Page 58 of The Problem with Falling
“You can do whatever you want, Willow.”
She grinned, grabbed a headlamp, and made herself comfortable. A slight breeze brushed past, so I grabbed my extra blanket and tossed it over her lap.
Why didn’t I hate it?
She read the rest of the night, thumbing through the pages I’d thumbed through in the past. After we finished, I walked her back to the house. We didn’t talk, but she still had the book in her hands, saying she’d need to read it into the night. I didn’t blame her. When I started that book, I also struggled to put it down.
As I walked past her room to head toward mine, Willow hugged her doorframe. “Theo?”
“Yes, Willow.” I gave her a lazy smile. “You can fish with me tomorrow.”
She smiled, and I felt it in my chest.
We’d fished togetherfor the next week. We talked a little bit more, too.
She still hadn’t caught a fish, but she didn’t seem to mind.
I didn’t mind either.
After one night on the water, I found an emotional Willow banging on my bedroom door at three in the morning. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I yawned, confused at her standing there. “Willow, what are you—”
She held the book I loaned her against her chest as tears rolled down her cheeks. “Chapter forty-two,” she whispered before she broke into sobs.
Oh right. That chapter.
I couldn’t blame her for the emotional breakdown.
Chapter forty-two did me in, too.
“He didn’t stay,” she said before covering her mouth as she gasped for air.
I leaned against my doorframe and crossed my arms over my chest. “I know.”
“He promised he’d stay.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“It’s not fair,” she sobbed. “They were happy. They finally found each other and were happy, and now he’s left her. It’s so sad.”
“Maybe.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Sometimes it’s even sadder when people stay. At least that’s what I tell myself.”
Her heartbroken eyes found mine, and for some odd reason, my own eyes flooded with emotions. In an attempt to avoid her seeing me get emotional, too, I cleared my throat and pulled her into a hug. “There, there,” I said, patting her on the back. She fell against my chest as if she’d always belonged there, and I tried my best to avoid her feeling my increased heartbeat pounding rapidly against my chest. “You’ll be fine, Weeping Willow.”
“How do you know?” she cried.
“Well, for starters, you’re only three-fourths through the story. You still have a whole one-fourth to reach a happily ever after. Besides…the plot is just getting good.”
She looked up at me, sniffling, and then fell back to my chest.
I held her tighter and rested my chin on top of her head. “Besides…even if you aren’t okay tonight, you’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because we’re going to go fishing.”
CHAPTER 16
Willow
