Read Online Teaching Willow: Session Four by Paige James - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Paige James
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don’t need to be going anywhere near him and causing problems.”
I’m both disappointed and irritated. Why would she assume that I’m going to cause problems? Is it that obvious that my treacherous lies have destroyed the man’s life?
“I won’t be causing any–”
“If you go near him, you will absolutely cause trouble. A restraining order isn’t a sweet request, honey. You could get him thrown in jail for violating it. Do yourself a favor and stay away from him.”
I swallow the enormous lump that has formed in my throat and I give the lady a shaky smile before I turn and hurry back the way I came. Here comes the hysterical crying again.
EIGHTEEN- EBON
My shit is packed. Now, the hotel room more closely resembles the way it looked when I found it rather than like a crack addict has been hiding out in here for days. My story is done. It’s stored neatly on my computer and on the thumb drive that I’m going to have delivered to Willow. Eventually. Right now, I can’t attempt to reach her at all. No form of communication until the restraining period expires. That’s in three months’ time. While it’s true that I’ve got nothing but time, three months is a lifetime when so much has happened already, when so much has been left unsaid. When the woman I fell in love with lied to me for weeks, when my mother tried to kill her, when her family forbid me to see her and when she ended up taking out a restraining order. Three months after all that is like the final nail in an already mostly-sealed coffin. I don’t know how we could recover from that.
Until then, I found a furnished apartment in Jacksonville that I can sublet. It’ll do until I can get my house sold, until I can figure out what to do with my life. It’ll have to do. I have zero other choices.
I stand, glancing again at my dead cell phone where it rests on the nightstand, half covered by a newspaper that I never looked at. Like everything else, it’s been neglected. I don’t know when the battery died, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t know anyone who might be calling it anyway. Hell, if the police needed me, they’d just come knocking.
I reach for it and walk to the bathroom, tossing it into the toilet. I’m leaving it behind, along with everything else. Except my memories. There’s no way I’d part with those, no matter how painful holding onto them might be. They’re all I’ve got.
My feet feel like lead when I walk to the entryway and stop. This seems so final, like I’m shutting the door on this chapter of my life. In a way, I guess I am. It’s the only thing I can do. Although there are few things I know for certain at this point, the one thing I do know is that I can’t stay around here. I’m too close to Willow. She’s all I can think about, yet she might as well be a million miles away, and it’s tearing me apart. I can’t live like this. I can’t sleep in the bed where I saw her naked. I can’t abide in the house where my mother attacked her. And I can’t live in the town where I’ll see her face at every turn. Too much has happened. There are too many memories. And too little hope. I have to get out of here. The sooner, the better.
Resolute, I open the door, turning to scan the interior one more time to make sure I haven’t left anything. Then, slowly and quietly, I literally close the door on my past. It’s time to move on. To what, I don’t know. I only know that I have to try.
NINETEEN- WILLOW
Three weeks have passed. Three excruciating weeks. And still no word from Ebon.
After I left the police station that day, I went home and spent the night crying into my pillow, avoiding my sister. The next day, I called back and got Detective Arnold’s number. I left a message for him on his cell phone, one he returned a super-rapid two whole days later. He wasn’t any more help than Mean Cop
I’m both disappointed and irritated. Why would she assume that I’m going to cause problems? Is it that obvious that my treacherous lies have destroyed the man’s life?
“I won’t be causing any–”
“If you go near him, you will absolutely cause trouble. A restraining order isn’t a sweet request, honey. You could get him thrown in jail for violating it. Do yourself a favor and stay away from him.”
I swallow the enormous lump that has formed in my throat and I give the lady a shaky smile before I turn and hurry back the way I came. Here comes the hysterical crying again.
EIGHTEEN- EBON
My shit is packed. Now, the hotel room more closely resembles the way it looked when I found it rather than like a crack addict has been hiding out in here for days. My story is done. It’s stored neatly on my computer and on the thumb drive that I’m going to have delivered to Willow. Eventually. Right now, I can’t attempt to reach her at all. No form of communication until the restraining period expires. That’s in three months’ time. While it’s true that I’ve got nothing but time, three months is a lifetime when so much has happened already, when so much has been left unsaid. When the woman I fell in love with lied to me for weeks, when my mother tried to kill her, when her family forbid me to see her and when she ended up taking out a restraining order. Three months after all that is like the final nail in an already mostly-sealed coffin. I don’t know how we could recover from that.
Until then, I found a furnished apartment in Jacksonville that I can sublet. It’ll do until I can get my house sold, until I can figure out what to do with my life. It’ll have to do. I have zero other choices.
I stand, glancing again at my dead cell phone where it rests on the nightstand, half covered by a newspaper that I never looked at. Like everything else, it’s been neglected. I don’t know when the battery died, but it doesn’t matter. I don’t know anyone who might be calling it anyway. Hell, if the police needed me, they’d just come knocking.
I reach for it and walk to the bathroom, tossing it into the toilet. I’m leaving it behind, along with everything else. Except my memories. There’s no way I’d part with those, no matter how painful holding onto them might be. They’re all I’ve got.
My feet feel like lead when I walk to the entryway and stop. This seems so final, like I’m shutting the door on this chapter of my life. In a way, I guess I am. It’s the only thing I can do. Although there are few things I know for certain at this point, the one thing I do know is that I can’t stay around here. I’m too close to Willow. She’s all I can think about, yet she might as well be a million miles away, and it’s tearing me apart. I can’t live like this. I can’t sleep in the bed where I saw her naked. I can’t abide in the house where my mother attacked her. And I can’t live in the town where I’ll see her face at every turn. Too much has happened. There are too many memories. And too little hope. I have to get out of here. The sooner, the better.
Resolute, I open the door, turning to scan the interior one more time to make sure I haven’t left anything. Then, slowly and quietly, I literally close the door on my past. It’s time to move on. To what, I don’t know. I only know that I have to try.
NINETEEN- WILLOW
Three weeks have passed. Three excruciating weeks. And still no word from Ebon.
After I left the police station that day, I went home and spent the night crying into my pillow, avoiding my sister. The next day, I called back and got Detective Arnold’s number. I left a message for him on his cell phone, one he returned a super-rapid two whole days later. He wasn’t any more help than Mean Cop
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