Willow slumped back into her original position. She didn’t look as happy now. ‘Well, it is real. To me.’
‘So, you must have missed it? How come you stayed away? You never visited,’ he said. He was trying not to sound accusing, but he could hear the edge in his voice; it was difficult to hide. ‘Martha would have loved you to visit. You know that.’
‘That’s not fair, Luc. I was so busy. We were busy. I rang her all the time and I saw her on holiday vacations at my mom’s.’
Lucas frowned. Martha had told him about these trips to Boston; they were the few times they ever saw Willow’s mom, when she could be bothered to bring them all together for Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. She liked to make a big effort then. But neither Willow nor her mom ever returned to Honey Springs and that never made sense to Lucas.
‘Didn’t you ever want to come back?’
‘I didn’t really think about it. I had left the Springs behind. I honestly didn’t think there was much here for me,’ Willow said quietly. ‘It wasn’t a big deal, Lucas. It was just how I felt at the time.’
‘Jake thinks that too, doesn’t he? Is that why he doesn’t bother with Eric?’
He felt Willow stiffen next to him. ‘You don’t know what his relationship with his dad is like. You can’t possibly understand that.’
‘All I know is the man is sick and he has no one. It seems pretty sad to me.’
‘Jake has his reasons,’ Willow whispered. ‘He has lots of reasons to stay away.’
A breeze rippled through them. Lucas glanced up at the sky. It was cloudy above them, but in the distance, gray clouds loomed. Rain would be here soon. He hoped Mia wouldn’t take much longer. He didn’t want them getting wet.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said finally. ‘It’s not any of my business. I shouldn’t be asking you these questions.’
She smiled faintly. ‘It’s OK. It’s not really any of my business anymore either. Jake and I are on a break. I guess we need some space away from each other …’
‘Really?’ Lucas tried to keep his tone even, but it was tricky. Internally, his thoughts were all over the place. What exactly did a break mean? Surely that was a good sign. After all, Jake was so far away now.
And she was sitting here with him now – so close.
Too close.
‘I’m only surprised you took so long to come back,’ he teased. ‘How could you resist not seeing our camp again? It missed you.’
She grinned back. ‘It was hard, Luc. I promise you that. I guess my new life just overtook me.’
He sat back a little. The cheese was still on his lap, so he carefully unwrapped it, taking his time. He noticed Willow was staring out into the distance, totally lost in thought. He wanted to leave her to it.
So, he ate slowly, trying hard not to disturb her.
It was quiet around them, except it wasn’t – not if you really listened to all the sounds. This was something that Lucas had always loved, the fact that the noises drowned out the clutter in his head. Here he could focus on the sound of the rushing water, the wind moving through the trees and the chirping of insects.
He could finally allow himself to be at peace.
It was noise, but it was quiet at the same time and that wonderful juxtaposition fascinated him.
‘We did this before, didn’t we?’ Willow said suddenly. ‘Just sat here so still. We didn’t talk all the time.’
‘We didn’t always need to.’
Sometimes after a busy day at school, or if it was in one of the school breaks after a crazy session playing, they would come here and flop, content in their own company, never forcing the silences with unnecessary chatter. They didn’t need to. They had been the type of friends that could just be together without a word said between them. Often, they could communicate without even talking; they were that connected.
‘But other times, we would talk about nonsense …’ Willow continued. ‘Do you remember that argument we had about what to name our pet fish?’
Lucas chuckled as his memory resurfaced. It had been another failed attempt to catch a fish with Lucas’s very battered and old rod. They had agreed that if they caughtanything, they would keep it as a pet. It would be shared between them, and they would love it equally.
‘You wanted to call it Phil. That’s a stupid name for a fish,’ he said.
‘That’s my grandfather’s name, God rest his soul,’ Willow replied, her eyes twinkling. ‘It’s the perfect name for a noble pet.’
