Page 44 of The Problem with Falling
“Which you find the need to express out loud at all times,” I mentioned.
She smiled again.
Made me almost want to smile, too.
I prayed that feeling would dissipate sooner than later.
She walked toward me, the sun bouncing off her wet, shimmering skin, and tossed the towel over her shoulder. As she walked up the deck steps, she paused near me. She then looked out toward where I was planning the garden to be. “It’s a bit late into the season to start a garden,” she mentioned.
“I know that. I just wanted Jensen to…”Feel better.I wanted him to feel better because I cared. My words faded off as Irealized she’d caught me in my feelings. The feelings I claimed I did not have.
I grimaced.
She laughed.
Our current normal exchanges.
Her smile widened, and she placed a hand on my forearm and squeezed it gently. “I know, Theodore. I know.”
“Theo,” I growled. “Just Theo.”
“Right. Of course.Just Theo,” she remarked sarcastically. Or flirtingly? I wasn’t certain. I didn’t know how to read that woman.
“Willow?”
“Yes?”
“Can you leave me the hell alone?”
She frowned.
Fucking hell.
That didn’t make me feel less confused than her smiles. It actually made me feel…bad. And sad. The last thing I wanted to witness again was a Willow frown. It made my chest ache.
Can you stop being a fucking dick for just one day, Theo?
She wandered into the house, and I stayed there for a moment, trying to shake off the tingling sensation she sent through my system from that small touch. I also tried to shake off the guilt from seeing her lips turned upside down and her eyes filled with hurt.
Magic.
It had to be magic.
Willow Kingsley must’ve been a witch. Otherwise, I couldn’t explain why she made me feel the way she had. It wasn’t even as if she made me feel a few things. No. She made me feeleverything. It had been a long, long time since I felt everything all at once, but somehow, she’d managed to unlock that within my system.
Which was quite an odd sensation, at best.
At worst, it was terrifying.
That meant one thing and one thing only. I had to become colder. More distant. Otherwise, I’d drown in the confusion of how that woman made me feel.
CHAPTER 12
Willow
“How has my grandson been treating you?” Molly asked as I sat on a stool at her kitchen island. She was folding her sourdough as she walked me through the process of making said dough. Still, I had low confidence that I wouldn’t mess up my own loaf of sourdough.
Coming to Molly and Harry’s house always felt like walking into a warm hug. Their home had such a rustic feel and was vibrant with color and life. They had a collection of antiques passed down through the years from different family members, too. I figured that was what I loved most about the two of them. They weren’t just two individuals; they were the ones who came before them, too. Molly and Harry Langford had history to their lives. That was why their place felt much more like a home than just a house.
