AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, good, food,” she said right before she began to attack the food Jason had arranged on the dining room table. “Tell me what’s going on, Jason,” she said between bites and after a sip of soda.
“It’s about midnight.” Willow looked at him in confusion. “You and Seth have slept all night and day. He got up and left no more than an hour and a half ago.” Shrugging, Jason continued. “He looked better, but refused to tell me where he was going.”
“I need to use the phone,” she stated as soon as her hunger was eased. Standing, Willow shook her head before walking away from the table. She paused at the door. “Is there any chocolate in this place? I don’t know why, but I’m having a serious chocolate craving.”
“It could have something to do with how much blood Seth took. I’ll see if I can find you some while you call whoever you need to. And if there isn’t any here, I’ll call Seth’s cell and tell him to pick some up.”
“Thanks.” She smiled, appreciating the offer. She wasn’t sure she was up to talking with Seth just yet, and not over the phone. That just seemed too impersonal. Especially after what they’d experienced the night before.
She went into the comfy room and curled up on the couch. Willow really didn’t want to call her sister, but she knew if she didn’t Roxy would worry. And she couldn’t have that on her conscience.
“Hi Roxy, it’s Willow,” she said as soon as the phone stopped ringing.
“Where the hell are you? Are you alright? What did that guy do to you? Tell me how to get there and I’ll come pick you up. I have five former football players ready to back me up at a moment’s notice.”
“Calm down. Remember I told you I needed to work through some things? Well, that’s what I’m doing. Please don’t worry about me, Roxy.”
“Don’t worry? Don’t worry, she says! First you disappear for a week, then you barely sleep for another week. Then—then you just disappear with the guy you stayed with. The one that messed you up in the first place, and you tell me not to worry? Willow, I demand that you tell me what’s going on this minute,” Roxy said in her best big-sister voice.
“Roxy, calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. This isn’t like you, Willow. I’m the one who just runs off with a guy without telling you where I’m going or how long I’ll be gone. I don’t understand how you were always so calm about it all the time. I’m going crazy not knowing what’s going on.” The worry in Roxy’s voice tore at her.
After a deep breath, she answered. “I was able to stay calm because I trusted you. I knew if you needed help you would call me. And that I would be right there for you the minute you did. I knew that you had to live your own life, make your own mistakes. Let me do that now. Please, trust that if I need you I won’t hesitate to call,” she pleaded.
“I do trust you, Willow.” There were tears in her sister’s voice. “But what if you can’t get to a phone when you need me?”
“That’s a chance I have to take. It’s one you’ll have to let me take. I’m not a little girl anymore. And I need to work through this my own way.”
“Alright. Just please come back safe and happy. Or at least, not depressed anymore.” After a moment, Roxy sighed. “Hell, I don’t care. Just come back.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, Roxy.”
“Will?”
“Yes?”
“When did you become the big sister?”
Giving a small chuckle, Willow sighed. “I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve learned a lot from you. And there’s nothing wrong with the big sister being the wild one. You never were very conventional.”
She said goodbye and hung up the phone, laying back against the couch and closing her eyes. Did I do the right thing? Should I just disappear into the night now that I know—well, think—Seth is going to be all right? Do I even want answers to some of my questions?
Feeling around, she found the remote tucked into the side of the couch and turned the channel to an old movie she’d seen many times before. As she watched, she tried to fight back a yawn, unsuccessfully.
r /> Why did I care so much about him being sick? Just what exactly do I feel for him?
Before she could answer any of her own questions, Willow was sleeping once again.
* * *
Riding on his motorcycle, Seth dreaded calling his mother. He hated having to call her with such an awkward question, but he didn’t know whom else he could ask. With a reluctant sigh, he pulled the motorcycle over and took the cell phone out of his pocket. Bringing the number up on speed dial, he refused to give himself a chance to second-guess his decision.
“Hi, Mom,” he began.
“Seth Baker, or Brown, or whatever you’re calling yourself these days, do you know how long it’s been since you called me?” His mother’s voice scolding him over the phone caused him to cringe.
“It’s been—”
