Page 55 of The Problem with Falling

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A real laugh.

It was low and quiet, but I made him laugh.

My heart did a little skipping around. Something that happened a lot lately when it came to that man. Maybe Jensen was right. Maybe I did stare at him a lot more than I stared at others.

“You eat?” he asked.

“Not yet.”

“Want dinner? I made some pasta back home,” he grumbled as he turned my way. “Willow. The fucking tears.”

“Sorry! Sorry. Working on it.” I wiped my eyes. “Pasta sounds delicious.”

“Picked up some of my grandma’s sourdough, too, to go with it.”

We headed back to his place, and he told me to sit at the dining room table as he proceeded to warm up dinner for me. He set it down in front of me, along with a glass of ice water with three slices of lemon. Just like I made myself each day.

“Thank you,” I mentioned.

He huffed once and nodded before he started toward the kitchen.

“Are you still planning to go fishing tonight?” I called out, making him pause his steps.

“Yeah.”

“Oh. That’s good. I didn’t ruin your night too much.”

“Didn’t ruin it at all.”

“Hey, Theo?”

“Yes, Willow?”

“Can I go fishing with you?”

CHAPTER 15

Theo

“How many times have you been fishing?” I asked Willow as I helped her into my boat. Before we stepped outside, I told her to bundle up to stay warm. I also packed a backpack of snacks and drinks, along with a few of my favorite novels and headlamps in case she decided she was more into reading than fishing.

“Counting this time?” she questioned.

“Yeah.”

“Well…” She held her hand up and started counting her fingers, seemingly in deep thought. “This would be the first time.”

I let out a small chuckle. “Lucky for you, I’m a solid coach.”

“Is that so?”

“No. Not exactly. I taught Jensen, though. So I got that notch under my belt.”

“It blows my mind how different Jensen and Peter are.”

“He takes after his mom,” I explained.

“What happened to her?”

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