“Goodmemory. Thanks.” It may be silly, but I love it when peopleremember little details like that. I’m sure some people simply haveexcellent memories and are able to retain all kinds of randomfacts, but it makes me feel special, like the small details aboutme are worth taking note of.
After Willow and Ispend a few minutes catching up, she says, “Do you rememberFelicity from FandomTown on Danforth?”
“Ofcourse. I had to stop going in there because I wanted to buyeverything, but my hus—” I clamp my mouth shut around the words. Myex-husband—when will I get that right?—didn’t want me cluttering upthe apartment with my ‘stupid nerdy collectables’. “Too muchtemptation,” I finally say, taking a quick sip of mydrink.
Willow is quietfor a moment, her brow creased. She must sense my silent plea tomove on because her expression smooths. “I know all about thetemptation, believe me. I swear I used to spend a good chunk of mypaycheck in that store. Anyway, Felicity and I kept in touch afterI moved back to Bellevue. She came by Cravings when she was in towna few months ago, and she told me she’d been thinking aboutexpanding for a while. After I showed her around the Village, shesaid how perfect this place would be to open a store.”
“Andshe went for it, didn’t she?” I picture the empty storefront just afew shops down from Cravings with a colorful ‘Coming Soon’ sign inthe front window. I’d peered inside on my way past, and a pile ofboxes at the back—particularly the one with the Funko Pop logo—hadcaught my eye.
Willow nodsexcitedly. “She did a ton of research and thinks it’ll be reallysuccessful, especially here in the Village. She handed over controlof the Toronto store and has moved back to Bellevue to run theplace herself.”
“That’sfantastic. I’ll be one of her best customers…y’know, once I get ajob and a place to live where I can actually displaystuff.”
Willow laughs atmy self-deprecating eye roll. “The job offer at Cravings stillstands.”
“Thanks, but I’m better at drinking coffee and eating pastriesthan I am at serving them.”
Willow waves ahand to indicate her curvy figure. “Believe me, I do a lot ofsampling myself. Perks of the job if you ask me.” She winks at meover the rim of her pumpkin chai latte, then glances across theroom to where a beautiful dark-haired woman is delivering a tray ofdrinks to the crafting table. “You’ve met Marisol,right?”
I recognizeWillow’s tone, along with the slightly mischievous glint in hereye. She’s in matchmaker mode. “I have, yes.”
“Areyou seeing anyone right now? Because Mar’s not, and I think you twowould have a lot of fun together.” The mischief spreads from hereyes to her lips, which tilt upward on one side. “Or Jasper’syoungest sister is coming to town this weekend,” she says,referring to her fiancé, who’s the oldest of fivesiblings.
“I’m…off dating for a while, I think. But I obviously knowwhere to come if I need someone to set me up.” I’m not sure why animage of Leland flashes into my mind, but it reminds me that he andWillow likely knew each other too. “Did you know Leland Levesque inschool?”
She gives me afunny look I can’t decipher. “Yeah…”
“I raninto him on my way here.”
“Ohyeah, he’s been around a lot lately. Were you two friends back inthe day?”
“Yes?”
Willow’s lipstwitch. “You don’t sound sure.”
I huff out alaugh. “You know what Leland was like; he was friends witheveryone. He and my brother were close, plus I saw him aroundschool all the time. Then…well…I know I wasn’t really on your radarin high school, so I’m not sure if you know what happened to me intenth grade.”
“I do.”Her voice is soft and full of sympathy. “I think the whole schoolknew.”
I bobmy head slowly. At times, it definitelyfeltlike everyone knew.
When I was eight,I became obsessed with figure skating, and convinced my parents tolet me take skating lessons. We soon discovered I had a naturaltalent for it, and I caught the eye of a trainer who was convincedI had a future in professional skating if I wanted it and waswilling to work for it. I wanted it—god, how I wanted it—and foryears, all my free time was spent at the rink or traveling tocompetitions.
Just before theend of tenth grade, I was in a car accident while traveling to ashow with another skater and his mother. Thankfully, they weren’tbadly hurt, but I was left with an array of injuries, from brokenbones in my left leg to a severe concussion. The healingprocess—both physically and mentally—was slow and agonizing. Ispent months doing physical therapy just to be able to walkproperly again. Even when my PT ended, I continued doing regulartherapy at my parents’ insistence. Besides the lingering physicaleffects of the accident and being diagnosed with PTSD anddepression, my hopes and dreams were crushed the day of myaccident, and I didn’t know how to accept it or recalibrate. It’sbeen nearly twenty years since the accident, and sometimes I feellike I’m still learning to adjust.
I clear my throat,trying to force down the lump that’s formed there. “Right. Well, Iwas out of school for a while, and when I finally went back, it wasa few months into the school year and everything had changed. Of mythree best friends, Hollie was the only one left; Evie’s parentshad enrolled her in a private school across town, and Louisa’s dadpulled her out to homeschool her. Hollie tried her best to help mereacclimate, but I…wasn’t the easiest person to be around at thatpoint. I was full of anger and sadness, and I started pushingpeople away.”
“Understandable,” Willow says when I pause to take anotherdrink of my hot chocolate.
“Ispent a lot of time on my own, then started hanging out with agroup of kids who were prone to getting in trouble. They didn’tknow who I used to be or care that I was pissed off and broken.Most of my teachers treated me like I was made of glass, and I tookadvantage of that. I skipped classes, bailed on assignments, stupidstuff like that. I just didn’t care anymore, and I didn’t want tobe there.”
“Ivaguely remember seeing you around school that year,” Willow says.“It took me a while to realize you were the same person I’d seenthe year before.” She pauses, and I half expect her to addsomething about my scars, the fact I sometimes needed a walking aidif the pain in my leg flared, or the fact I’d gained a considerableamount of weight while I was laid up. My classmates seemed to feelthe need to point those things out to me, as if I wasn’t aware andhadn’t already hit rock bottom in the self-esteemdepartment.
“Wheredoes Leland fit into all of this?” she asks.
Leland. Right. I’dalmost forgotten how we got on this subject.
“So, Ihad people either treating me with kid gloves or enabling my badbehavior. There were a few people who fell somewhere in between,like my brother and Hollie. One of the guys in my new group offriends was on the basketball team with Leland, so he would driftin and out, the way he did with every group in school, you know? Heseemed to make it a point to talk to me, and I thought maybe it wasbecause he was friends with Wesley or he felt sorry for me afterthe accident.
