Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
Sebastian
A slender, sultry Willow is waiting in the lobby for me when I get downstairs. She’s wearing a pair of black sweats, pink sneakers, and a tight white T-shirt. She’s got a NY Yankees cap on her head, and she’s talking to her friend, Katherine, who’s standing behind the front desk.
“Good morning, beautiful.” The words come out of my mouth without me even thinking about what I’m saying. “Good morning, Katherine,” I say as I greet her friend, who is also extremely pretty. Willow waves at me, and her friend smiles.
“Hi. Morning, Sebastian.”
“Morning, Mr. Laurence.”
“You don’t have to call me Mr. Laurence. You can call me Sebastian.”
“Morning, Sebastian,” Katherine says with a wide smile. “Where are you guys going today?”
She looks at me in my shorts and T-shirt and then looks at Willow. “Are you taking him to the museum or—no?”
“We’re going on a hike. I found a really good one about an hour and a half away. That’s okay, right, Willow?”
“Oh, yeah, of course. That sounds awesome.”
“I figured I’d take her to Devil’s Peak. Have you already hiked it?”
Willow’s face goes white, and she licks her lips nervously.
“You okay?” I ask her.
She nods quickly. “Oh, I’m just superstitious. I don’t like going to places where the word devil is in the name.”
“I think because she’s a good Christian girl,” Katherine says. “But I’ve heard of it.” She frowns slightly as she looks at Willow. “That’s a pretty intense hike, isn’t it?” She makes a face. “Not really one that new—”
“It sounds great.” Willow half grins and grimaces.
“Are you a good hiker?” Katherine asks me.
“I climbed a couple of mountains and at one point thought I might try to summit Mount Everest, so I would say… I’m not bad.”
“Mount Everest?” Willow looks impressed. “Wow, that’s crazy intense.”
“Well, I haven’t done it yet, but maybe one day we can do it together.”
Katherine bursts out laughing at that point, and Willow gives her a look. I wonder if this is something they’ve talked about previously?
“You ready to go?”
“Yeah, I guess.” She bites down on her lip. “Are you sure you want to do it today? I know that’s a long drive.”
“It’s fine,” I say. “I’ve got my car ready with gas. And you got the water bottles, right?”
“Yeah.” She nods and lifts her backpack. “I have four water bottles and some protein bars.”
“Great. I figured after the hike, we can grab lunch.”
“Yay,” she says, though she doesn’t sound super excited.
“We should get going. See you later, Katherine.”
“Have a good day, Sebastian. You, too, Willow. Hike your heart away. You know how much we both love nature,” she teases.
“It’s going to be so much fun.” Willow offers me a wan smile, and we head outside to the car. I open the car door for her, and she looks at me in surprise. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” I say as I close it behind her and walk over to the driver’s side. I slip inside, start the ignition, and watch as she buckles her seat belt.
“I’m glad that Katherine was able to work for you this morning,” I tell her, and she nods.
“Yeah, me, too. She normally works in the afternoons, other than on the days that she…” She pauses. “Well, yeah. Anyway, you don’t want to hear about work stuff.”
“I guess that’s one of the perks of being the boss,” I say to her. “You can take off whenever you want.”
She looks at me for a few seconds and nods slowly. “I guess it is.” She grabs her phone and frowns as she looks down at the screen.
“Everything okay?”
“Oh, it’s just...” She makes a face. “This guy. I thought I blocked him, but he’s still texting me.”
“Oh.” I try to look at her screen, but she moves it to the side. “Who is he? Is it someone you want me to talk to?”
“Oh, no, no, no, no,” she says quickly and slips her phone into her handbag. “He’s no one important.”
“Someone you dated?”
“I mean…” She pauses. “I guess he would say we dated, but I don’t know that—”
“Oh, so it’s someone you dated, but you didn’t necessarily feel as strongly as he did?” I pry.
She smiles at me, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. I can tell that she’s nervous and unsure of what to say. It suddenly strikes me that she’s talking about Sergio.
Sergio is calling her, messaging her, probably telling her he loves her and wants to get back together, and here she is, speaking about him like he is nothing.
“Did you love him?”
“Love him? God, no.” She quickly makes a face of apology.
“I mean, I’m not trying to be mean or rude, but it really wasn’t that serious a relationship.
We didn’t even sleep together.” She pauses.
