Page 123 of Durango

She laughs. “Well, when you put it that way.”

I tug her closer and kiss her. As our kiss grows deeper, my phone vibrates in my pocket. Despite my effort to ignore it, the vibrating continues.

“While I do find that to be a turn-on, you should probably see who is trying to reach you,” Willow says.

I pull my phone from my pocket and read the messages. “It’s Ozzie. He’s asking if I’m going to the gym this morning.Normally, when I’m home, I hit the gym on Saturday and Sunday mornings. And often Ozzie and Piper join me.”

“Why don’t we both go? I’d love to see Piper.”

I let Ozzie know we are on our way, and we get ready.

When we step into the gym, Piper grabs Willow and whisks her away to some class that’s about to start. Ozzie and I hit the treadmills.

“We could have just run outside,” I tell him.

He frowns. “Too humid.”

We run together in silence for about twenty minutes before he slows down to a walk. I do the same.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

I glance at him. “What do you mean?”

“You’ve been glaring at that window for your entire run.”

I stop the treadmill and step off. “Last night, Willow had a panic attack. She obviously doesn’t feel safe, and I’m failing to fix that for her.”

He steps over next to me. “I don’t think that’s something you can fix. I mean, yeah, you can provide her a safe place to stay and stay near her. But it sounds like she’s going through what Piper went through after dealing with her ex, John. She needs to learn to feel safe in her own skin.”

While his words make sense, I still can’t help wondering if there is more I can be doing.

Ozzie claps my shoulder. “Hey, I get this has to be tough on you. You’ve always been the one to protect those you love. But sometimes, that means stepping back when they need space, too.”

I spin around to him. “Space?” Well, that’s the last thing I gave her by asking her to move in. And as I replay our conversation, I realize she never answered that question.

“Yes, she needs space, especially after living and essentially being held prisoner by her ex,” Ozzie says.

“Oh no,” I say.

“What’s wrong?”

“This morning, I asked her to move in with me. I just realized she never answered whether she would or not.”

I walk over to a nearby bench and sit down. Ozzie follows.

“What happened to taking things slow?” he asks.

It’s a fair question. We talked about my plans with Willow last week, and I believe my exact words were, I want to take it slow. Of course, that hasn’t been working out.

“When I’m with her, I lose all logical thought, apparently.” I scratch the back of my neck. “What the hell do I do?”

“Hey, you guys working out or just chatting?”

I turn to spot Axel wearing a scowl.

“What’s wrong with you?” Ozzie asks.

Axel shrugs. “I’m supposed to meet my sister for lunch.”

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