Willow:I’m in the city for a last-minute meeting with a contractor. I might not be home until late. Tomorrow? We could spend the morning together…
Me: Morning, yes. Will I see you tonight when you’re back?
There’s a long pause before Willow responds. I hold the phone in my hands, shocked at the way my heartbeat picks up and my breath tightens in my chest as I wait. We’ve spent every night together for almost two months now. Why would tonight be any different?
But then the message comes.
Willow: B, I need to handle some stuff tonight. Text me in the morning?
I’m stunned at how disappointed I am.
Is Willow seeing someone else?
Why else would she need a night to herself?
I consider asking her, but look where that got me with Mags. Demanding answers and confrontation might just lead to shit I’m not ready to handle.
I thumbs-up the text and don’t say more. I put the phone in my desk drawer and drop my face into my hands. I’m probably losing Mags. I may be losing Willow even sooner than I expected.
Somehow with just two conversations, this shitshow that is my life got even shittier.
14
WILLOW
I makethe drive back to Star Falls after dark, listening to nothing but the sounds of the road under my tires and the racing of my own thoughts.
The season has changed in the time I’ve been here. Early fall has shifted from colorful and brilliant, the bright green grass softening to a sleepy color, the bold red and orange leaves long swept into piles, the trees having dropped most of their leaves.
All day, I’ve felt hollow, and I can’t figure out why.
The Kincade family’s attorney sent the demand letter as promised. The people who came to my company wanting to open a second location are now completely done. They essentially are insisting that if we don’t release them from the contract, they will file an injunction to stop the progress on the new location. They intend to file a lawsuit to try to terminate the contract altogether.
There was no demand made. No explanation that they want more money or more creative control. Nothing. They didn’t even explain what the basis of the lawsuit would be.
Theresa hasn’t said anything yet, but I know what this means—I’ll be pulled back from Star Falls. Right now, there is no otherdeal ready for me to move to, so I’ll likely live here or from a suitcase while I hit the road, looking for another destination.
Normally, the idea of getting back on the road excites me. After a year on a project, the thrill of a new place makes me feel alive. I love adventure. I’m curious and, to be honest, a little restless. I am usually the one chomping at the bit to say goodbye to the old and a hearty hello to the new.
But today, none of my typical enthusiasm is anywhere to be found. I think about the cities I might explore, the cuisines just waiting to develop into viable businesses. Instead of curious or even just ready, I feel deflated.
I sigh as my eyes adjust to the familiar streets that lead to my condo. The place I’ve called home—if only temporarily. The place where I’ve cooked and laughed, taken calls for work, and video-chatted with Jessa.
The place where I first received flowers from Benny.
The place where I look forward to seeing him every single night.
Benito Bianchi.
It’s really him, I think, that I will miss the most. What started out as just a hookup, a short-term whatever this is… I don’t know.
I’m starting to think that what bothers me most about leaving Star Falls is the thought of leaving Benny.
Which, honestly, doesn’t make any sense.
This will be the first project I’ve been pulled off prematurely. I have no condo back in Chicago. No storage unit full of memories where I can wander through the past, no aunt or cousins to crash with while I figure out my next move.
My childhood was a nightmare. Parents who were more enamored with alcohol than they were with me. My mom stayed with my dad much longer than she should have until, finally, he left her in the worst way possible. He died in a car accident. Theirony of it was that my dad wasn’t even intoxicated at the time. He swerved to avoid hitting a deer, blew a tire, and hit a tree.