“Well, it’s just… it wasn’t, I wouldn’t call it a relationship.
” She stumbles over her words. “He was kind of calling me his girlfriend and was asking me to do laundry and stuff, but…”
“So he considered you his girlfriend? Did he love you?” I feel for Sergio, but somehow I am grateful to know they never slept together. Even though it makes what happened to Sergio feel even more pathetic. He must have really loved her.
“Oh, no way. There’s no way he loved me.” She shakes her head. “Literally no way. If he did, he would be crazy.”
“I suppose any woman who doesn’t love a man would call a man who loves her crazy.” I try to keep the coldness out of my voice, but it’s hard. Sergio does fall quickly, but still, it hurts to hear someone talk so badly about him.
“He’s just someone in my past whom I blocked. But I guess he got another phone and is still able to contact me.” She frowns. “I guess I’ll just block this number, as well.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I say, not really believing that we’re having a conversation about Sergio right here and now, and she doesn’t even have the gumption to look embarrassed or regretful about what she’s done.
“Did you at least get some good presents from him?” I ask, keeping my voice light.
“Presents?” She stares at me. “What do you mean?” I watch as she fiddles with her ring.
“I mean, did he buy you anything nice or give you anything?” This is her out. She just has to tell me the truth. Tell me that she took his money. Tell me that she made him think she wanted more. Anything to show me regret and that what went on between her and Sergio was a mistake.
“Trust me when I say this man did not do anything for me.” She stares at the ring on her finger, and I’m almost blinded by the light as the sun reflects off it. I am almost positive that Sergio bought her this diamond ring, or at least she bought it with the money he’d given her.
“Oh, well, I guess the next time you meet someone, he’ll treat you better.”
“I kind of hoped I already had,” she says, turning to me with a small smile. I take her hand and squeeze it. “I think you have, my dear. I think I’m going to be the man of your dreams.”
I smile at her lightly, and she beams at me. I try not to burst out laughing or point at her face and tell her that she’s met her worst nightmare. But no, she’ll figure that out soon enough.
“Oh, wow, we’ve been walking for a really long time.” Willow is huffing and puffing as I help her up one of the rocks. She stumbles slightly and takes a few deep breaths. Her face is a deep red, and I can see the sweat soaking through her shirt.
“Not really,” I say, shaking my head and looking at my watch. “I think we’ve been walking for about ten minutes.”
“It’s only been ten minutes?” she says, coughing slightly. “Wow. It feels like ten hours.”
“You’re funny,” I say. “It’s beautiful here. Absolutely stunning.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of cool.” She points out some daisies on the ground. “Ooh, can we stop for a second? I love flowers. Can we admire these for a moment?”
“Really?” I raise an eyebrow at her.
“Yeah, don’t you? Those are daisies, and I love daisies. I was thinking, if I ever had kids, I would name my daughter Daisy.”
“Is that a hint?”
“A hint?” She looks at me with a confused expression.
“That if we have kids, you’d like to name our first daughter Daisy?”
“Oh, no, no, no.” She blushes a deeper red. “No, I was just saying that... Well, anyway, let’s continue.”
We walk for another five minutes, and then she stops again. “Oh, look. Do you see that? Ooh! Is that a red-breasted robin in the trees?”
I stop and look to the right, to the tree she’s pointing at, but I see nothing. “Sorry, what are you looking at?”
“Close your eyes and listen. I swear I hear it loudly, the chirps.” She takes a deep breath.
“I’ll take your word for it.”
“Close your eyes,” she says, practically pleading. “Let’s just stand here and see if we hear it.”
I close my eyes and hear a slight chirp, but I swear she’s the one making the noise. My eyes fly open.
“Was that you, Willow?”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“Were you chirping like a bird?”
She licks her lips nervously. “I mean, I was, but only because I was hoping it would attract the bird I just saw so that we could see what it was. Because I love birds and flowers and butterflies, and when I go on hikes, I like to take a lot of breaks and a lot of stops, because I just like to admire the nature all around me. Isn’t nature beautiful? ”
“Nature is very beautiful,” I say. “Quite like you.”
“Oh,” she says, blushing. “I wasn’t fishing for a compliment. I mean, I love compliments, but you don’t have to compliment me all the time.”
“Maybe I like complimenting you.”
