Page 103 of The Problem with Falling
She took me to Main Street and showed me where she walked into a mailbox and lost her first tooth. She showed me Yara’s doggy daycare, The Pup Around the Corner, and Alex’s restaurant across the street. She took me down Presley Road, the street where she had her first kiss and then instantly threw up from it because she was young and thought kissing was gross.
She took me to her childhood house and showed me the window she broke when she tried to sneak out. I saw every building her father built—which was a lot. We went to Alex’s restaurant for dinner, and I ate everything that sounded delicious—which was a lot. And Willow kept talking, and I listened to every single word—which werea lot.
I loved that, though.
I loved how she talked.
I loved how she walked.
I loved…her.
Holy shit…this oddball, silly woman who randomly showed up naked in my lake one night because she was howling at the moon was now sitting across from me talking about how explosive ants explode or some weird shit, and I was hopelessly, desperately, wholeheartedly in deep, sickening, maddeninglovewith her.
I silently prayed to God that Willow Kingsley would forever give me all her words.
Every single word.
Every single syllable.
Because I loved her.
Pishit.
CHAPTER 36
Willow
When we finished dinner at Alex’s restaurant, I told him we should stop by the popcorn shop to have dessert. After an argument about whether popcorn was a dessert—it totally was—we ended up stopping at the popcorn shopandthe ice cream parlor.
Since the ice cream parlor was packed, I waited at a table outside while Theo went inside to get his ice cream. Butter pecan was his favorite flavor. He was mine.
As I waited outside, I opened the bag and started snacking on my triple-flavored dessert popcorn. As I did so, a woman in a wheelchair came past us. As the woman passed, my heart dropped to my stomach.
Anna.
I hadn’t seen her in so long. I was so good at avoiding her. But there she was, pushing herself in a wheelchair with her father on her left side and her mother on the other side of her. Themoment I looked up, Anna’s eyes fell to mine. Her eyes looked so sad. Heartbreakingly sad. She looked so tired, too. As if she hadn’t slept in years. The moment she recognized me, I saw the little bit of light fade away. She instantly turned her head to stare the other way, and when Mrs. Lane’s eyes found mine, it wasn’t sadness I saw. It was rage.
Chills shot down my spine as I sat at that table.
Mrs. Lane leaned over her husband and whispered something. Mr. Lane looked up, made eye contact with me, then began to walk faster as Anna picked up her speed.
I sat back in my chair, feeling sick to my stomach. I was seconds away from throwing up when Mrs. Lane marched back toward me. The rage was even more intense than when she first walked by.
“What are you doing?!” she whisper-shouted, glancing around as if terrified of anyone seeing us talking to one another.
I stood. “Mrs. Lane, I—”
“You swore you wouldn’t be around a lot, and you promised to text me whenever you were back in town.”
I shook my head. “I-I-I know. Bu-but I forgot. You see, Avery went in to delivery early and—”
“And nothing. Do you know what seeing you does to my daughter’s psyche? Do you know how much of a trigger you are to her—to us—to this damn town? You being seen doesn’t just bother Anna. It bothers my whole family. Carter’s family. Eric’s family,” she spat out.
My whole body fell into shock. I couldn’t breathe. Everything felt dizzying, and my knees were going to buckle. Carter and Eric. The two boys who lost their lives on my birthday all those years before.
I hadn’t heard their names in such a long time, but I thought about them daily. Not a day went by when Anna, Carter, and Eric didn’t cross my mind.
Anna’s eyes.
