place.”
“I’m always down for dancing.”
“Great, then it’s a date.” He said those words right as Theo walked out of the restaurant. The moment Theo saw Peter, it was as if all his good vibes for the day instantly evaporated. His body language did a one-eighty as he tensed up.
“Hey, cuz,” Peter said, moving toward Theo, and slugged him on the shoulder before he wrapped his arm around Theo, pulling him into a sideways hug. Theo’s discomfort was apparent, but Peter didn’t seem to care. “I stopped by Grandma and PaPa’s place this morning. They said you ran off to Green Bay for their anniversary party supplies. You should’ve invited me. I’d love to be involved. Then again, if you were just trying to get alone time with the beautiful woman, I get that, too.”
Theo’s jaw tightened before he shrugged Peter’s grip off. “I-I-I di-didn’t th-th…” Theo shut his eyes for a moment.
Peter smirked and crossed his hands over his chest. “Sound it out, cuz. So what did you both end up getting today?” he asked Theo.
Theo took a deep breath. He started talking and continued tripping over his words, unable to get his sentence out. As he tried and failed, I cleared my throat.
“We ended up getting lights and a few table rentals. We also tried different catering and picked out a menu for the event,” I told Peter.
Theo grumbled under his breath and, out of nowhere, snapped at me. “Don’t fucking do that,” he growled, throwing me off completely. “ Don’t fucking speak for me ,” he snapped.
Peter narrowed his eyes in disbelief. “Whoa. Don’t talk to her like that. It’s not Willow’s fault you couldn’t complete a sentence.”
“I c-can comp-pl-pl…” Theo’s face was flushed red. “Fuck off, Peter,” he pushed out before marching off toward his truck.
I stood there confused about what had just transpired, uncertain what to say.
“Not to talk down about my cousin, but he’s fucking weird,” Peter mentioned.
I glanced back and forth between the storming-off Theo and Peter. “What the heck was that?” I questioned. Before Peter could reply, Theo was driving off, leaving me stranded as if he wasn’t my ride back to his place. “What the heck?!” I hollered, tossing my hands up in the air.
“What an ass,” Peter said with a headshake. “I’m guessing he was your ride.”
“He was. And that was my pizza.”
“I can drive you over to his place.”
“Oh no. You don’t have to do that.”
Peter smiled sweetly. “It’s not a problem at all. I want to.”
After a moment’s hesitation, I agreed, simply because I didn’t know the way back to Theo’s house on my own, and I needed to give him a piece of my mind for leaving me stranded.
Peter walked me over to his car and hopped into the driver’s seat, and I walked around and climbed into the passenger’s seat. He put the car into drive after we buckled up and took off down the road. “I’m going to be honest. Theo’s odd. I’m surprised my grandparents let him run the restaurant and the booth at the farmers’ market because he’s so socially awkward. They spoil the shit out of him more than they ever spoiled me. And I was their first grandson.”
“Why do you think that is? That they spoil him more?”
“Well, he was raised by them. So it’s almost like he’s their actual child. Not to be emotional about it, but I was always jealous of how they treated him compared to me.”
“I’m sorry that happened. That had to be hard. What’s the deal with Theo’s parents?”
Peter frowned. “It’s pretty sad, actually. My aunt Christina was taken advantage of and ended up pregnant. The whole thing messed her up pretty badly. When Theo was around twelve, she abandoned him, saying she never wanted a kid anyway and wished she’d had an abortion.”
My hand fell to my chest. “Oh my goodness. That’s heartbreaking.”
“It is. And it’s clear that it made him a bit of a weirdo. That’s not even me being mean. I wish life were easier for him. I’ve tried to connect with him over the years, but he’s so distant. I guess that’s the thing about people. We’re all different. Some people like their space. Others don’t.” He smiled at me. “I get the idea you’re a people person.”
“Yes.” I laughed. “My eldest sister would say I like people a little too much. I don’t like being alone.”
“I think you and I have a lot in common. Because I don’t like it, either. How many siblings do you have?”
“Two older sisters, Avery and Yara.”
“Ah, you’re the baby.”
“I live up to it, too. I’m a handful.”
Peter arched an eyebrow and held a hand in the air. “I have big hands for handfuls.”
I chuckled and shrugged. “Most people can’t handle all of me.”
“Trust me, Willow. I could handle you,” he mentioned as he pulled into Theo’s driveway. He put the car in park and kept his eyes on me. “So next Friday, I’ll pick you up for the party.”
“Sounds great. Thanks for the ride, Peter.”
“Of course. I’d never leave you stranded.”
I climbed out of his car and headed toward the house in search of Theo. After such a great day, I needed to understand why he was so quick to storm off without any true reasoning. But my timing must’ve been a second too late because as I stepped onto the back porch, I saw him and his boat taking off on the lake with the pizza.
“You could’ve left me a few slices!” I hollered, tossing my hands up in frustration.
Freaking Bradley Cooper wannabe asshole.