“I know, but—”
“You ready to continue?” I ask her.
“Sure,” she says, though I almost feel like she wanted to groan. We continue hiking, and it’s not five minutes later that she stops next to a rock.
“Oh my gosh.” She’s breathing heavily now. “I’m sorry, Sebastian, but can we just take a break? I need some water.”
“Sure.”
She takes a seat and pulls off her cap. "It's so hot today, isn’t it?”
“Not particularly.” I frown. “Are you okay?”
“I’m just really tired, I guess. I didn’t sleep well last night, and I’m slightly out of breath. My calf muscles are burning, and I’m winded, and my stomach..." She laughs softly and rubs her calf muscles. “I’m kind of hungry, and I feel like I’m going to faint.”
She opens her bottle of water and chugs it. “Oh my gosh, that tastes so good. It’s like the best thing I’ve ever tasted.” She leans back and yawns loudly.
“Are you okay, Willow?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It just feels like we’ve been out here a really long time. I guess… how much longer do we have?”
“We haven’t even gotten to the trailhead yet,” I say, frowning. “When’s the last time you hiked, and where do you normally go?”
She stares at me for a couple of seconds. I watch as she goes bright red. She rubs her fingers against her temples, then pulls out her hairband and shakes her blonde hair loose. She lets out a loud groan.
“I guess I have to admit it.”
“Admit what?” I ask, sitting next to her on the rock.
“I lied. I’m not really into hiking. I don’t know why I said I was.
I figured, who doesn’t like hiking? I just didn’t expect you would actually ask me on a hike, and one like this.
It’s been all uphill, and I’m just not in the best shape.
I mean, I go to the gym sometimes… well, not recently because, well, I don’t have a membership.
But I didn’t realize I was in such bad shape.
I’m so embarrassed. I just am not really doing well. ”
“Oh.” I’m completely taken aback. I didn’t expect her to say that. Why would she lie about hiking? Unless she’s just a perpetual liar. Maybe she’s one of those people who can’t stop lying about things.
“I’m sorry. You can continue on the hike, and I’ll just wait here for you. I mean, I really do like nature, and this is a cute spot, and—”
“I’m not going to hike up a mountain while you just sit here. The point of this excursion was for me to spend time with you.” I grab her hand. It’s soft, and as I squeeze it, she looks up at me.
“You think I’m awful, don’t you?”
“No,” I say. “I do think you’re a pretty amazing liar, though.”
Her eyes widen, and she licks her lips. “Well, I guess, maybe in this instance—”
“It’s okay,” I say, cutting her off. “You’re just so beautiful.
” Her blue eyes are light, and I can’t stop myself.
I lean toward her and kiss her. Her fingers wrap around my neck, playing with the hair at my nape.
I wrap my arms around her and kiss her back passionately.
My tongue slips into her mouth, and she murmurs as she presses her body against mine.
I run my fingers down the side of her face, pull back, and kiss her lips again.
I stare at her. The way she’s responding to me feels so natural, so real, and my body doesn’t know how to interpret what’s going on.
“I think this is a love story that was written in the stars,” I whisper to her.
“I think so, too,” she whispers back.
“I have a question for you,” I say.
She groans loudly.
“Why are you groaning?”
“I feel like the last time you had a question for me, it got me in trouble.” She giggles. “Hopefully this one won’t. What’s your question, Sebastian?” she asks softly.
I give her another kiss and run my fingers down the side of her shirt. She stills slightly, and I feel her hands on my muscles, on my biceps, squeezing.
“Will you spend the night with me tonight?” I say, leaning forward and kissing her again.
There’s a question in my eyes and hesitancy in hers.
I’m not going to push it, though. I can’t push it.
I can’t let her see how badly I want this because the lines are becoming blurred.
So blurred that I wonder if I should stop.
She hesitates for a few moments, then looks up to the sky.
“What are you doing?” I ask her.
“I was wondering if the stars were out to guide me and help me come up with an answer,” she says softly. “But it’s not nighttime yet.”
“It’s not,” I say. “But maybe if you stay the night, we can look at the stars later, as well.”
“Maybe,” she says, and then I watch her nod slightly. “But the answer is yes. I’ll spend the night with you.”
“Great,” I say. “I’m looking forward to it.” And then I kiss her again because there’s nothing I want more in this moment than my lips on hers.