Page 74 of Fall for You
He caught up with her halfway down the block. Not too hard to do since she was weaving more than walking, her high heels dangling from her fingers as she led the way.
Fixing her coat, he made sure her shoulders were covered and walked beside her, correcting her trajectory so she stayed off the road.
He was hoping the fresh air would do her some good. It had to be better than having another drink at the bar.
After a while, though, as she wound her way down a side street with obvious intention, curiosity got the better of him. “Where are we going?”
She muttered something that sounded like “I have to know.”
“What’s that?” He leaned over to hear her.
Her eyes were wide and earnest when she looked back at him. The streetlamps highlighted her pale cheeks, casting her in a warm, yellow glow. “I have to know what happened. And I have to know tonight.”
“Okaaay.” He stopped asking questions because they’d finally reached her destination. He stared out at the shadowy, murky darkness over the stone wall before muttering in surprise, “The cemetery? Really?”
But in the short time he’d paused to question her decision, she’d dropped her heels and was climbing the gate.
“Willow!” He looked left and right to see if anyone was witnessing her trespassing. But it was the middle of the night, and no one was around.
With a muttered curse, he followed her over, racing to catch up before she could trip and fall over a gravestone. “Willow, we shouldn’t be here.”
She didn’t seem to hear him as she plowed ahead, a woman on a drunken mission. Although, she was clearheaded enough to get out her phone and turn on the flashlight feature so she could read the gravestones.
He did the same.
They found Charlie’s first, and Eric took note of the date. Willow paused but then kept moving.
He knew what she was searching for before they even got there, but he was still somehow a little surprised to find himself standing over Rose Spencer’s grave.
“How’d you know where she was buried?” he asked.
As if that was the pertinent point. He had to get her out of here before she was caught and got in trouble. But when he turned to say as much…he froze.
“Are you…?”Oh no. No, no, no. “Are youcrying?”
Big, fat tears were rolling down her cheeks, and she sniffled loudly. And then she crumpled into a heap. He barely caught her before she fully hit the ground, and now…
Welp. Now he was holding Willow King in his lap as she bawled over the death of a woman she’d never met, wasn’t related to, and who’d died roughly a hundred years before.
Yup. That sounded about right.
Not sure what he was even doing, Eric found himself trying to soothe her. Stroking her back as she nestled against him, getting his button-down shirt wet with tears.
“Hey.” He rubbed circles between her shoulder blades. “It’s okay.”
Her curls tickled his chin and cheeks as she shook her head. “It’s not,” she moaned. “He lost her.”
“Who?”
“Charlie!”
“Ah.” He had no response for this. Should he remind her that Charlie was also dead?
She sniffled and whimpered.
No. Probably best not to mention that.
“They were in love.” Her voice was muffled against his shirt, pained and heartbreaking. “Like Romeo and Juliet, and he lost her. He lost her.”
