Page 77 of Crossed Lines

“How else am I supposed to see it? He helped raise you for Christ’s sake. He’s not supposed to be with you like this.”

“Sawyer, he’s your best friend. You know him. You know he’s a good man.”

“Yeah, well, I’m starting to rethink everything I’ve ever known.”

“Neither one of us wanted to hurt you, ok? I don’t want you to be mad at us, but this really isn’t about you. It’s about me and Beck. I know you don’t want to ruin your friendship or our relationship because of this.”

“I think he ruined our friendship the second he started thinking of you as anything other than a sister.”

“Sawyer… come on.”

“It feels like I failed you,” he says suddenly.

“What? Why?”

“You were supposed to grow up, have a normal life. Go to college. Meet someone age-appropriate to fall in love with. Do all the things kids your age do. But instead, I kept you too involved in my own life, surrounded by people my age.”

“You didn’t fail me. If anything, you gave me the courage to be myself. I mean, look at me. I’m in Italy living my dreams. I’m almost done with school. I’m happy, I’m healthy, and I’m in love. Who I’m in love with shouldn’t matter.”

“But it does. It does in this case, Willow.” He sighs. “Listen, I love you. That will never change. But I need time to process this. I’m not happy about it, and I think you need to really think about what you’re doing, alright?”

“Alright,” I agree even though I’ve spent enough time thinking about it. I know I want Beck. I just hope that his feelings for me don’t change before I graduate and come home.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll talk to you soon.”

He doesn’t give me a chance to say anything else before he hangs up.

I look up to see Macy standing by the doorway. I didn’t even hear her come up.

“That didn’t sound like it went well.” She sits on her bed across from me.

“It certainly could’ve gone better.”

“He’s mad?” she asks.

I nod. “Very.”

“Sorry, babe. I’m sure he’ll get over it.”

“Yeah, let’s hope.”

“Come on. I know what can cheer you up,” she says.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Pizza!”

I laugh. “That would definitely help.”

She grabs my hand, and I barely have time to get my wallet before she’s pulling me out of our room and onto the streets of Rome.

Now that it’s fall, there’s a small breeze, but the sun still makes it feel warm during the day. Macy and I walk through the busy streets until we get to the little pizza place that we found our first week here. It’s so small that there’s usually not much of a line because the tourists are all going for the larger places. It smells like Italian spices and charred crust, which makes my stomach growl.

We each order a slice and sit at one of the few tiny tables placed throughout the restaurant.

“You’re gonna be ok, Willow,” Macy says.

I nod. “Yeah, I know. It’d just be easier if Sawyer was on board.”