Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“That trait must’ve skipped over my mother.”
“I doubt it. She probably just keeps all that trauma to herself.” She shifted her body on the dock. “She left town this morning. Said she wouldn’t be back around. I told her that was probably for the best for a while.”
“You don’t have to stop seeing her because of me.”
Grandma placed a hand on my forearm. “I love you, Theo.”
I almost smiled. “Love you, too.”
She turned and looked out at the water. “We’re gonna be all right, aren’t we? It might take some time, but we’ll get there.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “We’ll be all right.” Maybe not today, but we’ll be all right.
She rested her head on my shoulder. “So…are we going to talk about Willow?”
“What about Willow?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she teased. “Maybe about the fact that you’re in love with her.”
I arched an eyebrow. “What?”
“It’s okay.” Grandma patted my leg. “It took your grandfather a second to realize he was in love with me, too. Men are a little slower, after all.”
I huffed but didn’t reply.
Me?
In love with Willow?
Impossible.
Hell, we’d only spent a summer together. We’d just become friends not even that long ago. I couldn’t be… Love needed more time before…
Oh fuck…
Me?
In love with Willow?
“You should tell her,” Grandma said.
I shook my head. “We haven’t even known each other for a long time. That’s ridiculous. I can’t love her. I can’t…” My words faded off because I could love her. It seemed like one of the easiest things I could’ve done.
Grandma simply smiled and patted my hand in hers. “We get one shot at this thing called life, Theodore. One shot at living it to the fullest. We might as well fall ridiculously in love every chance we get. I promise you, when your last day comes on this earth, you’ll never think, ‘Wow, I should’ve loved a little less.’ So go ahead and love a little more.”
CHAPTER 32
Willow
Amonth had passed since everything unraveled at the funeral service for Harry. I’d been checking in on Molly often, yet so had the whole town. She was never alone for more than two minutes, and I was thankful for that.
Theo checked in on her the most, and I checked in on him the most. Even though he said he was all right, I still kept an eye on him. Each night, we shared a bed together, and I was getting more and more used to waking up next to him. I knew it was probably time to move on to my next adventure. Back in June, I never even thought I’d be seeing Westin Lake in late September, yet somehow as the leaves were changing, my heart was transforming, too.
I didn’t feel like flying away to the next unwritten chapter of my storybook. I selfishly began to adore my current chapter, and if anything, I wanted to do a reread with Theo over and over and over again.
Theo’s morning forehead kisses and nighttime embraces were my two favorite meals of the day.
It wasn’t until late one Tuesday that I received a call from my sister Yara, saying I should make my way back to Honey Creek. Avery had been admitted to the hospital, and they were talking about having the twins come early. We knew her having twins made it more likely that Avery would have to give birth early, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.
I needed to get back to Honey Creek to make sure my sister and my future nephews were okay. Theo returned to his place after his visit with Molly to find me packing a suitcase.
He raised an eyebrow as he stood in the doorway to my bedroom. “Are you running away because I called you my clementine? Did it freak you out that much?” he semi-joked as he slid his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants.
I laughed a little as I zipped up my suitcase. “My sister Avery is having her babies soon. I just need to go back for a while to make sure she’s okay. It’s earlier than planned, which scares me, but it’s all right.”
He walked over to me and kneeled. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You’re crying.”
“Am I?” I wiped the falling tears from my eyes. “I’m okay.”
“You’re scared.”
I took a breath and nodded. “I’m scared.”
“How far is the drive?”
“About five hours or so.”
“All right. I’ll go pack a bag.”
I raised both my eyebrows. “What? No, Theo. You don’t have to do that. I’ll be all right.”
“It’s already dark outside, you’re overwhelmed, and you’ll be exhausted in five hours. I’ll drive. We can take my truck.”
“Theo, I can’t expect you to—”
“I don’t want you to drive tired and scared. So let me do this, Willow. Let me take care of you.”
I stood from the floor and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you.”