Chapter 15
WILLOW
I can barely keep my brunch down. My stomach is a ball of nerves on top of a flood of fears.
“Let me lay Mav down and we can chat.”
“I’ll make some tea.”
“Decaf for me, please,” Daisy mentions while putting Mav into his bassinet in the corner.
In five minutes, I’m on the couch, sipping from a handcrafted mug.
“It’s so wonderful to have you here. How’d you like Wyatt’s cabin?” Daisy lifts her mug and sips. “I mean after you got it cleaned.” She chuckles.
I take another long sip, hoping the burning liquid will scorch away my fears. But as I look into my friend’s eyes, my heart rises. “Well, turns out I was at the wrong house.”
“Oh…” Daisy sits up straight. “Where were you?”
“At Kaede’s house.”
Her gaze tracks to the door. “Kaede’s place? The Kaede that was just in here?”
“Same one.”
I tell her the story and she continually sips her cup of tea, not saying anything. By the time I’m to the point where I don’t want to say more and everything that’s left is the stuff I’m dying to tell her but probably shouldn’t, she’s smiling.
“What? Just say it…” I say, both wanting to know and not wanting to know what she’s thinking.
“I remember you at our wedding. How when I looked over at you dancing with Kaede, you looked up at him and you smiled. I thought to myself, ‘He deserves a woman like Willow.’ I just didn’t know that he actually deserved you .”
I lean forward. She’s my sister. I can tell her anything. “We had sex.”
Her face pales. “He didn’t force?—”
“No! No. We both wanted it to happen. God, did I want it to happen.”
Daisy chuckles and her hand lands on mine. “I know what you mean.”
“And… and Daisy, it was incredible.” My pussy quivers remembering how she pulsed around him and how he gave her what she craved.
“But sex can just be sex, Willow.”
That was what I’d considered on the drive in. Mr. Only Right Now, but every pump of my heart told me that Kaede isn’t just for now, he is forever.
“This was so much more. It was intimacy that I’ve never experienced with a man.”
“It is something else, isn’t it?”
“You can say that again.” I widen my eyes and she giggles.
A long sigh rises from my chest. “I just don’t know if I can fit into his life and can I give up my life in Helena?”
“I won’t sugar coat it. It was an adjustment, but what would you really be giving up, Willow?”
I sit back. Shopping on a whim isn’t necessary.
And did I really need to go to a Tuesday night five-dollar movie if I had someone to watch my collection of DVDs with me?
Were those happy hours three nights a week needed when happiness was right in front of me?
And did those happy hours ever truly make me “happy”, regardless of their promises?
Nope.
“Do you have Wi-Fi out here?” I glanced around.
“We do now. I couldn’t live without it. You know me.”
“I’d definitely need it for work.” I stare into my empty cup. “I’ve always wanted to start my own graphic arts business…”
“Kaede could be your first customer.”
“What?”
“His leather goods. He’s been making them for two years. Sells them in Helena at that little boutique?—”
“Bubbles and Bags?” My stomach bottoms out.
I knew him before I knew him.
“That’s the one. He’s really talented.”
I cup the mug and sip. “I didn’t know.”
“There’s probably a lot you don’t know about him, but what do you think about what you do know?”
I set my cup on the coffee table and wrap an arm around her. “You were right.”
“How’s that?”
“You said he would find me. But I guess neither of us thought he’d find me sleeping in his bed.”
We spent the afternoon laughing and drinking decaf tea.
The guys stayed outside. When Kaede came in, Daisy crossed the room and read him the riot act.
Boone laughed. Kaede didn’t. There was something about him.
Something different. I’d imagined he had as deep a conversation with Boone as I had with Daisy.
I laid my hand on his leg, but he never touched me.
“You ready to go? We can get your things from Kaede’s and I can take you over to Wyatt’s place,” Boone says while Kaede stands by the door.
Kaede’s chest heaves. “No.”
Boone’s head rears back. “No?”
“No. Willow, I can’t stand here and let you ride away without telling you that it’s not what I want.” He crosses the room to me. “I’m not asking you to decide tonight, but I’m going to give you the open door. Youcanstay with me now and forever.”
“Forever?” I breathe out the word.
“You said you can do your job from wherever and I can get the internet for you.”
“And I can make you a website for your leather business.”
He glances to Daisy. “You told her?”
“Actually…” Willow walks to the gifts. “I wanted you to open these Christmas morning but I can’t wait. Open them now.” She hands off the gifts to Daisy and Boone.
Daisy delicately pulls at the tape, not ripping the wrapping paper. Boone, on the other hand, tears it open like he’s eight years old. He chuckles. Daisy slips the lid off the gift box and her mouth opens with a gasp.
“Oh… my.” She holds up the leather satchel. “It’s beautiful, and I think I know where it came from.”
Boone holds up the leather wallet. “Nice. I needed a new one of these.”
I cross the room to Kaede. “I remember dancing in your arms at their wedding. I remember how you held me. I remember how I stepped on your feet and you never said a word. And when I saw those gifts, I knew Boone and Daisy would love them.”
Kaede sighs. “My past told me that people leave, so I tried to pretend it would be okay if you left and went back to Helena. But I don’t want you to leave. Ever. Please stay. Stay and be mine forever.” Kaede slips an arm around me. “I love you, Willow.”
My legs weaken but he’s right there to catch me. “Is that forever a proposal?”
His hand slips behind my neck, holding me right where he wants me. “Sweetheart, it’s whatever you want it to be.”
“I love you, too.”
“Forever it is then…”
His kiss melts me into him.
Maybe that GPS was right after all.