Page 88 of Back to Willow

Leaning back a little, to take a better look at her face, I raise an eyebrow. “You know there’s no such thing as ‘ruling a hospital’, right?”

The corners of her mouth curl up in a shy smile as her left shoulder shrugs. “Not yet.”

A deep rumble forms in my chest. Willow has always been shy and quiet with everyone else but with me; I always get her funny and snarky side. The fact she could unabashedly be herself with me only made me fall for her harder, back then.

It’s good to know she hasn’t lost that side of her, not completely, at least. Because just like that, it feels like we’ve just travelled back in time. Like nothing changed and we’re the same sixteen-year-old teenagers trying to figure out the balance between dating and being friends. As if there hasn’t even been time apart between us up to now.

When our laughter finally quiets down and our eyes meet again, tension rises. A completely different one. That invisible force is back, like a magnet that brings us back together again and again.

It’s weird how sometimes it feels like the Moirai keep entwining the threads of our lives, bringing us back together—even when we try to keep our distance. As if to teach us a lesson, to let us know that no matter how much we want to do something, they are stronger than us. They know better, and theywilldecide what we need instead.

And if by chance they do fucking exist, they know better because this is exactly what I needed to heal, to move on. I just didn’t know it.

“Okie dokie,” Willow speaks, cutting off my thoughts.

The combination of her weird choice of words and the awkward look on her face makes me raise a brow again, finding the moment amusing. She rolls her eyes and says, “It’s mum vocabulary.”

“Alright, alright,” I pretend to agree. She always found the weirdest words.

It hasn’t changed.

“You probably have stuff to do,” she offers. “I won’t keep you here any more than needed.”

“Yeah,” I lie. “I’ll head off.”

Turning around, expecting to see the empty driveway, I’m faced with three walking bodies. The shortest in the middle—Dylan—stops for a second, sizing us up, and then starts to run towards us. It’s only when he stops in front of us that I understand the expression on his face is twisted into a frown. He’s angry.

Sure, the plan wasn’t to see him like this, again. I meant it when I said I’d let her talk to him first, but then again, what we want is not what we get.

“Hey, buddy,” I greet him, trying to make the best out of the situation. “I’m Liam.”

“I know who you are,” he snaps back. “You’re the bad man who made my mummy cry.”

Jake and his grandmother’s light chatter dies down at the kid’s loud words, and my mouth gapes open.That’s pretty to the point for a six-year-old.Looking to my side, I watch as Willow’s face is mirroring my own.Shock.

“Dylan,” she hisses. “That’s no way to talk to adults. Apologise.”

“No,” he answers right away, not even an ounce of remorse in his voice.

Then he stomps up the steps, placing himself between his mother and me, forcing us further apart.

“I—” Whatever words were going to leave my mouth die in my throat as he pulls his mother inside the house with him. Everyone is speechless, watching the determination in this kid’s eyes as he directs his rage at me.

Talk about being protective.

“Get away from my house,” he snarls, shutting the door in my face.

TWENTY-NINE

Willow

“Dylan!Youcan’ttreatpeople like that. You even closed the door on Uncle Jake and Nana’s faces!”

My cheeks are burning with embarrassment—most likely red, too—and if this moment was being drawn in cartoons, I’d have steam coming out of my ears. I amnotraising my son to be rude.

“They have a key. They can come in,” he huffs.

This was not supposed to happen. They shouldn’t have met this soon. Knowing Dylan, he is still very much affected by how hard he saw me crying last night. He’s only ever seen me that way after a panic attack, a couple of times. So, he knows it’s a bad thing. Now he has linked that sadness to Liam as well—which honestly, is not ideal. I needed more time to be able to explain who Liam is and what he means to me. But I should have guessed. Fate is never on my side, and this is no exception.

---