Page 10 of Boy Next Door at Mountain Creek Ranch
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It's been a couple of hours since I got to the hospital—still no word yet on what is going on. I check my phone for a message from Willow. I told her to text me when she got up, so I don’t want to text her and wake her.
“This is it.” Dean elbows me and stands up.
I look and see a doctor walking out of the doors that lead back to the hospital. He sees my dad and walks over to him. We all move closer to hear what he has to say.
"She's going to be fine," he starts. "She had a blockage that needed to be removed, but we were able to get it out safely."
We all let out the collective breath we've been holding. I run my hands through my hair and turn around, needing a moment to let this news set in. I freeze when I see Willow standing there. She's holding a tray of to-go cups and a bag of food with her bakery name printed on the side.
“I didn’t know if you would be able to have your phone on,” she says with a nervous smile. “I thought you could all use something to eat while you wait.”
I turn and see the doctor is gone, but my whole family is standing there watching us. They don't look happy.
“Did he say we could go up and see her?”
Dad sniffs once and nods. "We will all head up, and you can come up once you're done talking to yourfriend.”
He doesn't hide the fact that he says "friend" as though it's a bad word. I turn back to Willow. She's trying to stay neutral, but I can see her eyes getting glossy. I feel like I'm getting pulled in two directions, and I don't know what to do.
“I can take those.” Dean steps forward and takes the coffee and food from Willow. “Thank you.”
He's at least kind to her.
“We’ll see you in five minutes,” my Dad orders me.
Dean and my sisters follow after him. He smacks Dean on the back of the head and mumbles something.
“What?” Dean asks. “I was hungry.”
I turn back to Willow, but she’s walking towards the door. I run after to catch her.
“Wait!” I grab her arm gently to stop her, but she tugs it away from me.
“It was a mistake coming here.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Clearly I misjudged what happened between us. Nothing is going to change between our families. We were stupid to think otherwise.”
"No, don't say that," I say, my voice breaking. It feels like I'm losing control of everything, and I don't know how to fix it.
"You need to go see your mom. I hope that she's okay."
I want to tell her to stay. To come up with me so I can introduce her properly, but this isn’t the time. My family is going through enough as it is right now. I can’t lay this on them too.
Willow leans in and kisses me softly. It’s over so quickly, and I reach out for her, but she’s already gone.
7
BEAU
It's been a week since mom got out of the hospital. The family has been doing everything they can to make life easier for her to heal. Willow hasn't returned any of my phone calls or texts. With all the extra work around the ranch, I don't have time to see her. Maybe it's for the best. Maybe I was only supposed to get a taste of what life would be with her. Maybe it's better to have loved her and lost her, then never to know at all.
“Are you an idiot?” Dean asks, sitting down on the steps next to me.
“What?” I look up from the barely eaten ham and swiss sandwich in my hand. I have no idea how long I’ve been sitting here.
