39. Will
CHAPTER 39
Will
A fter we shower and eat dinner, because we were both starving from all the surprise sex and forgot to eat when I first got here, I know it’s time to tell Millie about my day.
We are cozy in bed, wrapped under the sheets, and I’m not nervous. I know she’d support me with anything that happens or at least would help me find a way to figure it out. She always has.
It’s one of the things I love about her.
“Okay, will you tell me now?” Millie pouts, cuddling with her pillow. Her red hair is still wet from the shower, but she has it pulled back into two braids on either side of her head.
“It went well,” I say.
“That’s it?”
“No.” I huff a laugh. “There’s more, love. Luckily, Grandpa was in a good head space after you left, so I was able to prepare him. I showed him a picture of her, the one that your mom took and sent to me, which was smart. It helped him visualize her, and the smile on his face, Millie…He was so excited.”
Millie takes her hand from under her pillow and lays it on my arm, giving me a squeeze .
“Will, that’s amazing.”
“Right? I mean, we don’t have any other family. He was an only child, and with my dad being out of the picture, it was literally only me and him. I figure he’s excited to have more family, even if it’s only one person.”
“And what happened when she came to the store?” Millie asks.
“All good things. We sat on the couches by the new releases. Grandpa and I on one side, Kristie and your mom on the other.”
“Mom stayed?” Millie asks.
“Yep, Grandpa insisted, especially after she brought him some of Miss Jane’s scones.”
“Figures.” Millie smiles, taking her hand back to tuck it under her pillow, getting comfortable again.
“Yeah, Grandpa was on cloud nine. Kristie was also happy. She was smiling the entire time, asking him questions about the store. And he was able to answer them, which I was so happy about. It made the morning at the store feel like it didn’t happen. It gave me hope everything will be okay.”
“Everything will be okay, Will. He’s lucky he has you.”
I lean over and kiss her.
“Thank you for saying that. It has felt like a slap to the face over and over again. That’s not a good way to say it, but it’s like when I was getting used to things, another thing would happen, and I’d be in pain all over again. And it would settle; things would be good. It was a cycle. So, Kristie being here, being able to help him remember some things and talk to him about his life…it’ll be good.”
“Kristie plans to stay?” Millie asks, her eyes wide. She hired Kristie part time at the store, so this should be good for both of us.
“Yeah, she’ll talk to you the next time she sees you.”
“Okay, great.”
“And there’s something else I want to tell you.”
“Oh? More good news?” Millie says with a giddy smile. “It’s my lucky day. ”
I laugh and shake my head. “I don’t know if it’s good news? I mean it’s not bad, but it’s not exactly news I guess. I, um, went and saw your dad today.”
“For the small business grant?”
I freeze, thinking he told her. But he told me he wouldn’t, or I assumed that. It’s hard to remember with that being the first thing this morning before everything else happened.
Millie sees my internal dilemma and rushes out, “He didn’t tell me. I know about it because I’m not allowed to apply for it since I’m family and all.” She shrugs like it’s nothing, but I know she would do a lot of good with money from the grant.
“Oh,” I say, my face already relaxing. “Yeah, it was for the grant.”
“And?”
“Well, I have to apply. But I have hope that it will help, at least a little bit. I can’t guarantee it’ll be enough to pay off everything, but at least it would give me a decent advantage.”
“Enough to keep the store?”
“Yeah, I reckon so.” I grin.
Millie attacks me, bringing her mouth to mine in record time. Her hands move from under her pillow to the sides of my face and after she kisses me, she has the biggest grin on her face.
“I am so proud of you, Will.”
She rests her forehead on mine, and I close my eyes for a brief moment. Millie has been my rock more times than I can count. Whether it was when we were younger and I needed help with homework, or a ride somewhere, she was always someone I could rely on. She never judged me when I needed someone, and I was never embarrassed to ask for her help. Not when she would drop everything to help me.
That’s the kind of person Millie is.
She’s loving.
She’s kind.
She’s the type of person that everyone strives to be .
And she’s mine.
“I’ve barely done anything, but thank you, love.” I kiss her forehead, then she rests her head back on her pillow. “Oh, and your dad has a contact in the city to give me advice about Grandpa.”
“Oh? Like to help tell you what to do next?”
“Yep.”
“My dad’s pretty nice like that.”
“Your entire family is nice, Millie.”
She shrugs. “It’s a small town thing. We wouldn’t be where we are without the help of others. We all pay it back in our own way. Well, besides Jere. He’s still figuring himself out. And you better not tell him I said that.” Millie points her finger at me and tries her best to appear stern. It’s adorable.
“I’m not going to tell him,” I say.
“He’s your best friend. I had to make sure.” Millie pulls the sheets over her shoulders, her eyes flutter shut for a moment.
“We should sleep.” I kiss her forehead again. “And he may be my best friend, but you’re my girlfriend. Pretty sure it’s girlfriends before bros.”
Millie laughs, and it’s breathy and loud, like I caught her off guard in her sleepy state. “That’s not it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, William, I’m sure. But when he asks you why you can’t tell him something, that’s what you can tell him.”
“Girlfriends before bros.”
She giggles and closes her eyes again. “Mm, yes. Perfect. Okay, I need to sleep before I pass out in the middle of our conversation.”
“Go to sleep, Millie Mae. We have a few busy weeks ahead of us.”
She groans and pulls on her sheets even more, practically covering her head. “Don’t remind me. I’m going to sleep for the next few weeks. Wake me when it’s over.”
“Nice try. Love you. ”
“Love you.”
She rolls over, and I’m pretty certain she’s breathing deeply within a few minutes.
Now that I’ve improved my working environment, it’s time for her to do the same. I’m hoping once she talks to Kristie, she will step back a little more to run her event business. Of course, only she can make that decision, but I’m glad I will be here to watch her achieve her dreams. Regardless of what she decides to do, I know this event that we’ve been planning will be incredible, because she’s the one that’s mainly been organizing it.
And once that’s done, I’ll move into this exact house I’m lying in right now. Sometimes when I reminisce about my life over the past six months, it’s hard to imagine I’d end up here. I was recently engaged to someone I didn't love but instead loved the idea of being with.
It never felt like a good time to try things with Millie, to shoot my shot, without worry that it wouldn’t work out. We had such a great thing going, I didn’t want to ruin it. I couldn’t ruin it, not when I called the city home and didn’t have any other reasons to be in Willow Pines.
I wish I could go back and tell the younger me to get my head out of my ass because Millie was more than enough of a reason to move back to Willow Pines. Also, my two best friends and my family are here. It never felt like enough though, especially with my career being in the city. My clients were there, and I wanted to make a name for myself.
It’s clear now that I would have been able to do the same thing here, but without leaving Willow Pines, who knows what would have happened?
I would have made a move on Millie sooner. Or without the distance, we never would have made out? We were only friends with benefits because I left within the next twenty-four hours. There weren’t strings attached.
Even though I have a lot to learn with Grandpa and I wish I came home under a different circumstance, I’m glad it brought me back to Willow Pines. If there was one good thing to come from all the bad, this was it. It helped me accept how much I wanted to be back home.
And now, I never plan to leave.