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I stop Willow when she reaches for the handle and step in front of her. If Dale thinks he’s going to intimidate her, he’s going to be sorely mistaken.
Opening the door, I step into the sound of our lawyer demanding Dale present a DNA sample and I glare around the room at all eyes staring back at us.
Dale isn’t here.
Our lawyer is having it out with another man dressed in a cheap suit.
“These are my clients.” Our lawyer points to Shane and I as we join the group, and a woman standing in the corner of the room moves toward Willow, faltering in her step when I direct my attention at her.
She’s trying hard to remember where she’s seen me before but I get the sense she isn’t searching the part of her memory that goes all of the way back to Willow’s high school.
“No. She is your client.” Shane points to Willow and our lawyer picks up where he left off, demanding a DNA sample be supplied and admonishing him for not filing the proper paperwork.
The slimy guy takes a step toward Willow and our lawyer immediately walks around the table, getting in the way and blocking his path to our girl.
“Our business is done here. Supply the correct forms and samples or I will have this thrown out of court by tomorrow morning and your client arrested for harassment. Come back to this hospital again without it and I’ll have you disbarred.”
The guy must know he’s fighting way above his level and he turns to gather his briefcase, shoving the papers our lawyer gave him into it before leaving the room and our lawyer turns to the guy in scrubs standing quietly near a wall.
“Do you have everything you need to continue on as usual?” Our lawyer asks and he nods before turning his attention to Willow and smiling sympathetically.
She looks ashen but she smiles back.
“Annie is in good hands. If you’ll excuse me.” The doctor lowers his head to bow out before addressing Willow. “I’ll drop by with an update later this morning.”
Our lawyer has already returned to his calm self when the doctor leaves, and he files his own papers into a case.
“Gentlemen. Call my office and set up a time. Ms. Martens.”
He leaves us as well.
Time is money and we pay top dollar for his firm. There’s no point in paying for chitchat and he knows this.
Willow looks disoriented at what happened. I’m sure she’s gotten used to fighting for every inch on her own.
“Willow? What’s going on?” Her mother looks at us with a hint of recognition.
We mostly hung out away from our houses but I remember her from some family events way back when.
Shane takes a step away and I join him, giving Willow the chance to hide our relationship from her mother.
Shane and I live a different life than Willow and I’ve become used to living for ourselves, taking what we want and enjoying life as we want to live it.
Watching Willow with her mother, I see a woman who sheltered herself and lived for her mother and her daughter but never herself.
Asking her to simply slip easily into our world is selfish and she needs time.
I see this now.
“Mom, I wasn’t with a girlfriend last night. I was with them. These are my—they’re my—” She struggles with continuing and looks at us.
She isn’t ashamed.
She was just confused as to how to describe us and now I see why.
She has a little girl in one of these rooms that comes first, and a mother who relies on her.
“I’m Shane, and this is Alex.” Shane steps forward and introduces himself.
