Page 85 of Endless Love

He cut me off. “Are you referring to Gustave?”

Obviously, he knew whom I was talking about. “Yes, that psychopath. The man is violent and abusive. I read he even raped a dancer. For all I know, he sexually abused Willow!” With a jerk of my head, I turned to face Willow. “Tell me, did he?”

Silence was my answer. My companion fidgeted with her ballet-slipper necklace as my mind flashed back to one of our earliest conversations. The lunch following her father’s heart attack.

“I was in an abusive relationship.”

“You let some guy hurt you?”

“It’s complicated. Let’s not go there yet.”

“A boyfriend?”

“Please, Ryan. Drop it.”

This time I wasn’t going to drop it. The pieces of Willow’s shattered past were coming together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

“Now, I get it. That’s why you took a sabbatical. That fucking asshole abused you. Shredded you to pieces!”

“It wasn’t like that!” Willow cried out. “I was weak. Needy. Obsessed. I let him…”

“Sexually assault you?”

Tearfully, Willow shook her head. “No, it was always consensual.”

I looked at Dr. Goodman. “Is that true?”

“Ryan, I can’t divulge that. Doctor-patient privilege. You will have to take Willow’s words at face value.”

Frustration was surging along with my anger. I wanted to shake someone. Knock some sense into them. “Jesus, Willow, how can you go back to him?”

“He’s changed. I’ve changed.” Her voice quivered.

“Bullshit!” I cried out.

Dr. Goodman lifted his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Willow, Ryan’s right. It may not be wise—”

“Not wise!?” My voice rose several decibels with anger. “Are you kidding me? It’s insane! Stop her!”

Dr. Goodman lowered his glasses. “I can advise against it, but I can’t stop her, Ryan. She’s an adult woman, who is perfectly capable of making her own decisions.”

Panic set in. “You’ve got to! Tell her not to go!”

“Ryan, that’s your job, not mine.”

I turned again toward Willow. Cupping her shoulders so she was facing me, I looked deep into her watering eyes. “Willow, please don’t fucking go.”

Unable to hold my gaze, she looked down and chewed her trembling lip.

Then to my surprise, Dr. Goodman threw her a curve ball. “Willow, why do you feel you’re ready to go back?”

Willow fidgeted again with her necklace, batting back tears. “I’ve grown a lot stronger over the last year. I have control over my emotions and my body. I no longer need to be hurt to feel alive.”

“Oh, the tables have turned,” I snapped. “So, now you like to dish it. Hurt others.”

Tears began to fall. “Please, Ryan, I’m not doing it to hurt you.”

My cheeks flared. “Oh, you could have fooled me.”

“Please, Ryan, don’t do this to me.” Her voice cracked with desperation. “Don’t make it harder than it already is. We’ll figure things out…we’ll write…we’ll talk. I’ll be back. Remember, with love, there are no goodbyes.”

I thought I was going to implode. Allee’s words to live by. Or die by.

“Screw you, Willow.”

With that, I stood up and walked out the door. And out of Willow Rosenthal’s life.

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