Logan
Struggling to keep the doors open, I thrust Willow inside the shed and then jumped in after her, just in time for the wind to slam the doors shut behind me. Trembling from exertion, I placed my hands on the quaking wood, feeling the strength of the wind battering against it. While I stood there, something large crashed against the doors, hard enough to startle me. Backing slowly away from the doors, I eyed the roof with trepidation, hoping it would hold if a heavy branch dropped onto it.
“That’s why they call them widow-makers,” I muttered. “‘Cause they drop down and kill people.”
My dad had been a seasonal worker, a jack-of-all-trades, who’d snow plowed, landscaped, repaired fences, and even trimmed trees. On the rare occasion that he hadn’t been berating me, he’d been teaching me his trades.
You’re going to need these skills someday, he would slur, a bottle of gin pointed in my direction.You’re gonna blow your knee out or knock up that girl a’ yours and then you can kiss that fancy-ass scholarship good-fuckin’-bye.
He’d been right. I had needed the skills, and I had kissed my state scholarship goodbye… just not for the reasons he’d thought. The end of our world hadn’t exactly satisfied my desire to watch dear old Dad eat his words but considering the state of things and the fact that he was long gone, it would have to suffice.
“W-what?”
Willow was huddled against the back wall, quivering from head to toe, her teeth chattering violently, furiously rubbing her upper arms in an attempt to warm herself. Mixed with the rainwater dripping from every inch of her, a trail of bright-red blood ran down her calf.
“Your leg is bleeding,” I told her. “Make sure you clean that.”
When Willow didn’t respond, I said, “Did you hear me? I said, make sure you clean that.”
“I’m n-n-not stupid,” Willow muttered, rolling her eyes. “And I heard y-y-you the first time.”
My nostrils flared; my eyes narrowed. “If you’re not stupid, then why the fuck am I always having to repeat myself?”
Willow was instantly on her feet, her eyes flashing. “Are you kidding me? W-what the hell was I doing wrongthis time?I didn’t answer f-f-fast enough—that’s what your problem is?”
I didn’t want to fight with her, especially not right now, but she had such an incredible talent for working my last nerve, for winding me up so fast and in such a way that I lost my grip on sense and reason.
“Look around!” I shouted. “My problem is,we’re hiding in a fucking garden shed! If we would have left this morning, like I’d wanted to, this wouldn’t have happened! But no,youwanted to stay!”
Willow’s trembling mouth fell open. “If we would have left this morning, we wouldn’t have tubs full of fresh water!”
“Filthy water!” I bellowed. “I couldn’t get all the lids on, remember? We’ll be drinking sediment!”
She was suddenly nose to nose with me. “I’ll filter it all myself! Will that make you fucking happy?”
No,I wanted to scream.No, it absolutely will not make me happy!But I found myself at a sudden loss for words. I was so angry, I was vibrating, literally shaking with rage, and yet… I was rock hard. Willow’s mouth was so goddamn close to mine, her minty breath hot as it blew across my face, her lips wet with rain. Grabbing her and kissing her was suddenly all I could think about. Kissing her and… touching her. Just like last night, when I’d grabbed her thigh; it had been a knee-jerk reaction that I hadn’t remedied right away. I’d knowingly kept my hand there, thinking all sorts of fucked-up thoughts, the very same thoughts I was having now.
“Do I need to speak in football analogies for you to comprehend what I‘m saying, Logan?” Willow spat. Her fingers snapped in front of my face, and I blinked, my anger quickly rising back to the surface.
“Why are you such a bitch?” I thundered. “Why can’t you ever just listen?”
Her eyes grew wide, flashing with flames. “I’m not the one who needs to listen,” she shrieked. “You are! You think you know everything, you think you’re always right, but you’re not, you know that? You’re really not!”
“Name one time you haven’t needed me to save the day!” I demanded. “You can’t, can you? You know why? Because you’re fucking useless.”
Hurt flashed briefly across her face, soon replaced with fury. “Fuck you!Fuck you!” she screamed, spittle flying past her lips, spraying across my face. She was borderline hysterical now, and so was I—the desire to kiss her warring violently with the desire to shake her.
“You think we need you, but we don’t. I’m an adult, remember? Luke and I are both adults—you just like treating us like babies!”
“Oh, you’re an adult?” I sneered, grabbing hold of her arms before I had the sense to stop myself. Gripping her biceps, I shook her roughly. “Then maybe you should fucking act like one!”
Shock flashed in Willow’s eyes. Screaming, she slapped my hands away and shoved hard at my chest, knocking me back a step. “And maybe you should stop acting like your father!”
We both froze, staring at one another—Willow barely breathing, and me breathing far too hard.
There were things we rarely spoke of… not out loud, anyway, and my father was at the top of that list. But Willow hadn’t just brought him up,she’d compared me to him. It was a slap in the face, a sucker punch to the gut; there was nothing worse she could have said to me.
Backing slowly away, I moved to a far corner of the shed, giving Willow my back. While the storm continued to rage around us, we raged silently in our separate corners. I refused to look at her, determined to never forgive her for what she’d said.
