WILLOW: PRESENTATION DAY
“Plans for the day—go,”Eddie asks. He flips his last pancake as he points a finger gun towards me. I stare at the handsome shifter manning my stove. He is in sweats and a T-shirt, my honest-to-goddess favorite outfit of his. He’s made himself at home in my house for the past what... few weeks? And our whole dynamic shift.
We wake up together, though he is still sleeping on the couch. He makes me breakfast, and I keep him company as he cooks. Then we get ready, and he drops me off at work like clockwork every day. I haven’t driven since the day he got here, still, and I’m not mad at it.
I love that he is here in my home with me and Layla, but as much as he smiles and says he’s okay, I know he misses his Pack. That kills me inside. I feel guilty, it’s my fault, but I also know that even if I sent him away, he wouldn’t go, and that settles my rapidly beating heart.
“Work, then I’m having lunch with the girls. Catch up with them and whatnot. You?” I ask. It’s weird to not talk about attacking Ghost since Layla dropped that news on us last night. It’s hard to process that Milo isn’t dead. The man I thought wasmy fated mate isn’t dead. Instead, he faked his death and is hiding somewhere, and now he’s hired a hitman to keep Layla away from him by having the hitman attack me.
If I think about it too much, before we can do anything about it, I think I’ll choke, I need to push it to the back of my mind.
We have to wait a whole four days before we get to the bottom of this and try to catch Ghost at Layla’s job on Tuesday.
I’m trying to remain calm about last night’s conversation. I’m pushing it to the back of my mind, but I know I’ll break at some point. I sigh, and the tears trying to poke their way through my eyes, but I hold them back and smile up at Eddie. He’s already staring at me with a small smile on his face.
“I have my presentation today,” he says slowly. Almost as if it sounds unreal or too good to be true.
“How do you feel? Are you ready?” I smile, rising excitedly from my chair. I’ll put everything to the side for now. Today’s the day for Eddie’s dream project to be presented to his company, and he’s been oddly shy about it. I’m sure everyone else noticed at dinner last night too, and I didn’t want to feed his nerves by asking why, but he brought the conversation up first.
“I’m as ready as I can be, Buttercup.”
“Okay, okay. Are you excited? No, I know you are. What are you going to wear?” I’m rushing around the house now, grabbing at all sorts of outfits and accessories that he has all over the house.
“Willow, come eat,” he says, setting down the pancakes next to the butter and syrup. “I’m wearing my normal attire.”
“Nothing special? No, that won’t do—let me find something!” I shout from my room as I dig through my drawers. I have a lucky pin somewhere, and he should at least have that. It’s a stupid little pin from when I first moved to Rainfall Avenue. It was the first thing I bought after I got myself settled in. I love this stupid pin. I find it on one of my bookshelves and rush backto the kitchen, where he’s serving pancakes onto three plates at the table.
“I found it. Here.” I push the pin next to his plate and sit, watching his face for an expression. I slowly realize I’m being pushy and admittedly weird, and I want to take it back the more he stares at the cheap pin.
“A bear paw?”
“It’s cute,” I mutter.
“It’s definitely cute and a little corny.”
“You don’t have to wear it,” I say, reaching to grab the pin before Eddie snatches his palm closed with the pin tucked tightly in his hand.
“I love it, Buttercup. Thank you. I’ll keep it with me,” he says, sliding the pin into his pocket. A blush flushes my face as I think of him having the pin all day and probably thinking of me every time his hand runs over it. Maybe I shouldn’t have given it to him. Maybe it’ll be distracting.
“Keep it in your pocket,” I mumble, stuffing a pancake in my mouth. Gosh, he makes the fluffiest pancakes.
“Willow!” Layla calls from the living room. She has the day off and is taking full advantage of it, setting up camp in Eddie’s “bedroom.”
“Yes, Layla?” I yell from my seat in the kitchen, rolling my eyes jokingly. Layla is a wonderful housemate when the girl remembered she was twenty and not fifteen.
“Can you help me? The TV isn’t turning on.” Layla is laid out on the couch and doesn’t look like she’s moved since she plopped herself there this morning.
“Layla, you’re twenty and can’t change the remote batteries?”
“I forgot about that,” she mumbles.
“Try the batteries then come talk to me,” I say, trying to contain my laughs. Eddie sure doesn’t, laughing his butt off as he goes towards the shower.
“Quit laughing, Eddie. You’re the one who lost the remote last night!” Layla shouts back.
“You did what?” I ask, my head whipping towards him. One thing that made me mad was losing the remote. Layla got an earful from me the first week she was here after she lost the remote. Thankfully, it was only under the couch, but I hope she learned to search before asking me.
“I’m taking a shower. Can’t answer any further questions!” he yells as he shuts the bathroom door.
